Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, Vol. 23, No.

1, February, 2010 ISSN 0894-9166

Published by AMSS Press, Wuhan, China

EFFECTIVE FLANGE WIDTH OF

SIMPLY SUPPORTED BOX GIRDER
UNDER UNIFORM LOAD

Xuxi Qin1,2 Hanbing Liu2

1
( College of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China)
(2 Transportation and traffic College, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China)

Received 31 March 2009, revision received 21 September 2009

ABSTRACT A new method for the determination of effective flange width under uniform load on
simply supported box girder bridges considering shear lag effect is proposed in this paper. Based
on the Symplectic Elasticity method, the flange slab of the box girder is simplified into a plane
stress plate. Using equilibrium conditions of the plates, the Hamilton dual equations for top plate
element is established. The analytical formulas of each plate element considering shear lag effect
are derived. The closed polynomial effective width expression of flange slab under uniform load on
the whole span length has been obtained. Through examples using the finite element method, the
results obtained by the proposed method are examined and the accuracy of the proposed method
is verified.

KEY WORDS box girder, effective flange width, analytical solution, Saint-Venant problem

I. INTRODUCTION
Although normal stress of thin-wall box girders in the longitudinal direction produced by bending
deformation is assumed to be uniform across flange width in the elementary beam theory, it is not so
in reality if the flange width is large. This phenomenon, known as the shear lag, has been studied for
many years[1–7]. The normal stress of thin-walled box girders can be determined by numerical analysis
using the finite element method or finite strip method. However, numerical analysis is costly and time
consuming for certain cases, especially in the initial design stage, and many structural engineers may
be reluctant to accept the use of rather complex computer programs, and prefer more simple and quick
calculation methods.
In this paper, the Symplectic Elasticity method[8] is applied to the simply supported box girder and
the flange slab is simplified into a plane stress plate. Equations are established with the deformation and
static equilibrium conditions at interfaces between the web slab and flange slab. The two-dimensional
Saint-Venant analytical solution is obtained and the mechanical behavior of the simply supported box
girder is investigated parametrically.

II. SIMPLIFIED FORM OF FLANGE SLAB

A simply supported box girder is shown in Fig.1. Only the box girder with a symmetrical cross
section and loading in the plane of the web is considered (Fig.2). The box girder is decomposed into
 Corresponding author. E-mail: qinxx29@yahoo.com.cn
 Project supported by a grant from the Science and Technology Bureau of Jilin Province, China (No. 20050531).
 · 58 · ACTA MECHANICA SOLIDA SINICA 2010

flange and web substructures (Fig.3). The out-of-plane stiffness of each substructure is assumed to
be negligible compared with the in-plane stiffness. Each plated component is considered to be in a
state of plane stress. It is assumed that the external loads are applied at the interfaces between the
substructures, and that they can be decomposed into components acting in-plane at the adjacent thin-
walled substructures. As a result, half of the top flange and half of the bottom flange can be isolated
and regarded as two independent structures (Figs.4 and 5). And the two structures are simplified to
2-D flange plates loaded by in-plane edge shear forces. The shear flow F (x) can be deduced through
the elementary beam theory[5] .That is, F (x) is given by
s(x)
F (x) = − Q (1)
I
where s(x) is the shear force at the section x, I and Q are the second moment of area and the first
moment of area above the centroid at section x, respectively.

Fig. 1. Schematic of a simply supported box girder under

uniform load.

Fig. 2. Cross-section of the box girder under uniform load.

Fig. 3. Schematic of half the box girder. Fig. 4. Schematic of half the top flange slab.

Fig. 5. Schematic of half the bottom flange slab.

