Stiffness and Strength Requirements of Shear Diaphragms Used for Stability Bracing of Steel I-Sectio
O. Ozgur Egilmez Izmir University of Economics Izmir, Turkey
Mustafa Vardaroglu and Andac Akbaba Izmir Institute of Technology Izmir, Turkey
Lateral torsional buckling is a failure mode that often controls the design of steel I-beams during construction. During this critical stage, the buckling capacity of the beams can be increased by reducing the laterally unbraced length by providing bracing at either discrete locations or continuously along the length of the beam. Light gage metal decking, which is often used in the building and bridge constructions as concrete deck formwork, acts like a shear diaphragm and can provide continuous lateral bracing to the top flange of non-composite beams and girders by restraining the warping deformations along the beam/girder span. Past studies that investigated the stiffness and strength behavior of shear diaphragms used to brace steel beams mainly focused on the strength of the end connections (sheet to beam connections along the length of the beam). However, the strength of a diaphragm is generally controlled by either the shear strength of the end connections or shear strength at interior connections between panels. Therefore, strength requirements for shear diaphragm bracing should ad-dress both end and sidelap fasteners. This study investigates the stiffness and strength behavior of shear diaphr