Technical Note

Improved Finite-Segment Method for Analyzing Shear

Lag Effect in Thin-Walled Box Girders
Yuan-Hai Zhang1

Abstract: Shear lag effect in thin-walled box girders has been studied over several decades. However, the methods adopted in many papers
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have some deficiencies. In the present work, an improved displacement function for shear lag warping in a box girder with cantilever slabs is
established. Based on the concept of generalized force corresponding to the generalized displacement for shear lag and the relevant geometrical
properties, an improved finite-segment method is proposed to simplify the shear lag analysis of complex box girders. The homogeneous so-
lution of the governing differential equation for shear lag is adopted as the element displacement function. The formulas of the element stiffness
matrix and the equivalent nodal force vector are derived. A general formula expressed in terms of the generalized moment is presented to cal-
culate the stress. A finite-element computer program is developed by using FORTRAN language and is used to analyze a cantilever box girder
model and a continuous prestressed concrete box girder. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the test results, validating the pro-
posed method and formulas. This paper also reveals for the first time the characteristics of the generalized moment for shear lag. DOI: 10.1061/
(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000552. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Box girders; Stress distribution; Shear lag.
Author keywords: Thin-walled box girders; Shear lag effect; Finite-segment method; Stress distribution.

Introduction girders, many scholars preferred to apply the finite-beam-segment

Shear lag effect in thin-walled box girders has been a popular re-
search topic among many scholars for decades. Reissner (1946) first
analyzed the shear lag effect in box girders by using a variation
method based on the principle of minimum potential energy. The
box girder in his paper had a single-cell cross section without side
cantilever slabs (rectangular box section with horizontal and vertical
symmetrical axes), and a quadratic parabola was adopted as the
displacement function for shear lag warping. Reissner’s method
was extended later to analyze the shear lag of box girders with
cantilever slabs by Kuzmanovic and Graham (1981), Guo et al.
(1983), Chang and Zheng (1987), Chang and Yun (1988), and
Chang et al. (1998), among whom Kuzmanovic and Graham and
Guo et al. adopted quadratic and cubic parabolas, respectively, while
Chang and Yun (1988) chose the quartic parabola. To denote the
difference between various warping displacements for shear lag
among the slabs of a box girder, Dezi and Mentrasti (1985) chose
three independent generalized displacement functions for the top,
bottom, and cantilever slabs, respectively. Chang (2004) and Wu
et al. (2007) investigated the influence of transversely varying load
locations on the shear lag effect in a box girder. Reissner’s method
was further applied to analyze the shear lag effect in curved box
girders by Luo and Li (2000) and Zhang and Li (2009), etc.; Zhang
et al. (2009) also considered the secondary shear deformation for
restraint torsion. In the numerical analysis of shear lag effect in box
1
Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong Univ., 88
West Anning Rd., Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China. E-mail:
zyh17012@163.com
Note. This manuscript was submitted on January 16, 2011; approved on
December 16, 2011; published online on December 21, 2011. Discussion
period open until March 1, 2013; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This technical note is part of the Journal of Structural
Engineering, Vol. 138, No. 10, October 1, 2012. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445/
2012/10-1279–1284/$25.00.
method (Luo et al. 2001, 2002a, b, 2004; Wu et al. 2003; Zhou 2008,
2010), among whom Zhou (2008, 2010) added the first-order de-
rivative of the generalized displacement for shear lag to the element
nodal displacement vector.
However, in these papers, the warping displacement functions
for shear lag of the box girder with cantilever slabs have some
deficiencies, because the corresponding warping stresses cannot
satisfy the axial equilibrium condition. Moreover, the computation
of stress and shear lag coefficient is too complicated for the lack
of defining the generalized force and geometrical properties corre-
sponding to the generalized displacement for shear lag. Thus, in the
case of the finite-beam-segment method, there is only one way to
calculate stress; that is, through multiplying the element nodal dis-
placement vector by the derivative of the shape function matrix, which
is quite inconvenient and increases the amount of computational work.
In this paper, an improved displacement function for shear lag
warping in a box girder with cantilever slabs is established through
the axial equilibrium condition for shear lag warping stress, and
the width of each slab (the top, bottom, and cantilever slabs, re-
spectively) and its distance away from the centroidal axis of cross
section are also considered. Based on the generalized force and the
geometrical properties defined corresponding to the generalized
displacement for shear lag, an improved finite-beam-segment
method for shear lag analysis is proposed. A general formula for
stress calculation is presented, which will be reduced to the well-
known formula in the elementary beam theory when the shear lag
effect is ignored. Two examples of box girders are analyzed by using
the developed computer program, and the calculated results are in
good agreement with the test results.
Fundamental Equations
A box girder with trapezoidal cross section under vertical distributed
load q(z) is shown in Fig. 1. The longitudinal displacement at any
point of the cross section can be expressed as

