Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct
Structural safety and serviceability evaluations of prestressed concrete hybrid
bridge girders with corrugated or steel truss web members
Kwang-Hoe Jung
a,b
, Jong-Won Yi
b
, Jang-Ho Jay Kim
a,
a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, 120-794, South Korea
b
Institute of Construction Technology, Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., 102-4, Mabuk-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyounggi-do 446-716, South Korea
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 26 August 2009
Received in revised form
25 August 2010
Accepted 26 August 2010
Available online 28 September 2010
Keywords:
Hybrid girder
Corrugated steel web
Steel truss web
Flexural capacity
Structural safety
Shear capacity
Serviceability
a b s t r a c t
Prestressed concrete box girders have been regarded as the most favorable medium span (3050 m)
concrete girder type in many countries, but they have a crucial limitation compared to steel girders in
that a single span length cannot be extended over 50 m due to its relatively heavy self-weight. As a
result of this restriction, the majority of medium span girder bridges constructed in Korea have been
steel box girder types. In the 20th century, numerous attempts have been made to improve the structural
efficiencies of prestressed concrete box girders using concretesteel hybrid subcomponents to reduce
the weight of the superstructure. However, the behaviors of hybrid bridge girders with various steel
web types and connection joints have caused safety and serviceability problems. Therefore, in order to
fully understand the behaviors of steel web girders and the effects of steel web connection joints, a static
loading test was conducted on five prestressed concrete hybrid girders with steel web members. Result
comparisons for structural safety and serviceability were also performed. The five girder specimens were
two hybrid girders with corrugated steel webs and three hybrid girders with steel truss webs. The study
results showed that the serviceability issues such as cracking load and deflection and the safety issues
such as stiffness and ultimate load capacity can be improved by modifying the steel web members and
connection joints of concrete slabs and tendons. The study results are discussed in detail.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
In the 20th century, prestressed box girder bridges with steel
truss webs such as the Kinogawa Bridge, the Sarutagawa Bridge,
the Tomoegawa Bridge, and the Shitsumi Ohashi Bridge, as well
as ones with corrugated steel webs, have been constructed in
Japan [13]. There have been multiple attempts in Korea to
replace the concrete webs of prestressed concrete box girders
with steel web members. Fig. 1 shows Ilsun Bridge, the first
prestressed concrete hybrid girder bridge with corrugated steel
webs constructed in Korea, which is the worlds longest (total
length of 801 m) and widest (21.2 m with a tri-cellular section)
bridge using steel webs [4,5]. The bridge has a total of 14 spans
(50 m, ten at 60 m, 50 m, two at 50.5 m) with 12 spans having been
erected using an incremental launching method and the remaining
two spans using a full staging method. Fig. 2 shows the Shinchun
Bridge currently being constructed in Korea, a prestressed concrete
hybrid girder bridge with steel truss web members. This bridge

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 2123 5802, +82 2 2123 2798; fax: +82 2 364
1001, +82 2 364 5300.
E-mail addresses: jkh@hdec.co.kr (K.-H. Jung), jwonyi@hdec.co.kr (J.-W. Yi),
jjhkim@yonsei.ac.kr (J.-H.J. Kim).
design was chosen due to its low superstructure height (3.2 m),
long single span length (80 m), and attractive appearance that can
be merged into its surrounding environment. It has a total of five
spans (two at 60 m, three at 80 m) that will be erected using
temporary bents and cranes in order to fully utilize its light weight
advantage.
These two bridges have a similar structural concept in that they
replaced traditional concrete web with steel web, transforming
the bridge into a hybrid type. Due to the drastic transformation of
concrete girder concepts in these bridges, research on these bridge
types was necessary and has been performed [612]. In order to
implement this new bridge type in real world construction, HICT
(Hyundai Institute of Construction Technology) has undertaken a
mega research project to verify and improve PSC hybrid girders
using steel webs. This paper describes the research results on the
safety and serviceability issues concerning the behaviors of hybrid
girders according to the steel web type and connection method.
2. Static loading test setup
2.1. Test specimens
In this study, in order to compare the flexural behavior of
each hybrid girder according to steel web type and connection
0141-0296/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2010.08.029
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3867
Notations
The following symbols are used in this paper:
A
p
Area of the prestressing tendons
A
s
Area of the tensile reinforcements
A

s
Area of the compressed reinforcements
A
tr
Area of the truss members
a Depth of the equivalent compressive region
b Width of the compressive region
d Distance from the extreme compression fiber to the
centroid of the tensile reinforcement
d

