SHEAR LAG OF THIN-WALLED CURVED BOX GIRDER BRIDGES

By Q. Z. Luo1 and Q. S. Li2

ABSTRACT: This note investigates the influence of shear lag for thin-walled curved box girders, including
longitudinal warping. The longitudinal warping displacement functions of the flange slabs are approximated by
a cubic parabolic curve instead of a quadratic curve of Reissner’s method. On the basis of the thin-walled curved
bar theory and the potential variational principle, the equations of equilibrium considering the shear lag, bending,
and torsion (St. Venant and warping) for a thin-walled curved box girder are established. The closed-form
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solutions of the equations are derived, and Vlasov’s equation is further developed. The obtained formulas are
applied to calculate the shear lag effects for curved box girder bridges. Numerical examples are presented to
verify the accuracy and applicability of the present method.

INTRODUCTION ESTABLISHED EQUATIONS OF EQUILIBRIUM

Thin-walled curved box girders are widely used in grade
separation and viaduct bridges. The longitudinal stresses in
flanges of wide flange girders are distributed nonuniformly
throughout the flange width, are maximum at the edges and
decrease toward the center, and usually cannot be obtained
accurately from elementary bending theory or bending torsion
theory. To account for this effect, the shear lag factor or ef-
Fig. 1 shows a curved box girder with external loading and
a typical cross section. It is assumed that the flanges and webs
are infinitely flexible out of their own plane and that the
stresses in the webs can be determined by elementary beam
theory. In calculating the displacements and strains of the box
girder, the longitudinal warping displacement resulting from
the shear lag effect at any point across the flange slab is taken
in the form of

冉 冊
fective width concept is generally used in the analysis and
design of such wide flange girders. x3
wi (x, y, z) = ⫺y 1⫺ W (z) (1)
The problem of shear lag has been studied by many re- b 3i
searchers. However, most of the previous investigations have
With the above assumptions, the total potential energy, in-
been limited to straight girder bridges. When the influence of
cluding the external potential energy and strain energy, is ob-
shear lag is considered in curved box girders, it leads to a
tained. From the variational principle, the governing differ-
coupling effect of shear lag, bending, and torsion. Yoshimura
ential equations considering the shear lag effect are derived

冉 冊
and Nirasawa (1975) have applied a folded plate method to
analyze the shear lag and effective width of a curved box EI␻ GKT EI␻ EIx ⫹ GKT
girder with double symmetric cross section or a girder with EIx ⫹ v⬙ ⬙ ⫺ v⬙ ⫹ ␾⬙ ⬙ ⫺ ␾⬙
R2 R2 R R
channel cross section. Since then, Hasebe et al. (1985) used
Kano’s theory (Kano et al. 1982) to calculate shear lag of these 3
⫹ EIs W ⵮ ⫺ qy = 0
cross-section girders, and results were compared with those 4 (2)
obtained by the folded plate theory. However, it should be
mentioned that a detailed study of the shear lag of a curved
girder with a symmetric side cantilever box section has not
been presented to date.
In the present work, the potential variational method intro-
duced by Reissner (1946) is used to analyze the shear lag of
curved box girders with a symmetric side cantilever box sec-
tion, including a warping torsion contribution. On the basis of
the methods presented by Reissner (1946) and Cheng and Luo
(1991), the longitudinal displacement of the flange slab is ap-
proximated by the third power parabola distribution on the
cross section of the flange. The equations of equilibrium con-
sidering shear lag, bending, and torsion are established by
means of the potential variational method, and the closed-form
solutions of the equations are derived in this paper. The the-
oretical formulas of the Vlasov equation (Vlasov 1961) are
further developed, and the presented method and solutions are
applied to calculate the shear lag for curved box girder bridges.
The results of the proposed method are compared with nu-
merical solutions of the finite strip method.

