Plastic Analysis of

Continuous Beams
1
Increasing the applied load until
yielding occurs at some locations
will result in elastic-plastic defor-
mations that will eventually reach
a fully
plastic condition.
Fully plastic condition is
defined
as one at which a
sufficient number of plastic
hinges are formed to transform
the structure into a mecha-
nism, i.e., the structure is
geometrically unstable.
1
1
See pages 142 152 in your class notes.
will result in elastic
2
Additional loading applied to
the fully plastic structure
would
lead to collapse.
Design of structures based on
the plastic or limit state
approach is increasingly used
and accepted by various codes of
practice particularly for steel
construction. !igure 1 shows a
typical stress-strain curve for mild
steel and the ideali"ed stress-
strain response for performing
plastic analysis.

rupture
x

y
ideali"ed

y
!igure 1. #ild Steel Stress-
Strain
$urve

y
= yield stress

y
= yield strain
4
UL!"A# "$"#%
$onsider the beam shown in !ig.
2. Increasing the bending
moment results in going from
elastic cross section behavior
%!ig. 2%a&& to yield of the
outermost fibers
%!igs. 2%c& and
%d&& and finally the two yield
"ones meet %!ig. 2%e&&' the
cross section in this state is
defined to be fully plastic.
elastic cross section behavior
!igure. 2. Stress distribution in a sym-
metrical
cross section sub(ected to a
bending moment of increasing magni-
tude) %a& $ross section %b& *lastic %c&
+op fibers plastic %d& +op and bottom
fibers plastic and %e& !ully plastic
5
+op fibers plastic %d& +op and bottom
6
+he ultimate moment is
determined in terms of the yield
stress
y
.
Since the a,ial force is "ero in
this
beam case the neutral axis
in the fully plastic condition
di&ides the section into two
e'ual areas and the resultant
tension and compression are
each e-ual to

y
./2 forming a
couple e-ual to the ultimate
plastic
moment #
p
1
7
M
p
=
2

y
A (
y
c
+ y
t
)
%1&
each e-ual to ./2 forming a
+he ma,imum moment which a
section can resist without
e,ceeding the yield stress
%defined as the yield moment
"
y
& is the smaller of
M
y
=
y
S
t
M
y
=
y
S
c
%2a&
%2b&
S
t
0 tension section modulus
% I / c
t
&
S
c
0 compression section
modulus %
I / c
c
&
%2b&
c
t
0
distance from neutral a,is
to the e,treme tension fiber
c
c
0 distance from neutral
a,is to the e,treme com-
pression fiber
I 0 moment of inertia
= "
p
("
y
) * = shape factor
= *.+ for a rectangular
section
= *., for a solid circular
section
= *.*+ -
*.*, for I- or C-
section 1
c
.LA/!0 1#2A3!$4 $F A
/!".L# 1#A"
If a load 2 at the mid-span of a
simple beam %!ig. 3& is
increased until the ma,imum
mid-span moment reaches the
fully plastic moment #
p
a plastic
hinge is formed at this section
and collapse will occur under
any further load increase. Since
this structure is statically deter-
minate the collapse load 2
$
can
easily be calculated to give
P
C
= 4 M
p
/
L
%3&
4
P 4 M / L
%3&
easil be calc lated to gi e
id
/!".L# 1#A"
1
2
5
2
5
%a& 5oaded 6eam
#
p
%b& 2lastic 6#7
2
$

2

%c& 2lastic #echanism

!igure 3. Simple 6eam
2
.lastic 2inge Along the
Length of the /imple 1eam
12
+he collapse load of the beam
can be calculated by e'uating
the external and internal wor5
during a &irtual mo&ement of
the collapse mechanism %this
approach is e'ually applicable
to the collapse analysis of sta-
tically indeterminate beams&.
*-uating the external &irtual
wor5 6
e
done by the force 2
$
to
the internal &irtual wor5 6
i
done by the moment #
p
at the
plastic hinge)
!
=
!

