Study of Reduced Beam Section Profiles using Non-Linear Finite Element

Analysis

Swati Kulkarni
Research Scholar, Applied Mechanics Department, SVNIT, Surat- 395007, Email: swatiakulkarni@gmail.com

Dr. G. R. Vesmawala
Assistant Professor, Applied Mechanics Department, SVNIT, Surat- 395007, Email: grv@amd.svnit.ac.in

ABSTRACT: Reduced beam section (RBS) is one of the several connection types, which is
most economical and practical for use in new steel moment frame structures in seismic zone. To
form RBS connection, some portion of the beam flanges at a short distance from column face is
purposefully trimmed so that the yielding and plastic hinge occurs within this area of flanges.
Use of RBS connection is found advantageous due to: a) the shear force in the panel zone is
reduced; b) the force demand in column continuity plates i.e. stiffeners are reduced; and c)
strong-column – weak-beam requirement is satisfied. The purpose of the study is to understand
the behavior of the RBS beam-to-column moment connections for various flange cut geometries.
. This document represents nonlinear finite element analysis of the connection models performed
using the computer program, ANSYS/Multiphysics.

Key words: Steel structures, beam-to-column moment connections; reduced beam section; rigid
connections; RBS profiles

INTRODUCTION
Before Northridge and Kobe earthquakes, welded flange and bolted or welded web connection
i.e. pre-Northridge connection, was the commonly used connection for steel moment resisting
frames. Steel moment resisting frames are rectilinear assemblies of columns and beams that are
typically joined by welding or high strength bolting or both. Resistance to lateral loads is
provided by flexural and shearing actions in the beams and the columns. Lateral stiffness is
provided by the flexural stiffness of the beams and columns [1]. The poor performance of pre-
Northridge moment connections led the research to investigate the causes of failure and to
develop alternative connections for repair, rehabilitation and new construction [2, 3]. In
response to this, numerous solutions to the moment resisting connections for steel buildings have
been proposed. These connections fall in one of the two categories: a) strengthening connection
by addition of cover plates, ribs or haunches or weakening the beam cross-section away from the
column face.

Fig. 1. Typical pre-Northridge beam-to-column moment connection.

Fig. 2. Typical reduced beam section moment connection.

b) reduced beam section (RBS) connection (fig 2), the strategic trimming of beam flanges at a
short distance from column flange is planned to promote stable yielding at trimmed portion as
well as to protect welded joint. Use of RBS connection is found advantageous due to a) the
shear force in the panel zone is reduced b) the force demand in column continuity plate is
reduced; and 3) strong-column – weak-beam requirement is satisfied. Although reducing the
beam member section reduces the global stiffness of the structure, this reduction is only about 5
to 7 percent and has a little effect on final detailing of the structure. According to these
characteristics, RBS connection is potentially the most economical type among post-Northridge
connections. Nonetheless, reducing the width of the beam flange increases the possibility web
local lateral torsional buckling due to the reduced in-plane stiffness of the flanges.
Since 1994, extensive research on the cyclic behavior of the RBS connection has been carried
out in US and Japan. Prequalified RBS connection details are described in Federal Emergency
Management Academy (FEMA) 350-353,355D [4-8] and American Institute of Steel
Construction (ANSI/AISC) 341-05,358-05,360-05 and AISC Steel design guide series –13 [9-12
] and National Institute of standards and Technology-NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief
No. 2 [ 13].

To learn the behavior of RBS profiles, in this paper nonlinear finite element study of a
connection subjected to straight cut, tapered cut and radius cut is conducted using ANSYS
software.

