Normalized shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs

Steel corrugated webs are vertical and lightweight plates responsible for carrying large in-plane loads before buckling. Three modes of shear failure are typical for these elements: local, global, and interactive shear buckling. In this paper, previously published analytical models for the estimation of the shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated webs are summarized, and a new model is developed. The proposed model takes into account the interaction between the modes of shear buckling. Twelve shear-critical corrugated web steel beams (CWSBs) were manufactured and tested to failure. The results were added to update the existing database, resulting in 125 test results, which were then used to compare the performance of developed and existing models. The new model is shown to be more accurate than previously published models for estimating the shear strength of corrugated steel webs, allowing for more economic designs.