Flange buckling behavior of girders with corrugated web Part II: Numerical study and design method development

Girders with trapezoidally corrugated web are widely used structural elements in the civil engineering praxis due to their numerous advantages. Despite, there are a relatively small number of previous investigations focusing on the determination of the bending moment resistance and the flange buckling behavior. Previous experimental and numerical investigations confirmed that the flange buckling resistance model provided by the EN1993-1-5 predicts often unsafe resistances. The summary of the previous investigations on the flange buckling behavior is presented in the companion paper (Part I) Jáger et al. [1] coupled with the introduction of an executed experimental research program investigating the flange buckling resistance of girders with corrugated web. Based on the test results an advanced FE model is developed, validated and presented in the current paper. In the first part of the study an imperfection sensitivity analysis is performed to develop proposals for applicable equivalent geometric imperfections for FEM based design method. In the second part of this paper an intensive parametric study is performed to investigate the buckling coefficient and the relationship between the relative slenderness and the reduction factor for corrugated web girders. The current paper also focuses on a new design method development for the determination of the flange buckling resistance.