Plasticity at Cross Section

ADVANCED STEEL DESIGN
A second advanced course for

steel structures design
Isaac Hernandez-Fajardo, PhD

Universidad Militar, Bogota, Colombia, 2017.
3. PLASTICITY AT THE CROSS SECTION
3.1. Plastic v. Elastic Design
- Plastic design has several advantages over elastic

design,
- Simplified procedures
- Cost savings
- More realistic representation of structural behavior
- Plastic design fully exploits steel ductility
- Benefits of ductility. How is that? Consider the following ...

3.1.1 Stress redistribution in a hot-rolled section with
residual stresses
residual stresses
residual stresses
- Residual stresses are in self-equilibrium
- If compression is applied, section will yield first at the

elastic limit load Py
= −
- With , yield stress of steel, maximum compressive

residual stress, and A, cross-sectional area
- Once is reached, section can take additional load

residual stresses
- This is because of ductility!
- This means, at higher load, the section calls upon its less-
stresses elastic portions to carry the load increase
- Yet, yielded portions remain at the yield stress level !
- At the plastic limit state, the critical load value is the

plastic limit load, Pp
=
residual stresses
- What did we learn? Plastic design/analysis is simpler
because the residual stress does not control Pp
- Plastic design is economical because the section takes a

higher load, i.e., Pp > Py
- Plastic design is more realistic as Pp represents a more

realistic estimation of the member’s load-carrying capacity
3.2 The ductility of Steel
- Ductility: ability of a material to undergo large deformation
without much loss in its strength
- For steel, this ability to deform plastically at and above the

yield point is clear from the its stress-strain relationship
- After the elastic limit is reached, elongations of up to 15

times the elastic strain take place with no significant
stress increase. This is steel ductility
- After that, strain hardening occurs at . More

deformation possible but with stress increase
- Note steels with strengths higher than 100 ksi, lower
ductility. Regularly steels with ≤ 65 must be used
- For simplicity, the stress-strain curves of steel may be

idealized by two-straight lines.
- Up to the yield stress, the material is elastic. After that the

strain is assumed to increase without change in stress
- This assumption is known as the elastic-perfectly

plastic idealization of material behavior
3.2.1 Force Redistribution in a Three-bar Structure
- Consider the following structure
- This structure is statically indeterminate due to the
presence of an internal bar
- To find internal forces, we need equilibrium conditions,

compatibility conditions, and steel’s stress-strain
relationship
- From equilibrium
2 + =
Here, is force in bars 1 and 3, and is force in bar 2

- Compatibility condition: displacement of bars 1 and 3,
= , must be equal to that of bar 2, .
- From mechanics we know that = / and

= / with = = and = /2. So we write
= =
2
- And we arrive to = /2. Now, since the force in bar 2

is greater than that in bar 1, bar 2 will yield first!
- So, the first yield load for the structure (Py) is simply
= and hence,
=2 =2
- Displacement at Py is the yield displacement of bar 2,

= =
2
- After this yielding, the structure reduces to a two-bar

structure with a constant force in bar 2 equal to
- Remaining structure statically determinate! Next step in
load history is yielding of outer bars. At this point,
structure reaches the Pp, the plastic limit load
=3
- Note Pp is the sum of the yield loads of each bar! No

compatibility condition needed to arrive to this result
- This process of successive yielding causing change of

forces within components as the load increases is known
as force redistribution
- The deflection at the ultimate load, the deflection is,
= =
- Beyond this value, the deflection increases without limit

while the load remains constant at Pp
- The following figure summarizes the load history

3.2.2 Plastification /Moment Redistribution in Beams
- Similar to that in the three-bar structure, a beam can be
visualized as made of many horizontal bars or fibers
- Some fibers will be in tension, others in compression
- At the yield moment, My, only the extreme fibers yield. At

moment higher than My, yielding spreads to interior fibers
- At the plastic limit moment, Mp, all fibers yielded.

