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Postbuckling Shear Strength at Elevated Temperatures Using a Compression-based Approach
Abstract
Steel plate girders are susceptible to web shear buckling at elevated temperatures; however, the underlying mechanics governing this buckling behavior have eluded understanding despite decades of research. Tension field theory, which assumes that postbuckling shear strength is derived from the formation of diagonal tensile stresses after elastic buckling, has traditionally served as the basis for web shear buckling models. While grounded in extensive experimental work conducted at ambient temperatures, tension field theory has been shown to become inaccurate over a range of plate geometries, steel yield strengths, and temperatures from 20oC to 1100oC. Given these limitations, the authors have previously proposed a compression-based approach that characterizes a web plate’s ability to develop postbuckling shear strength based on an interaction of diagonal compressive and tensile stresses. This paper presents the derivation of this compression-based approach for steel temperatures of 20oC up to 1100oC. It is shown that correlation to experimental results is within 13%.