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 Fig. 2. Element nodal displacements

Box Beam Element

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The nodal displacements of the box beam element with two nodes
are shown in Fig. 2. The element nodal displacement vector can be
expressed as
 T
fdg ¼ wi ui zi wj uj zj ð8Þ
Fig. 1. Box girder with trapezoidal cross section
where wi and wj 5 displacements along the y-axis at nodes i and j,
respectively; ui and uj 5 angular displacements about the x-axis at
uðx; y; zÞ ¼ 2 yw9ðzÞ þ vz ðx; yÞzðzÞ ð1Þ nodes i and j, respectively; and zi and zj 5 generalized displacements
for shear lag at nodes i and j, respectively.
where w(z) 5 vertical displacement (deflection) of the box girder; Corresponding to the element nodal displacement vector, the
zðzÞ 5 generalized displacement for shear lag; vz ðx; yÞ 5 warping element nodal force vector can be expressed as
displacement function for shear lag; and u(x,y,z) 5 longitudinal  T
displacement at any point of the cross section. fFg ¼ Qi Mi Mz i Qj Mj Mz j ð9Þ
The first-order variation for the total potential energy of the box
girder can be obtained easily. Thus, according to the principle of Solving Eq. (3) and the homogeneous differential equation
minimum potential energy, the governing differential equations for corresponding to Eq. (2) simultaneously and noting that uðzÞ 5
shear lag can be expressed as follows: 2w9ðzÞ, we get
EIx w00 2 EIyz z09 ¼ q ð2Þ
zðzÞ ¼ C1 ekz þ C2 e2kz þ C3 ð10Þ
EIz z0 2 EIyz w09 2 GAz z ¼ 0 ð3Þ  
wðzÞ ¼ b1 C1 ekz 2 C2 e2kz 2 b3 C3 z3 þ C4 z2 þ C5 z þ C6
where E and G 5 Young’s and shear moduli, respectively; Ix 5
moment of inertia of the cross section about the centroidal axis x; and ð11Þ
Iz , Iyz , and Az 5 moment of inertia, product of inertia, R 2 and area  
corresponding
R to shear
R lag, respectively, i.e., I z 5 A vz dA, Iyz 5 uðzÞ ¼ 2 b2 C1 ekz þ C2 e2kz þ 3b3 C3 z2 2 2C4 z 2 C5 ð12Þ
2
A yv z dA, and A z 5 A ð∂v z =∂xÞ dA.
A new internal force called shear lag moment in this paper where C1 , C2 , . . . , C6 5 integration constants; b1 5 Iyz =ðkIx Þ;
appears in the cross section of the box girder in addition to the shear b2 5 kb1 ; b3 5 GAz =ð6EIyz Þ; and k 5 Reissner’s parameter,
force and the bending moment. They can be expressed as follows: that is,
Q ¼ 2EIx w09 þ EIyz z0 ð4Þ sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
G I x Az
k ¼
M ¼ 2EIx w0 þ EIyz z9 ð5Þ E Ix Iz 2 Iyz 2

Mz ¼ EIz z9 2 EIyz w0 ð6Þ In this paper, Eqs. (10)–(12) are chosen as the element dis-
placement functions. Thus, the element stiffness matrix ½K can be
where Q 5 shear force; M 5 bending moment; and Mz 5 shear lag obtained as follows:
moment.
It can be seen from Eqs. (4) and (5) that if the shear lag effect is ½K ¼ ½KC ½KE 21 ð13Þ
ignored ðz 5 0Þ, the expressions of Q and M will be reduced to the
corresponding formulas in elementary material mechanics. where ½KC  5 coefficient matrix relating the element nodal force
The normal stress s at any point in the cross section of the box vector fFg to the integration constant vector fCg, which can
girder can be determined through Hooke’s law, i.e., be expressed as fCg 5 ½C1 ; C2 ; C3 ; C4 ; C5 ; C6 T ; and ½KE  5 coef-
1      ficient matrix relating fdg to fCg.
s ¼ E × ∂u=∂z ¼ Iz y 2 Iyz vz M þ Ix vz 2 Iyz y Mz
Ix Iz 2 Iyz
2 According to the general procedure of the finite-element method
(FEM), the loads applied on the element must be transformed into
ð7Þ
equivalent nodal forces. For the vertical uniformly distributed load q
It can be seen that with the shear lag effect ignored, Eq. (7) will be on the element, the equivalent nodal forces can be obtained on the basis
reduced to the well-known equation in the elementary beam of the governing differential equations and the element stiffness matrix
theory ½s 5 ðM=Ix Þy. derived. The equivalent nodal force vector fFq g can be expressed as

