EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SHEAR CAPACITY OF I-BEAMS WITH TAPERED WEBS

The paper reported an experimental study on the post-buckling shear strength of I-sectional beams with tapered webs. The comparison with FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis is carried out and reasonable agreement between the test and the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) is observed. A design formula is proposed that the post-buckling shear strength is determined by multiplying the counterpart of the uniform beam by a taper reduction factor. The comparison with test and expanded FEM analysis shows an excellent effectiveness of the proposed formula.