• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.515-524
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• 2006

Cross-sectional distortions take place when steel box girders a re subjected to torsional moment, as a consequence of which distortional warping stresses are necessarily developed. Additional normal stresses due to the distortion are should be included at the design stage. The relative magnitude with respect to the maximum bending stress are kept less than the specific values, i.e., at 5~10%, by properly spaced intermediate diaphragms that could prevent the distortional deformation of the box girder. However, current design equations for the stiffness of intermediate diaphragms were derived based on BEF. In this study, the area required by the intermediate diaphragm members are investigated through three-dimensional finite element analyses. The results of the analyses indicate that the current equations give to conservative values for the intermediate diaphragm of box girder bridges. Finally, an improved equation for the area of the intermediate diaphragm is derived from a regression analysis from the finite element analysis results.