Vigas armadas de acero en planta curva sometidas a carga concentrada y esfuerzo cortante

Abstract

Curved steel plate girders are often utilized in bridges that are built in congested urban areas where complex plan alignments are required. However, the design of curved steel plate girder bridges is more complex than that of equivalent straight ones due to the difficulties associated to the simplification of the design procedures. The current and upcoming versions of Eurocode 3 for plated structures (EN 1993-1-5) do not address steel plate girders curved in plan, especially regarding their behavior against concentrated forces and shear. In that sense, the guidance provided for patch loading and shear design is only applicable to straight girders. Hence, current design guides seem not to cover curved plate girders subjected to patch loading and shear appropriately, or to provide only limited and simplified guidance on how to design them. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out more research in order to achieve a better understanding of the behavior of curved steel plate girders so that suitable design approaches can be developed. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on curved steel plate I-girders subjected to patch loading and shear, considering the material and geometric nonlinearities as well as initial imperfections. The numerical models are developed by means of the advanced finite element software ABAQUS and validated against experimental tests available in the literature. From the assessment of the numerical results, practical recommendations are proposed to extend the applicability of the design provisions prescribed in the next version of EN 1993-1-5 for straight steel I-girders to the case of curved steel I-girders.