Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Finite element analysis of corrugated web

beams under bending
C.L. Chan, Y.A. Khalid ∗, B.B. Sahari, A.M.S. Hamouda
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang,
43400 Selgangor, Malaysia

Received 18 September 2001; received in revised form 30 November 2001; accepted 3 December
2001

Abstract

The effect of web corrugation on the beam’s strength is presented in this paper. Beams with
plane web, vertically and horizontally corrugated webs were investigated using LUSAS finite
element package. For the horizontally corrugated case, one arc and two arcs were studied,
while half-circular wave corrugation was used for the vertical type. Half of circle corrugations
of 22.41 mm mean radius and 3.44 mm thickness were used throughout this study. Non-linear
elastic–plastic behaviour has been considered. Three different corrugation radii were taken for
each type of the beam to investigate its effect on the beam’s strength. Ordinary I-beams, with
plane web, were also tested experimentally. The comparison between the results obtained from
both methods, for the plane web type, shows 3.1% to 7.1% differences. On the other hand,
it is also found that beams with vertically corrugated web stands 38.8% to 54.4% higher
moments than the horizontal type. The vertically corrugated web provides a stronger support
against the flange buckling, compared to the plane and horizontally corrugated web types. It
is found to be the same for the three radii taken. Moreover, corrugated web beams with larger
corrugation radius could sustain higher bending moment and it is true for the sizes used
throughout this investigation.  2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords: Finite element method; Corrugated web; Arcs corrugation; Corrugation direction; Radius effect

∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +603-894-66333; fax: +603-86567099.
E-mail address: yousif@eng.upm.edu.my (Y.A. Khalid).

0143-974X/02/$ - see front matter  2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

PII: S 0 1 4 3 - 9 7 4 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 7 5 - X
1392 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

Nomenclature
bf width of flange
d depth of beam
dm = 2rm mean diameter of corrugated web
Ixx second moment of area about X-axis
M bending moment
P applied load on compression flange
p loading position on vertically corrugated web beam
ri inner radius/minor radius of arc
ro outer radius/major radius of arc
tf flange thickness
tw web thickness
V volume
W weight
θ angle of corrugation
λ corrugation length
σU Ultimate strength
σy yield stress

1. Introduction

The corrugated webs are introduced to allow the use of thin plates without stiff-
eners for use in buildings and bridges. It could eliminate the usage of larger thickness
and stiffeners that contributed to the reduction in beam weight and cost. The author
found that the early works were carried out by Elgaaly [1] and has been further
developed to the practical stage. Most of these analytical and experimental studies
concentrated on the trapezoidal vertically corrugated webs.
Elgaaly et al. [2] investigated the failure mechanisms of these beams under shear,
bending and compressive patch loads. It was found that the failure of beams under
shear loading is due to buckling on the web, where local and global for coarse and
dense corrugation respectively . Similarly under bending, the compression flange
vertically buckled into the crippled web when the yield stress is reached. It was also
found that the ultimate moment capacity could be calculated considering the flange
and neglecting the web as its contribution to the beam’s moment carrying capacity
is insignificant [3]. Nevertheless, under compressive patch loads, two distinct modes
of failure observed. These involve the formation of collapse mechanism on flange
followed by the web crippling or yielded web cripples followed by vertical bending
of the flange into the crippled web. The failure of these beams is found to be depen-
dent on the loading position and corrugation parameters where it can be a combi-
nation of the aforementioned modes [4]. Comparison to the analytical result shows
that the average ratio between finite element and experimental results are 1.151,
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1393

