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Case Study 4
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.
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).
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).
This polynomial yields a strain εxx which is constant along the bar axis.
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.
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.
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
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).
1 1
Wc b h 2 200 1502 7.5 105 mm3
6 6
7250, 7 650
max (3 23002 4 6502 ) 7.9mm
6 25000 5.625 107
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.
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
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
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
-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.
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.
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.
Point 2: First cracks of low value appear at the bottom fiber of it (figure 25 ).
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.
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.
In accordance with the principal strains cracks open and spread over the height of the beam.
Point 7: At the maximum load, the displacement of the beam has also increased in value.
An increase in the values of principal strains is shown in the next figure, since the load has
reached its maximum value.
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-5
Load Step 1(1) : SXX
-30
-35
Figure 34: Stress distribution x-x at the upper part of the reinforced concrete beam along its
length
500
450
400
50
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
0.016
0.014
0.012
Load Step 1(1) : EXX
0.01
Load Step 11(0.1) : EXX
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-0.002
Figure 36 : Strain distribution along the length of the rebars
Reinforced concrete beam