1
Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg. and Arch., Univ. of Foshan, 18 Jiang Wan
Rd., Foshan City, Guangdong, China.
2
Asst. Prof., Dept. of Build. and Constr., City Univ. of Hong Kong,
83 Tat Chee Ave., Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Note. Associate Editor: Mark T. Hanson. Discussion open until March
2001. To extend the closing date one month, a written request must be
filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The manuscript for this tech-
nical note was submitted for review and possible publication on March
16, 1998. This technical note is part of the Journal of Engineering Me-
chanics, Vol. 126, No. 10, October, 2000. 䉷ASCE, ISSN 0733-9399/00/ FIG. 1. Curved Box Girder: (a) Coordinate System and Load-
0010-1111–1114/$8.00 ⫹ $.50 per page. Technical Note No. 18045. ing; (b) Typical Cross Section

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J. Eng. Mech., 2000, 126(10): 1111-1114

 EI␻ EIx ⫹ GKT EIx in which
v⬙⬙ ⫺ v ⬙ ⫹ EI␻ ␾⬙ ⬙ ⫺ GKT ␾⬙ ⫹ 2 ␾
R

⫺
3EIs
R

W ⬘ ⫺ mz = 0
R
a= 冑 EI␻
GKT
; k= 冑
14G␤n
5E
(13a, b)

4R (3)
1 Is␣
3EIs 3EIs 9EIs 9GIs␣ n= ; ␤= (13c,d )
v⵮ ⫺ ␾⬘ ⫹ W⬙ ⫺ W=0 (4) 1 ⫺ 7Is /8Ix Is
4 4R 14 5
and where F3 , E3 , H3 , T3 , S1 , S2 are parameters related to
boundary conditions are

冋冉 冊
structural dimensions, material properties, and radius, respec-
EI␻ GKT EI␻ EIx ⫹ GKT tively; A1 , A2 , . . . , A10 are arbitrary constants.
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EIx ⫹ v⵮ ⫺ 2 v⬘ ⫹ ␾⵮ ⫺ ␾⬘ The 10 arbitrary constants of (10)–(12) can be determined

R2 R R R

册 冏
s from the 10 independent boundary conditions of (5)–(9). In
3 view of strain-displacement and stress-strain relations, bending
⫹ EIsW ⬙ ⫹ Qy ␦v =0
4 0 (5) normal stresses and warping stresses on the flanges for curved

冋冉 冊 册 冏
s box girders can be obtained.
EI␻ EI␻ EIx 3
EIx ⫹ v⬙ ⫹ ␾⬙ ⫺ ␾ ⫹ EIsW ⬘ ⫹ Mx ␦ v ⬘ =0
R2 R R 4 0 COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
(6) A typical example associated with the shear lag for a simply

冋 册 冏
s
EI␻ GKT supported curved box girder is presented. The girder span is
⫺ v⵮ ⫹ v ⬘ ⫺ EI␻ ␾⵮ ⫹ GKT ␾⬘ ⫺ Tz ␦␾ =0 (7) chosen equal to 80 cm (32 in.), and the radius of curvature is
R R 0

冉 冊 冏
s
equal to 200 cm (80 in.). The dimensions of the cross section
v⬙ are given in Fig. 1 with the following characteristic data: b1 =
EI␻ ␾⬙ ⫹ ␦␾⬘ =0 (8) b2 = 9.6 cm (3.84 in.); t1 = t2 = t3 = 0.6 cm (0.24 in.); tw =
R 0

