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A Study of the Torsional Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Trough Girder Based

On ABAQUS

Kun SHANG1, Quanquan GUO2, Zhengjian HE3 and Yinghua YE 4

1
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, No.37
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Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, ST100191; PH (86) 13811056603;

email: shangkun19881010@yahoo.com.cn
2
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, No.37
Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, ST100191; PH (86) 13811662252;
email: qq_guo@buaa.edu.cn
3
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, No.37
Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, ST100191;
4
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, No.37
Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, ST100191;

ABSTRACT
With the rapid development of rail transportation, higher requirements are put
forward on the environment, landscape, noise and other issues. Trough girders have
gradually began to be widely used for its several advantages, such as lower building
height, higher cross-section space utilization, better appearance, lower cost and noise
reduction effect. In the present, compression and bending theory on reinforced
concrete (RC) trough girder has been ideal. But torsional problems of RC though
girder, due to the lateral sway force of train, are still difficult to solve entirely. In
this paper, limited torque of RC trough girder was analyzed by using finite element
analysis software ABAQUS. Also, concrete damaged plasticity model was adopted
during analysis and the results obtained from the finite element analysis were verified
against experimental results of other research. The result reveals that finite element
analysis can be superior to simulate the torsion failure of RC trough girder.

KEY WORDS: Trough girder, Torsional Behavior, ABAQUS, concrete damaged

plasticity model, limit torque, failure mode

INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development of rail transportation, higher requirements are put
forward on the environment, landscape, noise and other issues. Trough girder has
gradually began to be widely used for its several advantages, such as lower building
height, higher cross-section space utilization, better appearance , lower cost and noise
reduction effect.
Trough girder belongs in complex spatial slab-beam composite structure. As a
bottom supporting pre-stressed concrete structure, trough girder has the following

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characteristics on mechanical property; the torsion performance is poor because of its

open section and thin-wall construction member, the constrain between bridge deck
and floor beam is complex, and torsion stiffness of main beam has great effect on the
moment of bridge deck. So considering a variety of conditions during engineering, a
large amount of analysis and numeration should be processed when designing and
constructing of trough girder.
Presently, integrated theory and calculated method have existed for steel
trough girder under torsion, but most of them are aiming at liner elastic material.
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These theories can be conducive to concrete members before cracking, when the
torque force is resisted by both concrete and rebar embedded. While a very large
number of experiments have been conducted to investigate the torsional response of
reinforced concrete beams with closed sections (box beams) or with squat, solid
sections, very few open, thin-walled, reinforced concrete beams have been tested in
torsion
In this paper, the failure mode of RC trough girder under torque is analyzed by
using finite element analysis software ABAQUS. The results obtained from the finite
element analysis were verified against experimental results of other data. The torque
RC trough girders under different constraints and different spans were analyzed, in
order to obtain the factors affecting the torque limit.

GEOMETRY OF TORSION TEST

The torsion test specimen in the experiment study of Michael P. Collin was
investigated in this study, it is named U_0. Fig.1 gives the overall dimensions of the
test specimen. The thickness of the concrete slab is 76.2mm (3-in.), and the height and
width of the section is 647.7mm (25.5-in.) and 838.2mm (33-in.), respectively. In
addition, the span of the trough girder is 6400 mm, and both ends are fixed.
The reinforcement, Fig.1, was uniform throughout the length of the beam. The
main longitudinal reinforcement consisted of 24-#5 bars arranged in the four corners
of the beam and anchored in the end diaphragms. To supplement this steel, there were
9-#2 longitudinal bars which were intended to control cracking in the middle regions
of the sides. Each stirrup was bent from a single 15-ft (4.6-m) piece of #2 undeformed
bar which resulted in a single 15-in. (380-mm) lap in the middle of the top face.

Figure 1. Section of test specimen U_0

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FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

General
In order to obtain accurate results from the finite element analysis, all
components in the shear connection must be properly modeled. In this study, the finite
element program ABAQUS was used to simulate the torsion test. The main
components influencing the behavior of the limit torque in the trough girder are
concrete and the embedded rebars. The interaction between components is also very
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important. Both geometric and material nonlinearity were included in the finite
element analysis.