1.036 and 1.085 times for shear, flexure and partial compressive patch loads, respect-
ively [5]. This is in agreement with the results obtained by Johnson and Cafolla [6,7].
These differences in results, experimental and analytical analyses, was due to a
consideration adopted in modelling the problem and has been addressed by Luo and
Edlund [9,10]. They found that the ultimate strength of a Ramberg–Osgood strain-
hardening model is 8–12% higher than an elastic–plastic model. About 7% reduction
of ultimate load was contributed by the presence of local imperfection and not global
imperfection. While the corner effects due to cold forming has an insignificant effect
on the ultimate strength. The ultimate strength is found to be 20% and 40% lower
when a knife load was applied in comparison to uniform distributed patch load with
patch length of 50 and 115.2 mm, respectively. The highest value of strength obtained
when the girder is loaded at the centre of the oblique part of corrugation and the
lowest value was obtained at the centre of the flat part. Besides that, the performance
of corrugated girders can also be affected by the corrugation parameters. Girders with
larger corrugation angle and thicker web and flange have higher ultimate strength or
ultimate shear capacity. In addition, the shear capacity increases proportionally with
the girder depth but an insignificant effect on the ultimate strength was observed
when subjected to patch load.
Zhang et al. [11,12] and Li et al. [8] studied the influence of the corrugation
parameters and developed a set of optimised parameters for the wholly corrugated
web beams based on the basic optimisation on the plane web beams. It was also
found that the corrugated web beam has 1.5–2 times higher buckling resistance than
the plane web beam.
Throughout this investigation, corrugated webs of arc corrugation were selected.
Both horizontal and vertical directions of corrugation were considered. I-beam of
500 mm length, 75 mm flange width and 127 mm deep were selected to be the basis
for this investigation. For the horizontal case, webs with one arc and two arcs were
studied while the depth of the corrugated webs was kept the same. Three-point flex-
ural tests were carried out on plane web. Then all types of beams, plane and corru-
gated web types were modelled and analysed by using finite element method where
material nonlinearity was adopted.
Comparison between the experimental and the finite element analysis results was
made. The aim was to determine the accuracy of the analytical method and to verify
the improvement in the strength of the beam through use of corrugated webs as
compared to a plane web. Parametric studies were also conducted on corrugated
webs with different radius ratio to investigate the effect of arc sizes to the beam’s
strength. The manufacturing process of the corrugated web beam was briefly dis-
cussed for the sizes taken in this investigation. In addition, the effect of the corru-
gation’s direction was also verified.

2. Models geometry and materials

Four types of mild steel beam were studied namely the plane web (PWx), horizon-
tal corrugated web of one arc corrugation (HC1Rx) and two arcs corrugation
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(HC2Rx) and vertically corrugated web (VCRx). The corrugation parameters are as
shown in Fig. 1. For the plane web, the W-shape type beams (W125 x 13.4 or US
customary unit W5 x 9) were tested. Each beam was of 127.05 mm depth and 77.05
mm width. The detailed dimensions for each type of beam are as tabulated in Table
1. For VCRx, web thickness is measured at the cross section where load is applied.
Standard tensile tests were conducted on coupons collected from the plane web
beams at various locations (see Fig. 2). Similar tests were also carried out for the
mild steel pipes and flat bars used for the latter fabrication of the corrugated web
beams. The average yield stress and ultimate strength obtained are tabulated in
Table 2.
On the other hand, the typical finite element model of the corrugated web and
plane web beam created for this project are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 while the assumed
boundary conditions are given in Table 3. A full model of each beam was created
according to the dimensions shown in Table 1. Global distributed load type was
applied along the width of the top flange at an equal distance from the supported
ends. LUSAS finite element package has been used for the modelling and analysis.
The load is incremented automatically by using the incrementation scheme of
LUSAS. For the corrugated web type, curved lines were created on the web. The
eight-node quadrilateral thin shell semiloof elements (QSL8) were used to model the
flanges and web for both plane and corrugated types.

Fig. 1. Dimensions of corrugation profiles. (a) plane web (b) horizontal one arc corrugation (c) horizontal
two arcs corrugation (d) vertical arcs corrugation.
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1395

Table 1
Dimensions for types of beam studied

Type Designation d (mm) tf (mm) bf (mm) tw (mm) RO (mm)

PWx PW1 127.05 7.05 77.05 4.45 –

PW2 126.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 –
PW3 156.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 –
HCxRx HC1R1 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 24.13
HC1R2 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 35.34
HC1R3 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 68.95
HC2R1 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 24.13
HC2R2 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 35.34
HC2R3 105.00 6.00 75.00 3.44 68.95
VCRx VCR1 126.00 6.00 75.00 12.88 12.91
VCR2 126.00 6.00 75.00 17.89 24.13
VCR3 126.00 6.00 75.00 21.78 35.34

Fig. 2. Location of tensile specimens collected from plane web beam.

Table 2
Properties obtained from standard tensile tests

Material E (kNmm-2) sy (Nmm⫺2) sU (Nmm⫺2)

W shape beam 200 355 473

Flat bar 200 275 405
Pipe 200 322 362

All models behaviour is defined as elastic–plastic materials with strain hardening.

For the elastic dataset, the modulus, E and Poisson ratio, ν were defined as 200
GNm⫺2 and 0.3 respectively. Furthermore the different values of the yield stress and
ultimate strength were assigned respective to the type of beam and as tabulated in
Table 4. The nonlinear static analysis was performed considering material nonlin-
earity.
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Fig. 3. Finite element model for the type of beam investigated.

