Quads On Fire: Analysis of Shell Elements in ASE 25.09.

2013

Specification
This article describes the functionality of the SOFiSTiK module ASE for calculating the deformation of
structures consisting of shell elements when impacted by high temperatures, such as for the fire safety
analysis and fire-design of a tunnel.
A fire in the proximity of such a structure causes a time-dependent nonlinear temperature distribution
over the thickness of the structure. This distribution can be input separately for each time step and each
shell (QUAD) element, depending on its distance from the source of the fire. In the example shown
above, the spatial extent of the fire is defined by setting a high initial temperature in 4 QUAD elements.
12 neighboring QUAD elements are assigned a slightly lower temperature, to create a transition zone.
Depending on the temperature within a layer of the element, the shell element experiences a
temperature-dependent strain, which can be arbitrarily defined in AQUA and may be nonlinear. (see
quads_on_fire_1.dat). The steel reinforcement can be assigned different temperature-dependent strain
values than the concrete. The temperature of the steel reinforcement is automatically deduced from its
distribution over the thickness of the element.
During a nonlinear calculation, the temperature-dependent stress-strain curves are evaluated for the
concrete and for the reinforcement. If there is damage caused by pressure, cracks due to tension, or
tension stiffening caused by cracks in the concrete, these effects will be saved and input as preexisting
damage in the next time step or loading step.
In case of falling temperature after a fire, ASE uses the maximum temperature reached up to that time
for the concrete working law. So the concrete does not cure when the temperature decreases. Steel
always uses the actual temperature and can cure again. With CTRL NLAY V5 0 this behavior can be
switched off, then ASE uses the actual temperature also for concrete.
For low temperature analysis see example quads_on_ice.dat
Please note that the described feature is currently under development and not yet
completely validated and tested.

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Material Definition
In AQUA it is possible to define stress-strain curves for various discrete temperatures, or a straintemperature curve for a given material. If stress-strain curves are defined at discrete temperatures, ASE
will interpolate between two curves for intermediate temperature values. In the material input in the
example quads_on_fire_1.dat, a temperature-strain curve is defined (if the record EPST is not given,
AQUA will define a curve according to the norm specified in Project Settings).
+PROG AQUA
[]
$ DEFINE MATERIAL FOR DISCRETE TEMPERATURE LEVELS
LET#TEMP 20,200,400,600,800
$ default: LOOP#1 5 ; SSLA SERV TEMP #TEMP(#1); SSLA ULTI TEMP #TEMP(#1) ;
ENDLOOP
$ varying alpha-T input:
SSLA ULTI TEMP 20 EPST
0*1.0E-5
SSLA ULTI TEMP 200 EPST 180*1.1E-5
SSLA ULTI TEMP 400 EPST 380*1.5E-5
SSLA ULTI TEMP 600 EPST 580*1.8E-5
SSLA ULTI TEMP 800 EPST 780*2.6E-5
Using this information, AQUA plots the following stress-strain curves:
[MPa]
-40.00
-35.00
-30.00
-25.00

sig-m
sig-u

-20.00

sig-r

-15.00

T = 600

-10.00

T = 800
[o/oo]

-40.0

-35.0

-32.5

-20.5

-15.3

-12.5

-10.0

5.00

-1.40
-3.50
-5.50

0.00

-30.0

-5.00

-25.0

T = 400
T = 200
T = 20

ASE also plots the strain-temperature curve that was defined in EPST:
strain [o/oo]
20.00

Start temperature 10.0[]

18.00
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00

780

760

740

720

700

680

660

640

620

600

580

560

540

520

500

480

460

440

420

400

380

360

340

320

300

280

260

240

220

200

180

160

140

120

80

100

60

40

20

0.00
temperature [C]

It is important to note that the calculation is usually performed with temperature-dependent nonlinear
material stress-strain curves, and the stresses at high temperatures generally decrease rather than
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Quads On Fire: Analysis of Shell Elements in ASE 25.09.2013

increase (by contrast, the strains in the graph shown above increase steadily at high temperatures).
Temperature depending concrete tensile strength works in QUAD layer and for tension stiffening. The
length of descending stress-strain part is calculated on fctk without temperature.
The concrete tensile strength is also calculated depending on the temperature. The length of the
descending stress-strain part is calculated on fctk independent of the temperature