Distance from the extreme compression fiber to the

centroid of the compressive reinforcement
d
o
Diameter of the hole in the perfobond
d
p
Distance from the extreme compression fiber to the
centroid of the tendons
d
s
Diameter of the stud
d
tr
Diameter of the truss member
d
1
Distance from the neutral axis to the centroid of the
upper slab
d
2
Distance from the neutral axis to the center of the
lower slab
f
ca
Allowable axial compressive stress of the truss
member
f
ck
Compressive strength of the concrete
f
ps
Stress of the prestressing tendon
f
pu
Ultimate tensile strength of the prestressing ten-
dons
f
y
Yield strength of the reinforcements
f
tr_max
Maximum local stress at the connection joint
H
s
Height of the stud
I
tr
Second moment of inertia of the truss member
M
tr
Maximum moment of the truss members
M
u
Ultimate moment
M
1
Bending moment at the upper slab
M
2
Bending moment at the lower slab
N
ua
Allowable ultimate strength for the tensile force
N
1
Axial force at the upper slab
N
2
Axial force at the lower slab
n Number of studs or perfobonds
P
tr
Maximum axial force of the truss members
Q
a
Allowable shear strength of a stud or perfobond per
one unit
Q
u
Ultimate shear strength per hole in the perfobond
t
o
Thickness of the perfobond
V
H
Horizontal shear force
V
ua
Allowable ultimate strength of the shear force

1
Coefficient determined by the concrete strength
Ratio of the tensile and compressive reinforcements

Ratio of the compressive reinforcements

p
Ratio of the prestressing tendons

p
Coefficient determinedby prestressing tendontypes

d
Design shear stress of the corrugated steel web

cr,G
Critical global design buckling stress

cr,I
Critical interactive design buckling stress

cr,L
Critical local design buckling stress
= 0.85 Strength reduction factor for the flexural member

