Advances in the state-of-the-art of bridge design clearly indicate the need for generalized inelastic steel girder bridge design procedures which include all possible girder cross- sectional shapes, both compact and noncompact. This need is confirmed by the proposed AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications' encouragement to use inelastic design procedures. The purpose of this research project is to fill in the knowledge gaps pertaining to inelastic behavior of steel girder bridges by establishing the inelastic load characteristics of noncompact steel sections typically used by the bridge industry and developing analytical and structural behavior models that accurately predict the performance of inelastically loaded structures. Three large-scale steel girders will be investigated for such phenomena as concrete deck cracking and concrete-steel slip, progressive yielding effects, and inelastic moment-rotation behavior of compact and noncompact composite girders. The experimental results, in conjunction with other relevant information, will be used to develop comprehensive, practical inelastic design procedures for noncompact, composite and noncomposite girders, which are not presently covered by current design provisions.//
