CIE4158 - Computational Modeling of Structures

Case Study 4

Vrachas Panteleimon 4313836

Introduction:

The main objective of this study is to analyze the elastic and plastic behavior of a reinforced
concrete beam with and without prestress. The beam was modeled as 2D plane stress
element, while the steel reinforcement as 1D truss element. Prestress of the reinforcement
is of a magnitude of 50KN.

Figure 1: Reinforced concrete beam

Input

 Start FX+ for Diana and set up the coordinates as well as the units.
 Geometry: A rectangular wire 2300*150mm and a line 2300mm at 125 from the top
of the rectangle, were drawn in order to depict model’s geometry.

Finite element mesh: Q8MEM and L2TRU elements were used to model the concrete beam
and the reinforcement respectively. The Q8MEM element is a four-node quadrilateral
isoparametric plane stress element with two degrees of freedom per node (ux, uy).

Figure 2: The Q8MEM element

It is based on linear interpolation and Gauss integration. The polynomial for the
displacements ux and uy can be expressed as: ui ( , )   0  1     2    3   

This polyonomial yields a strain εxx which is constant in x direction and varies linearly in y
direction and a strain εyy which is constant in y direction and varies linearly in x direction. The
shear strain γxy is constant over the element area.

The L2TRU element is a two node truss element with one degree of freedom per node (ux).

Figure 3: The L2TRU element

The interpolation polynomial for the displacement can be expressed as: u ( , )   0  1  

This polynomial yields a strain εxx which is constant along the bar axis.

 Boundary conditions

Figure 4: Dimensions and boundary conditions

The model has two constraints. The left node is constrained in both horizontal and vertical
axis, while the right node is constrained in the vertical direction.

 Load: For the linear analysis a displacement of 1mm was forced to act where the
forces F/2 are applied on the upper part of the beam.
 Material type and parameters

Material Type
NAME CONCRETE
YOUNG 25000 (N/mm2)
POISON 0.2
Non linear analysis – Properties of concrete
Tensile strength 2.5 (N/mm2)
Compression strength 25 (N/mm2)
Mode – 1 Fracture Energy 0.006 (N/mm)
Ideally plastic behavior in compression
The direction of the crack can rotate
Linear softening diagram
Non linear analysis – Properties of steel
NAME STEEL
YOUNG 210000
YIELD STRENGTH 440
VON MISES FAILURE CRITERION
Linear analysis without prestress:

A prescribed downward displacement of 1mm was set on the upper part of the beam at two
symmetrical points, the position of which is defined by the two given forces F/2. According
to the following graph, tensile stresses at the bottom of the beam are three times higher
than the tensile strength of the concrete will appear in the concrete, which is contradictory
if we take into account that a linear analysis is being examined, so no cracks should occur in
the beam cross section.

Figure 5: Deflection y of the reinforced concrete beam

Stress distribution of the steel reinforcement bar does not exceed steel’s yield strength,
however it is not realistic too, because of the interaction of concrete with steel. In reality,
steel stresses should occur higher than those in Figure 6 due to the fact that steel will take
over the stresses when concrete has cracked.

Figure 6: Steel rebars’ stress x-x distribution

A linear stress distribution Sxx occurs at mid span of the beam, which is in accordance with
the elastic material properties set for the linear calculations. This is depicted in the diagram
below:
 Stress Sxx at mid span of the beam
10
8
6
4
2
Stress Sxx at mid span
0
of the beam
-2 0 50 100 150 200
-4
-6
-8
-10

Figure 7: Stress distribution at midspan of the beam

Non Linear analysis with smeared cracking: no prestress applied

Displacement control was selected in order to analyze the non linear behavior of the
reinforced concrete beam. A 7.9mm downward displacement was applied at the two points
where the two forces F/2 are acting via 20 increments of 0.05 as a load factor. This
displacement was derived from hand calculations, which are shown in the next page. 300
iterations and a tolerance equal to 0.01, were set for this analysis. Displacement and Force
were selected as norms. Displacement control was selected instead of force control, since
the latter cannot approach a drop of Force as displacement increases, and in this case of
smeared cracking, a force decrease is expected after cracking- failure of the beam.

Node:171
35000
5
30000 3 7
4 6
25000
20000
15000
10000 2
5000
1
0
0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9

Figure 8: Force – Displacement diagram of the reinforced concrete beam at the location of
force F/2
Seven characteristic points were selected from the diagram above, in order to analyze the
elasto – plastic behavior of the reinforced concrete beam.
 Characteristic point Force (N) Displacement (mm)
Point 1 0 0
Point 2 10551.68888 -0.79
Point 3 29214.93647 -5.53
Point 4 28323.45682 -5.925
Point 5 31395.69846 -7.11
Point 6 29253.40696 -7.505
Point 7 30045.83617 -7.9

Point 1: No loads are acting on the reinforced concrete beam, no further inspection is
needed.