 Vol. 23, No. 1 Xuxi Qin et al.: Effective Flange Width of Simply Supported Box Girder · 59 ·

III. HAMILTON DUAL EQUATIONS FOR TOP FLANGE

Based on the previous analysis, a two-dimensional model is proposed for half the top flange slab as
shown in Fig.4. There are two elements. The symbols E and μ denote elastic modulus and Poisson’s
ratio. The equilibrium of plane stress state in the xy-plane of element i(1, 2) is given by Timoshenko[9]
(i) (i) (i) (i)
∂σx ∂τxy ∂σy ∂τxy
+ = 0, + =0 (2)
∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x
(i) (i) (i)
where σx , σy and τxy are normal stresses and shear stress of element i, respectively. The constitutive
relations of an isotropic material are given by
1  (i)  1  (i)  2(1 + μ) (i)
ε(i)
x = σx − μσy(i) , ε(i)y = σy − μσx(i) , γxy (i)
= τxy (3)
E E E
(i) (i) (i)
where εx , εy and γxy are normal strains and shear strain , respectively. The strains can be rendered
in terms of displacements through geometrical relations, namely

∂w(i) ∂u(i) ∂w(i) ∂u(i)

ε(i)
x = , ε(i)
y = , (i)
γxy = + (4)
∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x

in which w(i) and u(i) signify the longitudinal and transverse displacements, respectively. Eliminating
the strain components using Eqs.(3) and (4) , we can get

∂w(i) 1  (i)  ∂u(i) 1   ∂w(i) ∂u(i) 2(1 + μ) (i)

= σx − μσy(i) , = −μσx(i) + σy(i) , + = τxy (5)
∂x E ∂y E ∂y ∂x E
(i) (i) (i)
Now the governing Eqs.(2) and (5) of the problem include three stresses, σx , σy , τxy , and two
displacements, w(i) and u(i) . In the following, Eqs.(2) and (5) are rearranged into the so-called Hamilton
(i)
dual equations through substitutions and simplifications[10] . Firstly, the stress σy is eliminated from
(i)
the first two of Eq.(5), and the displacement w(i) can be expressed in terms of u(i) and σx , which is

∂w(i) ∂u(i) 1 − μ2 (i)

= −μ + σx (6)
∂x ∂y E
The last one of Eq.(5) and the first one of Eq.(2) are rewritten as

∂u(i) ∂w(i) 2(1 + μ) (i)

=− + τxy (7)
∂x ∂y E
(i) (i)
∂σx ∂τxy
=− (8)
∂x ∂y
(i)
Then eliminating the stress σy from the second one of Eqs.(2) and (5) gives
(i) (i)
∂τxy ∂ 2 u(i) ∂σx
= −E 2
−μ (9)
∂x ∂y ∂y
Finally, Eqs.(6)-(9) are rearranged and rendered in a matrix form as follows
⎡ ⎤
∂ 1 − μ2
⎧ (i) ⎫ 0 −μ + 0 ⎧ ⎫
⎪ w ⎪ ⎢ ∂y E ⎥ ⎪ w(i) ⎪
⎪ ⎪ ⎢ ⎥ ⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎢ ∂
(i) ⎪
⎪ 2 (1 + μ) ⎥ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
(i) ⎪
⎪
∂ ⎨ u ⎬ ⎢ − 0 0 ⎥ ⎨ u ⎬
⎢ ∂y E ⎥
= ⎢ ∂ ⎥ (10)
∂x ⎪ σx ⎪
(i) ⎢ ⎥⎪ σx ⎪
(i)
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎢ 0 0 0 − ⎥⎪⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎩ (i) ⎭ ⎣ ⎢ ∂y ⎥ ⎪
⎩ ⎪
2 ⎦ (i) ⎭
τxy ∂ ∂ τxy
0 −E 2 −μ 0
∂y ∂y
 · 60 · ACTA MECHANICA SOLIDA SINICA 2010

The compatibility conditions with interlayer slips at interfaces of element 1 and element 2 are
   
∂u1  ∂u2 
u1 (x) = u2 (x), w1 (x) = w2 (x), E + μσx1  = E + μσx2  (11a)
∂x y=y1 ∂x y=y1

τ 1 (x) = F1 (x), τ 2 (x) = F1 (x) (y = y1 ) (11b)

The boundary conditions of EF and AB are

σy = 0, τxy = 0 (when y = y2 ) (12a)

u = 0, τxy = 0 (when y = 0) (12b)