o
Diameter of the cross reinforcement in perfobond
M
n
Nominal moment of the cross section
N
n
Design strength for tensile force
V
n
Design strength for shear force
Fig. 1. Ilsun Bridge.
Fig. 2. Shinchun Bridge.
method, static loading tests were performed on five prestressed
concrete hybrid girders with various steel webs. These five hybrid
girders were composed of two hybrid girders with corrugated
steel webs (FHC, PHC) and three hybrid girders with steel truss
webs (FHT, GHT, EHT), as shown in Table 1. As shown in Fig. 3(a),
FHC was a conventional connection type with a connection
system that had shear studs welded onto the flange plate in the
longitudinal direction, while PHC had perfobond shear connectors
instead of shear studs, as shown in Fig. 3(b). FHT had the same
connection system as FHC, but its web consisted of steel pipes
instead of corrugated steel webs, as shown in Fig. 3(c). GHT
had a connection unit with a gusset plate and shear studs,
which were welded onto the base plate as shown in Fig. 3(d).
Experimental study results on flexural and shear capacities of
GHT have been published recently [13,14]. EHT had embedded
connection systems composed of connection plates and a steel
rod without a longitudinal flange plate, as shown in Fig. 3(e). As
expected in EHT, the axial forces of the truss members are directly
transferred to the concrete slabs without any shear connecters
of studs or perfobonds. This hinge connection greatly facilitated
construction implementations in which no welding procedures
were required and truss angle adjustment was possible. Through
the experiments, the EHT construction process and structural
performance were verified. The detailed comparison of load
transfer mechanisms and design concepts for the three connection
systems are explained in Sections 3.4 and 4.1.2.
3868 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
Table 1
Test specimens.
Web structure Index Connection type Specimens
Corrugated steel
FHC Flange plate +studs
PHC Flange plate +perfobonds
Truss members
FHT Flange plate +studs
GHT Gusset plate +studs
EHT Hinge connection +steel rod
HC: Hybrid girder with corrugated steel web.
HT: Hybrid girder with truss web members.
F: Flange plate with studs. P: Flange plate with perfobonds.
G: Gusset plate with studs. E: Embedded type connection.
Table 2
Dimensions of the specimens (Units: mm).
Girder
Length 6350
Height 1300
Width 500
Concrete slab Height 250
Corrugated steel web
Horizontal panel 200
Inclined panel 186
Inclined angle 53.7
Thickness 6
Steel truss web
Diameter 165
Thickness 9
2.2. Dimensions and properties
All specimens were constructed with the same dimensions.
Table 2 presents the main dimensions of the specimens, and Fig. 4
presents the cross sections of the hybrid girders with corrugated
steel and steel truss webs. The lengths, heights, and widths of
the hybrid girders were 6350 mm, 1300 mm, and 500 mm,
respectively. Also, the heights of the upper slabandlower slabwere
both 250 mm. In the case of the corrugated steel web, the lengths
of the horizontal and inclined panels were 200 mm and 186 mm,
respectively, with an inclined angle of 53.7, and the thickness of
the corrugated steel web was 6 mm. In the case of the steel truss
web, the diameter and thickness of the circular truss section were
165 mm and 9 mm, respectively.
Table 3 presents the material properties of all specimens. The
concrete was mixed using OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) and
coarse aggregate with a maximum size of 19 mm and an expected
Table 3
Material properties of the specimens.
Material Type Strength (MPa)
Concrete OPC Design compressive strength: 40
Steel truss pipe SM490 Allowable tensile strength: 190
Corrugated steel SS400 Allowable tensile strength: 140
Reinforcement SD40 Ultimate tensile strength: 400
Tendon SWPC7B, 15.2 mm
Ultimate tensile strength: 1900
Yield tensile strength: 1600
28 day compressive strength of 40 MPa. All of the steel used to
manufacture the corrugatedsteel webandconnectionsystems was
SS400, which has an allowable tensile strength of 140 MPa and a
manufacturer specified minimum yield strength of 240 MPa. The
steel truss webs were manufactured using SM490, which has an
allowable tensile strengthof 190 MPa anda manufacturer specified
minimumyield strengthof 320 MPa. All of the reinforcements used
were SD40, with a manufacturer specified minimumyield strength
of 400 MPa. Each specimen has two SWPC7B-type prestressing
tendons in the lower slab. The ultimate strength and diameter of
the SWPC7B tendon were 1900 MPa and 15.2 mm, respectively.
2.3. Loading system
Fig. 5 shows the loading system for the three-point bending
test used in this study. A 2500 kN hydraulic actuator was used
for loading, where the design ultimate load for all specimens
calculated fromthe flexural design was approximately 917 kN. The
length of the actuator and the heights of all of the specimens were
about 2.7 m and 1.3 m, respectively, where sufficient clearance
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3869
(a) Flange plate type hybrid girder with corrugated steel web (FHC). (b) Flange plate and perfobond type hybrid girder with corrugated steel web
(PHC).
(c) Flange plate type hybrid girder with truss web members (FHT). (d) Gusset type hybrid girder with truss web members (GHT).
(e) Embedded type hybrid girder with truss web members (EHT).
Fig. 3. Test specimens (Units: mm).
(a) Corrugated steel web. (b) Steel truss web.
Fig. 4. Cross sections of the hybrid girders (Units: mm).
under the specimen was provided to install data acquisition
devices such as LVDT and support bases, making the total height of
the loading frame greater than4.5 m. Inthis test setup, long loading
frames with lengths greater than 4.5 m were needed. Therefore,
it was essential that these frames should have sufficiently high
stiffness to ensure safety during testing. In this test, two pulling
3870 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
Fig. 5. Loading test system and measurement points (Units: mm).
actuators and four guide columns were used in the loading system
to ensure sufficient loading capacity and frame safety. As shown in
Fig. 5, two actuators were fixed to a loading frame and connected
by a cross beam. When the pulling forces of the actuators were
initiated, the load was applied to the specimen by way of this
cross beam. The maximum pulling capacity of each actuator was
approximately 1600 kN, equivalent to a total loading capacity of
approximately 3200 kN.
3. Design of the hybrid girder
3.1. Basic design concept
The hybrid girder was composed of upper and lower concrete
slabs and steel web members. A basic design concept of hybrid
girders allows upper andlower concrete slabs toresist only flexural
stress and the steel web to resist only shear stress. Also, another
important designconcept was that the connectionsystembetween
the concrete slabs and steel members did not yield until the
concrete slabs and steel members failed. Therefore, the design
procedure of the hybrid girder could be divided into three parts
consisting of flexural design, shear design, and connection design.
3.2. Flexural design
Since the flexural design of the hybrid girder is related to the
designs of the upper and lower concrete slabs, the dimensions
of the concrete slabs and the reinforcement sizes including the
prestressing tendons should be determined based on the required
flexural capacity of the girder. The ultimate moment M
u
can be
obtained through frame analysis; however, in the case of the steel
truss web, an additional calculation using the following equation
is needed after frame analysis in order to calculate the ultimate
moment, as shown in Fig. 6:
M
u
= M
1
+M
2
+N
1
d
1
+N
2
d
2
(1)
where M
1
and M
2
are the bending moments at the upper and
lower slabs, N
1
and N
2
are the axial forces at the upper and lower
centroid of upper slab
centroid of lower slab
centroid of beam
M
1
d
1
d
2
M
u
N
1
M
2
N
2
Fig. 6. Ultimate moment of a hybrid girder with truss web members.
slabs, and d
1
and d
2
are the distances from the neutral axis to
the centroids of the axial forces at the upper and lower slabs,
respectively.
The nominal moment of the cross section of a hybrid girder
M
n
can be calculated using the following equation, which
is commonly used to calculate the nominal moment for a
conventional prestressed concrete section.
M
n
=
_
A
p
f
ps
_
d
p

a
2
_
+A
s
f
y
_
d
a
2
_
+A

s
f
y
(d d

)
_
(2)
where = 0.85 is the strength reduction factor; A
s
and A

s
are the
areas of the tensile and compressive reinforcements, respectively;
A
p
is the area of the tendons; d and d

are the distances from

the extreme compression fiber to the centroids of the tensile and
compressive reinforcements, respectively; d
p
is the distance from
the extreme compression fiber to the centroid of the tendons; and
f
y
is the yield strength of the reinforcements. The stress of the
prestressing tendon f
ps
is given by:
f
ps
= f
pu
_
1

p

1
_

p
_
f
pu
f
ck
_
+
d
d
p
_

_
f
y
f
ck
_

_
f
y
f
ck
____
(3)
where and

are the ratios of the tensile and compressive

reinforcements, respectively;
p
is the ratio of the tendons; f
pu
is
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3871
Table 4

