Panting Fatigue of Trapezoidal Corrugated Steel Webs with Mixed-Mode Cracks

Trapezoidal corrugated steel webs under panting fatigue are represented by repeated cyclical out-of-plane deflections of their subpanel with mixed-mode cracks. Compared to stiffened flat webs, notable fatigue crack formation could take place along with local deflection. Fatigue tests were conducted for nine composite girders with slender webs and varied corrugation dimensions. Nearly all test girders showed notable local and interactive shear buckling at the corrugated web panel and the panting fatigue cracks are formed under repeated cyclical deflection while the compression and tension flanges remain intact. Fatigue cracks are initiated at the junction between the vertical (longer) edge of the subpanel and the boundary of the out-of-plane deflection region. The crack propagation paths appear to deviate from the original vertical edge due to buckling induced out-of-plane deflection under mixed-mode stress condition. The test results demonstrate that the Category B’ and Category E suggested by the AASHTO LRFD bridge fatigue design provisions related to the principal stress range and the nominal membrane shear stress range respectively can be considered for the prediction of the fatigue life of trapezoidal Corrugated steel webs in test girders. An appropriate allowance of both the shear stress along the vertical web edge and tension stress from the diagonal plastified tension band is given for the mixed-mode stress intensity factor. The proposed fatigue life prediction allowing for mixed-mode crack growth mostly compares well with test results and its further improvement for the case with higher web panel slenderness ratio is discussed.