3. Experimental set-up

A test rig, as shown in Fig. 5, was built by using a W-shape beam, round solid
shafts and flat bars to support the specimen. The rig is 600 mm in length and 125
mm in height. It is fitted into a 250 kN load capacity Instron tensile/compression
testing machine to create the three-point flexure test conditions. The specimens were
rested on the solid shafts of the rig while the load was applied on the top flange at
an equal distance from both supported points. The displacement control was used
throughout the tests instead of the load control to obtain a uniform displacement.
All specimens were loaded at a crosshead speed of 3.0 mm/min until failure (see
Fig. 5 for the instrument set-up). The final deformed profile of the plane web I-beam
specimens were measured and compared with the finite element models.
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1397

Fig. 4. Finite element model (VCR1).

Table 3
Boundary conditions

Side Translation DOF Rotation DOF

dx dy dz qx qy qz

ABC F R R F F F
DEF F R F F F F
GHI R F F F F F
JKL R F F F F F
BH excluding B and H F F F F F F
EK excluding E and H F F F F F F
MN F DC F F F F

Note: F = Node is free. R = Node is restrained. DC = Node is constrained to displace constantly.

Table 4
Material properties assigned respective to the type of beam

Type Flange Web

sy (Nmm⫺2) sU (Nmm⫺2) sy (Nmm⫺2) sU (Nmm⫺2)

PW1 355 473 355 473

PW2 , PW3 275 405 322 362
HC1Rx , HC2Rx 275 405 322 362
VCRx 275 405 322 362
1398 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

Fig. 5. Experimental set-up.

4. Test results

Test results obtained from this investigation include the testing of the tensile speci-
mens and the bending tests of the plane web I-beam. Nine tensile specimens were
cut from different positions from the I-beam (as shown in Fig. 2) and tested for their
mechanical properties (see Figs. 6–8). The three-point bending tests were then carried
out for the selected I-beam (PW1). During the tests of these beams, it has been
observed that the yielded compression flange buckled into the web and consequently
followed by crippling of the web. The total applied load is plotted against machine
head displacement as shown in Fig. 9. It is noted that the moment-carrying capability

Fig. 6. Tensile test for specimens collected from the web.

 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1399

Fig. 7. Tensile test for specimens collected from the top flange.

Fig. 8. Tensile test for specimens collected from the bottom flange.

is high prior to the compression flange yielding and decreases rapidly as buckling
occurred. The final deformed profile ordinary plane web beam is shown in Fig. 10.

5. Finite element results

Applied moments were calculated from eq. (1) and plotted against maximum dis-
placement, d for the benefit of comparison. The length span is taken as 537.6 mm
for VCRx and 500 mm for PWx and HCxRx models. The second moment of area
about X-axis, Ixx and volume, V were also determined (refer to eqs. 2–9). This has
been carried out to investigate the correlation between the Ixx and V values and the
beam’s bending strength. Comparison between the Ixx values calculated from eqs.
2–9 and values obtained from the finite element analyses, for all models, shows
1400 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

Fig. 9. Load versus machine head displacement (PW1).

Fig. 10. Specimen PW3 after failure.

negligible differences. From the analysis results, the vertical corrugated web beam
is found to stand higher bending moment than the rest of the beams (as shown in
Figs. 12 and 13). It could also be noted that the moment carrying capacity increases
as larger corrugation radius is used. Besides that, from the values of Pd=5/W ratio as
tabulated in Table 5, lighter beams with equal load-carrying capability and larger
second moment of area, Ixx could be produced by the use of corrugation on the web
in the vertical direction. Nonetheless, a slight difference was noticed from the failure
mechanism in both experimental and analytical analyses. The compression flange
buckled into the web as the yield stress is reached (see Fig. 14). However, in the
analytical analyses, the web did not cripple as happened in the experimental speci-
mens tested due to the nonlinearities considered and boundary condition for all mod-
els, the following equations have been used;
M ⫽ (PL / 4) (1)
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1401

Fig. 11. Web thickness at different section (top), web thickness curve for VCR1 (bottom).

Ixx ⫽ 2Ixx(flange) ⫹ Ixx(web) (2)

Ixx(flange) ⫽ (bf × (tf)3) / 12 ⫹ (bf × tf)[(d⫺tf) / 2]2 (3)

For WPx model,
Ixx(web) ⫽ (tw × (d⫺2tf)3) / 12 (4)
For HC1Rx model,
Ixx(web) ⫽ tw / 48{32[(h3 ⫹ 3(rosinq)h2 ⫹ 3(rosinq)2h] ⫹ 3dm(d2m (5)
⫹ t )(2q⫺sin2q)}
2
w
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Fig. 12. Comparison of moment, M at maximum displacement, d = 5 mm for various profiles.

