Shear Failure in Flanges of Prestressed Concrete Bridges with Corrugated Steel Webs

Abstract The incorporation of corrugated steel webs in prestressed concrete bridges has improved their structural performance. However, the low axial stiffness of the shear deformable corrugated steel webs affects the shear distribution in the section and its potential shear failure mode. Design engineers often assume that the corrugated steel webs resist all the shear force; however, there is the risk of shear failure in the concrete flanges near the diaphragms and point loads due to the interaction between the local flexure of the concrete flanges and the shear deformation of corrugated steel webs. However, there is limited research on the shear failure of concrete flanges. The shear distribution in the composite section and the shear failure in the concrete flanges were studied experimentally and numerically in this study. Tests showed that local shear failure could occur in the concrete flanges. A formula is proposed to estimate the shear capacity of the composite section considering a potential shear failure in the concrete flanges together with some design recommendations.