Introducing vector V i
 T
V i = wi ui σxi i
τxy (13)
Eq.(10) becomes
∂V 1
= HV i (14)
∂x
Equation (14) is called Hamilton dual equations and H is an operator matrix, which can be solved
with separation of variables. Let
V 1 (x, y) = ξ i (x)ψ i (y) (15)
Substituting Eq.(15) into Eq.(14) gives
i
ξ i (x) = eη x
(16)
and the intrinsic equation is
Hψ i (y) = η i ψ i (y) (17)
where η i is an eigenvalue to be determined, and ψ i (y) is the eigenfunction vector which should satisfy the
homogeneous boundary conditions. Because x is separated out, it becomes an eigenvalue problem in the
cross-section. It can be proved that H is a Hamiltonian operator matrix in the symplectic geometrical
space[10, 11] . And then, the method in Ref.[9] can be used to solve the current problem, that is expanded
by the eigenfunction vector.

IV. VECTORS CORRESPONDING TO ZERO EIGENVALUES

Before solving Eq.(14), Eq.(11) and Eq.(12), the homogeneous linear differential Eq.(14) and the
homogeneous boundary conditions Eq.(11a), Eq.(12) and the following equation (18) should be discussed
first:
τ 1 (x) = τ 2 (x) (y = y1 ) (18)
For homogeneous boundary conditions and Eq.(14), there are zero eigenvalues and the corresponding
Jordan eigen solutions. Solving Hψ (y) = 0, the basic zero eigenvalue can be obtained first. The rigid-
body displacement solution ,which satisfies the homogeneous boundary conditions and Eq.(14), can be
deduced by the basic zero solution:
T
ψ i0 = {1, 0, 0, 0} , V i0 = ψ i0 (i = 1, 2) (19)

Solving Hψ i1 = ψ i0 , the Jordan eigen solution of zero eigenvalues is obtained, namely

ψ i1 = {0, −μy, E, 0}T (i = 1, 2) (20)

The corresponding solutions satisfy the homogeneous boundary conditions and Eq.(14) can be obtained
through previous solutions, which are shown as follows:

V i1 = ψ i1 + xψ i0 (i = 1, 2) (21)

There is no solution if continuing to solve the second-order Jordan eigen solution.

 Vol. 23, No. 1 Xuxi Qin et al.: Effective Flange Width of Simply Supported Box Girder · 61 ·

V. SPECIAL SOLUTION OF TOP FLANGE

FOR BOX GIRDER UNDER UNIFORM LOAD
According to the elementary beam theory, the edge (y = y1 ) of simply supported box girder with
uniform load applied on the whole span bears linear shear forces, and the boundary conditions of DC
are Eq.(22):
(l − 2x)y1 qzH (l − 2x)(y2 − y1 )qzH
τ 1 (x) = F1 (x) = , τ 2 (x) = F2 (x) = − (y = y1 ) (22)
2I 2I
In order to get the special solution of Eq.(22), a nonhomogeneous special solution should be obtained
first when Fi (x) in Eq.(23) is constant:
F1 (x) = y1 , F2 (x) = −(y2 − y1 ) (y = y1 ) (23)
According to the boundary conditions Eq.(11a), (12) and (23), we solve Hψ i2 = k i ψ i1 , where k i is
determined through the boundary conditions. Then
 T
1 y2
ψ 12 = (2 + μ) , 0, 0, y (24)
E 2
   T
−1 y2
ψ 22 = (2 + 2μ)y2 y − (2 + μ) − (2 + 2μ)y2 y1 , 0, 0, −(y2 − y) (25)
E 2
The previous solutions form the solution of Eq.(11a), Eq.(12), Eq.(14) and Eq.(23):
 
i i −1 i 1 2 i
V 2 = ψ2 + xψ 1 + x ψ 0 (i = 1, 2) (26)
E 2
Furthermore, solving Hψ i3 = ψ i2 yields
   T
1 1 −y  2 2
 2 y22
ψ 3 = 0, (1 + 2μ)y + 3(−1 + μ )(2y1 − y2 )y2 , y + μy1 y2 − μ , 0 (27)
E 6 2
  
