Connection Flexibility Comparison of Bent Plates and Half Pipe Stiffeners and Their Impact on Girder Buckling Strength in Skewed Steel Bridges

摘要

The impacts of skewed bridge girder cross frames with bent plate and pipe stiffener connections have been assessed with respect to girder twist and warping restraint. A simplified method to calculate the buckling capacity reduction due to end twist of girders utilizing bent plate connections has been proposed. The reduction in buckling capacity due to end twist of girders with the half pipe stiffener is negligible. Additionally, a method to calculate the increase in buckling capacity due to the warping restraint provided by a pipe stiffener has been given. Each of these methods has been developed for the parameters used in each parametric study and are valid only in the elastic range.