Bending strength of concrete-filled narrow-width steel box girder

A new type of partially concrete filled steel box girder is proposed. The distance between the two webs is narrower than that of a conventional steel box girder, and concrete is filled inside the box girder at the intermediate supports of the continuous girder. Static bending loading tests were conducted with these new type girders, showing that the ultimate bending strength of the concrete filled steel box girder model was 40% larger than that of the steel box girder model. The ductility also increased about 8 times. The tests with the half concrete filled steel box girder model showed that the ultimate bending strength was 25% larger than the steel box girder model and the ductility was about 6.5 times larger. The half concrete filled steel box girder model without vertical stiffeners had the same ultimate bending strength of that of the girder with vertical stiffeners but the ductility was about half. The simple calculation method was developed using fibre models. The calculated results agreed with the test results and the calculation method has been verified. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.