Stainless Steel Composite Beams in Sustainable Bridge Construction
Supervisors: Dr Sheida Afshan, Dr Marco Baiguera
Research group: Structural Engineering
Project Funders EPSRC
Project description
Composite beams area very common component of bridge structures, with girders typically formed of carbon steel, which is highly susceptible to corrosion. Ongoing maintenance requirements are risky, costly and disruptive.
Stainless steel’s high strength and excellent corrosion resistance make it an attractive alternative to carbon steel. Its durability can reduce maintenance costs by at least 30-40% over a minimum 60-year lifespan and its high strength allows for more efficient cross-section design and material savings. Stainless Steel products contain around 60% recycled content, and on average 90% are recycled at end-of-life. They have the potential to be an infinitely recyclable, closed-loop material.
Stainless steels have a different stress-strain behaviour to carbon steels and there is a lack of reliable design guidance. This research aim to investigate the structural behaviour of stainless steels within the context of composite beams. the results will feed into future design guidance for stainless steel composite bridges. Future work ill include:
- Experimental Studies, including tensile tests and push-tests on headed shear studs
- Numerical analysis with Finite Element software
- Life-Cycle Analysis of stainless steel composite bridges