Finite Element Type and Mesh

The torsion specimen is composed of the concrete part and the rebar part. The
components were modeled as separate parts as presented in Fig. 2. The concrete slab
part was meshed with solid element C3D8R available in ABAQUS library. This
element type is an 8-node brick element with reduced integration stiffness. Each node
has three translational degrees of freedom (DOF). This element can be used for
nonlinear analysis including of contact, large deformation, plasticity and failure. The
rebar part was modeled by the truss element T3D2. The overall mesh size was 76.2
mm, the same with the thickness of the concrete slab. In order to load the torque
conveniently, a round cap part is modeled as analytical rigid.

Figure 2. Finite Element Type and Mesh

Constrain, Loading and Boundary Conditions

The parts were assembled and located at proper location to make the specimen
model. Appropriate constrains were used to describe the interaction between
components. The nodes on the surfaces of concrete in both ends of the member were
tied to the surfaces of the round cap by the tie constrain. Rebars were located inside
the concrete slab as shown in Fig. 3. The embedded constrain was applied to the rebar
and concrete slab. In this constrain, the translational DOF of the nodes on the rebar
elements were constrained to the interpolated values of the corresponding DOF of the
concrete elements.

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Figure 3. Location of Rebars

In this analysis, displacement control was applied. Loading was enforced

displacement applied to the surface of the concrete as shown in Fig. 4. The applied
displacement was linearly increased by amplitude function. The rotation was
measured as the rotation of the reference point on the round rigid cap. The load was
measured as the total reaction acting on the loading surface.
In this study, the general static analysis method was employed.

Figure 4. Constrains of Trough Girder

Material Model
The Concrete Damage Plasticity model, available in ABAQUS material library,
was used to model the concrete material in the push-out test simulation. This material
model is suitable for the material with different yield strength in tension and
compression. In this material model, yielding parts of the stress-strain curve of the
concrete are treated separately for tension and compression. The Concrete Damage
Plasticity model assumes a non-associated potential plastic flow. The Drucker-Prager
hyperbolic function is used as the flow potential. The material dilation angle (ψ ),

eccentricity ( ε ) were taken as 20°and 0.1, respectively. The ratio of biaxial

compressive strength to uniaxial compressive strength ( fb0 / f c 0 ) was taken as 1.16.

The nonlinear behavior of the concrete material is presented by an equivalent

uniaxial stress-strain curve of concrete. Two parts of the curve have been identified.
The first part is initially assumed to be in the elastic range to the proportional limit
stress, the value of the proportional limit stress is taken as 0.3 f ck . The second part of

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the curve is the nonlinear parabolic portion starting from the proportional limit stress
0.3 f ck and going to the concrete strength ( f ck ). This part of the curve can be

determined from Eq. (1):

Ecε
σ= （1）
ε
1 + ( )2
ε0
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Where:

ε 0 = 2 f c′ / Ec

Ec = 3.2 × 104 MPa (The initial young's modulus)

f c′ = 0.8 f cu (The compressive cylinder strength of concrete)

For concrete in tension, the tensile stress was assumed to increase linearly
with respect to the strain until the concrete crack. After the concrete crack, tensile
stress decreases linearly to zero. The value of the strain at zero stress can be taken as
10 times the strain at failure as suggested in ABAQUS manual.
The stress-strain relationship of structural and reinforcement steel was
modeled by the bi-linear curve as shown in Fig. 5. The curve presents a simple
elastic-plastic model. The mechanical behavior for both tension and compression is
assumed to be similar.

Figure 5. Stress-strain relationship for structural and reinforcement steel

BEHAVIOR OF TEST SPECIMEN

In describing the observed behavior of the test specimen, it is convenient to
refer to Fig. 6, which relates the applied torque to the resulting midspan rotation.

