Buckling interaction of slender plates—Experimental and numerical investigations

In this paper the bending-shear interaction of slender plates is studied. Six large tests were performed on longitudinally and transversally stiffened girders in the range of high bending moment and shear force. In longitudinal direction the web was stiffened with a trapezoidal stiffener positioned at the mid web depth for two girders and in the compression zone for the other four girders. The test procedure and test results are presented in details from the point of global behaviour and web buckling. The girders were divided in three groups; within each group one of the parameters was varied. Furthermore, a numerical model built in the general-purpose code ABAQUS is presented and verified against test results regarding initial stiffness, resistance and failure mode. In the last part of this paper the maximum load and the design resistance according to EN 1993-1-5 are compared and discussed. The design resistance was calculated with both options, according to the effective width method and the reduced stress method.