Local Buckling Analysis of Innovative Corrugated Profile of Soil-Steel Composite Bridges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7250/bjrbe.2026-21.671Keywords:
corrugated steel structure, soil-steel composite bridge, local buckling, parametric analysis, corrugated profile, strengthening techniquesAbstract
Corrugated soil-steel composite bridges due to their out-of-plane stiffness and interaction with surrounding soil are extensively used in the underground engineering. The demand for larger span of corrugated soil-steel structures is rising due to their high strength-to-cost ratio. Larger spans are usually related to the bigger cross-sections of corrugation profile. The use of the deepest corrugations like 500 mm pitch and 237 mm depth is associated with a higher risk of local buckling of straight region (tangent mt) of corrugation. This study analyses the resistance to local buckling of four widely used corrugation profiles. It also examines the impact of circular hollow section steel pipes and high strength steel influence on plate width-to-thickness ratio limit. The numerical three-dimensional model was developed for the investigation. At first, parametric study was conducted to reveal the influence mechanisms on critical parameters, incorporating finite element mesh size, number of corrugations, plate height, and plate thickness. Afterwards, local buckling behaviour of corrugated steel plate was studied and width-to-thickness ratio limit was proposed considering that local buckling of the plate would not occur before steel yielding. It was found that corrugated plate thickness could be significantly reduced as a result of the reduction of buckling length by steel pipes. Therefore, innovative corrugation profile has the great potential to be rational more than the increase of the thickness of the regular corrugated steel plate.
References
Andersson, A., & Karoumi, R. (2017). A soil-steel bridge under high-speed railways. Archiwum Instytutu Inżynierii Lądowej, 23, 45–52. https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.04 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.04
Bareikis, N. (2024a). Parametric analysis of innovative corrugated profile of soil-steel composite bridge. Ce/Papers, 7(3–4), 94–99. https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.3072 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.3072
Bareikis, N. (2024b). Rational steel mesh layout influence on plate utilization of large span corrugated steel structure. Archives of Civil Engineering, 70(3), 561–578. https://doi.org/10.24425/ace.2024.151002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24425/ace.2024.151002
Bareikis, N. (2025). High strength steel influence on sustainability of corrugated soil-steel composite bridge, IABSE Symposium: Environmentally Friendly Technologies and Structures: Focusing on Sustainable Approaches, Tokyo, Japan, 807–814. https://doi.org/10.2749/ tokyo.2025.0807 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2749/tokyo.2025.0807
Beben, D. (2017). The role of backfill quality on corrugated steel plate culvert behaviour. Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering, 12(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3846/bjrbe.2017.01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/bjrbe.2017.01
Beben, D., & Manko, Z. (2010). Static tests on a soil-steel bridge structure with a relieving slab. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 6(3), 329–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/15732470701511618 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15732470701511618
Beben, D., & Stryczek, A. (2016). Numerical analysis of corrugated steel plate bridge with reinforced concrete relieving slab. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 22(5), 585–596. https://doi.org/10.3846/13923730.2014.914092 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/13923730.2014.914092
Bi, Z., & Yang, G. (2024). Buckling of corrugated steel plates under uniaxial compression. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 223, Article 109074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.109074 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.109074
Chen, T., Su, M., Pan, C., Zhang, L., & Wang, H. (2019). Local buckling of corrugated steel plates in buried structures. Thin-Walled Structures, 144, Article 106348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2019.106348 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2019.106348
Cirulis, M., & Cirulis, M. (2017). Design and construction of railway snowfall protection structure on Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway corridor. Archiwum Instytutu Inżynierii Lądowej, 23, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.08 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.08
COMSOL AB. (2024). COMSOL Multiphysics (Version 6.3) [Software]. COMSOL Inc. https://www.comsol.com/
Cranston, P. G., Richie, M. C., & Vieira, L. C. M. (2016). Stability of buried corrugated metal pipe. Proceedings of the Annual Stability Conference, Structural Stability Research Council, Orlando, Florida. https://files.ssrcweb.org/proceedings/2016/stability-of-buried-corru-gated-metal-pipe.pdf
Dou, C., Jiang, Z.-Q., Pi, Y.-L., & Guo, Y.-L. (2016). Elastic shear buckling of sinusoidally corrugated steel plate shear wall. Engineering Structures, 121, 136–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.04.047 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.04.047
Du, G., Safi, M., Pettersson, L., & Karoumi, R. (2014). Life cycle assessment as a decision support tool for bridge procurement: environmental impact comparison among five bridge designs. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 19(12), 1948–1964. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0797-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0797-z