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Fq ¼ 2 ½KfqE g 2 fqC g ð14Þ stress in the cross section of the box girder must meet the axial
equilibrium condition when a vertical load acts on the box girder,
where that is,

T Z
ql4 ql3 ql vz dA ¼ 0 ð15Þ
fqE g ¼ 0 0 0 2 A
12a2 3a2 a1
Therefore, the displacement function for shear lag warping can be
q assumed as
fqC g ¼ 2 ½0 2 a4 2 2EIz 2a1 l j1 j2 T
2a1 8
>
> !
in which >
>
>
> x 3
2 ys 1 2 3 þ d 
>
> for top slab
>
> b1
>
> " # 
a1 ¼ GAz Ix =Iyz ;  a2 ¼ 2EIx ;   a3 ¼ GAz =k;   a4 ¼ 2EIyz ;   >
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>
> ðb1 þ b3 2 xÞ3 b3
2
<
2 ys 1 2 þ d   for cantilever slab
j1 ¼ a1 l2 þ a4 ;   j2 ¼ 2EIz þ GAz l2 vz ¼ b33 b1
>
> !
>
>  2  
>
> x3 yx
Displacement Function for Shear Lag Warping >
> y 1 2
b2
þ d  for bottom slab
>
> x 3
>
> b b 1 ys
>
> d 
2
The displacement function for shear lag warping should be selected >
: for web slab
cautiously for it reflects the stress distribution directly. The normal
ð16Þ
the symbols of which are illustrated in Fig. 1(b). As indicated in Eq.
(16), the constant d is added to the entire cross section, through
which the warping displacement function vz can satisfy the equi-
librium condition. In addition, to consider the different warping
degrees among the top, bottom, and cantilever slabs, the vz for the
cantilever slab is modified in proportion to the square of its width,
and for the bottom slab, the vz is also modified in proportion to the
distance away from the centroidal axis x.
Substituting Eq. (16) into Eq. (15) yields
"  2  2  2 #
3ys b3 b yx
d ¼ At þ Ac 2 Ab 2 ð17Þ
4A b1 b1 ys

in which A 5 area of the entire cross section; and At, Ac, Ab 5 areas
of the top slab, cantilever slabs at both sides, and bottom slab of the
Fig. 3. Cantilever box girder model with varying sectional depth
box girder, respectively.

Fig. 4. Shear lag coefficient for cantilever box girder

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 "  2  2  3 #
From Eq. (17), d is readily seen to be equal to zero for a double-
3 b3 b yx
symmetric rectangular box section without cantilever slabs. Iyz ¼ ys A t þ A c
2
þ Ab 2 ð20Þ
4 b1 b1 ys
Therefore, the warping displacement function adopted by Reissner
(1946) was reasonable for the box girder with a double-symmetric
"    4  2  2  2  4 #
rectangular section. For a rectangular box girder with side cantilever 2
9 ys b3 ys y yx b2
slabs, only if the dimensions of the cross section satisfy the following Az ¼ At þ Ac þ Ab x
condition (i.e., d 5 0) 5 b1 b1 b3 b2 ys b1
 2  2 ð21Þ
b y
At þ Ac 3 ¼ Ab x ð18Þ
b1 ys For multicell cross sections of box girders, the warping displace-
ment function can be adopted in a similar manner, and Eqs. (19)–(21)
will the warping displacement functions adopted in the previously
are still suitable.
mentioned papers be acceptable.
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The formulas of the geometrical properties for shear lag can be

easily derived as follows: Numerical Examples
"  2 # 
 2
9 3 9 b3 3 b3
I z ¼ A × d þ A t ys
2
ys 2 d þ A c ys ys 2 d
14 2 14 b1 2 b1 Cantilever Box Girder with Varying Depth
"    #  
2 2
y2x 2 Fig. 3 shows a plexiglass model of a cantilever box girder with
9 yx b2 3 b2
þ Ab þ d (19) linearly varying depth provided by Chang and Yun (1988). The span
14 ys b1 2 ys b1
length is 0.6 m. The depths at the tip and fixed ends are 40 and
80 mm, respectively. The detailed dimensions of the box girder model
are shown in Fig. 3(b). The Young’s modulus of the material is
E 5 2;923 MPa and the Poisson’s ratio is m 5 0:375. The model is
under uniformly distributed load (q 5 1:0 kN=m ). Strain gauges are
arranged at the four cross sections 10, 200, 400, and 500 mm away
from the fixed end, respectively.
The cantilever box girder is divided into 30 elements with uni-
form cross section, each 20 mm in length. Fig. 4 shows the variation
of the shear lag coefficient (still defined as the ratio between the
stress allowing for shear lag and that obtained from the elementary
beam theory) at the middle of the top slab (represented by lc )
based on the present method and the test values provided by Chang
et al. (1988). It can be seen that the calculated values are in good
agreement with the test values on the whole, thus validating the
present method and the box beam element.
Fig. 5 shows the diagrams of the bending moment and the shear
lag moment in the cantilever box girder model under the uniformly
distributed load. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the distribution
pattern of the shear lag moment is quite different from that of
Fig. 5. Generalized moments in cantilever box girder the bending moment near the fixed end; in addition, the shear lag
moment is smaller than the bending moment (by absolute values).