Successive process of fiber yielding with stress change in
fibers as bending moment grows is called plastification
- For indeterminate structures, ductility benefits are higher
than for simple beams or bars
- In such structures, plastic limit load will be higher than

initial yield load due to plastification and redistribution
- In indeterminate frames, the moment diagram has more

than one peak moment. As applied load are increased the
most stressed cross-section will yield first
- This cross section will plastify fully and a yielding zone will
be formed there
- As loads are further increased, the moment at the plastic
zone stays the same, and the additional load is taken by
less stressed sections
- This redistribution changes moment distribution across

sections with peak moments.
- This moment redistribution continues until plastic zones

are formed at other cross sections with peak moments
- Structure will eventually fail when a sufficient number of

these yielded zones appear and form a failure mechanism
3.3 Moment-Curvature Relationship
- It is the relationship between the value of the applied
bending moment M and the angle of relative rotation of
the ends of a beam segment
3.3 Moment-Curvature Relationship
- The − relationship is the basic piece of information
required in any calculation for plastic analysis
- The gain in moment-carrying capacity of a beam due to

plastification depends on this relationship. The
relationship itself depends on cross-sectional shape
- Let us derive the relationship for a beam of rectangular

cross-section in the elastic and elastic-plastic regimes
3.3.1 Elastic Regime
- Consider a beam segment of elastic-perfectly plastic
material of length L, width b, and depth 2d.
- When this beam is under a bending moment M at its

ends, it will bend in an arc of radius
- The central angle related to the radius of curvature by,

=
- The curvature , the relative rotation of two sections at a

unit distance apart, is,
1 1
= = =
- Assume that after bending the plane sections remain

plane and transverse fibers remain normal to the
deflected axis, i.e., shear deformation is negligible
- Then, the length of a longitudinal fiber at a distance y from

the neutral axis is + . Also, axial strain in the fiber
proportional to the distance from the neutral axis as,
+ −
= = =
- The − relationship can be now obtained by
combining the previous expression with the stress-strain
relationship for an elastic-plastic material,
= , <
= , ≥
with the yield axial strain and E the modulus of elasticity
- The two equilibrium equations required for the derivation

are one for axial forces and another for moments both at the
cross-section level
- So,
= =0
- The first equation allows finding the neutral axis of the

section. For a rectangular section, due to its symmetry, it
is located at the centroid of the section
- The second equation allows finding the moment-carrying

capacity of the section from a given stress distribution
- When all fibers are in the elastic regime, the stress
distribution is linear and so is the − relationship
which can be found as follows,
= = =
- As the moment increases, axial stress in the fibers also

increases. The beam segment begins to yield when the
axial strain in the extreme fibers reaches
- The curvature corresponding to initial yielding is simply,

=
- Note that in the previous equation d is half the height of
the section (total height = 2d). The moment capacity can
be obtained from the previous equation as,
( )
= = = =
12
= = S
-above, b is the width of the rectangular section and S is the

elastic section modulus.
3.3.2 Elastic-Plastic Regime
- A further increase in the moment results in the
plastification of the section.
- As in the case of the three-bar example, yielded fibers

continue to carry constant while less stressed fibers
take additional stresses induced by moment increase
- In order to increase the strain, the curvature must be

increased, but the maximum stress remains the same.
- The increases curvature produces a further penetration of

the yield stress in the beam
- This process continues until all fibers are yielded
- During this plastification process, the section is in the

elastic-plastic regime. The boundary between the elastic
and plastic portions is given by,
=
- The parameter is defined more clearly in the following
image.
- The moment-carrying capacity of the section in this

regime is obtained considering σ = = for the
elastic portion and = for the plastic portion
- The previous statement implies,
= +
=2 +2
= +2 −
3 2
- Substituting and considering = , we arrive to the
following expression for the elastic-plastic moment
capacity of the rectangular section,
3 1
= 1−
2 3
- Here is the yield moment of the section ( ). Note

that the ratio is equal to the ration . The moment-
curvature relationship is shown below.
- Note that the full plastic moment capacity Mp is achieved
as → ∞ or → and hence = 1.5
3.3.3 Full Plastic Moment and Shape Factor
- The moment-capacity in the elastic-plastic regime can
also be expressed in terms of Mp as follows,
= +
= +
= +
= + −
= + −
- Here, the second term on the rhs = is the full

plastic moment and it is equal to the moment of the stresses
in the section at the fully plastic state
- Z is the plastic section modulus and is equal to the first

moment of the area of the whole cross section
- Se is the elastic section modulus of the elastic portion of
the section, while Ze is the plastic section modulus of the
elastic portion of the section
- When the section is fully plastic the elastic portions of the

equation disappear, i.e., Se and Ze are zero, and the full
plastic moment is =
- The plastic value Mp is the basis for plastic design. The

