Shear design recommendations for stainless steel plate girders

The behaviour and design of stainless steel plate girders loaded in shear is investigated in this paper. A review of existing methods for the design of stainless steel plate girders, including codified provisions, is first presented. A database of thirty-four experiments carried out on austenitic, duplex and lean duplex stainless steel plate girders is then reported, and used to assess the current shear resistance design equations from Eurocode 3: Part 1.4 and Eurocode 3: Part 1.5 and the recent proposals from the literature. The comparisons clearly indicate that the design provisions of Eurocode 3: Part 1.4 are conservative and that improved results can be achieved by applying Eurocode 3: Part 1.5 and the proposed expressions of Estrada et al. However, yet further improvements are possible and, based on the available structural performance data, revised design expressions for the calculation of the ultimate shear capacity of stainless steel plate girders suitable for incorporation into future revisions of Eurocode 3: Part 1.4 have been proposed and statistically verified. Unlike the current provisions of Eurocode 3: Part 1.4, the design rules proposed herein differentiate between rigid and non-rigid end posts, and, offer enhancements in shear buckling capacity of around 10%.