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Lec
Fourth Year Engineering College
7 Dr.Abbas Oda Dawood Civil Department 7
PLATE GIRDER
1. INTRODUCTION
Welded plate girders, which are the most common form of plate girders, are built-up
structural steel members that consists of flange plates welded to a web plate with fillet
welds. They are used to support loads over long spans (60 ft. to 200 ft.) and to support
structural loads that are too large to be supported by the rolled steel shapes shown in
the AISCM. Plate girders are rarely used in building structures, but are commonly used in
bridge structures. They are used as transfer girders in building structures to support
columns above large column-free areas. Plate girders may also be used in the retrofitting
of existing building structures where column-free areas are needed and existing columns
have to be cut off or removed below a certain floor level. Plate girders are also used as
crane support girders in heavy industrial structures with long spans.
All the standard hot-rolled shapes in the Manual, the webs are compact. Some have
noncompact flanges, but none have slender flanges. With shapes built up from plates,
however, both flanges and webs can be compact, noncompact, or slender. These built-up
shapes usually are used when the bending moments are larger than standard hot-rolled
shapes can resist, usually because of a large span. These girders are invariably very deep,
resulting in noncompact or slender webs.
A plate girder cross section can take several forms. The usual configuration is a single
web with two equal flanges, with all parts connected by welding. The box section, which
has two webs as well as two flanges, is a torsionally superior shape and can be used
when large unbraced lengths are necessary. Hybrid girders, in which the steel in the
flanges is of a higher strength than that in the web or webs, are sometimes used.
Tension-field action is not permitted in the design of end panels. When designing or
analyzing rolled sections, the overall depth of the member (measured between the
outside faces of the flanges) is used to resist the shear force. For plate girders, only the
girder web (measured between the inside faces of the flanges) is used to resist shear.
additional stiffeners may be required at points of concentrated loads for the purpose of
protecting the web from the direct compressive load. These members are called bearing
stiffeners, and they must be proportioned to resist the applied loads. They can also
simultaneously serve as intermediate stiffeners.
hp= twice the distance from the plastic neutral axis to the inside face of the compression
flange. (hp/2 defines the part of the web in compression for the plastic moment. hp= h
for girders with equal flanges).
Mp= plastic moment = Fy Zx
My= yield moment = Fy Sx
To prevent web buckling (to prevent vertical buckling of the compression flange into the
web), web stiffeners can be added for stability. AISC F13.2 imposes an upper limit on the
web slenderness. The limiting value of h/tw is a function of the aspect ratio, a/h, of the
girder panels, which is the ratio of intermediate stiffener spacing to web depth.
Thus I-shaped members must also satisfy the following limits, where a is the clear
distance between transverse stiffeners, and h is the height of the web between flanges.
h E h 0.42 E
12
tw max Fy tw max Fy
M n Fy S xt
This limit state does not apply to built-up sections when the section modulus of the
built-up section with respect to the tension face, Sxt , is greater than or equal to the
section modulus with respect to the compression face, Sxc (i.e., when Sxt Sxc ).
M n R pg Fy S xc
h
R pg 1
aw
c 5.7 E 1.0
tw Fy
1200 300 a w
where
hc t w
aw 10
b fc t fc
Ix
S xc
yc
E
L p 1.1 rt
Fy
E
L r rt
0.7 Fy
b fc
rt
1
12 1 a w
6
Lp Lb Lr L b L p
Fcr C b Fy 0.3 Fy Fy
L r L p
Lb Lr Cb 2 E
Fcr 2
Fy
Lb
rt
Cb = Bending moment coefficient. It is conservative to assume a Cb = 1.0
M n R pg Fcr S xc
If the section has compact flanges, the limit state of compression flange local buckling
doesn’t apply.
b fc E kc E
p 0.38 r 0.95
2 t fc Fy FL
4
kc , (0.35 k c 0.76)
h / tw
Compact Flange p Fy
Noncompact Flange p r p
Fcr Fy 0.3 Fy
r p
1- TFY
Since member is symmetric about x-axis
S xt S xc TFY does not apply
2- FLB
Since flange is compact, FLB does not apply
Solution
3-LTB
Determine the flange compactness Lb 20 ft
b 24 E 29000 bfc 24
fc 12 p 0.38 0.38 10.79 rt 6.61
2 t fc 2 *1 Fy 36 1 1
12 1 a w 12 1 * 0.586
6 6
p
E 29000
4 4 Lp 1.1 rt 1.1* 6.61 206.36 in 17.2 ft
kc 0.333 Fy 36
h / tw 45 / 0.3125
kc E 0.333 * 29000
r 0.95 0.95 18.59 E 29000
FL 0.7 * 36 Lr rt * 6.61 704.45in 58.7 ft
0.7 Fy 0.7 * 36
p r Non compact flange
M n R pg Fcr S xc
b M n is the lowest value of TFY,CFY, LTB, FLB
Mn 0.9 *1.0 * 35.27 *1182 3126.69 k.ft
2- FLB
1- TFY M n R pg Fcr S xc
Since member is symmetric about x-axis
S xt S xc TFY does not apply p r Non compact flange
2- CFY p
M n R pg Fy S xc Fcr Fy 0.3 Fy
r p
h c t w 45 * 0.3125
aw 0.586 10 OK
bfc t fc 24 *1.0 12 10.79
Fcr 36 0.3 * 36 34.32
18.59 10.79
h
R pg 1
aw
c 5.7 E 1.0
tw Fy M n 0.9 *1.0 * 34.32 *1182 3042.47 k.ft
1200 300 a w
Thus FLB gives smaller value (control)
0.586 29000
R pg 1 144 5.7
36
1200 300 * 0.586 Thus
1.0075 1.0 R pg 1.0
M n 3042.47 k.ft (FLB)
Whether a plate girder will be unstiffened or stiffened must be decided in the early
design stages. Using stiffeners reduces the total steel weight but increases fabrication
costs. If the web height-to-thickness ratio h/tw > 260, transverse stiffeners are required.