Elshimi, T. M., Brachman, R. W. I., & Moore, I. D. (2014). Effect of truck position and multiple truck loading on response of long-span metal culverts. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 51(2), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2013-0176 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2013-0176
Embaby, K., El Naggar, M. H., & El Sharnouby, M. (2022a). Performance of large-span arched soil–steel structures under soil loading. Thin-Walled Structures, 172, Article 108884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2022.108884 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2022.108884
Embaby, K., Hesham El Naggar, M., & El Sharnouby, M. (2022b). Investigation of bevel-ended large-span soil-steel structures. Engineering Structures, 267, Article 114658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114658 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114658
European Committee for Standardization. (2005). EN 1993-1-1: Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures – Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings. Brussels: CEN. https://www.phd.eng.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/en.1993.1.1.2005.pdf
Guo, T., & Sause, R. (2014). Analysis of local elastic shear buckling of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 102, 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2014.06.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2014.06.006
Jeon, S., & Rigby, S. E. (2019). Design and numerical assessment of a rapid-construction corrugated steel-concrete-steel protective structure. International Journal of Protective Structures, 10(4), 470–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041419619830703 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2041419619830703
Mahgoub, A., & El Naggar, H. (2021). Seismic design of metal arch culverts: design codes vs. full dynamic analysis. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 25(11), 2231–2268. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632469.2019.1625830 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13632469.2019.1625830
Maleska, T., & Beben, D. (2019). Numerical analysis of a soil-steel bridge during backfilling using various shell models. Engineering Structures, 196, Article 109358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109358 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109358
Nakhostin, E., Kenny, S., & Sivathayalan, S. (2021). Numerical performance assessment of buried corrugated metal culvert subject to service load conditions. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 48(2), 99–114. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2019-0316 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2019-0316
Pettersson, L., Flener, E. B., & Sundquist, H. (2015). Design of soil-steel composite bridges. Structural Engineering International: Journal of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), 25(2), 159–172. https://doi.org/10.2749/101686614X14043795570499 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2749/101686614X14043795570499
Pettersson, L., & Sundquist, H. (2014). Design of soil steel composite bridges (Report 112, 5th ed.). KTH Royal Institute of Technology. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:761594/fulltext01.pdf
Piekarczuk, A., Malowany, K., Więch, P., Kujawińska, M., & Sulik, P. (2015). Stability and bearing capacity of arch-shaped corrugated shell elements: experimental and numerical study. Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences, 63(1), 113–123. https://doi.org/10.1515/bpasts-2015-0013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bpasts-2015-0013
SolidWorks Corporation. (2024). SOLIDWORKS (Version 2024) [Software]. Dassault Systèmes. https://www.solidworks.com/
Sun, H. J., Guo, Y. L., Wen, C. B., Zuo, J. Q., Zhao, Q., & Liu, Z. G. (2023). The strength design of deeply buried circular corrugated steel arches with considering only soil radial restraining. Thin-Walled Structures, 183, Article 110422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2022.110422 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2022.110422
Wadi, A., & Pettersson, L. (2017). Large-span soil steel composite bridges. Archiwum Instytutu Inżynierii Lądowej, 23, 287–292. https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.26 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21008/j.1897-4007.2017.23.26
Wadi, A., Pettersson, L., & Karoumi, R. (2018). FEM simulation of a full-scale loading-to-failure test of a corrugated steel culvert. Steel and Composite Structures, 27(2), 217–227. https://doi.org/10.12989/scs.2018.27.2.217
Wadi, A., Pettersson, L., & Karoumi, R. (2020). On predicting the ultimate capacity of a large-span soil-steel composite bridge. International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40891-020-00232-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40891-020-00232-z
Wang, T., Tan, L., Xie, S., & Ma, B. (2018). Development and applications of common utility tunnels in China. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 76, 92–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2018.03.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2018.03.006
Wysokowski, A. (2021). Influence of single-layer geotextile reinforcement on load capacity of buried steel box structure based on laboratory full-scale tests. Thin-Walled Structures, 159, Article 107312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2020.107312 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2020.107312
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Nerijus Bareikis, Algirdas Juozapaitis, Ilze Paeglīte
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
