PLASTIC COUPLED INSTABILITIES IN WIDE-FLANGE STEEL BEAMS

Victor Gioncu 1a, Marius Mosoarca 2b and Anthimos Anastasiadis 3c

a, b

Faculty of Architecture, PolitehnicaUniversity Timisoara Romania, e-mail a: mmosoarca@yahoo.com, email b: vgioncu@clicknet.ro c Design Office Thessaloniki, Greece, e-mail: anastasiadisa@hol.gr

Abstract: Plastic analysis allows the full cross sectional capacity of beam to be used in order to form a plastic hinge. The failure of a wide flange beam can be due to the local plastic plate buckling of compression flange and local plate buckling of the web in flexural compression, produced in-plane or in out-of-plane local buckling. In the same time the failure can occurs by coupling of these two local buckling. In order to study the plastic buckling of beams and to determine the rotation capacity required by the plastic analysis or seismic design, the collapse plastic mechanism theory was used to elaborate a specialized computer program DUCTROTM. Using the results obtained from this computer program, the geometrical parameters of wide- flange steel beams for which coupling buckling occurs are presented in paper.

1.

INTRODUCTION

In the plastic analysis and seismic design of structures, the ductility, measured by the plastic rotation capacity, plays a predominant part. In the plastic design, the member should be capable of forming plastic hinges and these hinges must rotate until the global collapse mechanism is reached without losing moment capacity. Thus the required redistribution of bending moment is reached without losing moment capacity. In the earthquake-resistant design, this rotation capacity is essential to assure that a determined portion of the input seismic energy shall be dissipated by plastic behaviour. In the design practice it is generally accepted that steel is an excellent material for plastic structural analyses, due to its performance in terms of material strength and ductility, as it is capable of withstanding substantial plastic deformations. But in the last decades, specialists have recognized that so-called good ductility of steel structures under exceptional conditions may be a dogma, which is denied by the reality. A good material ductility does not certainly assure a good ductility at the level of overall structure, due to some factors between them the most important being the local plastic buckling. In this paper only the local buckling will be considered for the wide-flange beams. Local plastic buckling of compression flange and web reduces the rotation capacity, but in the same time, this buckling operates as a filter against large strains large strains in the tension flange, reducing the danger of cracking [1], [2]. Two main buckling types are observed during the experimental tests, in-plane and out-of-plane buckling modes and an interaction of them is observed. Due to the fact that the out-of-plane buckling mode shows a drastically reducing of

The 6th International Conference on Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures

rotation capacity, the paper deals with the possibility to avoid this instability mode by adequate choosing of beams geometrical parameters. 2. PLASTIC BUCKLING, PLASTIC MECHANISMS AND COUPLED INSTBILITIES

During the experimental tests on the profiles framed in Classes 1 or 2 (elastic buckling being avoided) one can observe that the plastic deformations are produced only in a limited zone, the remaining part of the member remaining in elastic field. In this plastic zone large rotations are concentrated, working as plastic hinges. The plastic rotations are amplified if in these zones a buckling of flanges occurs. Examining the experimental and numerical simulation presented in literature, some very important conclusions results. 1. During the plastic deformations, crumpling of flanges and webs can be observed, which form a local plastic mechanism, composed of yield lines and plastic zones. Therefore, the study of plastic buckling can be performed using the analysis of the corresponding local plastic mechanism. 2. There are many forms of local plastic buckling, depending on the geometrical proportions of beams, but the most important are the in-plane buckling (asymmetrical with the cross-section, Fig. 1a and out-of-plane buckling (asymmetrical related to the beam middle, Fig. 1b. 3. A coupling between these two instability modes is observed during the experimental tests. In the majority of cases, the plastic buckling starts with in-plane buckling, but due to the weakening in lateral rigidity, caused by the plastic buckling, the lateral buckling occurs. In this case the lowering post-buckling curve is dominated by the interaction of the two buckling modes. 4. The interaction between these two buckling modes frames in the category of weak interaction [3]. 5. Due to this plastic buckling, in the moment-rotation curve a maximum value for bending is reached and a drop in moment capacity is produced Fig. 2. The rotation capacity being conventionally determined in the lowering post-buckling curve at the intersection with the theoretical full plastic moment, the slop of this curve plays a leader role in the calculation of beam ductility. 6. Due to the fact that the slope of lowering curve is more pronounced for the out-ofplane mode in comparison with the in-plane mode, it a very important to determine if the interaction between these two buckling mode occurs over or under the line defining the rotation capacity. In Fig. 3a, the interaction occurs under this line and has not any influence on determining the rotation capacity. Contrary, Fig. 3b shows the case when the interaction takes place over this line, when the rotation capacity is defined by the out-of-plane mechanism, for which a reduced value is obtained.

a) In-plane buckling

b) Out-of-plane buckling
Fig. 1: Plastic buckling nodes

Theme (by the C.C.)

