Behavior of corrugated steel compact I-section beams

Abstract

The present study deals with the experimental behavior of steel beams with a corrugated section, which is approximately equivalent to a compact I-shape plate girder section. Each part of the compact section (flanges and web) was transformed to its equivalent corrugated shape, depending on the available steel plate in the local market, by two plates separated by internal steel stiffeners of a zek zak shape. Six specimens were fabricated and tested in which one of them was considered as a control beam with no corrugation while the other five ones were with various schemes of corrugation for the flanges and the web . The experimental results showed that an increment of nearly 22% in the ultimate load was obtained when the section’s height increased by 25% due to the corrugation process. Furthermore, the mid-span deflection reduced by 57% as the section’s height increased by 29%. Besides, the modes of failure changed from flexural to shear in all the tested corrugated specimens.