Residual Torsional Strength of Cracked Stiffened Girders With a Large Deck Opening

This paper studies the residual torsional strength of stiffened girders with large deck openings by using the software ABAQUS. The influence of cracks is considered. Potential parameters which may have effects on the torsional strength including the mesh refinement, initial deflection, geometric properties of crack are discussed. Two new concepts that play significant roles in the ultimate strength research of damaged box girders are introduced, one of which is the effective residual section (ERS), the other is the initial damage of the failure zone (IDFZ) for intact structures. New simple formulas for predicting the residual ultimate torsional strength of cracked stiffened girders are derived on the basis of the two new concepts. The formulas are verified to be reasonable which can be used as an reference.