p
and
1
.
Index Condition Value

p
f
py
/f
pu
0.90 0.28
f
py
/f
pu
0.85 0.40
f
py
/f
pu
0.80 0.55

1
f
ck
< 28 MPa 0.85
f
ck
28 MPa 0.850.007(f
ck
28)
the ultimate tensile strength of the tendons; f
ck
is the compressive
strength of the concrete;
p
and
1
are the values determined
using Table 4, which is based on the concrete structure design
specification in Korea [15].
The depth of equivalent compressive region a is given by:
a =
A
p
f
ps
+A
s
f
y
A

s
f
y
0.85f
ck
b
(4)
where b is the width of the compressive region.
Finally, it is required that the nominal moment of the cross
section of the hybrid girder M
n
must always be larger than
the ultimate moment M
u
. According to this procedure, the
nominal flexural strength of each specimen was calculated to be
approximately 1375 kN m, and the expected ultimate load in the
three-point bending test was approximately 917 kN.
3.3. Shear design
Since the shear design of the hybrid girder is related to the
steel members of the web, the dimensions and thicknesses of the
steel tube members should be designed to have sufficient strength
such that the shear mode of failure is eliminated. In the case of
the corrugated steel web, the local buckling mode, global buckling
mode, and interactive buckling mode should be determined. The
design shear stress of the corrugated steel web
d
was obtained
by taking the minimum value of the critical interactive design
buckling stress
cr,I
, critical global design buckling stress
cr,G
, and
critical local design buckling stress
cr,L
,

d
= min(
cr,I
,
cr,G
,
cr,L
). (5)
Table 5 presents the design shear stress of the corrugated steel web
used in this study. Each value is calculated using the equations
proposed by JSCE [16], Abbas et al. [17], EI-Metwally [18], and Yi
et al. [19]. As shown in Table 5, it is clear that the design shear
stress of the corrugated steel web
d
is always greater than the
maximumshear stress in a real corrugated web section , which is
calculated using a design load of 917 kN, showing that the member
is sufficiently safe with regard to the shear stress.
In the case of the steel truss web, the maximum local stresses
concentrated at the ends of the truss members should be smaller
than the allowable compressive stress of the truss members. In
the truss member, the maximum axial forces and local moments
always occur at the joints, since the real joints of truss members
and concrete slabs are not hinged. As such, the maximum local
stress f
tr_max
can be given by the following equation:
f
tr_max
=
P
tr
A
tr
+
M
tr
I
tr
_
d
tr
2
_
(6)
where P
tr
and M
tr
are the maximum axial force and the moment
of the truss members, respectively; and d
tr
, A
tr
and I
tr
are the
diameter, area, and second moment of inertia of the truss member,
respectively. Finally, it should be required that the maximumlocal
stress f
tr_max
is always smaller thanthe allowable axial compressive
stress f
ca
proposed by the design specification. The same frame
model containing a fixed connection condition has been used
in the design procedure of hybrid truss beams regardless of the
connection type. Since it is difficult to numerically define the
strength of a joint, the basic design assumption of the strength
of the connection system must be greater than the strengths
of both the concrete slabs and the truss members. From the
analysis results of the frame model with a fixed connection
condition, the maximum axial force and bending moment of the
truss members were determined. When the expected ultimate
load of 917 kN was applied to the specimen, the maximum
axial force and bending moment of the truss members were
416.7 kN and 9.17 kN m, respectively. Therefore, the maximum
local stress of the truss members can be calculated as 150.7 MPa,
which is smaller than the allowable axial compressive stress of
190 MPa.
3.4. Connection design
The connection designs of the concrete slabs and steel webs
can be modified according to the connection system. However, the
fundamental design requirements of the connection system are
that it must not yield before the failures of the concrete slabs and
truss members and must be able to continuously resist applied
horizontal shear forces at the connection joint. In particular, in the
case of the steel truss, the tensile forces at the connection parts
must be maintained since the joints of the truss members always
have to resist tensile and compressive forces as well as horizontal
shear forces.
FHC and FHT have a connection system in which the studs are
welded onto the flange plate, but PHC has a connection system in
which perfobonds are welded onto the flange plate. In these two
connection systems, since the studs or perfobonds on the flange
plate are the only member parts resisting the horizontal shear
forces, the number of studs or perfobonds n can be calculated using
the following equation:
n
V
H
Q
a
(7)
where V
H
is the horizontal shear force and Q
a
is the allowable
shear strength of the stud or perfobond per one unit. The allowable
shear strength of the stud can be easily determined by applying
Eq. (8), required by the concrete structure design specification in
Korea [15].
Q
a
= 9.5d
2
s
_
f
ck
, if H
s
/d
s
5.5 (8a)
Q
a
= 1.74d
s
H
s
_
f
ck
, if H
s
/d
s
< 5.5 (8b)
where d
s
and H
s
are the diameter and height of the stud,
respectively. As shown in Fig. 7(a), the horizontal shear design
force per one stud is about 29 kN when d
s
is 22 mm and H
s
is
150 mm.
The ultimate shear strength per hole of perfobond has been
proposed by several researchers. In this study, Eqs. (9a) and (9b),
which were used in the design of perfobond shear strength for the
Tanigawa Bridge [20], are selected. Depending on whether or not
the perfobond has cross reinforcements, Eqs. (9a) or (9b) can be
applied, respectively.
Q
u
= 3.38d
2
o
(t
o
/d
o
)
1/2
f
ck
39.0 10
3
(9a)
Q
u
= 1.45
_
(d
2
o

