Prediction of flexural and shear yielding strength of short span I-girders with concrete-filled tubular flanges and corrugated web - I : experimental test

To improve the resistance of I-girder with concrete-filled tubular flanges and flat-plate web to web shear buckling, corrugated plate is used to replace the conventional flat-plate web to produce a new composite I-girder. To investigate the resistance improvement of the new composite I-girder, i.e., with concrete-filled tubular flanges and corrugated web, experimental tests are currently carried out. Two composite I-girder specimens with flat-plate and corrugated webs, respectively, are designed and tested. Both specimens have a short-span and are subjected to shear action through applying a three-point loading at the mid-span. The test results indicate that no member global buckling occurs for the I-girders both with flat-plate web and with corrugated web attributed to the larger out-of-plane flexural stiffness of the concrete-filled tubular flanges. The composite I-girder with flat-plate web fails due to shear buckling of the web. Because the resistance of the corrugated web to shear buckling is higher, yielding strength, rather than shear buckling of the web, is observed in the composite I-girder with corrugated web. Such different failure modes cause the I-girder specimen with corrugated web to have a much higher load carrying capacity.