SHEAR BUCKLING OF CORRUGATED PLATES WITH EDGES ELASTICALLY RESTRAINED AGAINST ROTATION

Abstract

This paper presents an estimation of the elastic shear buckling capacity of corrugated plates with edges elastically restrained against rotation. The corrugated plate possesses higher shear buckling capacity compared to an unfolded flat plate. It has been used to replace the concrete web in PC box girders in recent bridge constructions in Japan. In this study, the corrugated plate is modelled as an orthotropic Mindlin plate. Elastically rotational restraint on boundary edges is taken into account in the form of rotational springs in the analysis. The prediction of buckling capacities of corrugated plates is carried out by using the Rayleigh–Ritz method, which was proved to be consistent with those as predicted by existing formulas for the limiting cases of simply-supported and clamped edges. The present study covers the more general case of elastically rotational restraint on the boundary edges showing transition curve of plate buckling capacities from the case of simple support to the case of clamped support.