Nominal Flexural Strength Considering Strain-hardening Effect of HSB600 Steel for Composite I-girders in Positive Bending

Abstract

-This paper proposes nominal flexural strength considering strain-hardening effect of HSB600 high performance steel for compact composite I-girders in positive bending. Unlike conventional steels, HSB600 undergoes strain-hardening just after yielding without going through yield plateau. However, because the nominal flexural strength specified in domestic and foreign bridge design specifications has been developed for the conventional steel composite girders, the nominal flexural strength does not appropriately consider the strain-hardening of HSB600. Therefore, plastic moment considering a strain-hardening is proposed so as to consider effect of the strain-hardening of HSB600 on flexural strength and then moment-curvature analysis is performed to a wide range of cross-sections. From results of the analysis, a parameter representing the effect of the strain-hardening on the flexural strength of HSB600 composite girders is proposed. Furthermore, by using this parameter, the nominal flexural strength considering the strain-hardening effect for HSB600 composite I-girders in positive bending is proposed and then evaluated by comparing with the current AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications.