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Imperfection sensitivity of plate girder webs under patch loading

J. Martínez, C. Graciano, E. Casanova


Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Mecánica, Apdo. 89000, Caracas 1080-A, Venezuela

Keywords: Sensitivity analysis, Plate girder, Patch loading, Finite element analysis.

ABSTRACT: This paper is aimed at studying the influence of initial shape imperfections on the postbuck-
ling behavior of plate girder webs subjected to patch loading. In the last three decades, a large amount of
experimental and numerical investigations has been dedicated towards the implementation of formulae for
the resistance of plate girder webs subjected to different type of loading. On the one hand, it has been
known that initial geometric and material imperfections produced in the manufacturing process can reduce
the load capacity of the thin-walled webs used in most cases. On the other hand, it is difficult to include
the imperfections in the formulae. Implementation of numerical approaches such as the finite element
method allows researchers to perform computer simulations instead of performing cost expensive experi-
ments. Data concerning the magnitude and shape of initial geometric imperfections for plate girders un-
der patch loading is found in the literature. A sensitivity analysis is presented herein in order to
investigate the effect of varying imperfection shape and amplitude on the postbuckling response and ulti-
mate strength of plate girders under patch loading. This sensitivity analysis is performed by means of
nonlinear finite element analysis. At first, the initial shape imperfections are based on the buckling mode
shapes resulting from an eigenvalue buckling analysis. Secondly, the amplitude of the buckling shapes for
the various modes is varied, and then introduced in the nonlinear analysis. The results show the influence
of these modes and amplitudes on the resistance to patch loading.

1 INTRODUCTION et al. 1991). Besides, over the years many experi-


mental studies have been conducted to measure im-
Plate girders are usually able to carry higher loads perfections very carefully and then store this
over long spans than standard rolled sections. They information for future use (Chryssanthopoulos
consist of two flanges welded to a web plate and are 1998). Since experimental methods are expensive
mostly designed with very deep webs to minimize and time consuming and often imperfection data is
the required area of flanges. Application fields for not available, it has been recommended to model
such girders are long-span floor girders in buildings imperfections in the form of the first eigenmode of
and bridge girders and crane girders where patch the structure, with a amplitude according to a design
loading is a common loading case. code (EC3 1997). This idea may be put into practice
Plate girders are also subjected to small shape de- with commercially available finite element codes.
viations such as an out-of-flatness of the web. In The present work seeks the influence of initial
fact, the term “geometrical imperfection” has been geometrical imperfections on the postbuckling re-
used to denominate such out-of-flatness and it is sponse and ultimate load of longitudinally stiffened
clear that both the amplitude and the shape of the girder webs under patch loading (Figure 1). At first,
imperfection depend on the manufacturing process. a simple linear buckling analysis was performed to
In general, geometrical imperfections are of random determine the buckling modes of the web girder, and
nature and could reduce the load capacity of thin- then a series of nonlinear analyses based on geomet-
walled structures (Dubas & Gehri 1986). rical imperfections in the form of these mode shapes
Upon recognizing the significance of geometrical are performed. Results show the effect of the ampli-
imperfections, research has been made to develop tude and the shape of the imperfection on the resis-
models of characteristic imperfections for specific tance to patch loading.
structures and then using these models to gain a bet-
ter estimate of the ultimate load (Chryssanthopoulos
(Riks 1978) to properly trace the nonlinear path of
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL the load-displacement response of the girder.
Table 2 shows that the correlation between ex-
The finite element model of the plate girder was de- perimental and numerical results is satisfactory. The
veloped using the finite element program ANSYS difference between numerical and experimental
(2005). Shell elements Shell 181 (4 nodes and 6 de- patch loading resistances FR is 9.35%. The differ-
grees of freedom at each node) from the ANSYS li- ence in the results could be due to the way in which
brary were used to model the web, flanges (top and the load was applied in both cases. In the experi-
bottom) and the longitudinal stiffener. The material ments the load was transferred to the flange through
properties and dimensions of the girder used for this rectangular blocks, while in the numerical model the
study are given in Table 1. These data correspond to load was applied over the load patch length. Another
girder VT07-4 tested by Dubas and Tschamper source of discrepancy in the results is the fact that
(1990). Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of the patch loading resistance shown in Table 2 corre-
the girder under study and the patch loading condi- spond to a model without initial geometric imperfec-
tions typically found in experimental tests. tions.
In Figure 1 and Table 1, a is the length of the web
panel, bf the width of flanges, b1 the longitudinal Table 2. Comparison of experimental and computed values us-
stiffener position, bst the stiffener width, fyf the yield ing FEA for the patch loading resistance (FR)
stress of flanges, fyw the web panel yield stress, hw is FR FR-FEA Δ
the web panel depth, FR the experimental patch Girder
kN kN %
loading resistance, ss the length of patch load, tf the VT07-4 160 175 9.37
thickness of flanges, tst the stiffener thickness, and
tw the web panel thickness.