1 y 3 + 2μy 3
ψ 23 = 0, − (1 + μ)2 y 2 y2 + (1 + μ)yy2 (4μy1 + y2 − μy2 ) ,
2E 3
T
1
(2 + μ)yy2 − y 2 + y2 [μy2 − 4(1 + μ)y1 ] , 0 (28)
2
The previous solutions form a special solution of the top flange slab for box girder under uniform load,
which satisfies Eq.(11a), Eq.(12), Eq.(14) and Eq.(22):
     
−qzH −1 x2 i 1 lqzH −1 1
V i3 = ψ i3 + xψ i2 + ψ 1 + x3 ψ i0 + ψ i2 + xψ i1 + x2 ψ i0 (i = 1, 2)
I E 2 6 2I E 2
(29)

VI. EFFECTIVE FLANGE WIDTH OF TOP

FLANGE FOR BOX GIRDER UNDER UNIFORM LOAD
In solutions mentioned above, the special solutions and vectors of zero eigenvalues which satisfy the
boundary conditions have been obtained. Also, for the plane rectangular domain in Fig.4, it should
meet boundary conditions of ADF and BCE. According to Saint-Venant’s principle, the solutions of
non-zero eigenvalue (η i = 0) can be ignored, then the solution of the top flange slab can be expressed
using special solutions and vectors of zero eigenvalues:
V 1 = V i3 + αV i1 + βV i0 (i = 1, 2) (30)
For the current problem, Eq.(30) is a simplified formula, in which only the most important zero
eigenvalue is taken. If we want to get a more accurate solution, it is necessary to take into account the
influence of non-zero eigenvalues with exponential functions.
 · 62 · ACTA MECHANICA SOLIDA SINICA 2010

According to Eq.(30), the normal stress σxi in an arbitrary section can be expressed as
  
lx x2 μy 2 qzH
σx1 = − + − y 2 − μy1 y2 + 2 − αE (31a)
2 2 2 I
  
2 lx x2 2 μy22 qzH
σx = − + − y + (2 + μ)yy2 − 2(1 + μ)y1 y2 + − αE (31b)
2 2 2 I
When x = 0 or x = l, according to the simply supported boundary condition,
 y1  y2  y1  y2
1 2 1 2
σx=0 dy + σx=0 dy = σx=l dy + σx=l dy = 0 (32)
0 y1 0 y1

Solving Eq.(32), we obtain

1
αE = [−4y12 − (8 + 15μ)y1 y2 + (4 + 9μ)y22 ] (33)
6
then
  
lx x2 μy 2 1  qzH
σx1 = − + − y 2 − μy1 y2 + 2 − −4y12 − (8 + 15μ)y1 y2 + (4 + 9μ)y22 (34a)
2 2 2 6 I
 
lx x2 μy 2
σx2 = − + − y 2 + (2 + μ)yy2 − 2(1 + μ)y1 y2 + 2
2 2 2

1  qzH
− −4y12 − (8 + 15μ)y1 y2 + (4 + 9μ)y22 (34b)
6 I
The effective flange width is expressed as
h
t 0
σ(x, y)dy
be = (35)
tσmax
where be is the effective flange width, t is thickness of the flange slab, and σmax is the peak stress at
the interfaces between the web plate and the flange slab. Substitute Eqs.(31) into Eq.(35) and simplify
it, then
b2 [3b1 b2 μ − b21 (4 + 6μ) − 3b22 (2 + μ) + 3(1 − x)x]
b1e = (36a)
3b1 b2 μ − b22 (2 + 3μ) + b21 (4 + 6μ) + 3(1 − x)x

b1 [−b22 (2 + 3μ) + 3b21 μ + 3(1 − x)x]

b2e = (36b)
3b1 b2 μ − b22 (2 + 3μ) + b21 (4 + 6μ) + 3(1 − x)x
The effective flange width ratio X is
4b22
X1 = 1 − (37a)
3b1 b2 μ − b22 (2 + 3μ) + b21 (4 + 6μ) + 3(1 − x)x

4b21 + 3μb1 (b2 + b1 )

