This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of lean duplex stainless steel plate girders with non-rigid end posts. The test programme includes one I-section plate girder made of carbon steel and two tests on stainless steel girders, which will be achieved in the future. Advanced stereovision digital image correlation (DIC) was employed to continuously measure the deformed shape, and the corresponding three-dimensional displacements of the specimens, which enabled the full deformation history of the whole web of the plate girder to be traced. In parallel to the experimental investigation, a finite element study was also conducted. Preceded by validation of the FE models against the test results, parametric analyses were carried out to generate additional structural performance data for specimens made of lean duplex. The numerically derived data were carefully analysed and used to assess the accuracy of the current European design rules, in order to give directions for improvement. The comparisons showed that the European code leads to acceptable strength predictions, though further improvements remain possible.
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