Shear Performance of Corrugated Steel Webs with Local Uniform Defects

Abstract

Owing to the superior mechanical performance, corrugated steel webs are extensively applied and their shear performance is critical, because of the thin wall. After the steel is corroded and the web is weakened, the problem of shear resistance may become more prominent. The shear performance of corrugated steel webs with local uniform loss was studied to simulate a common corrosion state. Twenty-eight FE models with different defect characteristics, containing defect height and web thickness, are established to simulate corroded corrugated webs. Shear capacity, shear strength, out-of-plane stiffness and bending stiffness are studied. Based on previous studies, the prediction formula is proposed to predict the residual shear strength. Additional FE models are built to validate the reliability. Results indicate that web thickness is the key factor to decide the deformation shape and shear capacity, compared with defect height. Bending stiffness decreases as defect increases. With 62.5% of the initial thickness, the influence of the variation of defect height on the bending stiffness is within 10%. Variation in thickness also affects the sensitivity of shear capacity to corrosion parameters and failure modes. When the thickness exceeds 1.25 mm, about 62.5% of the initial thickness, shear capacity is more sensitive to corrosion height than when the thickness is less than 1.25 mm. The proposed formula is validated and has a good agreement with the FE results, which could help to design the durability of corrugated steel webs and evaluate the performance of existing corrugated steel webs.