COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATION OF FATIGUE STRENGTH OF BEAMS WITH WEB PLATE STIFFENED IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY AND BY CORRUGATION

Fatigue investigation of four different types of groups of beams is described: beams of hybrid structure stiffened by corrugation; homogeneous beams stiffened by corrugation; beams of hybrid structure stiffened in the traditional way and homogeneous beams stiffened in the traditional way. The results of the experiments do not suggest any essential differences between the fatigue strengths of the beams of hybrid structure or homogeneous material. However, the fatigue strength of the beams stiffened by corrugation surpasses by 25 per cent that of the beams stiffened in the traditional way. The authors make a comparison between the experimental results of the research work reported on in this paper and those of earlier investigations.(a) (TRRL)