X2 = 1 − (37b)
3b1 b2 μ − b22 (2+ 3μ) + b21 (4 + 6μ) + 3(1 − x)x

VII. SOLUTION OF BOTTOM FLANGE

SLAB FOR BOX GIRDER UNDER UNIFORM LOAD
Similarly, for the bottom flange, the force acting on the element 3 is shown in Fig.5. According to
the top flange solution of the Eq.(31a), σx3 of the bottom flange is obtained when y2 = y1 :
  
lx x2 μy 2 qzh
σx3 = − + − y 2 − 1 − αE (38)
2 2 2 I
 Vol. 23, No. 1 Xuxi Qin et al.: Effective Flange Width of Simply Supported Box Girder · 63 ·

When x = 0 or x = l, according to the simply supported boundary condition we have

 y1  y1
3 3
σx=0 dy = σx=l dy = 0 (39)
0 0
Solving Eq.(39), we obtain
qzh
σx3 = (3x2 − 3lx − 6y 2 + 2y12 ) (40)
6I
Substitute Eq.(40) into Eq.(35) and simplify it, then
3b2 (l − x)x
b3e = (41)
4b22 + 3(l − x)x
The effective flange width ratio X is
3(l − x)x
X3 = (42)
4b22 + 3(l − x)x

VIII. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

Consider a simply supported box girder subjected to uniform load with amplitude of 1 mN/mm2 ,
which is shown in Fig.1. The elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio are E = 2.0 × 104 MPa, μ = 0.25.
l = 30 m, b1 = b2 = 2750 mm, tw = 400 mm, th = 250 mm, hw = 3000 mm. Figures 6-9 show the
comparison of σx together with the finite element results and element beam theory results. The finite
element results are σx of the flange in its middle plane. The solution proposed in the paper closely
agrees with the finite element result. In order to verify the accuracy, the percentage error of the stress
calculated from the proposed formula is defined as
σx − σxFEM
ε= × 100(%) (43)
σxFEM

Fig. 6. Longitudinal stress (σx ) in the top flange slab under Fig. 7. Longitudinal stress (σx ) in the top flange slab under
uniform load (x = 15 m). uniform load (x = 7.5 m).

Fig. 8. Longitudinal stress (σx ) in the bottom flange slab Fig. 9. Longitudinal stress (σx ) in the bottom flange slab
under uniform load (x = 15 m). under uniform load (x = 7.5 m).
 · 64 · ACTA MECHANICA SOLIDA SINICA 2010

Fig. 10. Relative error of the longitudinal stress (σx ) in the Fig. 11. Relative error of the longitudinal stress (σx ) in the
top flange slab. bottom flange slab.

Fig. 12. Effective flange width ratio (X 1 ) of the top flange Fig. 13. Effective flange width ratio (X 2 ) of the top flange
slab. slab.

where σx and σxFEM are obtained from the proposed formula and the finite element analysis. The
relative error of the top flange is found to be −2.5%∼1.5% from Fig.10. The relative error of the bottom
flange is found to be 2.0%∼0.0% from Fig.11.
In order to verify the effective flange width ratio introduced in the paper, X i calculated by this
method is compared with the finite element results. The comparison results are shown in Figs.12-14.
To quantify the accuracy, the percentage error of the flange width ratio calculated from the proposed

Fig. 14. Effective flange width ratio (X 3 ) of the bottom Fig. 15. Relative error (K i ) of the effective flange width
flange slab. ratio.
 Vol. 23, No. 1 Xuxi Qin et al.: Effective Flange Width of Simply Supported Box Girder · 65 ·

formula is defined as
X i − XFEM
i
Ki = i × 100(%) (i = 1, 2, 3) (44)
XFEM
where X i and XFEMi
are obtained from this paper and the finite element results. It is clearly seen that
the relative error is bigger at two sides. The reason is that this paper’s solution is Saint-venant solution.
Figure 15 shows that the relative error is less than 5% when 2b2 ≤ x ≤ (l − 2b2 ).

IX. CONCLUSIONS
The effective flange width expression and the effective flange width ratio of a simply supported
box girder under uniform load with a closed polynomial form proposed in this paper are simple and
convenient. It has been shown that the stress calculation and effective flange width ratio using the
proposed technique in the paper are in good agreement with the finite element results.

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