ABSTRACT
Patrick J. Dowling Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, South Kensington, London, UK
and John E. Harding University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey , UK
1. INTRODUCTION
Box girders are used extensively for bridges, heavy industrial buildings, offshore platforms, and other structures where large loads are frequently encountered. They are employed to best advantage when use is made of their considerable torsional stiffness. Although box girders may have a variety of cross-sectional shapes (Fig. 1) ranging from a deep narrow box to a wide shallow box (perhaps with many webs, some sloping) those occurring most frequently have flanges which are wider and more slender than in plate girder construction. The webs, on the other hand, may be of comparable slendernesses to those of plate girders. However, it is the extensive use of slender plate construction for flanges as well as webs which makes stability considerations so important in the case of box girders.