Fig. 13. Moment versus maximum displacement for various profiles.

where h=l/2⫺rosinq=d/2⫺(tf+rosinq).
For small values of q (approximate to 0 radian),
Ixx(web)⬇tw / 48{32[(h3 ⫹ 3(roq)h2 ⫹ 3(roq)2h] (6)
where h⬇l/2⫺roq=d/2—(tf+roq).
For HC2Rx model,
Ixx(web) ⫽ 1 / 8(dm × tw)[(2d2m ⫹ 2t2w ⫹ l2)q⫺(d2m ⫹ t2w)sin2q] (7)
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1403

Table 5
Calculated Ixx ,V and Pδ=5/W ratio for various profiles

Profile Ixx (× 106 mm4) V (mm3) Pd=5/W (ms⫺2)

PW1 4.4481 794275 21835.0

PW2 3.6674 646080 10791.2
PW3 5.9212 697680 10029.6
HC1R1 2.1408 658470 7651.3
HC1R2 2.3654 621760 10845.0
HC1R3 2.3617 609235 11485.6
HC2R1 2.5771 692185 4411.3
HC2R2 2.4420 618765 9622.7
HC2R3 2.4229 607180 11943.6
VCR1 4.8335 832744 10847.4
VCR2 5.4519 832433 12074.1
VCR3 5.9317 832641 13293.5

Fig. 14. Deformed mesh of PW1 model.

where λ=d⫺(2tf+tw/sinq).
For small values of q (approximate to 0 radian),
Ixx(web)⬇1 / 4(rm × tw × q × l2) (8)
where l⬇d⫺(2tf+tw/q).
For VCRx model,
Ixx(web) ⫽ (tw × (d⫺2tf)3) / 12 (9)
where
tw ⫽ 冑r2o⫺p2 ⫹ 冑r2i ⫺p2 forriⱖpⱖ0

⫽ 冑r2o⫺p2 ⫹ 冑r2o⫺(dm⫺p)2 forroⱖpⱖri

⫽ 冑r2o⫺(dm⫺p)2⫺冑r2i ⫺(dm⫺p)2 fordmⱖpⱖro

1404 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

(refer to Fig. 11)

Pd=5 / W ⫽ Pd=5 / (rsteel × V) where rsteel ⫽ 7860 kgm-3 (10)

6. Results and discussion

The results obtained from both the experimental and finite element methods were
compared to verify the finite element models created and to see if it could closely
reflect the behaviour of such beams in the real condition. This has been carried for
the first set of models of PW1 type. The comparison of both results for PW1 models
is shown in Fig. 15. From the graph plotted, a good degree of accuracy was achieved
where the failure loads (based on the maximum load value in test) show a limited
difference of 3.1% to 7.1%. Nevertheless, the failure mechanism of the finite element
models shows a slight difference compared to the experimentally tested beams due
to the idealistic behaviour of the models.
The deformed profiles along the length span for specimen PW1 were measured
by using Contour Measuring Machine (CMM) at the top flange and compared with
the finite element results for similar model as shown in Fig. 16. A constant variation
of displacement exists between the two results and the same value of maximum
displacement is noticed. This is due to the occurrence of crippling on the web in
experimental test specimens.
On the manufacturing side of view, for these corrugated web beams, a hot rolling
process is more applicable to be used. This is suitable for small corrugation radius
beams. Difficulties would appear for long corrugation radius and for that rolling of
web may be done first then two flanges would be welded on both sides.

Fig. 15. Comparison between finite element (FEA) and experimental results for PW1.
 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406 1405

Fig. 16. Deformed profile of top flange for PW1 model for both the experimental and finite element
analysis.

7. Conclusion

The difference between the experimental and the finite element analysis results is
contributed mainly to the idealistic behaviour of the models created where nonlinear
buckling has not clearly identified. This principle creates a different failure mech-
anism obtained on the web, while the flanges were behaving the same for both results.
The failure load could not be determined from the finite element results where strain-
hardening properties were used. Nevertheless, the models created could closely
depict the experimental conditions where the percentage of differences obtained in
the range of 3.1% to 7.1% for the maximum load.
The main conclusions that can be drawn from this investigation include:

1. The vertical corrugation produces higher strength than the horizontal corrugation
and the plane web, at an average range of 1.8–2.1.
2. The strength increases as the corrugation radius used increases.
3. The Ixx values calculated by using the derived equations and the LUSAS finite
element package are adequately the same, that the maximum deviation obtained
is 4.1%.
4. The arc corrugation could be manufactured by hot rolling process, but it is
important to mention that, a larger corrugation radius or angle of corrugation, q
is not practical to produce and could damage the tool.
5. When the vertical corrugated beams are compared to the original I-beams, of the
same parameters, it appears that a lighter vertical corrugated beam could carry
the same load of the original I-beams with 10.6% reduction in weight.
6. The increase of the corrugation radius for the vertical corrugated webs would
further reduce the weight of the beam for the same maximum load when compared
to the original I-beam.
1406 C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 1391–1406

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