2
o
)f
ck
+
2
o
f
y
_
26.1 10
3
(9b)
where Q
u
is the ultimate shear strength per hole of the perfobond,
t
o
is the thickness of the perfobond, d
o
and
o
are the diameters of
the holes in the perfobond and cross reinforcements, respectively,
and f
y
and f
ck
are the yield strength of the reinforcements and the
compressive strength of the concrete, respectively. As shown in
Fig. 7(b), the horizontal shear force capacity per one perfobond is
3872 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
Table 5
Design bucking stress of the corrugated steel web.
Index Local buckling stress (
cr,L
) (MPa) Global buckling stress (
cr,G
) (MPa) Interactive buckling
stress (
cr,G
)
Design buckling
stress (
d
)
Max. shear
stress ()
Safety
(
d
/)
Elastic Inelastic Elastic Inelastic
JSCE 95.5 95.3 8436 104.6 80.0 10.4 7.69
Abbas 954.9 80.0 7795 80.0 56.6 56.6 10.4 5.44
EI-Metwally 954.8 8426 79.8 79.7 10.4 7.66
Yi et al. 91.2 60.7 763.3 81.5 60.7 10.4 5.83
Fig. 7. Connection details (Units: mm).
about 621 kN when d
o
and t
o
are 50 mm and 8 mm, respectively,
and
o
is 13 mm.
GHT has a connection system in which studs are welded to a
discontinuous base plate which is connected to a vertical gusset
plate. This setup causes the local moment at the joint to occur
at the base plate, as shown in Fig. 8(b). Based on this design, the
failure mode of GHT is a tensile failure mode similar to that of a
concrete spalling failure in the anchor system due to the tensile
force. Similarly, the local moment can occur at the joint in FHT;
however, since FHT has a continuous flange plate resisting this
local moment, as shown in Fig. 8(a), the joint can sufficiently resist
the local moment. However, if the local moment does not occur at
the joint in EHT, the horizontal shear force is directly transferred to
the truss members in the concrete slab, as shown in Fig. 8(c). In the
designof GHT, the following force requirement equationoriginated
from the anchor design concept of the concrete structure design
specification in Korea [15], in which a tensile failure as well as a
shear failure is checked.
_
N
ua
N
n
_
2
+
_
V
ua
V
n
_
2
1.0 (10)
where N
ua
and V
ua
are the allowable ultimate strengths for the
tension and shear forces, and N
n
and V
n
are the design strengths
for the tension and shear forces, respectively.
If the local moment does occur at the joint of EHT, a hinge
connection system composed of connection plates and a steel rod
as shown in Fig. 7(c), then the connection plates and steel rods
are designed to prevent yielding until the ultimate and serviceable
states are reached as required by this study.
Table 6
Yielding and ultimate loads (Units: kN).
Index FHC PHC FHT GHT EHT
Yielding load 932.0 863.0 924.5 595.9 794.2
Ultimate load 1206.0 1054.0 1089.2 883.7 1060.9
4. Structural safety
4.1. Flexural capacity
Many experimental studies on the flexural behavior of steel
concrete composite beams have beenperformedby Larbi et al. [21],
Bouazaoui et al. [22], Zhang and Fu [23], and Kim and Jeong [24].
In this study, to verify the flexural capacity of the hybrid girders,
the tested specimens yielding loads and the ultimate load were
compared as shown in Table 6. The ultimate loads of all specimens
except for GHT were larger than the design ultimate load of
917 kN. The structural safety requirement for each specimen can
be defined as the actual ultimate load that must be greater than the
design ultimate load. Fromthe structural safety point of view, GHT
had insufficient flexural capacity, whereas the other specimens
had sufficient flexural capacities. In particular, in the longitudinal
flange plates of FHC and FHT, their yielding loads were even greater
than the design ultimate load of 917 kN. This enhanced safety
capacity shows that the longitudinal flange plate plays a vital role
in significantly improving the member flexural capacity.
4.1.1. Behaviors of FHC and PHC
In order to look more deeply into the flexural behavior of each
specimen, the loaddisplacement relationships obtained from the
experiment were analyzed. Fig. 9 presents the loaddisplacement
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3873
(a) FHT. (b) GHT.
(c) EHT.
Fig. 8. Load transfer mechanisms at the connection joint (FHT, GHT, EHT).
Fig. 9. Loaddisplacement relationships in FHC and PHC.
relationships of two hybrid girders with corrugated steel webs. The
initial stiffnesses of the two hybrid girders with corrugated steel
webs (FHC, PHC) were almost the same in the linear elastic region
(from 0 to about 800 kN). The figure also shows that the ultimate
strength of FHC was higher than that of PHC, and the behaviors of
the two specimens after the yielding state were different, based on
the connection system.
The actual level of a composite action in a steelconcrete
composite structure is generally categorized into either a perfect
composite action, a partial composite action, or a non-composite
action. A perfect composite action is one in which an interface
between the steel and concrete surfaces is fully fixed and no slip is
to occur at the interface until its ultimate state is reached. A non-
composite action has no friction between the steel and concrete,
resulting in a large slip at the interface. A partial composite action
is one in which a minute slip occurs at the interface between the
steel and concrete surfaces, where an ultimate strength of a partial
composite structure can be slightly less than that of a perfect
composite structure [2527]. Consequently, in order to guarantee
a perfect composite action in the specimen, the shear connectors
should be able to resist the total horizontal shear force of 7980 kN,