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T/kN·m

C:Hoop steel D:Ultimate

yielding
B:Longitudinal
steel yielding
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A:Cracking

θ/rad
Figure 6. Relationships between Applied Torque and Resulting Midspan
Rotation

The failure of the trough girder includes several stages as follows:

At the beginning, the stress is lower, the torque is liner increased with rotation.
The structure torque is mainly supplied by concrete before cracking. The first cracks
were observed when the applied torque was about 72kN (Point A in Fig.6). The cracks
opened on the outside surfaces of both flanges, and the Uncracked Elastic stage was
terminated.
With the increase of the rotation, concrete under tension was gradually losing
effectiveness after cracking; the torque was bearing by steel and concrete under
pressure. Due to the unyielding steel, this stage was Cracked Elastic. The longitudinal
steel yielded when the midspan rotation reached 0.019rad and the applied torque was
180.85 kN im (Point B in Fig.6), the longitudinal steel was first yielding at the further
end in the vertical flanges, and the maximum stress of the hoop steel is just 94.8MPa.
The torque was resisted by the space truss combined with the longitudinal
steel and hoop steel after the cracking of the concrete. The stress of the stirrups
increased quickly along with the appearance of more and more yielding longitudinal
steel. The hoop steel was first yielding at the position with the yielding longitudinal
steel when the applied torque was 256.46 kN im (Point C in Fig.6).
After the yielding of the longitudinal steel, the stress of the concrete under
pressure increased rapidly with the growing of the rotation. Shown at Point D in Fig.6,
the specimen was closed to failure with the measured concrete compressive strains
reaching 3‰. We regarded the ultimate torque of the structure as 263.38 kN im .
Petar Krpan and Michael Collins investigated experimentally the failure mode
of the trough girder under torque, comparing the finite element analysis with the
literature Testing Thin-Walled Open RC Structure in Torsion. We found that the
ultimate torque obtained by the experiment very closed with the result of the finite
element analysis, Table 1 shows the comparisons of finite element analysis and
observed torques and midspan rotations. Conclusion can be drawn that finite element

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analysis of ABAQUS can simulate trough girder under torque well.

Table 1. Comparisons of Finite Element Analysis and Observed Torques and

Midspan Rotations
Finite Element Observed
Midspan Midspan
Stages Torque Torque
Rotation Rotation
( kN im ) ( kN im )
(rad) (rad)
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Cracking 63.37 0.0046 39 0.005

Longitudinal steel yielding 180.85 0.019 191 0.024
Hoop steel yielding 256.46 0.051 240 0.053
Ultimate 263.38 0.062 266 0.060

CONCLUSION

The result reveals that finite element analysis by ABAQUS can be better to
simulate the torsion failure of RC trough girder. However, following tips should be
considered: the strain-stress relationship of concrete and steel had great effect on the
convergence of the calculation, while concrete damaged plasticity model could be a
good choice; constrains of the structure should be fixed, rigid cap was applied for
fastening the trough girder and loading; loading was controlled by the midspan
rotation for the full curve of the torque.
Failure mode of the trough girder under torque can be divided into five stages:
the Uncracked Elastic stage from the beginning to the appearance of the first crack
on the surface of the concrete; yielding of the longitudinal steel means the end of the
Cracked Elastic stage; the third stage ended until the hoop steel began yielding; the
specimen was close to failure with the measured concrete compressive strains
reaching 3‰, the torque at this stage was regarded as the ultimate torque; the whole
structure was destroyed at the end of the fifth stage.

REFERENCES
Collins and Michael, P. (1972). “The Torque-Twist Characteristics of Reinforced
Concrete Beams.” SM Study No.8, Inelasticity and Non-Linearity in Structural
Concrete, University of Waterloo Press, Waterloo, Ontario, pp. 211-232.
Collins and Michael, P. (1978) “Towards a Rational Theory for RC Members in
Shear.” Journal of the Structural Division, ASCE, Vol. 104, No. ST4, Proc.
Paper 13697, Apr., pp, 649-666
Jiang jianjing, Lu xinzheng and Ye Lieping (2005). “Finite Element Analysis of
Concrete Structure” Tsinghua University Press. Beijing.
Lei Tuo, Qian Jiang and Liu Chengqing (2008). “Application of Damaged Plasticity
Model for Concrete.” Structural Engineering. Vol. 24, No. 2, Apr.,22-26
Liang Huiwei. (2011). “Channel Beam Design Main Point and the Application in City
Track Transportation.” Technology and Economy in Areas of Communications,
2011, 64(2):71-73.

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