Shear lag analysis in steel-concrete decks of cable-stayed bridges

Contemporary design codes, including Eurocode 4, address the reduction of the effective width of the concrete slab primarily in relation to flexural behaviour, while the influence of axial forces is generally disregarded. This omission can lead to significant inaccuracies in the structural assessment of composite decks, particularly in cases where axial–bending interaction is nonnegligible. Consequently, practitioners are often required to resort to advance linear or nonlinear Finite Element analyses employing computationally demanding shell or solid elements. To overcome these limitations, the present study proposes a novel, simplified design methodology for composite double-girder decks subjected to combined axial and bending actions. The proposed framework enables the direct verification of composite cross-sections at both the Ultimate and the Serviceability Limit State, in accordance with the provisions of Eurocode 4, while explicitly accounting for the deformability of shear connectors.