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Currently, there are different options to increase the ultimate resistance of plate girders subjected to patch loading. Some of these alternatives include the use of closely spaced transverse stiffeners and the use of longitudinal stiffeners. Nevertheless, recent investigations have demonstrated that the resistance is also improved by using delta stiffeners, which are obtained by welding two plates between the web plate and the loaded flange. This paper aims at studying the elastic buckling behavior of slender plate girders designed following AASHTO norms with delta stiffeners subjected to patch loading. The research is carried out by means of eigenvalue analysis using the finite element method. A parametric study is performed to evaluate the influence of various geometrical parameters on the buckling coefficient of the girder. Finally, design recommendations are suggested based on the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of stainless steel in construction has led to the need of developing resistance models for structural elements made of this material. Unlike carbon steels, stainless steel alloys exhibit stress-strain curves with a pronounced strain hardening capacity and reasonable ductility that should be considered in the design. This difference in behavior makes the formulations used for carbon steel conservative when designing with stainless steel. Therefore, this paper presents a comparative analysis of resistance models for slender austenitic stainless-steel beams subject to concentrated loads. First, the failure mechanisms of stainless-steel beams are presented using a nonlinear finite element model. From this validated numerical model, a database obtained from a parametric analysis that covers a wide range of geometries is presented. Subsequently, this database is used to perform a comparison between various resistance models available in the literature. These models correspond to both international design codes and models obtained through machine learning. Finally, the numerical results show considerable improvement in the predicted ultimate resistances for slender stainless steel plate girders subjected to patch loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]