Research in steel construction

Buckling of plated steel structures

Bridge and building engineering, EN 1993-1-5

• Buckling of plates under multiaxial stresses (2014-2017, DASt/AiF).
• OPTIBRI - Optimal use of high-strength steel grades (2014-2017, RFCS).
• OUTBURST - Optimization of steel plated bridges (2016-2019, RFCS).
• Buckling investigations on the Thulba valley bridge (2017-2019).
• Longitudinally stiffened panels under multiaxial stresses (2018-2021, DASt/AiF).
• Recalculation of existing steel and composite bridges (2023-2024).

Methods and results for EN 1993-1-5

• Large-scale tests, validated FE models, parameter studies and statistical evaluations.
• Extension of the effective-width method to non-rectangular panels up to 17.5 degrees.
• Interpolation between plate-like and column-like behaviour including the torsional stiffness of longitudinal stiffeners.
• Approaches for biaxial compression, tension/compression interaction, patch loading and imperfections outside EN 1090-2.

Load-bearing and design models for steel sheet piles

EN 1993-5, Piling

• Industrial research on local resistance of slender intermediate sheets in combined steel sheet-pile walls (2017-2019).
• Optimised design of combined steel sheet-pile walls for the driving process and final state (2018-2021, AiF 19937 / FOSTA P1327).
• Three-dimensional load-bearing behaviour of combined steel sheet-pile walls (2021-2024, AiF 21438 / FOSTA P1480).
• Recalculation of existing quay walls using partial-plastic load-bearing reserves (2022-2023).
• New resistance models for Z-piles, buckling lengths and critical moments of embedded H-bearing piles, torsional stiffness of partly welded double bearing piles and variable compression distributions.