Experimental Assessment of the Ultimate Strength of a Box Girder Subjected to Four-Point Bending Moment

摘要

An experimental test was conducted of a multispan stiffened box girder model representing a midship section, to obtain information on the behaviour, modes of failure and load-carrying capacity. The box girder was subjected to four-point bending moment. The experimental results are presented and compared with an ultimate bending moment empirical formula. Three loading cycles have been used to release the residual stresses and one to achieve the ultimate strength. The evaluation of the test results has shown that, for the pure bending loading, the specimen demonstrated definite stress redistribution capabilities and considerable ultimate strength. Failure modes were characterized by tension field yielding, tripping of longitudinal stiffeners and out-of-plane deformations of the plates.