THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE COLLAPSE BEHAVIOR OF TRANSVERSELY STIFFENED ALUMINUM-ALLOY PLATE GIRDERS

This paper reports on part of an ongoing research programme into the c ollapse behaviour of lightweight aluminium girders, suitable for trans portable bridging systems. It describes the theoretical and experiment al investigation of the behaviour of the transverse web stiffeners of welded aluminium alloy plate girders loaded predominantly in shear. Th e theory is based on a mathematical model that assumes a non-linear sh ear stress distribution at the boundaries of the adjacent web panels. The experimental investigation consists of a series of tests in which 10 fabricated plate girders were loaded to failure; careful tests of m aterial properties are also reported.