Point 2: First cracks occur in the concrete beam while the elastic behavior of the cross
section turns into plastic one. Hand calculations were made in order to find the critical force
acting on the two symmetrical points at the upper part of the beam, and proved to be
smaller than the force derived from the finite element analysis: Fhand = 7250N < Ffinite =
10551.69N. A crack pattern of the beam is also presented, where it is proved that small
cracks in the lower part of the cross section occur (see Figure 9).

fctm, f1  (1.6  h)  f ctm  (1.6  0.15)  2.5  3.625 N / mm2

1 1
Wc   b  h 2   200  1502  7.5  105 mm3
6 6

M cr  f ctm, f1 Wc  2.719 106 Nmm

Fcr Fcr 2.719 106

M cr   375    7250, 7 N
2 2 375
 Pa
 max   (3  l 2  4  a 2 ),
6 E  I
l  2300mm, a  650mm, I  5.625 107 mm 4

7250, 7  650
  max   (3  23002  4  6502 )  7.9mm
6  25000  5.625 107

Figure 9: Crack pattern at displacement of 0.79mm

Points 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: A certain decrease in force occurs while the displacement increases due
to cracks opening and decrease in stiffness of the structure. At this point, the steel
reinforcement takes over an amount of the applied forces, and subsequently an increase in
the load can be justified.

In Figure 10 we can see that the principal total strain is more uniformly distributed along the
cross section of the beam, when no cracks have occurred. When cracks take place, the
principal total strain diagram has certain points of peeks (points 3, 5; Figure 11). At these
points, the opening of cracks is accompanied with the “force take over” from steel rebars.

Figure 10: Principal strains at load step1 – point 2

Figure 11: Principal strains at load step 18 – point5

Point 7: Maximum load is being applied on the beam at this point, where the displacement is
equal to the one prescribed 7.9mm. Subsequently, graph with the displacement at that point
is presented below. From the finite element analysis, maximum load is approximately
30000N which is bigger than the hand – calculated load 28161N (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Strain and stress distribution of a concrete cross section

5 1 2
Fconcrete  Fsteel  b   xu  f c    xu  f c  b  f y  As
7 2 7
5 1 2
 200   xu  25    xu  25  200  440  207,3
7 2 7
 xu  21, 28mm
5 1 5 1 2 5 1 2
M u  b   xu  f c  (d    xu )    xu  f c  b  (d   xu    xu ), d  125
7 2 7 2 7 7 3 7
 M u  1.057 10 N  mm
7

1
M u   F  375  F  28161N
2

Figure 13: Deformed reinforced concrete beam at displacement 7.9mm

Stresses at the upper part of the beam have bigger values than those in the lower part of the
cross section.
Figure 14: Stress distribution x-x at midspan of the beam

Figure 15: Crack pattern at displacement at 7.9mm

In this figure it is shown that cracks have spread almost everywhere in the cross section of
the beam, with the ones at the location of the supports and at the points where forces act,
to cover the total height of the beam, from bottom to top.

Subsequently, follows the diagram of stress distribution along the length of the concrete
beam at the top fiber. As loading increases, the compressive stresses at the top fiber of the
beam get bigger, until a point (load step 20 – maximum load) where the stresses decrease
because there is decrease in stiffness of the structure as a result of extensive cracks (Figure
16)

Due to extensive cracking and the ductility of the reinforced concrete beam, a redistribution
of stresses occurs along the length of the beam. As a result of this, positive stresses appear
beside the supports (Figure 16).

Similar is the “behavior” of steel, where the distribution of stresses acts in an adverse way
with that of concrete. From the next diagram it is also derived that steel has not yielded,
since the maximum stress is smaller than the yield stress ( 418.47 < 440 N/mm2,Figure 17).
 5

0
0 20 40 60 80 100

-5

Load Step 1(0.05) : SXX

-10
Load Step 14(0.7) : SXX
Load Step 15(0.75) : SXX
-15
Load Step 18(0.9) : SXX
Load Step 19(0.95) : SXX
-20
Load Step 20(1) : SXX

-25

-30

-35
Figure 16: Stress distribution x-x at the top part of the reinforced concrete beam along its
length

450

400

350

300
Load Step 1(0.05) : SXX
250 Load Step 14(0.7) : SXX
Load Step 15(0.75) : SXX
200
Load Step 18(0.9) : SXX
150 Load Step 19(0.95) : SXX
Load Step 20(1) : SXX
100

50

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-50
Figure 17: Stress distribution x-x at the top part of the steel reinforcement bars
Linear analysis with prestress:

A prescribed downward displacement of 1mm was set at the two symmetrical points where
the forces F/2 are acting and a prestress of 50KN is applied on the steel reinforcement bars.
Displacement and stress graphs are being presented subsequently. According to the
following graph, maximum tensile stress is 5.57N/mm², which is bigger than 2.5N/mm²
concrete’s tensile strength. Therefore cracks occur which is contradictory due to the linear
analysis.

Figure 18: Concrete’s distribution of stresses x-x.

Sxx at midspan
160
140
120
100
80
Sxx at midspan
60
40
20
0
-10 -5 0 5 10
Figure 19: Stress distribution at midspan.

A linear distribution of stresses over the beam cross section at midspan occurs, which is in
accordance with the linear analysis.