Table 1. Material properties and geometrical data


tw a hw fyw tf bf fyf ss b1 FR
mm mm mm MPa mm mm MPa mm mm kN
3.8 2480 1000 375 8.35 150 296 40 200 160

Figure 2. Mesh used in the FE-model

3 EIGENVALUE BUCKLING ANALYSIS

In order to obtain the mode shapes necessary to


model initial geometric imperfections, a linear ei-
Figure 1. Longitudinally stiffened girder under patch loading genvalue buckling analysis is performed. This is car-
ried out in ANSYS (2005) using a linear
Due to symmetry in geometry, loads and bound- perturbation procedure.
ary conditions, only one half of the plate girder was First the stiffness matrix corresponding to the
modeled (Figure 2). Transverse stiffeners at the end unloaded condition of the structure is stored and
of the plate girder were taken into account by means then a small perturbation load is applied. The pro-
of a rigid body kinematical constraint of the degrees gram then derives the initial stress matrix due to the
of freedom located in the corresponding side. The small perturbation and an eigenvalue calculation is
material was considered to have a perfect elastoplas- performed to determine a multiplier to the small per-
tic behaviour. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio turbation at which the structure becomes unstable.
were set to 210 GPa and 0.3 respectively. This can be written as follows: if the elastic stiff-
The patch load was transferred into the girder by ness matrix is K0, the initial stress and load stiffness
loading all the nodes located in the patch loaded matrix is KΔ,, then the load multipliers (eigenvalues)
flange along the loading length ss/2 with an equal λ, and the buckling mode shapes (eigenvectors) v
value force. Displacement constraints were applied are required to satisfy the following equation:
to these loaded nodes in the out-of-plane direction
and all rotations were restrained. The FE analysis [K 0 + λ K Δ ] v = 0 (1)
was performed using the modified Riks method
Figure 3 shows the buckling mode shapes corre-
sponding to the first four eigenvalues calculated for
the girder VT07-4 with b1/hw = 0.2. 5 SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Once the imperfections had been modeled, they


were incorporated into “the perfect geometry” of the
FE model. Then, nonlinear analyses were performed
using the modified Riks method (Riks 1978) to pre-
dict the ultimate load and the postbuckling behav-
iour of the girder.

5.1 Deterministic Case

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show the numerical results obtained