P

L
=
M
(2

)
plastic hinge)
approach is e' all applicable
1"
e i C
2
p

P
C
= 4M
p
/ L
which is identical to the result
given in %3&.
UL!"A# /4#%72 $F
F!8#D-#%D#D 1#A"
$onsider a prismatic fi,ed-ended
beam sub(ected to a uniform
load of intensity - %!ig. 4%a&&.
!igure 4%b& shows the moment
diagram se-uence from the yield
moment #
y
2
M
=

S(

I
)
=
#
y
L
y y
c 12
#
y
=
12 M
y
L
2
through the fully plastic condition
through the fully plastic condition
y y
F!8#D
in the beam.
14
-
%a&
5
#
p
%b&
#
y
#
y
#
p
#
p
-
$


2
%c&
!igure 4. !i,ed-!i,ed 6eam
15
+he collapse mechanism is
shown in
!ig. 4%c& and the col-
lapse load is calculated by e-ua-
ting the e,ternal and internal
virtual wor8s i.e.
2

#
C
L

L

2

4
=
M
p
(
+
2
+

)

#
C
=
16 M
p
L
2
/e'uence of .lastic 2inge
Formation9
%1& !i,ed-end supports ma,i-
mum moment %negative&
%2& #id-span ma,imum positive
i iti
%1& !i d i
2

M ( 2 )
moment 16
UL!"A#/4#%72 $F
0$%!%U$U/ 1#A"/
9e,t consider the three span
continuous beam shown in !ig. 5
with
each span having a plastic
moment capacity of #
p
. :alues
of the collapse load correspond-
ing to all possible mechanisms
are determined' the actual
collapse load is the smallest of
the possible mechanism
collapse loads.
1;
9 id h h
#
p
0 constant
.
5
2
5
2
2
3
* !
%a&
7
6 $
5 5 5
2
$1

2

2
2
$2

%b&
%c&
!igure 5. %a& $ontinuous 6eam
%b& #echanism 1

1
%b& #echanism 1
6
%a&
%c& #echanism 2
11
1$
!or this structure there are two
possible collapse mechanisms
are shown in !igs. 5%b& and %c&.
<sing the principle of virtual wor8
%=
e
0 =
i
& for each mechanism
leads to
!igure 5%b& %
1
0 5/2&)
P
C1

M
p
(
+
2
+
)

P
C1
= %M
p
/ L

=

<sing the principle of virtual wor8
!igure 5%c& %
2
0 5/3&)
P
C2

"

M
p
(
+ +

)

2 L

"
= =
L
"
=

P
C2

"

=
& M
p

=
2

P
C2
= 1&M
p
/ 2L
C2

p
+he smaller of these two values
is the true collapse load. +hus
2
$
0 ;.5#
p
/5 and the corres-
ponding bending moment
diagram is shown below.
6hen collapse occurs, the
part of the beam between A
and 0 is still in the elastic
range.
#
p
# > #
p
. 6
-# ? -#
p
$
*
!
7
-#
p
$ollapse 6#7
21
# #
i th t ll l d
2 -5 0 2
5
-
2
2
1
:"
p
"
p
5 5
2
$
%a&
%b&

1
2

-
$
%c&

2
+
5
1
!igure @. %a& $ontinuous 6eam
%b& #echanism 1
22

%c& #echanism 2
+he two span continuous beam
shown in !ig. @ e,hibits some
uni-ue considerations)
1.the plastic moment capacity of
span 1-2 is different than the
plastic moment capacity of
span 2-3' and
2.the location of the positive
moment plastic hinge in span
2-3 is un8nown.
23
2
l ti t it f
shown in !ig @ e,hibits some
"echanism *9
!
=
P
=
P
C
L
e C 1
2
!
i
= 2M
p