AISC G3.1 lists all of the conditions under which a tension field cannot be used:
a- In end panels
2
b- When a 3 OR a 260
h h h / tw
2Aw
c- When 2.5
A fc A ft
h h
d- or 6
b fc b ft
h kv E
1 If 1.10 , Then the strength is based on shear yielding, and
tw Fy
Vn 0.6 Fy A w C v
h kv E
2 If 1.10 , Then the strength will be based on shear buckling or shear
tw Fy
buckling plus tension-field action. If tension-field behavior exists,
1 C v
Vn 0.6 Fy A w C v
1.15 1 a / h 2
OR
1 C v
Vn 0.6 Fy A w C v 0.6 Fy A w
1.15 1 a / h 2
0.9
Aw = area of the web = d * t
d = overall depth of the beam
Cv= ratio of critical web stress to shear yield stress
h / t w ratio kv
h 5
Unstiffened web with 260
tw
2 5
5
Stiffened web with a 3 OR a 260
h h h / tw
a / h 2
2
Stiffened web with a 3 OR a 260 5
h h h / tw
h kv E C v 1.0
1.10
tw Fy
kv E h kv E kv E
1.10 1.37 1.10
Fy tw Fy Fy
h / tw
h kv E 1.51 E k v
1.37
tw Fy h / t w 2 Fy
h kv E
2.46
tw Fy
Vu Vn For k v 5
For all other conditions, transverse stiffeners are required and the spacing, a, and
thickness, tst , of the stiffener must be selected to satisfy the following conditions:
I st b t 2w j
b min a , h
2.5
j 2 0.5
a / h 2
t st 2b st t w 3
I st
12
tst = Thickness of transverse stiffener, and
bst= Width of transverse stiffener perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the
girder.
Ist = Moment of inertia for a pair of stiffeners (i.e., stiffeners on both sides of the web)
about a horizontal axis at the centerline of the web.
b E
0.56
t st Fy,st
V Vc1
I st I st1 (I st2 I st1 ) u
Vc 2 Vc1
where
(b/t)st = width-to-thickness ratio of the stiffener,
Fy,st = yield stress of the stiffener
Vu = is the larger of the required shear strengths in the adjacent web panels,
Vc1 = the smaller of the available shear strengths ( Vn ) in the adjacent panels,
calculated with no tension field action .
Vc2 = the smaller of the available shear strengths ( Vn ) in the adjacent panels,
calculated with tension field action.
Fyw
st max ,1
Fyst
Fyw = yield stress of the girder web
Bearing stiffeners are required when the web has insufficient strength for any of the limit
states of web yielding, web crippling, or sidesway web buckling.
Although the web can be proportioned to directly resist any applied concentrated loads,
bearing stiffeners are usually provided. If stiffeners are used to resist the full
concentrated load, the limit states of web yielding, web crippling, and sidesway web
buckling do not need to be checked.
The nominal bearing strength of a stiffener is given in AISC J7 as
R n 1.8 Fy A pb , 0.75
AISC J10.8 requires that full-depth stiffeners be used in pairs and analyzed as axially
loaded columns subject to the following guidelines:
1- The cross section of the axially loaded member consists of the stiffener plates and a
length of the web. This length can be no greater than 12 times the web thickness for an
end stiffener or 25 times the web thickness for an interior stiffener.
2- The effective length should be taken as 0.75 times the actual length—that is,
KL = 0.75h.
Lecture 7 ....... Page 14
Lec Steel Design Misan University
Lec
Fourth Year Engineering College
7 Dr.Abbas Oda Dawood Civil Department 7
3- The nominal axial strength is
KL
- If 25 Pn Fy A g , 0.9
r
KL
- If 25 the usual requirements for compression members in AISC E apply.
r
b E
4- 0.56
t st Fy,st
The spacing of stiffeners could be obtained from Table 3-16 and 3-17
h kv E 5 * 29000
219 1.37 1.37 86.95
tw Fy 36
3
3
I st min b t 2w j 82 * * 0.5 2.16 in 4
8
I 323
r 5.0 in
A 12.94
c-Design bearing stiffeners
KL 0.75 h 0.75 * 82 61.5 in
20 3 / 8 KL 61.5
b st max 9.81
r
5.0
12.3
2
Use bst = 9 in Enter Table 4-22 of AISCM with KL/r = 12.3 and
Fy=36 ksi and read c Fcr 31.17 ksi
b E 29000
0.56 0.56 15.89
t st Fy,st 36 c Pn c Fcr * A 31.17 *12.94 416.3 kips
c Pn 416.3 kips R u 156.98 kips OK
b st 9
15.89 15.89 min t st 0.566
t st t st Check bearing strength
R n 1.8 Fy A pb
Use tst =5/8 = 0.625 in