1st mode 2nd mode
for the sensitivity analysis using the deterministic
approach. In Figure 4, the load-displacement re-
sponses for girders with imperfections in the form of
the third buckling mode are compared. The calcula-
tions are made for different maximum amplitudes
and stiffener locations, i.e. b1/hw = 0.15, 0.20 and
0.25. For all cases, the displacement was measured
at the node where the load was applied and in the di-
rection of load application. Figure 5 also compares
the load-displacement responses, but for girders with
maximum imperfection amplitude of 7 mm, based
3rd mode 4th mode on different eigenmodes (single modes and a linear
Figure 3. Buckling modes shapes combination). Once again, results are shown for
girders web with stiffener located at b1/hw = 0.15,
0.20 and 0.25. In addition, Figure 6 examines the
4 IMPERFECTION MODELING ultimate load versus the maximum imperfection am-
plitude for the various initial shpae imprefections.
Modeling of the initial geometric imperfections is Tables 3, 4 and 5 summarizes these numerical re-
based in two assumptions: (1) The shape of the im- sults.
perfection may be characterized by a linear combi-
nation of the first 3 linear buckling modes; (2) the 5.2 Probabilistic Case
maximum amplitude of the imperfection is specified
according to a design code. Herein, the maximum Monte Carlo simulations were performed to evaluate
allowable amplitude was chosen equal to 10 mm ac- simultaneously the effect of the amplitude and the
cording to Eurocode 3 (EC3 1997). shape of the imperfections. A histogram of the cal-
Therefore, the imperfections are introduced in the culated ultimate load is presented in Figure 7 for 400
FE model through the following expression: FE-runs. Table 6 summarizes the results for the
n probabilistic analysis of the girder VT07-4 with
w = ∑ wi v i (2) b1/hw = 0.2
i =1
where w is the imperfection vector to be introduced
in the model, vi are the buckling modes and wi the 6 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
amplitude coefficients.
Equation (2) was used firstly in a deterministic 6.1 Effect of varying the imperfection’s amplitude
way to perform a parametric analysis in order to
evaluate the effect of the amplitude and the shape of Figures 4 show the load-displacement response for
the imperfections. Secondly, in order to consider a various imperfections amplitudes. The influence of
larger range of the infinite universe of the imperfec- the amplitude is more remarkable when the stiffener
tion shapes, a probabilistic case for equation 2 was is placed at b1/hw = 0.25 (Figure 4c). At the begin-
taken into account. For this case, the imperfections ning of the curves (prebuckling stiffness) the slope
are modeled as a random field described by its am- decreases when increasing the amplitude of the im-
plitude with a known statistical distribution. For this perfections. This reduction on the prebuckling stiff-
investigation, a normal distribution was used to ness is more severe for b1/hw = 0.25 and 0.20
model the imperfection’s amplitude (Elishakoff compared with the result for b1/hw = 0.15. It is im-
1999). portant to notice that these results were obtained us-
ing a shape corresponding to the third buckling can be observed that while these responses are simi-
mode, for the other buckling shapes the results are lar for each imperfection shape, they have different
similar. pre-buckling stiffness and ultimate loads, though the
curves converge in the postbuckling region.
190
171 Table 3. Ultimate load for girder VT07-4 with b1/hw = 0.15
152
Modes Sine
133 w 1st Mode 2nd Mode 3rd Mode
1+2 +3 wave
Load [kN]

114
w=0 [mm] [kN] [kN] [kN]
95 w = 2mm [kN] [kN]
76 (a) w = 4mm
57 w = 6mm 1 174.15 183.10 171.45 175.01 173.09
w = 8mm
38 2 173.66 177.98 169.49 175.72 171.68
w = 10mm
19
3 173.17 175.60 168.13 187.46 170.42
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 4 172.73 173.88 167.16 185.89 169.29
Vertical displacement [mm] 5 172.26 172.47 166.46 185.33 168.26
6 171.82 171.24 165.94 185.10 167.26
190 7 171.45 170.14 165.73 185.07 165.85
171 8 171.06 169.16 166.09 185.15 165.45
152
9 170.68 168.23 167.08 185.32 164.62
133
10 170.30 167.37 166.68 185.47 163.77
Load [kN]

114
95 w=0
w = 2mm
76
(b) w = 4mm
Table 4. Ultimate load for girder VT07-4 with b1/hw = 0.20
57
w = 6mm
Modes Sine
38 w = 8mm w 1st Mode 2nd Mode 3rd Mode
19 w = 10mm 1+2 +3 wave
[mm] [kN] [kN] [kN]
0 [kN] [kN]
0 1 2 3 4 5
Vertical displacement [mm] 1 174.84 179.61 171.91 173.84 174.44
2 174.31 177.72 169.74 172.94 171.73
190 3 173.87 175.87 167.65 172.30 170.20
171 4 173.44 174.87 166.02 170.96 168.88
152 5 173.10 173.88 164.53 169.92 167.63
133
6 172.79 173.14 163.63 169.13 167.72
Load [kN]

