Shear strength evaluation of steel beams with partially corrugated web

This paper introduces a new type of corrugated web beam: the beam with a partially corrugated web (PCW), which presses a steel plate into a vertically rounded rectangular shape. To investigate the shear behavior of this new beam, the experimental tests on the PCW beam and conventional beam were carried out at 4.32, 5.94, and 7.56 m span length with a web thickness of 2.3 and 3.2 mm. The PCW beam has a high shear strength and large deformation capacity, but almost the same bending capacity compared with the conventional one. In shear failure mode, the PCW has an initial local buckling near top and bottom of pressed boundary and shows a global buckling with several diagonal fold lines with increasing load, whereas conventional one shows a single elastic buckling. The moment capacity of PCW agrees well agree with design criteria. When the PCW is considered a sinusoidal corrugated web, the local buckling of Eurocode 3 is almost the same or slightly lower than test results, and the global buckling is higher. •The structural behavior of the Partially Corrugated Web (PCW) and the conventional flat web was compared and analyzed.•Using a PCW (Partially Corrugated Web) increases the shear strength of the beam.•The Partially Corrugated Web (PCW) had negligible impact on the flexural strength of the web.•The assessment of PCW structures is predominantly conducted in accordance with the local buckling provisions of Eurocode 3.