• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.249-259
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• 2011

In this study, the distortional behaviors of tub-section steel girders subjected to torsional loading were analyzed, and predictor equations were developed for estimating the member forces induced in the internal bracing system installed in the steel tub girders. Torsional loadings originated either by eccentric vertical loading or girder curvature were decomposed into the pure torsional force component that does not affect the distortional box deformation, and into the distortional force component that directly induces box distortion. The axial member forces induced in the internal cross frames were formulated as a function of the magnitude of torsional loading through the analytical investigation of the interactions between the distortional force component and internal cross frames. To verify the proposed equations, three-dimensional finite element analysis (3D FEA) was conducted for the straight simple-span girder and the three-span continuous girder samples. Very good agreement was found between the member forces from the FEA and the proposed equations.