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 Steel Structures

Plate girder; importance, design problems and

stiffeners

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 Plate Girder
A plate girder is a built-up I-beam section, used
to carry heavy loads which cannot be carried
economically by rolled I-sections.

A plate girder is same as I section beam, but the

plate girders are more deeper than I section.
Most of the time it is more 2.5’.

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Components of Plate Girder

1.Web

2.Flanges

3.Stiffeners

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Stiffeners are important10
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 Where to Use Plate Girders????
• Where we want large column-free spaces.

For Example: Shopping Malls, Assembly halls, Stadiums etc.

• Where loading is High.

• Other materials can’t serve the purpose like RCC and Pre-stressed Concrete.
Plate girders have higher strength-to-selfweight ratio when compared to
conventional RCC girders thus reducing cost.

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 Design Procedure of Plate Girder

Step No. 1: Analyze the structural member and calculate maximum bending
moment.
w (lbs/ft)

2
𝑤𝐿
𝐵 . 𝑀 𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
8
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Step No. 2: Make a preliminary web design.

Take depth of girder as

𝐿 𝐿
𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑤 h
12 10
Where L is the span of the girder.

For thickness of web, .

Minimum ratio between h and .

h 760 760
= = =162
𝑡 𝑤 √ 𝐹 𝑏 √ 22
Maximum ratio between h and .
h 14000 14000
= = =322
𝑡 𝑤 √ 𝐹 𝑦 ( 𝐹 𝑦 +16.2 ) √ 36 ( 36 +16.2 ) 14
 𝑤𝑓
Step No. 3: Make a preliminary flange plate design.

𝑀𝑎𝑥 : 𝐵𝑀 𝐴𝑤 𝑡𝑓
𝐴𝑓 = −
𝑓 𝑏 h1 6 h1

The flange dimensions are then decided using the following expression.

𝑏 95
< The selected dimensions must have an area greater
2𝑡 𝑓 √ 𝐹 𝑦 than calculated in above equation.

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Step No. 4: Calculate moment of inertia and section modulus of trial section and
revise calculation, if needed.

{ }
3 y
𝑏h
3
𝑤𝑓 𝑡𝑓 2 𝑡𝑓 d
𝐼 𝑥𝑥 = +2 + 𝐴𝑓 𝑑
12 12 h

𝐼 𝑥𝑥
𝑆 𝑥𝑥 =
𝑦

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 Now calculate actual bending stress by following formula

𝑀𝑇
𝐹𝑏 =
𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙
𝑆 𝑥𝑥

Total bending moment = Bending moment due to load + Bending moment due to self weight

If actual bending stress is less than the allowable bending stress i.e.

Revise the calculations if above expression does not satisfy or if the actual bending
stress is still adjustable in allowing bending stress. 17
Example No. 1: Design a welded plate girder to support two columns spanning 53 feet
in a high rise building, floor load delivers an equivalent uniform load of 2.8 kips/ft to
the top flange other than the self weight of the girder. The general span and loadings
are shown in figure, assume lateral bracing of the compression flange at the ends. Use
AISC specification for A-36 steel, the girder depth may be limited to 84 inches.

90 kips 105 kips

2.8 kips/ft

17.5 ft 17.5 ft 18 ft
53 ft
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Example No. 2: Design the web and flanges of a plate girder with the loading
condition shown in figure. This plate girder is part of a commercial building. The A-36
steel may be used for design.

100 kips 100 kips 100 kips

3 kips/ft

20 ft 10 ft 10 ft 20 ft
60 ft
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Example No. 3: Design the web and flanges of a plate girder with the loading
condition shown in figure. This plate girder is part of a commercial building. The A-36
steel may be used for design.

80 kips 100 kips 90 kips

2.5 kips/ft

10 ft 10 ft 20 ft 10 ft
50 ft
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Stiffeners
• In a plate girder, the web is often made very thin to derive maximum economy in
weight. The webs, when they are inadequate to carry the load, are made strong and
stable by the provision of a wide variety of stiffeners.