Figure 20: Displacement of reinforced concrete beam

In the figure 18 a maximum stress of 40.67N/mm² occurs which is smaller than yield
strength of steel (440N/mm²).

Figure 21: Steel rebars’ distribution of stresses

Non Linear analysis with prestress:

For the non linear analysis, a prescribed downward displacement of 7.8mm is set at the
forces’ locations and a prestress of 50KN is applied at the steel reinforcement bars. The
prestress was set to act first and the displacement was put with 100 steps of a size 0.01 to
act second. 300 iterations and a tolerance equal to 0.01 were set for the calculations.
Force and Displacements are the norms for this analysis.

Force - Displacement
40000

35000 3 5
7
4 6
30000

25000
2
20000

15000
1 10000

5000

0
0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9
Figure 22: Force - displacement diagram at the location of the acting force F/2.
 Characteristic point Force (N) Displacement (mm)
Point 1 8183.642821 0
Point 2 20811.37825 -0.78
Point 3 33378.50348 -3.354
Point 4 32985.81274 -3.51
Point 5 33796.9527 -3.9
Point 6 33076.07971 -3.978
Point 7 34004.66 -7.8

Point 1: Although there is a load, the displacement proves to be zero. This is a result of
applying displacement control, where the displacement is specified with a certain value;
7.8mm.

Figure 23: Deformed structure due to prestress 50KN at load step1.

Point 2: First cracks of low value appear at the bottom fiber of it (figure 25 ).

Figure 24: Deformed structure at load step11

Figure 25: Crack pattern of the beam at load step11

Figure 26: Stress distribution of the steel reinforcement bar at load step 11.

As the displacement increases, the steel stresses increase as can be seen in the above figure.
The stresses are uniformly distributed along the length of the rebar.

Principal total strains of the beam at this load step have increased in comparison with the
ones at the previous load step and are uniformly distributed between the two points of the
vertical loads, mainly at the bottom fiber of the beam.

Figure 27: Principal strains at -0.78mm displacement

Points 3, 5 and 4, 6: An increase in loading results in an increase in the deformation of the

beam.

Figure 28: Deformed structure at point 6.

A certain decrease in force occurs between the points 3, 4 and 5, 6, as the displacement
increases. This a result of crack opening accompanied with a decrease in stiffness of the
structure, and a force take over by the steel reinforcement bars. Subsequently, an increase
in force occurs between points 4 and 5.
Principal total strains have increased in values and are not uniformly distributed between
the two points of vertical loading, in comparison with the ones in point 2.

Figure 29: Principal strains at displacement -3.978mm

In accordance with the principal strains cracks open and spread over the height of the beam.

Figure 30: Crack pattern at -3.978mm displacement.

Point 7: At the maximum load, the displacement of the beam has also increased in value.

Figure 31 : Deformed structure at point 7

An increase in the values of principal strains is shown in the next figure, since the load has
reached its maximum value.

Figure 32 : Principal strains at 7.8mm displacement

At point 7, where the applied load is maximum, the cracks have opened more and spread
from bottom to top fiber of the reinforced concrete beam.

Figure 33: Crack pattern at 7.8mm displacement.

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-5
Load Step 1(1) : SXX

-10 Load Step 11(0.1) : SXX

Load Step 44(0.43) : SXX
-15 Load Step 46(0.45) : SXX
Load Step 51(0.5) : SXX
-20 Load Step 52(0.51) : SXX
Load Step 101(1) : SXX
-25

-30

-35
Figure 34: Stress distribution x-x at the upper part of the reinforced concrete beam along its
length
 500

450

400

350 Load Step 1(1) : SXX

300 Load Step 11(0.1) : SXX

Load Step 44(0.43) : SXX
250
Load Step 46(0.45) : SXX
200 Load Step 51(0.5) : SXX
Load Step 52(0.51) : SXX
150
Load Step 101(1) : SXX
100

50

0
0 20 40 60 80 100

Figure 35 : Stress distribution x-x along the length of the rebars

0.016

0.014

0.012
Load Step 1(1) : EXX
0.01
Load Step 11(0.1) : EXX

0.008 Load Step 44(0.43) : EXX

Load Step 46(0.45) : EXX
0.006 Load Step 51(0.5) : EXX
Load Step 52(0.51) : EXX
0.004
Load Step 101(1) : EXX
0.002

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-0.002
Figure 36 : Strain distribution along the length of the rebars
 Reinforced concrete beam

Without prestress With prestress

Crack Less favorable, max crack = 4.080E-2 at More favorable, max crack= 6.099E-3 at
pattern displacement=7.8mm displacement =7.8mm
Beam More favorable, max stress= -
stresses xx Less favorable,max stress= -30.372N/mm² 28.97N/mm²
Steel More favorable, max Less favorable, max stress = yield stress =
stresses xx stress=418.475N/mm² 440N/mm²
Beam
total Less favorable,max principal strain= 2.47E- More favorable, max principal strain=
strains 2N/mm² 9.54E-3N/mm²
Steel
strains, More favorable, max strain= 1.87E- Less favorable, max strain=1.39E-
Exx 3N/mm² 2N/mm²