Fig. 6. Three-span continuous prestressed concrete box girder with varying cross sections

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 However, both the shear lag moment and the bending moment are
negative and have the same positions of zero point.
Continuous Prestressed Concrete Box Girder
Fig. 6 shows the span arrangement and the cross section of a con-
tinuous prestressed concrete box girder constructed by the cast-in-
place cantilever method. The beam depth varies in a quadratic
parabola form, being 2.6 m at the two internal supports and 1.5 m at
the middle of the main span. The thickness of the bottom slab also
varies from 25 to 40 cm. The concrete strength grade is C50
(according to Chinese codes). A vertical concentrated load of P 5 10
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kN acts on the midspan cross section of each span.
Fig. 7 shows the distribution of the normal stresses in the top and
bottom slabs at the midspan cross section of the central span. It can
be seen from Fig. 7 that the stresses at the junctions of the web and
flange plates are much greater than those at the centers between webs
due to the effect of shear lag. There exist significant differences
between the real stresses calculated by the present method and those
obtained by the elementary beam theory.
Fig. 8 shows the diagrams of the bending moment and shear lag
moment in the three-span continuous box girder (only half the beam
length plotted due to symmetry). It can be seen that the shear lag
moment of the continuous box girder is still smaller than the bending
Fig. 7. Stresses in the top and bottom slabs at the midspan of the central
span
Fig. 8. Generalized moments in the three-span continuous box girder
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J. Struct. Eng. 2012.138:1279-1284.
moment. Moreover, the shear lag moments are distributed smoothly
where the bending moments are distributed in a sharp turn. In ad-
dition, both the bending moment and the shear lag moment have the
same positions of zero point and the same sign.
Fig. 9 shows the deflection distribution of the continuous box
girder under the concentrated loads. The shear lag effect reduces the
in-plane stiffness of the slabs results in the increase of the deflection
of the box girder. For the example of the continuous box girder, the
midspan deflections of the central span based on the present method
and the elementary beam method are 0.0284 and 0.0249 mm, re-
spectively. It is indicated that shear lag effect increases the deflection
by 14%. Therefore, the influence of shear lag effect on the deflection
of the box girder is remarkable and should be considered seriously in
engineering practice.
Conclusions
1. According to the axial equilibrium condition of shear lag
warping stresses, an improved warping displacement function
of a box girder with symmetric side cantilever slabs is estab-
lished. The warping displacement functions in the relevant
papers mentioned can be taken as a particular case of the present;
2. Based on the generalized force defined (shear lag moment)
corresponding to the shear lag displacement and the relevant
geometrical properties, a box beam element considering the
shear lag effect is developed. The element stiffness matrix and
equivalent nodal force vector are derived and proved to be
correct through a model test;
3. A general stress formula expressed through the internal forces
(shear lag moment and bending moment) and geometrical
properties of the cross section is derived considering shear lag.
If the shear lag effect is ignored, the stress formula will be
reduced to the well-known formula in the elementary beam
theory;
4. The characteristics of the shear lag moment are revealed. The
shear lag moment of a box girder under vertical loads is smaller
than the bending moment (by absolute values). The shear lag
moment is distributed smoothly where the bending moment
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Fig. 9. Deflections of the three-span continuous box girder
is distributed in a sharp turn. In addition, both the bending
moment and the shear lag moment have the same sign and
positions of zero point; and
5. The shear lag effect reduces the in-plane stiffness of the slabs
results in the increase of the deflection of a box girder. For
a continuous prestressed concrete box girder under vertical
concentrated loads, the influence of the shear lag effect on the
deflection of the box girder is especially remarkable and should
be considered seriously in engineering practice.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial sup-
port from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
No. 51068018) and to thank Mr. Zhi-Guo Yang and Mrs. Hui Zhang
for their constructive suggestions and assistance in preparing this
manuscript. The present research is also supported by the Program
for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in Univer-
sity of Ministry of Education of China (IRT1139).
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