Torsional and Warping Constants of I-shaped Plate Girders with a Sine Corrugated Web

In this study, the equations of torsional and warping constants of a I-shaped plate girder with sine corrugated web are suggested. Because of geometric characteristics of the section, a I-shaped plate girder with corrugated web shows high out-of-plane stiffness, shear strength, and torsional stiffness. Torsional constant and warping constant definitely affect lateral-torsional buckling loads. Therefore, exact estimation of the sectional properties is quite important. But, it is difficult to estimate these properties by former methods. So, this study was focused on suggestion of the rational equations to calculate torsional and warping constants. In order to investigate the effects of geometric characteristics of sine-corrugated webs on torsional stiffness and warping torsional constant, finite element analyses for pure torsional behavior and warping torsional behavior of I-shaped plate girders were performed. By regression analyses of the analytical results, rational equations of the torsional constant and warping constant were suggested. Suggested equations for the properties were validated based on the analytical results of lateral-torsional buckling of simply supported I-shaped plate girder. By suggested equations, torsional and warping constants of I-shaped plate girders with a sine-corrugated web can be rationally estimated and more exact lateral-torsional buckling load can be simply calculated.