Plate girders behaviour under in-plane loading: A review

The behaviour of plate girders under in plane loading has been intensively studied during the last two decades either to bring new insights, to propose new design methods or to update the existing ones. Many intensive experimental tests, analytical and numerical analyses have been performed thanks to the European research projects financed by the research fund for coal and Steel “RFCS” as objective to encourage the optimized use of steel elements, most of all as plate structural elements, in the design of steel and composite structures, like bridges. This paper summarizes various researches and recent developments made on plate steel girder with emphasis on analytical, experimental and numerical works. The investigation has been divided in three parts. Firstly, an historical overview on the research and works done by first researchers is done and then recent developments are summarized in literature review. The work is concluded by an illustrative example of the applicability of formulas found in Literature and the main results in term of suggestion for design and construction are presented.