Elastic critical load of plates and plate girders subjected to patch load

• Published in: Građevinski materijali i konstrukcije Vol. 61; no. 4; pp. 55 - 67
• Main Authors: Jakovljević, Isidora, Kovačević, Saša, Marković, Nenad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Society for Materials and Structures testing of Serbia 2018
• Subjects: buckling coefficient; elastic critical load; patch loading; plate buckling; plate girder buckling
• ISSN: 2217-8139; 2335-0229; 2335-0229
• DOI: 10.5937/GRMK1804055J

The determination of the elastic critical load (buckling load) is an important element of the assessment of the ultimate load of plate girders according to Eurocode 3 for design of steel structures. An analysis of the critical load of a plate corresponding to the web of an I-girder for different boundary conditions and the critical load of the I-girder itself subjected to patch load is given in the paper. Conclusions regarding their correspondence are given. Also, experimentally determined ultimate loads of I-girders are compared with predictive values according to Eurocode 3 for the models used in this analysis. A modified procedure for the ultimate load determination is proposed by following the Eurocode 3 algorithm and changing only buckling coefficient. In order to improve the ultimate load prediction, it is suggested to calculate the buckling coefficient also as a function of patch load length.