114
95
w=0 7 172.43 172.49 162.96 168.58 164.95
w = 2mm
76 w = 4mm
8 172.33 171.93 161.64 168.05 164.39
57 w = 6mm 9 172.15 171.52 160.17 167.51 164.66
38
(c) w = 8mm
w = 10mm
10 172.08 171.06 158.71 166.90 162.65
19
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 Table 5. Ultimate load for girder VT07-4 with b1/hw = 0.25
Vertical Displacement [mm]
Modes Sine
w 1st Mode 2nd Mode 3rd Mode
1+2 +3 wave
Figure 4. Load-displacement responses for various [mm] [kN] [kN] [kN]
[kN] [kN]
imperfection amplitudes. Girder VT07-4: (a) b1/hw = 0.15,
(b) b1/hw = 0.20, (c) b1/hw = 0.25 1 174.40 174.50 170.93 172.88 174.44
2 173.78 175.72 168.37 171.38 173.47
However, as shown in Tables 3 to 5, the reduction in 3 173.35 175.99 167.07 170.16 171.54
ultimate load is not larger than 11.5%. A similar re- 4 172.86 175.28 166.17 169.18 170.13
sult is observed in the experiments performed by 5 172.32 174.53 164.37 168.41 168.87
Bergfelt (1979) and later by Granath (1997). The 6 171.78 173.72 162.37 167.70 167.72
former concluded that while the imperfection’s am- 7 171.23 172.90 160.26 166.98 166.12
plitude is no larger than hw/120, the reduction in ul- 8 170.69 172.06 158.11 166.23 165.64
timate load would be about 10%. Additionally, in 9 170.16 171.26 155.97 165.45 164.66
Figure 4 it is distinguished that the influence of the 10 169.56 170.50 153.88 164.60 163.71
imperfection in the postbuckling behaviour of the
girder is insignificant, since the load versus dis- On the other hand, Figure 6 reveals that the mode
placement plots converge for large deflections. shape of the imperfection that results in the lowest
ultimate load for a specific girder differs for each
6.2 Effect of varying the imperfection’s shape size of imperfection and stiffener location. This re-
sults show that to use the first buckling mode to
Figure 5 shows the effect of varying the initial shape model the initial imperfection does not always gives
imperfection on the load-displacement responses. It the lowest ultimate load.
imperfections in the form of the second and third
190 buckling modes when compared to the first one.
171
152
190
133
185
L o a d [k N ]

114
180
w=0
95 (a)

Load [kN]
175
Mode 1
76
Mode 2 170
57 Mode 3 165 Mode 1
Mode 2
38 Modes 1+2+3 Mode 3
19 Sine wave
160
Mode 1+2+3 (a)
155 Sine wave
0 150
0 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Vertical Displacement [mm] Maximum imperfection's amplitude [mm]

190 190

171 185

152 180
133 175

Load [kN]
L o a d [k N ]

114 170
w=0
95 165 Mode 1
Mode 1
76 Mode 2
(b) Mode 2 160 Mode 3 (b)
57 Mode 3 Modes 1+2+3
155
Modes 1+2+3 Sine wave
38
Sine wave 150
19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 Maximum imperfection's amplitude [mm]
0 1 2 3 4 5
Vertical Displacement [mm]
190

185
190 180
171
175
Load [kN]

152
170
133
165 Mode 1
L o ad [kN ]

