Stability limit state design of box sections supporting mining and process facilities

The design of box girders requires the determinations the buckling stress of the flange and the webs. Existing design equations available in codes of practice ignore the interactions between the box girder components. The paper illustrates the influence of the geometric interaction on the buckling stress of box girders. Generalized equations are first derived in terms of the web the flange geometric properties. Industrial examples are then presented showing the variation of the flange buckling stress for various stiffening configurations. The influence of the flange/web proportions on the buckling stress of box girder components is also highlighted. It is shown that buckling strength of the flange is largely affected by the restraints imposed by the webs or attached diaphragms. Graphs are presented showing various limiting states of box girders. These graphs are useful to use in practice in order to achieve economical and efficient design of box girders and rationally predict local buckling stress.