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Significance of Stiffeners
• Stiffeners are secondary plates or sections which are attached to beam webs or
flanges to stiffen them against out of plane deformations.

• Almost all main bridge beams will have

stiffeners. However, most will only have
transverse web stiffeners, i.e. vertical stiffeners
attached to the web.
• Deep beams sometimes also have longitudinal
web stiffeners.
• Flange stiffeners may be used on large span box
girder bridges but are unlikely to be
encountered elsewhere.
Source: https://www.steelconstruction.info/Stiffeners 52
Stiffeners in Box girders
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Types of Stiffeners
There are two principal types of stiffener:

•Longitudinal web stiffeners which are aligned in

the span direction

•Transverse stiffeners, which are aligned normal

to the span direction of the beam.

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Classification of Stiffeners based on the role
they play in strengthening the web
1. Bearing Stiffeners
• The function of a bearing stiffener is to
prevent any crushing of the web at
locations of heavy concentrated loads.
• Thus, bearing stiffeners transfer heavy
reactions or concentrated loads to the full
depth of the web.
• They are placed in pairs on the web of
plate girders at girder ends and where
required for concentrated loads. 55
2. Load Carrying Stiffeners
A load carrying stiffener prevents local buckling of the web due to any
concentrated load.

3. Intermediate Transverse Web Stiffeners

An intermediate transverse web stiffener mainly
improves the buckling strength of the web due to
shear. They continue to remain effective after the
web buckles to provide anchorage for the tension
field and finally they prevent the flanges from
moving towards one another. They are also called
as non-bearing stiffeners or stability stiffeners.

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4. Torsional Stiffeners
Torsional stiffeners are provided at supports to restrain the girders against
torsional effects.

5. Diagonal Stiffeners
Local strengthening of the web under
the combination of shear and bending
is provided by diagonal stiffener.

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6. Tension Stiffeners
The tensile forces from the flange are transmitted to the web through the tension
stiffener.

7. Longitudinal Stiffeners
A longitudinal stiffener increases the buckling resistance of the web. The same
stiffener may perform more than one function and in such cases, their design
should comply with the requirement of those functions.

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Stiffeners sections

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Why are stiffeners provided?
Stiffeners have one or both of the following functions:

• Controlling local buckling.

• Connecting bracing or transverse beams.

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Controlling local buckling
Local buckling occurs when a cross section is slender enough for buckling to occur
within the cross section, due to either compression or shear. The webs of bridge
beams are usually vulnerable to local buckling, but flanges are usually much thicker
and inherently more resistant to buckling.

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Reason for longitudinal stiffeners

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Connecting bracing or transverse beams

• The easiest way to brace steel beams together is by fixing the bracing to transverse
stiffeners. Thus, stiffener positions almost always coincide with bracing positions.

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Example No. 1: Design a welded plate girder to support two columns spanning
35+0.25R feet in a high rise building, floor load delivers an equivalent uniform load of
2.8+0.01R kips/ft to the top flange other than the self weight of the girder. The general
span and loadings are shown in figure, assume lateral bracing of the compression
flange at the ends. Use AISC specification for A-60 steel, the girder depth may be
limited to 150 inches.
105+0.02R kips 2.8+0.01R kips/ft

17.5 ft 17.5 ft 0.25R ft

35+0.25R ft
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Example No. 1: Design a welded plate girder to support two columns spanning 53 feet
in a high rise building, floor load delivers an equivalent uniform load of 2.8 kips/ft to
the top flange other than the self weight of the girder. The general span and loadings
are shown in figure, assume lateral bracing of the compression flange at the ends. Use
AISC specification for A-36 steel, the girder depth may be limited to 96 inches.

100+R kips 100+R kips

2.8 kips/ft

18 ft 18 ft 18 ft
54 ft
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