Anwendung von Trapezblechstegen im Brückenbau

The use of corrugated steel webs in bridge constructions - Load bearing behaviour of concrete dowels in combination with corrugated steel webs under longitudinal shear

Studies of the load bearing behaviour under shear force of integrated connections at composite bridge girders using corrugated steel webs. Up to now there is only one project in Germany, where the application of corrugated steel webs has been practiced in the field of composite bridges. Due to the characteristics of the corrugated steel web this construction method has constructive and economic advantages. However there is a lack of experiences and standards to fully utilize these advantages and to allow an economic application. Especially the first project in Germany expose some critical points. The design of the joint between the concrete slab and the corrugated steel web is actually not satisfactory and shows the need for simpler and more practicable connection methods.
At the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design at Universität Stuttgart and together with the Institute of Structural Design, a research project, financed by Forschungsvereinigung für Stahlanwendung e. V. (FOSTA) was made. Within this project different types of composite joints were experimentally and numerically analysed. This paper deals only with the investigations of concrete dowels as connectors. On the basis of these studies simple design rules for shear connection in the ultimate limit state were developed.