FLANGE-CUT PROFILES LITERATURE SURVEY AND CODAL PROVISIONS

The concept weakening was proposed by Plumier A [14,15], has been adopted as an appealing
alternative after Northridge and Kobe earthquake research developments. Many flange-cut
geometry schemes were generally taken with analysed and tested for cyclic loading conditions as
shown in Fig 3.
 Performance of the straight cut RBS was not found well because of fractures after initial
yielding due to stress concentration at the corner of the cut [8].
 Further, the constant „size drilled holes‟ weakening pattern (Fig.3d) was studied as one
of the flange weakening strategy. The results have shown that, the clear strain
concentration regions occurred at the beam flanges with drilled holes [16,17 ].
 For tapered cut [18,19,20,21,22,23,24,], geometry used to be defined on the moment
demand. Plastic straining in the taper cut reduced beam flange was found uniform.
However for tapered cut RBS the stress concentration at the re-entrant corner eventually
led to fracture of the beam flange at the narrowest section. This problem has been found
avoidable with radiused section cut at re-entrant corners of a tapered RBS.

Fig. 3. Reduced beam section patterns

  In order to provide a cut-out shape with minimum stress concentration and uniform strain
distribution as well as economical fabrication, the concept of „radius cut or dogbone‟
(Fig.3a, 4) then found wide adaptability, achieves significant plastic rotational capacity
and it is less sensitive to fabrication details than the tapered RBS section. Table 1 shows
the standard parameters which are followed by various codes to have RBS geometry.
RBS connection can be classified into two types according to the web attachment details:
RBS with welded web connections and RBS with bolted web connections. FEMA 350
permits both RBS bolted and welded web connections for ordinary moment frames
(OMF) and SMF. But as per ANSI/AISC 358-05 RBS bolted web connection is qualified
for intermediate moment frames (IMF) and should not be used for SMF.
Several researchers have performed studies to understand the global response of RBS
connection detail on the whole structure. Similarly numbers of analytical studies and
experimentations have been performed on the RBS moment connection to examine:
beam web connection detail, behavior of panel zone, requirement of continuity plate,
lateral and local instability of beam, effect of composite slab, usefulness for retrofitting
optimization of the flange radius. etc

Fig.4. Radius cut RBS Geometry

Table 1: Geometrical characteristics of reduced beam section

FEMA350-2000 OMF (Ordinary EC8, Part 3 AISC 358-05 ( IMF, SMF)

Moment Frame) ,SMF
a  (0.5 to 0.75)bf a = 0.6 bf a  (0.5 to 0.75)bf
b  (0.65 to 0.85) db b = 0.75 db b  (0.65 to 0.85) db
c ≤ 0.25bf g=c ≤ 0.25bf 0.1bf ≤c ≤ 0.25bf
s = a+ b/2 s = a+ b/2 --
2 2
r = (4 c + b )/8 c r = (4g 2 +b2)/8g --
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
To observe the behavior of for reduced beam section connection with different flange-cut
geometry profile options for W 14 ×283 column and W 30 × 132 beam section (Table 2).
Section profiles (Table Fig .5) as suggested by Iwankiw N [24] are followed. For all connections
50% flange reduction is done in all cases. For this study specimens are assumed without
continuity. Geometric details of all models are tabulated in Table 2, 3 and steps followed to do
finite element analysis using ANSYS/Multiphysics [25]are summarized in Table 5.
Table 2: Selected member‟s section properties
Member Depth Web Flange Flange Moment of
d Thk Width Thk Inertia
in. 𝑡𝑤 (in) 𝑏𝑓 (in) 𝑡𝑓 (in) Ix (in3)

W 14× 283 16.74 1.29 16.11 2.07 3080

W 30 × 283 30.31 0.62 10.55 1.00 5770

Figure 5. Reduced beam section profile options

𝑧
1−
𝑍
1−𝑟 = 𝑍𝑓 ….. (18)
𝑍

Where, 𝑧 = plastic section modulus of beam strong axis at minimum RBS

𝑍 = plastic section modulus of original beam about its strong axis

𝑍𝑓 = plastic section modulus of the beam flanges only
1 − 𝑟 = maximum flange-width reduction factor
 Table 3: Reduced beam section –straight/taper/circular cut details
RBS 2 ( W 14 ×283) Straight Cut Taper Cut Radius Cut
𝑧 ( in.3) 278.82 278.82 278.82
𝑍( in.3) 433.64 433.64 433.64
𝑍𝑓 ( in.3) 309.22 309.22 309.22
1−𝑟 0.5 0.5 0.5
„a’ (in.) 6.5 6.5 6.5
1−𝑟 𝑏 𝑓 2.64 2.64 2.64
(in.)
2
e ( in.) 17 23.505 17

