Experimental study and finite element analysis on shear lag effect of thin-walled curved box beam under vehicle loads

School of Resource and Civil Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China

^a Corresponding author: 2319944517@qq.com

Abstract

Shear lag effects of curved box beam under vehicle loads are investigated by using three-dimensional finite element method, where 4 parameters of vehicle loads, load size, vehicle speed, vehicle load position, load types, are considered. The change rules of stress distribution and shear lag coefficients of upper flange at mid-span are obtained when the loads move to the mid-span. The results indicate that under vehicle loads, the peak shear lag coefficients is at the junction between the flange and web, shear lag effect is prominent, shear lag effect is greatly influenced by vehicle speed and vehicle load position, while load size and load types almost don’t affect shear lag coefficients but do affect the stress. The model experiment of a cantilever curved box beam is carried out to compare with finite element analysis, and the error between them is small, which testify the validity and reliability of finite element model.