114
w=0 Mode 2
160
95
Mode 1
Mode 3
Modes 1+2+3
(c)
76 (c) Mode 2
155
Sine wave
57 Mode 3 150
38 Modes 1+2+3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sine wave Maximum imperfection's amplitude [mm]
19
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Vertical Displacement [mm]
Figure 6. Ultimate load versus maximum imperfection
amplitude. Girder VT07-4: (a) b1/hw = 0.15, (b) b1/hw = 0.20,
(c) b1/hw = 0.25.
Figure 5. Load-displacement responses for various
imperfection shapes. Girder VT07-4: (a) b1/hw = 0.15,
(b) b1/hw = 0.20, (c) b1/hw = 0.25
Finally, the results in Table 3 to 5 show that the
ultimate load variation is greater when the longitudi-
Tables 3 to 5, and Figure 6 show that it is satis-
nal stiffener is located at b1/hw = 0.20 and 0.25 com-
factory for a design problem to represent the imper-
pared with b1/hw = 0.15. In this sense, it can be
fections as sine wave functions both in the
stated that the girder is less sensitive to the imperfec-
longitudinal and transverse directions, since the dif-
tions for stiffener locations near the loaded flange.
ference between the reduction obtained from model-
Figure 7 shows a histogram for the ultimate loads
ing the imperfections as sine waves and the result
calculated in a Monte Carlo simulation using 400
obtained for the most unfavorable case (third mode)
runs. Imperfection shapes were obtained using a lin-
is not larger than 6%.
ear combination of the first three buckling modes
Figure 6 shows the influence of the amplitude and
with a normal distribution for amplitude. In this fig-
shape of the imperfections on the ultimate load of
ure, it can be observed that for some values of im-
the plate girder. For most cases in this figure , an
perfections the ultimate load may be even higher
increase in the amplitude leads to a decrease in the
than the value of a model without imperfection (Ta-
resistance to patch loading. In general, the third
ble 6).
buckling mode causes the larger reduction in resis-
tance. Furthermore, Figure 6 shows that the rate of
reduction in ultimate load is generally greater for
REFERENCES
Table 6. Probabilistic results. Girder VT07-4 with b1/hw = 0.20
PU1 [kN] PU2 [kN] Δ [%] Bergfelt, A, 1979. Patch loading on a slender web-
Minimum value 162.15 -- 7.55
Influence of horizontal and vertical stiffeners on
Mean value 172.26 175.41 1.79
the load carrying capacity. Chalmers University
Maximum value 188.29 -- 7.34
of technology, Steel and Timber Structures,
1 Publ. S 79:1
.. Probabilistic ultimate load
2 Chryssanthopoulos M. K, Baker M.J, and Dowling
.. Ultimate load for model without imperfections
P.J, 1991. Imperfection modeling for buckling
analysis of stiffened cylinders. Journal of Struc-
100 tural Engineering, Vol 117 (7), 1991:1998-2017
90 Chryssanthopoulos M. K, 1998. Probabilistic buck-
80 ling analysis of plates and shells. Thin-Walled
Absolute Frequency

70 structures, Vol 30 (1-4), 1998:135-157


60 Dubas P, Gehri E, 1986. Behaviour and design of
50 steel plated structures. Zurich: ECCS.
40 Elishakoff Isaac, 1999. Probabilistic theory of struc-
30 tures. Dover publications, New York.
20 Granath P, 1997. Behavior of slender plate girders
10 subjected to patch loading. Journal of construc-
0 tional steel research, Vol 42, 1997:1-19
162 165 167 170 173 175 178 180 183 186 188
Eurocode 3, 1997. Design of steel structures. Part 1-
Ultimate Load [kN]
5, General rules-supplementary rules for planar
Figure 7. Ultimate load histograms for girder VT07-4 b1/hw = 0.20 plated structures, ENV 1993-1-5.
400 realizations, Mean = 172.07 kN, SDT = 6.40 Riks E, 1978. An incremental approach to the solu-
tion of snapping and buckling problems. Interna-
tional journal of solids and structures, Vol 15,
7 CONCLUSIONS 1978:529-551.
Swanson Analysis Systems Inc, 2005. ANSYS
According to the results presented herein, the ampli- user’s manual for revision 10.0.
tude and shape of the imperfection affect slightly the
girder behaviour for the stiffener locations b1/hw =
0.15, 0.20 and 0.25. However, it is important to
point out the following conclusion:

• Increasing the amplitude of the imperfec-


tion reduces both the pre-buckling stiffness
and the ultimate load. However, this reduc-
tion is not relevant if amplitude is kept
within allowable tolerance limits.
• Modifying the shape of the imperfection
again changes the pre-buckling stiffness and
the ultimate load.
• The effect of the initial imperfection on the
postbuckling behaviour is minimal, since
the nonlinearity caused by the out-of-plane
deflections is greater than that caused by the
initial imperfections
• Analyses based on modeling the imperfec-
tion shape as the first buckling mode will
not necessarily give the lowest ultimate
load value.
• For design problems, it is satisfactory to
model the imperfections as sine waves both
in the longitudinal and transverse direction.

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