Table 4: steps followed for finite element analysis using ANSYS/Multiphysics

1 Creation
of Model

2 Assigning Element Type - SOLID45 element from ANSYS element library is used for the 3-D
finite element modeling of the reduced beam section moment connection. The element is defined
by eight nodes having three degrees of freedom at each node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z
directions. The element has plasticity, creep, swelling, stress stiffening, large deflection, and large
strain capabilities. The element accounts for material nonlinearities through classical metal
plasticity theory based on the von Mises yield criterion.
3 Assigning The column and beam material properties are taken as
Material ASTM A572Gr50. The fundamental assumptions made to
Properties idealize steel mechanical properties are including: Young‟s
modulus of 2×105 Mpa, Poisson‟s ratio of 0.3 and yield
stress = 345Mpa.
Geometric nonlinearities are accounted for through a small
strain, large displacement formulation.
4 Meshing
5 Boundary
Condition
and
Loading
History

Since the column base was assumed as pin connected at both the ends, the rotation angle about the
X and Y axes and the vertical and horizontal displacements in X, Y and Z axis are fixed for the
FEM analysis. Further, the beam top flange is laterally restrained at both inches 35 and 102 inches
from the column centerline. The beam bottom flange is laterally restrained at 102 inches from the
column centerline. Beam tip is subjected to incremental cyclic loading history as shown in above
fig, although the number of cycles in each load step is limited to one.

OBSERVATIONS
von Mises Stress Index
Several different stress indices were computed using finite element results in order to compare
the behavior of the different connection configurations and to access the effect of design
parameter behavior.
The primary stress index used in the study is described as follows:
von Mises stress- the von Mises or equivalent stress, 𝜎𝑒
1 1/2
2 2 2
𝜎𝑒 = 𝜎1 − 𝜎2 + 𝜎2 − 𝜎3 + 𝜎3 − 𝜎1 ….(1)
2

Where 𝜎1 , 𝜎2 and 𝜎3 are the three principal stresses ordered so that 𝜎1 , is the most +ve (tensile)
and 𝜎3 is the most negative ( compressive).
Straight Cut Reduced Beam Section

(A) (B)
 Figure 15. A view of von Mises stress distribution in the straight cut (W 14 ×283 column) at
0.005 radians
Taper Cut Reduced Beam Section

(A) (B)
Figure 16. A view of von Mises stress distribution in the taper cut (W 14 ×283 column) at 0.005
radians
Radius Cut Reduced Beam Section

(A) (B)
Figure 17. A view of von Mises stress distribution in the radius cut (W 14 × 283 columns) at
0.005 radians
From the above diagrams, it can be observed that:
 Maximum stress intensity reduces for radius cut (80.012ksi at 0.005 radians) as compared
with taper (84.16ksi at 0.005 radians) and straight cut (86.51ksi at 0.005 radians) RBS.
 Stress contours are also of uniform nature for the radius cut. For the trapezoidal and
straight cut stress concentration at the re-entrant corner eventually may led to fracture of
the beam flange.
  At 0.005 radians, stress concentration was observed at beam-to-column flange joints for
it may cause cracks in the welding between the flanges.
 At 0.005 radians beam lateral torsional buckling and column flange twisting was found
almost same in all cases.

CONCLUSION
Two RBS beam-to-column nonlinear finite element models were developed. The models were
used to investigate the behavior of RBS connection without continuity plates. Conclusions based
on the study are noted below:
1. Instead of trapezoidal or straight cut RBS, radius cut RBS moment connection is used as a
prequalified to be used in new construction by all ANSI/AISC and FEMA codes. Attempt is
made to visualize the behavior of three and it is observed that in radius cut RBS stress variation
is more uniform in reduced section.
2. Stress contours are also of uniform nature for the radius cut. For the trapezoidal and straight
cut stress concentration at the re-entrant corner eventually may led to fracture of the beam flange.

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