Fig. 2: Moment-rotation curve

Fig. 3: Interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane plastic buckling

7. Considering these aspects, the best solution to obtain a larger value for rotation capacity is to determine the proportions of cross-section in the way to obtain an in-plane plastic buckling mode, avoiding out-of-plane buckling mode. 3. DUCTROT-M COMPUTER PROGRAM

The specialized computer program DUCTROT- M ((DUCTility of ROTation of Members) is developed at Timisoara University with the aim of determining the ultimate plastic rotation based on the Method of collapse plastic mechanisms [4]. Two plastic mechanisms are considered: in-plane Fig. 4 and out-of plane Fig. 5 mechanisms. Using the principle of the minimum of the total potential energy for the plastic mechanisms, it result the post-buckling curves:

M 1 = a1 + a2 1 / 2 Mp M 1 1 = b1 + b2 1 / 2 + b3 3 / 2 Mp

(1)

(2)

The 6th International Conference on Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures

where the first equation refers to the in-plane mechanism and the second to the out-of-plane mechanism. The coefficients ab contain the geometrical characteristics of beams and plastic mechanism, given in [2] and [3]. One can see that, in comparison with the Eq. (1) for in-plane mechanism, in Eq. (2) for out-of-plane mechanism a supplementary term appears, which produces a more important degradation in the post-buckling range. A validation of the results obtained using DUCTROT-M program shows a very good correspondence with numerical results using FEM and experimental results presented in literature, giving confidence in the developed local plastic mechanism methodology [4].

Fig. 4: In-plane plastic mechanism

Fig. 5: Out-of-plane plastic mechanism

Theme (by the C.C.)

Table 1: Geometrical characteristics of beams

Beam A1 A2 A3 A4 B1 B2 B3 B4

b mm 160 200 300 400 160 200 300 400

d mm 240 300 400 500 240 300 400 500

tf tw mm mm 814 8 1016 10 1218 12 1420 14 12 612 14 814 16 1016 18 1218

4.

NUMERICAL RESULTS

Figure 6 presents some snapshots specific for DUCROT- Ms interface, for two different cases (beams A2 with tf=12 mm and tf=14 mm). In the first the ultimate rotation is determined by the in-plane mechanism, having a reduced degradation of beam rigidity after the plastic buckling. In the second case, the ultimate rotation results from the out-of-plane mechanism, with a higher degradation after the plastic buckling. Using the possibilities offered by this computer program, a study of coupled plastic buckling was performed for wide-flange beams. The geometrical dimensions of considered crosssections are presented in Table 1. The span for all the beams is 5000 mm and the steel qualities correspond to S235. The first Set A of beams, Fig. 7 shows the influence of flange thicknesses. One can see that for reduced thicknesses the in-plane mechanism determines the ultimate rotations and, increasing these ones, the ultimate rotation capacity increases. This increase is limited by the occurrence of out-of-plane mechanism. A plastic coupled instability of the two plastic mechanisms occurs at the intersection of the two curves corresponding to these mechanisms. The second Set B of beams Fig. 8 presents the influence of web thicknesses. Contrary to first set, the reduced web thickness induces out-of-plane plastic mechanisms and the ultimate rotation increase with the increasing of web thickness. This increase is limited by the occurrence of in-plane mechanism, the ultimate rotation decreasing with the web thickness. At the intersection of the two curves, the coupled instability occurs.

The 6th International Conference on Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures

The study of interaction between the two plastic mechanisms has pointed that the other geometrical parameters (flange width, web height and span) have no major influence on the coupled instability. Looking to the Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, it is possible to conclude that, in order to avoiding the outof-plane mechanism, it is recommended to choose thin flanges and thick webs.

Fig. 6: DUCTROT-Ms interfaces

Fig. 7: Plastic coupled instabilities vs. flange thickness

Theme (by the C.C.)

Fig. 8: Plastic coupled instabilities vs. web thickness

7 Conclusions
There are many results obtained for elastic coupled instabilities [5], but for the plastic buckling, the studies are very scarce. The paper presents the case of plastic instability of wideflange beams where the rotation capacity is a very important characteristic in order to assure the required ductility in plastic or seismic analyses. For wide-flange profiles there are two local buckling forms, in-plane and out-of-plane modes. To study these plastic instabilities, the using of local plastic mechanisms has proved to be a very useful methodology. For some values of cross-section characteristics, plastic coupled instabilities can occurs, but this interaction can be framed in weak one. The most important aspect refers to the fact that out-of-plane buckling reduces the ultimate rotation capacity of beams. The DUCTROT-M computer program allows to choose the geometrical dimension of beams in order to avoid the out-of-plane buckling.

References
[1] [2] [3] Gioncu V., Petcu D. Available rotation capacity of wide-flange beams and beamcolumns, Journal of Constructional Steel Research Vol.43, 161-217, 219-245, 1997. Gioncu V., Mazzolani F.M. Ductility of Seismic Resistant Steel Structures, Spon Press, London, 2002. Gioncu V., Tirca L., Petcu D. Interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane plastic buckling of wide-flange section members, Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures, CIMS96, Liege, 273-281, 1996. Petcu D., Gioncu V. Computer program for available ductility analysis of steel structures, Computers & Structures, Vol. 81, 2149-2164, 2002. Gioncu V. General Theory of coupled instabilities. General report, Thin-Walled Structures, Vol. 19, Nos. 2-4 , 81-127, 1994.

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