ratio Mp to My represents the amount of reserve strength
due to ductility of the material leading to plastification.
This ratio is a function of the cross-sectional shape
- The ratio is called the shape factor and it is a metric of the
potential of a section to gain strength by plastification
- The shape factor is calculated as follows,
= = =
- For a rectangular section, = and =2 /3 and,
= = = = 1.5
/3
3.3.4 Discussion of Moment-Curvature curves
- For a rectangular section, as curvature increases,
moment capacity rapidly approaches full plastic moment
- Full plastic moment larger than yield moment by a 50%

factor. In theory, full plastic moment reached only when
curvature approaches infinity
- However, practically 99% of plastic moment capacity

attained at curvature equal to only 4 times yield curvature!
- Expected: full plastic moment reached at early curvature

and higher value of full plastic moment achieved due to
strain-hardening
3.4 Flexure of a Fixed-End Beam with Uniform Load
- In the elastic range, the deflected shape and moment
diagram obtained by equilibrium, compatibility equations
- Results from this are marked 1 in the previous image

- Three peaks in moment diagrams. End peak: /12.
Center peak: /24
- As the load increases, the moment at the ends reaches

the yield moment My first. The center moment reaches
only half My at this point
- In elastic range, moments in all sections increase

proportionally and hence moment diagram keeps same
shape
- With a further load increase, the plastification of some …

- … sections near the end moment peaks starts. Yielding
zones begin to form near these peaks.
- The bending stiffness, i.e., the slope of the moment

curvature curve, of these yielded zones is smaller
compared to that of the elastic zones
- This stiffness change results in different shape of moment

diagram with higher rate of moment increase in central,
elastic portion than at plastic ends
- This implies a continuous moment redistribution along …

- … the beam’s length during loading
- As the load is further increased, the moment at the end

peaks will approach the plastic moment, while the
moment at the central peak will reach the yield moment
- The beam will fail when the bending moments at all three
peaks are equal to the plastic moment, forming a failure
mechanism
- The moment redistribution process can be visualized

using the idealized moment-curvature relationship
- The figure shows the load-deflection results of the three-
stage loading. Stage 1 is the load when the end moments
just reached the full plastic moment
- As load increases, beam enters into elastic-plastic range.

There, plastic hinges form at the fixed-ends, allowing
them to rotate with constant moment capacity
- Stage 2 is the theoretical plastic limit load when the center
moment has also reached the section’s plastic capacity
- Since sufficient plastic hinges have now formed, a failure

mechanism has developed and no additional loading can
be supported
- Stage 3 is when an arbitrary deformation occurs by

continued deformation beyond Stage 2. The deflected
shapes and the moment diagrams are shown before
- In summary: At Stage 1, the end moments have just
reached Mp, while center moment is half Mp
- As load increases beyond Stage 1, end sections rotate

with constant plastic moment capacity (plastic hinge
action). Beam now behaves as simply supported with
constant end moments equal to Mp
- At Stage 2, the center moment becomes Mp. This is the

maximum load-carrying capacity of the beam
- Beyond Stage 3, the beam deforms as a rigid body under

constant load
3.4 Hinge by Hinge Method and Rotation Capacity
- Evident from load-deflection curve that the formation of
each plastic hinge removes one degree of indeterminacy
from the structure
- The subsequent load-deflection relationship corresponds

to a new, simpler structure
- The method of finding deflection by the elastic analysis of

a new structure after plastic hinge formation is called
hinge-by-hinge method
- Also, note that moment redistribution to develop a …

3.4 Hinge by Hinge Method and Rotation Capacity
- … a higher load-carrying capacity only if the end sections
have adequate rotation capacity
- By rotation capacity it is meant that the section can rotate

without any significant loss in moment capacity
- For example, to reach Stage 2, the end section of the

beam must be able to rotate by and angle of /6
- This capacity for plastic design must be provided by the

ductility of the material. Not a problem for ductile steel, but
a concern for brittle materials as reinforced concrete
3.5 Example
- Use the hinge-by-hinge method to plot the load-deflection
relationship of the fixed-end beam shown below. Find the
amount of plastic reserve strength due to the moment
redistribution. Assume bending stiffness of the beam is EI.
3.5 Example
- The hinge-by-hinge method is simply a series of elastic
analyses done as the structure degrades and simplifies
- It begins with an elastic analysis of the original beam.

