Experiments and theory on deck and girder crushing

Abstract This paper is concerned with theoretical and experimental analysis of deep plastic collapse of a deck or deep girder subjected to an in-plane, concentrated load. A theory is derived which is valid until initiation of fracture in the structure. The presented experimental results show load–deflection curves and modes of deformation for decks, stringer decks and deep thin-walled beams subjected to central or excentric point loads between transverse frames. Based on theory and experiments, various modelling aspects of the local/global failure of the beams are discussed. The agreement between the theoretical closed form solutions and the experimental results is good.