冉 冊 冏
s 0.8 cm (0.32 in.); h = 8.0 cm (3.2 in.); Young’s modulus E =
EIs
3
v⬙ ⫹
9
W⬘ ⫺
3
␾ ␦W =0 (9) 3,000 Mpa; and Poisson’s ratio ␯ = 0.385. Two types of load-
4 14 4R 0 ing are considered: one is a concentrated load acting at the
middle of the span, and the other is a uniform lateral load over
It can be seen from these equations that as the radius of the length of the girder. Comparisons are made between the
curvature becomes infinitely large, the differential equations of results calculated by the present method and by the finite strip
a straight box girder (Guo and Fang 1983) can be obtained. method, as shown in Fig. 2. The effect of shear lag is reflected
On the other hand, if the shear lag effect is neglected, the by a shear lag factor ␭, defined as the ratio between the edge
Vlasov equation (Vlasov 1961) is obtained. stresses allowing for shear lag and the stresses obtained from
the elementary curved beam theory, in which ␭b represents the
CLOSED-FORM SOLUTIONS OF THE EQUATIONS
bending shear lag factor and ␭␻ represents the warping shear
In the above developments, the governing differential equa- lag factor. It can be seen that the maximum shear lag factor
tions are three simultaneous linear equations with constant co- in the flange close to the webs approaches the finite strip value.
efficients; according to the differential operator method, the The girders with different proportions are analyzed to study
solutions will contain 10 arbitrary constants. Substituting D 2 the effects of varying the central angle of curvature (␪), the
⬅ d 2/dz 2 into (2)–(4), when qy and mz are constants, the flange width /span ratio (bf /S), and the flange width/web depth
closed-form solution of the differential equations solutions can ratio (bf /hw ). The shear lag effects caused by change of the
be expressed as central angle of curvature and the flange width/span ratio for
simply supported curved girder bridges under central point
z load and distributed line load are calculated. The results are
v(z) = A1 ⫹ A2 z ⫹ A3 cosh kz ⫹ A4 sinh kz ⫹ A5 cosh
a shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It can clearly be seen that the influence
z z z z
⫹ A6 sinh ⫹ A7 cos ⫹ A8 z cos ⫹ A9 sin
a R R R
z R 2qy 2
⫹ A10 z sin ⫺ z
R 2GKT (10)
␾(z) = A3 (F3 cosh kz ⫹ E3 sinh kz) ⫹ A4(E3 cosh kz

R z R z
⫹ F3 sinh kz) ⫹ A5 cosh ⫹ A6 2 sinh
a2 a a a

⫺ A7
1
R
z
cos ⫺ A8
R
冉1
R
z
z cos ⫹ S1 sin
R
z
R
冊
⫺ A9
1
R
z
sin ⫹ A 10
R 冉 S1 cos
z
R
1
⫺ z sin
R
z
R 冊
⫹
R2
EIx
mz ⫺ R 3 冉1
EIx
⫹
1
GKT
冊 qy
(11)
W(z) = A3 (T3 cosh kz ⫹ H3 sinh kz) ⫹ A4(H3 cosh kz

z z
⫹ T3 sinh kz) ⫹ A8 S2 cos ⫹ A10 S2 sin
R R (12) FIG. 2. Comparison of Result in Midsection

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FIG. 4. Shear Lag under Uniform Load: (a) Midsection; (b)

Quarter-Span Section
FIG. 3. Shear Lag under Concentrated Load: (a) Midsection;
(b) Quarter-Span Section

of the central angle (␪) upon the shear lag depends on

the position of section and type of loading. For simply sup-
ported curved girders with ␪ = 60⬚ having bf /S = 0.2 under
distributed line load and central point load, respectively, the
effects of variations of the flange width/web depth ratio on the
shear lag factor are shown in Fig. 5. It is clear that the bending
shear lag factors increase with increasing values of the flange
width/web depth ratio. On the other hand, for all the cases, it
is illustrated that the shear lag has no influence upon the warp-
ing stress because the warping shear lag factors remain con-
stant (␭␻ = 1).

CONCLUSIONS

In the present paper, a simple and efficient method for anal-

ysis of thin-walled curved box girder bridges considering the
shear lag is proposed. It is shown through the numerical ex-
amples that the present method is reliable. The theoretical for-
mulas derived herein have more applicability than Vlasov’s
method and can be applied to evaluate the shear lag of straight
and curved box girder bridges effectively. FIG. 5. Influences of bf /hw

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J. Eng. Mech., 2000, 126(10): 1111-1114

 APPENDIX I. PARAMETERS
The following form determines parameters of (10)–(12):
b11 =
k2
R 冉 冊
1⫺
1
R
(EI␻ k 2 ⫺ GKT ) ⫺ EI x k 2 冉
k2 ⫹
1
R 冊
k2
⌬X ⌬Y b33 = (GKT ⫺ EIx R 2k 2 ⫺ EI␻ k 2)
H3 = ; T3 = (14a,b) R2