which is equivalent to installing over 275 studs (29 kN/ea) or 13
perfobonds (62l kN/ea).
FHC has 276 studs, each with a horizontal shear design force
of about 29 kN. This means that the total resisting shear force
is about 8004 kN. However, PHC has 36 perfobonds, each with
a horizontal shear force capacity of about 621 kN, so the total
resisting shear force capacity for PHC is about 22,370 kN. This
value for PHC is approximately 2.8 times greater than that of
FHC. The results show that FHC has a sufficient number of shear
studs, thereby illustrating a perfect composite behavior and an
approximately 14% greater ultimate load compared to that of PHC.
Fig. 10 shows that the concrete between the perfobonds in the PHC
spalled after the yielding state was reached. This failure behavior is
due to the fact that PHC had discontinuously arranged perfobonds,
as shown in Fig. 3(b). If the studs are continuously arranged in
the longitudinal direction, as was the case in FHC, the failure
behavior would have been prevented. From these test results, it
can be concluded that the arrangement and the number of shear
connectors are extremely important parameters that affect the
flexural behaviors of hybrid girders. Fig. 11 presents the measured
reinforcement strains in the upper and lower slabs. The results
clearly indicate that the reinforcement strain is similar to the
loaddisplacement curve shown in Fig. 9, but the strain increment
of the tensile reinforcement in the lower slab is greater than that
of the compressive reinforcements in the upper slab.
3874 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
Fig. 10. Concrete spalling at the yielding state in PHC.
Fig. 11. Measured strains of the compressive and tensile rebars in FHC and PHC.
Fig. 12. Loaddisplacement relationships in EHT, FHT, and GHT.
4.1.2. Behaviors of FHT, GHT and EHT
Fig. 12 presents the loaddisplacement relationships of three
hybrid girders with steel truss webs. The initial stiffnesses of
the three hybrid girders with a steel truss web (FHT, GHT, EHT)
were similar in the linear elastic region, but their behaviors were
different in the nonlinear inelastic region. The figure also shows
that the yield and ultimate strengths of FHT are higher than those
of GHT and EHT, and that the yield and ultimate strengths of EHT
are higher than those of GHT. Also, the behaviors after yielding are
different according to the connection system. Fromthese results, it
is safe to conclude that GHT has the lowest flexural capacity among
the three types of hybrid girders with a steel truss web. FHT has
276 studs in continuous regular spacing, which gives a horizontal
Fig. 13. Measured strains of the compressive and tensile rebars in FHT, GHT, and
EHT.
shear design force per one stud of about 29 kN and a total resisting
shear force of about 8004 kN. However, GHT has 80 studs in a
discontinuous regular spacing, which gives a total resisting shear
force of about 2320 kN. Therefore, it can be expected that FHT has
a sufficient number of shear studs to impart a perfect composite
behavior, while GHT does not have sufficient studs to result in a
partial composite behavior, where its yield and ultimate strengths
are less than the design strength.
As shown in Fig. 8, FHT and GHT have a longitudinal flange plate
and a base plate attached with studs, respectively. So axial forces
of the truss members are indirectly transferred to the concrete
slabs by way of longitudinal steel plates and stud shear connectors.
Therefore, the centroid of the cross section does not coincide
with the middle point of the concrete slab height, causing an
eccentricity to occur between the centroid of the slab and the cross
point of the two truss axes. This eccentricity inevitably generates
a local bending moment at the connection joint. However, EHT
has an embedded hinge connection system where truss members
are connected to each other in the concrete slab without any
longitudinal steel plates and stud shear connectors. Therefore, the
axial force of the truss members is directly transferred to the
concrete slab. Since the centroid of the cross section coincides
with the middle point of the concrete slab height, no eccentricity
between the centroid of a concrete slab and the cross point of
the two truss axes occurs and no local bending moment occurs at
the connection joint. Consequently, it can be concluded that the
EHT tested in this study can be a useful connection system for
hybrid truss girders, providing sufficient structural safety without
requiring any shear connectors or welding during construction.
From these results, it can be clearly concluded that hybrid girders
could have different initial stiffnesses according to the connection
system used, despite having the same web members.
Fig. 13 presents the measured reinforcement strains in
the upper and lower slabs. The results clearly indicate that
the behavior of the reinforcement strain is similar to the
loaddisplacement curve showninFig. 12, but the strainincrement
of the tensile reinforcement in the lower slab is greater than that of
the compressive reinforcements in the upper slab. Fig. 14 presents
the strains in the cross section of each hybrid girder (FHT, GHT,
EHT) according to a load increment of 200 kN. Fig. 15 presents
the strains in the cross section of the three hybrid girders (FHT,
GHT, EHT) at the critical loading points of 200, 400, and 800 kN. As
shown in Fig. 13, the reinforcement of FHT in the upper slab did
not reach the yield state at the load of 1000 kN, but those of GHT
and EHT in the upper slab reached the yield state at loads of 800 kN
and 1000 kN, respectively. The reinforcements of FHT and EHT in