+
2M
p
(2)
+
M
p

=
!
=
!
7M
p

P
=
14M
p
e i C
L
%.&
"echanism :9

2

2
!
e
=
#
C
L
1
2
+
#
C
(L

L
1
)
2
= #
C
L

2
2
C
7M
2
24
!
i
= M
p

+
M
p
( + )
L
1
=

2
= (L L
1
)
=
L
1

L

L
1

!
=
2L L
1

M

i

p

L L
1

!
e
=
1
#
C
LL
1

!
e
= !
i

# L
=
2 2 L L
1

M
%6&
C
L
1

L

L
1

p

25
1

1

2
he problem with this solution
for '
0
L is that the length L
*
is
un5nown.
5
1
can be obtained by differen-
tiating both sides of -
$
5 with
respect to 5
1
and set the result to
"ero i.e.
' ( #
C
L )
=
2 L
1
( L L
1
)
M
'L
1
(L )
2
(L

L )
2
p
1 1

2 ( 2 L

L
1
) ( L

2 L
1
)
M
2 2
(L
1
) (L
=
L
1
)
%$&
2@
p
Solving %$& for 5
1
)
2 2
2L
1
%LL
1
+ 4L =
L
1
=
%L
(%L)
2
4
4(%L
2
)
= 2L 2 L
= (&%&% L
%7&
Substituting %7& into %6&)
#
C
L =
11(66 M
p
L
%*&
2;
$omparing the result in %.& with
%*& and for -5 0 2 shows that the
failure mechanism for this
beam
structure is in span :-;.
# > 2#
p
5
1
#
p
-# ?
-2#
p
-#
p
6#7 for $ollapse 5oad -
$
21
%*& d f 5 2 h
Direct .rocedure to
0alculate .ositi&e "oment
.lastic 2inge Location for
Unsymmetrical .lastic
"oment Diagram
$onsider any beam span that is
loaded by
a uniform load and the
resulting plastic moment diagram is
unsymmetric. Aust as shown
above the location of the ma,imum
positive moment is un8nown. !or
e,ample assume beam span 6
$ is sub(ected to a uniform load
and the plastic
moment capacity at
end 6 is #
p1
the plastic moment
24
e,ample assume beam span 6
capacity at end $ is #
p2
and the
plastic positive moment capacity is
#
p3
.
#
p1
B #
p3
' #
p2
B #
p3
#
p3
)
-#
p1
5
1
-#
p2
5
3C
5
+he location of the positive plastic
moment can be determined using
the bending moment e-uation
#%,& 0 a,
2
D b, D c
and appropriate boundary
conditions.
%i& , 0 C) # 0 -#
p1
0 c
%ii& , 0 5
1
) # 0 #
p3
0 a5
2
D b5
1
D c
a5
2
D b5
1
0 #
p3
D #
p1
%iii& , 0 5
1
) d#/d, 0 C 0 2a5
1
D b
31
1
1
t b d t i d i
"2
Solving for a and b from %ii& and
%iii&)

(M
p1
+
M
p"
)
a
=
2
1
2(M
p1
* =
+
M
p"
)
L
1
L
1
(M M )
%iv& , 0 5)
# 0 -#
p2
0 a5
2
D b5 D c
0 -%#
p1
D #
p3
&%5/5
1
&
2
D 2%#
p1
D #
p3
& %5/5
1
& - #
p1
C 0 -%#
p1
D #
p3
&%5/5
1
&
2
D 2%#
p1
D #
p3
& %5/5
1
&
- #
p1
D #
p2
Solving the -uadratic e-uation)
C D # &

L

=
1


4(M
p
1
+M
p"
)
2

4(M
p1
M
p2
)
(M
p1
+M
p"
)

2(M
p1
+M
p"
)
=

M
p1
M
p2

1 1

M
p1
+
M
p"

L
1
=
L
M

M
1
+
1

p1 p 2

M
p1
+
M
p"

L
1

L

p1 p" p1 p2 p1 p"

1
#.!L$7U#
+he process described in these
notes and in the e,ample pro-
blems uses what is referred to as
an <upper bound= approach'
i.e. any assumed mechanism can
provide the basis for an analysis.
+he resulting collapse load is an
upper
bound on the true col-
lapse load. For a number of
trial mechanisms, the lowest
computed load is the best
upper bound. A trial mecha-
nism is the correct one if the
corresponding moment
diagram nowhere exceeds the
plastic moment capacity.
35
nism is the correct one if the
pro ide the basis for an anal sis