An experimental study of perforated steel web plates

Fifty-two tests on the behaviour and ultimate strength of perforated steel web plates subjected to inplane bending and shearing are described. The plates were tested as the webs of I-section girders. Their depth/thickness ratios varied between 90 and 180. All but two of the panels had an aspect ratio (b/d) of 0.7, and each perforated panel had a centrally placed hole. The holes had unreinforced edges and were of either circular or elongated circular shape. These panels are typical of those found in ship-type structures. The effect of varying the shear/moment ratio (F/M) in the panel on its strength was studied. Stresses in one test panel were calculated from strain measurements at loads up to collapse. It was found that the experimental results for the stockiest plates could be reasonably predicted using an existing approach based on simple plastic theory. This approach could not be applied to the more slender panels. The method based on the tension field approach which has been proposed for the analysis of such panels was unable to predict the failure loads of the panels tested