Temperature Definition
In SOFILOAD, it is possible to input a nonlinear temperature gradient over the thickness of the QUAD
element, using the record QUAD...type=TEMP...Z0. The Z-values are specified in meters relative to the
middle of the element thickness. In the example given below, the temperature gradient is defined for a
40 cm thick QUAD. After defining the temperature information for the first element (here 501), the next
element can be assigned the same information with ==:
+PROG SOFILOAD
HEAD
ECHO LOAD EXTR
LC 101 TITL 'first Temperature-Step'
QUAD 1 TYPE T
1 Z0 -0.20 10 $$
-0.10 10 $$
-0.00 10 $$
+0.06 13 $$
+0.12 20 $$
+0.17 70 $$
+0.19 90 $$
+0.20 120
601 ==
After the ASE calculation, the temperature distributions can be plotted in the checked in the animator by
opening the Element Info and select - Layertemperature.
In the ASE output, the temperature distributions are printed in the table of layer stresses which can be
produced with the record ECHO SCHN VOLL. In the table, xi=-1 is the top surface of the element and
xi=+1 is the under side of the element (for positive local Z-axis):
Layerelement - Stresses
Loadcase 301
NONLINEAR
element
xi
MNo sig-x
[MPa]
1 -1.000
1 -2.58
-0.842
1 -1.53
-0.690
1 -0.52
[]
0.848
1 -0.42
0.904
1 -1.77
0.950
1 -2.80
0.983
1 -5.11
1.000
1 -6.10
-0.825
-2 -14.53
-0.775
-2 -11.16
0.775
-2
2.23
0.825
-2 -16.35

sig-y sig-xy
[MPa] [MPa]
-2.55
0.00
-1.53
0.00
-0.54
0.00
-0.81
-2.18
-3.21
-5.49
-6.47

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

sig-z
[MPa]
0.00
0.00
0.00

tau-x
[MPa]
0.00
0.00
0.00

tau-y
[MPa]
0.00
0.00
0.01

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

sig-v
[MPa]
2.56
1.53
0.53

temp
[C]
10.00
10.00
10.00

0.70 69.54
2.00 80.78
3.03 89.95
5.31 110.06
6.29 120.00
10.00
10.00
55.00
65.00

The last four rows show the results for the four reinforcement layers.

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ASE Control Parameters

For calculating nonlinear temperature distributions, STEU NLAY must be specified. In addition to the
number of layers, a refinement of the layers on one side may be necessary: STEU NLAY:
- V2 = +1 refine elements on the positive local Z-axis
- V2 = +2 " refine these elements more
- V2 = +3 " refine these elements even more
- V2 = -1 to -3 : refine elements on the negative local Z-axis
- Default 0 = constant refinement
With STEU NLAY V3 a start temperature of a layer can be defined; the program default is 20 degrees
Celsius. This has the advantage that for the SOFILOAD input the true current temperature can be input.
- V4+V5 : see ASE manual.
Remark to V5: steel always uses the actual temperature and can always cure again.

Nonlinear Calculation
A nonlinear calculation of the layered shell elements can be specified with:
SYST PROB NONL NMAT YES
The choice of stress-strain curve is currently restricted to UL and ULD, as the temperature-dependent
stress-strain curves in AQUA are currently only input for the ultimate limit state. Therefore, the following
input is required:
NSTR KSV UL (or ULD including the material safety factor)
The tensile strength (temperature-independent) can be input as usual with CTRL CONC V3+V4.

Examples
Quads_on_fire_1.dat serves as a validation of this method. In this example, a single QUAD element
with varying support conditions is subjected to high temperatures as caused by fire.
Quads_on_fire_2.dat demonstrates the applicability of this feature on a 3D tunnel. You can click on
elements in the area affected by the fire to open an Element Info box in the Animator, which allows you
to see the stress distribution within the layers for different load cases, for example Load Case 303:

Verification examples see ase.dat\englisk\verification-examples\fd_en1991-1-2_appendix-cc

Dr. Jrgen Bellmann SOFiSTiK AG

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