the lower slab reached yield states at loads of 400 kN and 600 kN,
respectively. However, the reinforcements in GHT in the upper
slab reached yield state at a load greater than 400 kN. The results
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3875
(a) FHT. (b) GHT.
(c) EHT.
Fig. 14. Strain variation in the cross section.
indicate that FHT and EHT show more stable strain increments
in the cross section compared to that of GHT. It can be clearly
concluded that a longitudinal member such as the flange plate in
FHT or a direct connection system such as the hinge connection in
EHT canbe used to obtainsufficient flexural capacity and structural
safety in hybrid girders with steel truss members.
4.1.3. Comparison of FHC and FHT
Fig. 16 presents the loaddisplacement relationships of hybrid
girders with corrugated steel web and steel truss web members.
Both FHC and FHT have the same connection system composed of
a flange plate and shear studs in the longitudinal direction, but FHC
has corrugated steel webs and FHT has steel truss webs. As shown
in Fig. 16, the initial stiffness of FHC is higher than that of FHT in
the linear elastic region, and the yield and ultimate strengths of
FHC are also higher than those of FHT in the nonlinear region.
Fig. 16 also presents the 3-D nonlinear analysis results of the
two types of hybridgirders using botha perfectly plastic model and
a tri-linear plastic model for prestressing tendons. This nonlinear
analysis was performed using the commercial FEM program
DIANA. The concrete was modeled by a solid element (HX24L),
and the steel members such as corrugated steel tubes or truss
members were modeled by a shell element (Q8MEM), as shown
in Fig. 17. The prestressing tendon was modeled as an embedded
bar element, and the DruckerPrager and the von-Mises plasticity
models were applied to the concrete and steel, respectively. The
smeared crack model was also applied to the concrete solid
elements. From the analysis, it was found that the stiffness of the
analysis results was higher than that of the experimental results.
The difference between the analytical and experimental results
was due to the partial composite behaviors of the connection
systems in the real specimens, while the analyses assumed that
they had perfect composite behaviors. Fig. 18 also presents the
measured reinforcement strains in the upper and lower slabs. The
results clearly indicate that the behavior of reinforcement strain is
similar to the loaddisplacement curve shown in Fig. 16, but the
strain increment of the tensile reinforcement in the lower slab is
larger than that of the compressive reinforcements in the upper
slab. From the test results, it can be inferred that FHC has a higher
flexural capacity than FHT, despite having the same connection
system. This capacity difference is due to FHC having a typical
regular cross section, while FHT has an opened irregular cross
section in the longitudinal direction. This inference is discussed
below in terms of the shear capacity.
4.2. Shear capacity
As shown in Fig. 16, FHC had a higher flexural capacity than that
of FHT despite having the same connection system. The difference
inthe capacity was due toFHChaving a typical regular cross section
while FHT has an open irregular cross section in the longitudinal
direction. This result trendmay also be relatedto the shear capacity
of each specimen. However, it is difficult to directly compare the
shear capacities of hybrid girders with corrugated steel webs (FHC,
PHC) to those of steel truss webs (FHT, GHT, EHT), since they
have different load transmission paths. The applied load transfers
directly to the support through the corrugated steel web in HC
girders, but the applied load transfers indirectly to the support by
way of truss members in HT girders.
Fig. 19 presents the principal strains of the corrugated steel
web (FHC, PHC). The maximum principal strain was less than
approximately 600 micro strains (equivalent to 120 MPa) and
remained in the linear elastic state as shown in Fig. 18 because the
design buckling stress of the corrugated steel web in this study was
3876 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
(a) 200 kN. (b) 400 kN.
(c) 800 kN.
Fig. 15. Comparison of strain variations in the cross sections of FHT, GHT, and EHT.
Fig. 16. Loaddisplacement relationships in FHC and FHT.
highly conservative and had a higher safety factor (more than 5.44
times), as shown in Table 5. Fig. 20 presents the maximum strains
of the steel truss members (FHT, GHT, EHT). Since the maximum
local stress of truss members used in the design was 150.7 MPa
and the allowable axial compressive stress was 190 MPa, the
safety factor for truss buckling was 1.26. Also, the maximumstrain
of a truss was less than about 1500 micro strains without local
buckling. In this study, each hybrid girder was designed such that
it had sufficient shear capacity until flexural failure occurred. From
the test results, the failure modes of all specimens showed typical
flexural failure modes regardless of web type. Also, the maximum
strain of the steel webs remained in the linear elastic region until
all specimens reached their ultimate states. Consequently, it can
be concluded that the structural safeties of the shear capacities for
two types of hybrid girders are guaranteed, and that the design of
the corrugated steel web is more conservative than is that of the
steel truss web.
Table 7
Cracking load of EHT, FHT, and GHT (Units: kN).
Location FHT GHT EHT
Upper slab
Top 1026.9 789.1 840.4
Bottom 1086.2 713.6 591.7
Lower slab
Top 634.2 335.3 333.9
Bottom 145.2 234.4 291.7
5. Serviceability
