Shear buckling coefficients of plate girder web panels

In the design of plate girder web panels, it is required to evaluate accurately the elastic buckling strength under shear, whether or not the post-buckling strength is accounted for. Currently, elastic shear buckling coefficients of web panels stiffened by transverse intermediate stiffeners are determined by assuming conservatively that web panels are simply supported at the juncture between the flange and web. However, depending upon the geometry and the properties of the plate girder, the elastically restrained support may behave rather closer to a clamped support. In the present study, a series of numerical analyses based on a three-dimensional finite element modeling is carried out to investigate the effects of the geometric parameters on the boundary conditions at the juncture, and the resulting data are quantified in a simple design equation.