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Steel beams and girders with corrugated webs have found many applications, especially in industrial structures and bridges. This choice is backed by the many features, this class of structural members can offer, such as the high load carrying capacity before failure due to the web geometry. The failure of a corrugated web may occur due to material yielding or due to geometrical buckling. Three modes of shear buckling are typical for corrugated webs: local, global, and interactive shear buckling. In this paper, the shear failure mechanisms of trapezoidal corrugated webs are investigated. Nine, shear-critical, corrugated web panels were tested until failure. The new test results confirmed a previous observation that all panels achieved a residual strength of about half of the buckling shear strength, regardless of their geometry and most of them reached yielding before buckling takes place. Since the shear strength of corrugated webs is a function of several material and geometric parameters, a comprehensive global, density-based, sensitivity analysis was performed to estimate the relative contribution of each parameter to the behavior of shear strength through a previously developed mathematical model. The analysis revealed that the length of the flat folds is the most influential parameter on the shear strength of corrugated webs, while the modulus of elasticity is the least influential. The study was extended to determine ranges on which each parameter is non-influential.

Steel corrugated webs are vertical and lightweight plates responsible for carrying large in-plane loads before buckling. Three modes of shear failure are typical for these elements: local, global, and interactive shear buckling. In this paper, previously published analytical models for the estimation of the shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated webs are summarized, and a new model is developed. The proposed model takes into account the interaction between the modes of shear buckling. Twelve shear-critical corrugated web steel beams (CWSBs) were manufactured and tested to failure. The results were added to update the existing database, resulting in 125 test results, which were then used to compare the performance of developed and existing models. The new model is shown to be more accurate than previously published models for estimating the shear strength of corrugated steel webs, allowing for more economic designs.

Despite their successful use in many bridges across several countries around the world, corrugated web steel girders (CWSGs) haven't been yet recognized formally by mainstream design codes and standards. CWSGs can be an economical alternative to conventional welded plate girders; they can achieve higher shear strengths with lesser material usage. Corrugated webs have been demonstrated to carry about half of their ultimate shear strength after buckling, which is an important reserve strength to overcome sudden collapses of bridge structures. The current design practice combines the latest research in the field with engineering judgment with no regard for reliability-based design. In light of the new developments in the field of bridge design and reliability analysis techniques, this paper revisits first the reliability of welded plate girders in shear and verifies their target reliability index and the corresponding resistance factor as per AASHTO LRFD. Then, and in an attempt to prepare the inclusion of CWSGs shear design in AASHTO LRFD, a probabilistic-based calibration procedure is applied to calibrate the resistance factor for bridges having a range of span lengths and girder spacings, with consideration of different average daily truck traffic. A series of sensitivity analyses were carried out in order to quantify the relative contribution of each design parameter to the overall reliability of CWSGs in shear. The findings of this study suggest that, for CWSGs in shear, a resistance factor of 0.95 is appropriate to ensure a reliability level that is consistently close to the target. The sensitivity analysis showed that the web thickness, web depth, and the yield strength of the web's steel material are the most influential parameters on the reliability index of CWSGs.