5.1. Cracking loads
In order to determine the cracking loads and crack patterns
for all specimens, the cracks formed on all concrete surfaces were
visually checked at every 10 kN load increment during the loading
test. Table 7 presents the cracking loads of the hybrid girders with
steel truss webs (EHT, GHT, FHT) according to member location,
and Table 8 shows the crack patterns. Below 200 kN, there were
no cracks in EHT or GHT. The first cracks formed in the bottom
of the lower slab at loads of 291.7 kN and 234.4 kN in EHT and
GHT, respectively. In the case of FHT, the first cracks occurred in
the bottom of the lower slab at 145.2 kN, but the cracks at the
other locations such as the upper slab and the top of the lower slab
occurred at an applied load greater than those of EHT and FHT.
5.2. Prestressing efficiency
Each specimen had the same prestressing force of approxi-
mately 432 kN (60% of the ultimate tensile strength of the pre-
stressing tendon) applied using hydraulic jacks. In order to apply
the same prestressing force to each specimen, the prestressing
K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878 3877
Table 8
Cracking mechanism of EHT, FHT, and GHT.
Load (kN) FHT GHT EHT
200
400
800
(a) HC girder. (b) HT girder.
Fig. 17. 3D modeling of FHC and FHT.
Fig. 18. Measured strains of the compressive and tensile rebars in FHC and FHT.
force was directly measured using load cells and the elongation
lengths of the tendons were checked. Also, the specimen longitu-
dinal strain variations were measured throughout the prestressing
procedure to determine the prestressing efficiency for each spec-
imen. Fig. 21 presents the strain variations in the reinforcements
in the longitudinal direction when the same prestressing force was
appliedtothe lower slabof the hybridgirders withsteel truss webs.
The longitudinal strains of EHT and GHT were higher than that of
FHT, which indicated that EHT and GHT had higher prestressing
efficiencies than FHT, since the flange plates of both EHT and GHT
did not resist axial prestressing forces. Finally, from the fact that
the first cracking of FHT occurred at a lower applied load, it can be
deduced that FHT had a lower prestressing efficiency than those of
EHT and GHT.
6. Conclusions
This paper has focused on verifying the structural safety of
hybrid girders with steel webs and evaluating the behaviors of
hybrid girders according to web type and connection system.
(1) The structural safeties of the flexural capacities of two types
of hybrid girders are governed by the connection systems as
well as the web structures. From the test results, the stiffness,
ultimate strength, and behavior of each type of hybrid girder
Fig. 19. Measured principal strains of the corrugated steel webs in FHC and PHC.
Fig. 20. Measured strains of both the maximum compressive and tensile truss
members in FHT, GHT, and EHT.
can be very different in the linear elastic region as well as in
the nonlinear region depending on the connection system.
(2) The structural safeties of the shear capacities for the two types
of hybrid girders were guaranteed, since the failure modes
of all specimens presented the typical flexural failure mode
regardless of web type. The maximum strain of the steel
webs remained in the linear elastic region until all specimens
reached the ultimate state.
3878 K.-H. Jung et al. / Engineering Structures 32 (2010) 38663878
Fig. 21. Prestressing efficiencies of FHT, GHT, and EHT.
(3) BothFHCandPHChave a sufficient number of shear connectors
to allowfor perfect composite behavior; however, the ultimate
strength of FHC is approximately 14% higher than that of PHC.
The study results can be attributed to FHC having continuously
arranged studs in the longitudinal direction as opposed to
PHC, which has discontinuously arranged perfobonds. This
indicates that the arrangement pattern and the number of
shear connectors are important parameters that affect the
flexural behaviors of hybrid girders.
(4) EHT is an embedded-type connection system with no local
moment at the connection joint since there is no eccentricity
between the centroid of the concrete slab and the cross points
of the two truss axes. FHT and GHT have shear studs and a steel
plate as force transfer elements and always produce a local
moment at the connection joint since eccentricity between the
centroid of a composite slab and the cross points of two truss
axes always occurs.
(5) The EHT used in this study can be a useful connection system
for hybrid truss girders since it provides sufficient structural
safety without requiring any shear connectors or welding
procedures during construction.
(6) The stiffnesses of hybrid girders with corrugated steel webs
(FHC) are higher than those of hybrid girders with steel truss
webs (FHT) due to FHC having a typical regular cross section,
while FHT has an open irregular cross section. This result is
related to the shear capacities of hybrid girders.
(7) The longitudinal flange plates of hybrid girders with steel webs
can play a vital role in resisting the prestressing forces, thereby
enhancing the flexural capacity but decreasing the cracking
load in the lower slab.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant (05 construction core C14)
from the Construction Core Technology Program of the Ministry
of Construction & Transportation of the Korean Government. The
authors wish to express their gratitude for the financial support.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions of the paper are solely from
the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.
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