When the maximum moment in the beam reaches the
plastic moment Mp, a hinge with the plastic moment
capacity is inserted at the location of maximum moment
- After this plastic hinge is placed, an elastic analysis is

performed in the simplified structure
- The process is repeated until a failure mechanism occurs

3.5 Example
- Elastic analysis of the original beam. It produces the
following results
8 2
=− ; = ; =−
27 81 27
- Since the maximum moment occurs at A, a plastic hinge

will form first there when = . The first hinge load P is
then,
3.5 Example
- The first hinge load =
27
=
4
- The deflection at B corresponding to this first hinge load is,
2
∆ = = 0.0247
81
3.5 Example
- Elastic analysis after the formation of plastic hinge at
A. The moments at B and C for the resulting indeterminate
beam are,
14 4
=− + ; = −
2 81 2 27
3.5 Example
- Since is larger in absolute value the next plastic hinge
will form there, when reaches . The second hinge
load = is then,
243
= = 8.67
28
- The moment corresponding to this load is,

11
=−
14
- The deflection at B for this second hinge load is,
∆ = 0.0423
3.5 Example
- The beam is now statically determinate and its internal
forces are as shown below,
- The moment at C can be expressed as,

6 2
= − −
3
3.5 Example
- The next plastic hinge will therefore form at C when
= . The third hinge load = is then,
=9
- The deflection at B for this load is the deflection of

cantilever beam of length /3 under the vertical load
− 6 / plus the deflection under the end moment ,
2 3 / 2
∆ =− +
2 3 3 3
3.5 Example
- This gives,
∆ = 0.0741
- At = , a failure mechanism forms and deflection

becomes unrestricted. Note that can be determined by
making = . The load deflection relationship is shown
below.
- The percentage of plastic reserve strength beyond the

elastic limit due to moment redistribution is,
9 / − 6.75 /
= 33.3%
6.75 /
3.5 Example

Plasticity at Cross Section

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Plasticity at Cross Section

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

ADVANCED STEEL DESIGN

A second advanced course for

Isaac Hernandez-Fajardo, PhD

- Plastic design has several advantages over elastic

- Plastic design fully exploits steel ductility

- Benefits of ductility. How is that? Consider the following ...

- If compression is applied, section will yield first at the

- With , yield stress of steel, maximum compressive

- Once is reached, section can take additional load

- Yet, yielded portions remain at the yield stress level !

- At the plastic limit state, the critical load value is the

- Plastic design is economical because the section takes a

- Plastic design is more realistic as Pp represents a more

- For steel, this ability to deform plastically at and above the

- After the elastic limit is reached, elongations of up to 15

- After that, strain hardening occurs at . More

- For simplicity, the stress-strain curves of steel may be

- Up to the yield stress, the material is elastic. After that the

- This assumption is known as the elastic-perfectly

- To find internal forces, we need equilibrium conditions,

Here, is force in bars 1 and 3, and is force in bar 2

- From mechanics we know that = / and

- And we arrive to = /2. Now, since the force in bar 2

- Displacement at Py is the yield displacement of bar 2,

- After this yielding, the structure reduces to a two-bar

- Note Pp is the sum of the yield loads of each bar! No

- This process of successive yielding causing change of

- Beyond this value, the deflection increases without limit

- The following figure summarizes the load history

- Some fibers will be in tension, others in compression

- At the yield moment, My, only the extreme fibers yield. At

- At the plastic limit moment, Mp, all fibers yielded.

- In such structures, plastic limit load will be higher than

- In indeterminate frames, the moment diagram has more

- This redistribution changes moment distribution across

- This moment redistribution continues until plastic zones

- Structure will eventually fail when a sufficient number of

- The gain in moment-carrying capacity of a beam due to

- Let us derive the relationship for a beam of rectangular

- When this beam is under a bending moment M at its

- The central angle related to the radius of curvature by,

- The curvature , the relative rotation of two sections at a

- Assume that after bending the plane sections remain

- Then, the length of a longitudinal fiber at a distance y from

- The two equilibrium equations required for the derivation

- The first equation allows finding the neutral axis of the

- The second equation allows finding the moment-carrying

- As the moment increases, axial stress in the fibers also

- The curvature corresponding to initial yielding is simply,

-above, b is the width of the rectangular section and S is the

- As in the case of the three-bar example, yielded fibers

- In order to increase the strain, the curvature must be

- The increases curvature produces a further penetration of

- During this plastification process, the section is in the

- The moment-carrying capacity of the section in this

- Here is the yield moment of the section ( ). Note

- Here, the second term on the rhs = is the full

- Z is the plastic section modulus and is equal to the first

- When the section is fully plastic the elastic portions of the

- The plastic value Mp is the basis for plastic design. The

- The shape factor is calculated as follows,

- For a rectangular section, = and =2 /3 and,

- Full plastic moment larger than yield moment by a 50%