CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Plate girder is a component of structural steel that is a shape of an I-Beam,

fabricated with greater span. They are used to carry the loads beyond the capacity of
standard universal beams. The behavior of plate girder with corrugated web has been
investigated throughout this study. They are commonly used in structural steel works
to enhance the moment carrying capability and reducing the weight of structure. Manual
calculation and finite element analysis were conducted on plate girder with plane web
and corrugated web.

The corrugated steel plate girder is widely used structural element in many
fields of application because of its numerous favorable properties. In present research a
web with rectangular corrugations is used. To carry the loads, the depth of the section has
to be deep and the slender section are susceptible to web buckling. Thus the web loses
its buckling strength. To avoid this buckling and to provide maximum strength,
corrugation is provided to the web. The purpose of providing corrugation is to reduce
weight and can reduce fabrication cost without the need of stiffeners.

1.2 Problem Statement

Conventional plane web girder loses its buckling strength to sustain heavy
loading, it will lead to structural failure. Other than that, fabrication cost for plane web
girder is higher due to need of providing web stiffener. To overcome this problem, the
new design web girder is proposed to fulfill the needs of design philosophy which is to
carry structural member with less weight and can withstand greater loading.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The objectives of this study are:

i)

To determine the buckling strength of corrugated web subjected to shear due to

transverse loading.

ii)

To investigate behavior of corrugated web plate girder by using Finite Element

Analysis (Abaqus software)

iii)

To check the economical effectiveness between corrugated web and plane web
girders.

1.4 Significance of the Study

To meet design philosophy and to design more optimal structures, many

research has been done to minimize the weight without compromise with the strength
of plate girder. The most commonly used corrugation profile for corrugated web plates
is the trapezoidal profile which is the main geometric characteristic. The use of
corrugated design on web could eliminate the usage of stiffener that also can reduce the
fabrication cost and time.

1.5 Scope of the study

This study has been carried out with the intent to gain a better understanding on
the using of trapezoidal corrugated web girder instead of normal plane web girder.
Trapezoidal corrugated web girder with varies in term of thickness, web depth and
corrugated width was tested to achieve the most efficient design.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

To study the behavior of welded steel plate girder with variation in geometry of
corrugation and thickness of web plate. Analysis and study of model was performed
using Abaqus to investigate the behavior of performance of both corrugated web with
conventional plane web. The static and buckling analysis is performed by manual
calculation and by using Abaqus software. A comparative study was carried out to
compare the result with plane web plate girder with stiffeners.