冉 冊
⌬ ⌬
6 14G ␤ R 2
b11 a12 a12 Zx = 1⫹
F3 = ⫺ H3 ; E3 = ⫺ T3 (15a,b) 7 5E
a11 a11 a11
3EIs R 2

冋 冉 冊册
Zy =
I␻ GKT 4(EI ␻ ⫹ GKT R 2 ⫹ EIx R 2 )
Ix (Z x ⫺ Z y ) ⫺ Z y ⫹
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2
R2 E
APPENDIX II. REFERENCES

冉 冊
S1 = (16)
I␻ GKT Cheng, X. Y., and Luo, Q. Z. (1991). ‘‘Shear lag of box girders under
(Z x ⫺ Z y ) ⫹ Ix ⫹
R2 E combined bending and axial loading.’’ China Civ. Engrg. J., Peking,

冉 冊
24(1), 52–64.
I␻ GKT Guo, J. Q., and Fang, Z. Z. (1983). ‘‘Analysis of shear lag effect in box
2 2 ⫹ girder bridges.’’ China Civ. Engrg. J., Peking, 16(1), 1–13.
R E Hasebe, K., Usuki, S., and Horie, Y. (1985). ‘‘Shear lag analysis and

冉 冊
S2 = ⫺ (17) effective width of curved girder bridges.’’ J. Engrg. Mech., ASCE,
I␻ GKT
(Z x ⫺ Z y ) ⫹ Ix ⫹ 111(1), 87–92.
R2 E Kano, T., Usuki, S., and Hasebe, K. (1982). ‘‘Theory of thin-walled
curved members with shear deformation.’’ Ingenieur-Archiv, Berlin, 51.
in which Reissner, E. (1946). ‘‘Analysis of shear lag in box beams by the principle

冏 冏
minimum potential energy.’’ Quarterly of Appl. Mathematics, 5(3),
a11 0 0 a12 268–278.
0 a11 a12 0 Vlasov, V. Z. (1961). Thin-walled elastic beams, 2nd Ed., National Sci-
⌬= (18) ence Foundation, Washington, D.C.
a13 a14 a15 a16
Yoshimura, J., and Nirasawa, N. (1975). ‘‘On the stress distributions and
a14 a13 a16 a15 effective width of curved girder bridges by the folded plate theory.’’

冏 冏
Proc., Japan Soc. of Civ. Engrs., No. 233, Tokyo.
a11 0 0 a12
0 a11 b11 0 APPENDIX III. NOTATION
⌬X = (19)
a13 a14 b22 a16
The following symbols are used in this paper:
a14 a13 b33 a15

冏 冏
bf = half width of flange slab, measured from centroid
0 b11 a11 a12 of web;
a11 0 0 0
⌬Y = (20) bi = half width of flange slab or cantilever slab width,
0 b22 a14 a15 measured from edge of web;
0 b33 a13 a16 E, G = Young’s and shear modulus, respectively;
h = height of box section;
where hw = distance between middle surface of top slab and

a11 =
k 2(1 ⫺ R)
R
(EI ␻ k 2 ⫺ GKT ) ⫺
EIx
R
冉
k2 ⫹
1
R
冊 middle surface of bottom slab;
Ix , Is , Is ␣ = moment of inertia of whole section, of slabs, and
generalized, respectively;

冉 冊
I␻ = warping constant;
3EIs k 1 KT = St. Venant torsion constant;
a12 = k2 ⫹
4 R R = radius of curvature;
S = span length;
k2 t1 , t2 , t3 , tw = thickness of top slab, cantilever slab, bottom, and
a13 = (EI␻ k 2 ⫺ EIx ⫺ GKT )
R web, respectively;
v (z) = vertical displacement;
3EIs k W(z) = maximum longitudinal displacement differential
a14 =
4R function of flange slab;

冉 冊
wi (x, y, z) = shear lag warping displacement function of flange
1 slab;
9EIs k 2 ⫺1 x, y, z = coordinates;
n
a15 = ␪ = central angle of curvature;
14 ␭b , ␭␻ = shear lag factor of bending and warping, respec-
tively;
3EIs k 3 ␾(z) = angle of transverse rotation; and
a16 = b22 =
4 ␯ = Poisson’s ratio.

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