Full-scale cold bending demonstration test

A new, innovative cold bending procedure was developed by a US fabricator to economically meet tolerance requirements for the curved steel girders used in the Miami Metro-Mover. Based on the procedures used by the fabricator, the authors developed approximate analytical solutions relating loads to residual deformation when curving unstiffened or vertically stiffened, symmetrical or non-symmetrical girders. This paper assesses the accuracy of the theoretical solutions by comparing its predictions with results from a full-scale demonstration test. In the test, a vertically stiffened 12.88 m (42′–3″) long girder was curved to a radius of 115.5 m (379′). The predictions from the analyses for the applied loads and lateral offsets were both within 10–15% of the experimental results.