New proposal for predicting the patch loading resistance of curved steel I-girders

Bridges curved in plan are commonly employed in urban areas, particularly in urban interchange structures that require intricated layouts. As a result of this curvature, these structures present significant complexities, both in their performance and design, when compared to equivalent straight gird...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bonilla Rocha, Jorge Douglas, Mirambell Arrizabalaga, Enrique|||0000-0003-2612-9104, Arrayago Luquin, Itsaso|||0000-0002-0054-9322
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/426784
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/426784
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2025.109469
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Steel I-girders curved in plan
Critical buckling load prediction
FE analysis
Resistance to patch loading
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Materials i estructures::Materials i estructures metàl·liques
Descripción
Sumario:Bridges curved in plan are commonly employed in urban areas, particularly in urban interchange structures that require intricated layouts. As a result of this curvature, these structures present significant complexities, both in their performance and design, when compared to equivalent straight girders. This fact explains the limitations of current design specifications, which appear to either inadequately address the design of such girders under different loading scenarios or to offer limited and simplified guidance only. AASHTO adopts a simplified and empirical approach, providing some design guidelines for curved steel plate girders. In contrast, the current and upcoming versions of Eurocode 3 for plated structures (EN 1993-1-5) lack specific provisions for curved steel plate girders, especially regarding their response to patch loading, and the adoption of the provisions for straight girders has been shown to provide rather inaccurate and overly conservative predictions. To address this issue, this paper presents a practical procedure for estimating the patch loading resistance of curved steel I-girders. The work is based on a comprehensive finite element investigation on curved steel plate I-girders subjected to patch loading. The new proposal features a novel expression for calculating the buckling coefficient that considers the effect of curvature for a more accurate prediction of the elastic critical load of curved steel I-girders, in addition to a novel resistance function specific to these structures. The new proposal is found to offer a more precise and consistent resistance prediction, by incorporating curvature effects, that the current provisions for straight girders.