Yield Line Analysis:

Rectangular Orthotropic
Slab Examples

FE Analysis 1
 Yield Line Analysis

Concrete beams tend to exhibit limited plastic rotation

capacity.

Concrete Slabs are usually under-reinforced, therefore can

exhibit significantly more plastic rotation.

Hence slabs can be designed or analyzed using plastic

methods – namely YIELD LINE ANALYSIS

FE Analysis 2
 Tests on Square Simply Supported Slabs
Cracked lines of rotation appear – Yield Lines.
The slab forms four ‘rigid’ regions which rotate about the yield lines.

FE Analysis 3
Deflections of Points A,B and C on the Slab:
It can be seen that deflections at B and C are similar, Ais at the centre of the slab.

FE Analysis 4
It can be seen that the deflections from the edge of the slab to the centre are almost linear –
confirming that the assumption of rotating rigid regions is valid.

FE Analysis 5
Idealised schematic of the yield line pattern
Two diagonal yield lines form

FE Analysis 6
 Tests on Square Fixed Edge Slabs
Additional yield lines form at the edges of the slab

FE Analysis 7
Additional Yield Lines form at the slab fixed edges:

Typical Support Notation:

FE Analysis 8
Yield line calculations satisfy Equilibrium and Mechanism conditions, but
do not necessarily satisfy Yield conditions.

This would tend to mean that the calculations would tend to over-estimate
the load carrying capacity of the slab (upper bound). NOT SAFE!!

HOWEVER:

There are two important factors which mean that in practice it is safe, namely:

1. Strain hardening of reinforcement – tends to increase strength by around 10%

2. Membrane (in-plane) forces – discussed on the next slides

FE Analysis 9
• Tensile Membrane action

Compression ring will tend to increase load

carrying capacity by around 30% above that
predicted by yield line theory

• Compressive Membrane Action

Up to 200% increase in load carrying capacity!!

FE Analysis 10
Rules for Determining Collapse Mechanisms:

Rigid regions rotate about yield lines and the following rules apply:

1. Yield lines are (usually) straight and are axes of rotation.

2. Yield lines must end at a slab boundary.

3. Axes of rotation lie along supported edges, cut unsupported

edges and pass over columns.

4. The axes of rotation of adjacent rigid regions have a point of

intersection (which may be at infinity).

5. There are often negative yield lines along at least part of a fixed edge.

FE Analysis 11
Typical Yield Line Patterns

FE Analysis 12
Moment along a Yield Line

Total moment of resistance of bars crossing the yield line: Mlsinθ

Component of Moment along the yield line Mn : MnL= MLsinθ x sinθ → Mn = M sin2θ

Assuming perpendicular reinforcement is present also:

FE Analysis 13
Typical notation for reinforcement is shown. The factor µ indicates that there can be different
moments of resistance provided by the reinforcement in each orthogonal direction.

When µ = 1

Mn = M(sin2θ +cos2θ)

Mn = M

FE Analysis 14
FE Analysis 15
The Calculations – Square Simply Supported Slab

FE Analysis 16
FE Analysis 17
 Rectangular Orthotropic Slab
The point of intersection of the positive yield lines depends on the side lengths and the orthotropic
reinforcement ratios.

FE Analysis 18
Idealised Yield Line pattern
Loading : UDL ‘q’ per unit area
Line load ‘Q’ per unit length along centreline

q
Q

FE Analysis 19
External work

External Work – simplified expression

FE Analysis 20
Internal work – vector components in ‘x’ direction:

Total internal work (2 ends of slab)

FE Analysis 21
Internal work – vector components in ‘y’ direction:

There is a similar expression for the

other half of the slab so double this.

FE Analysis 22
 Total Internal Work:

Equating External and Internal Work:

This equation relates M, the moment of resistance to q and Q the loadings. The critical value of
the variable β is the value that gives the largest value of M for a given q and Q, or vice versa.
Hence, minimise in the usual fashion by differentiating M or q & Q with respect to β

FE Analysis 23
To illustrate this process, to simplify the calcs assume the line load ‘Q’ = 0

FE Analysis 24
Take positive root:

Back substitute into the work equation to obtain either M or q

FE Analysis 25
FE Analysis 26
 Rectangular Orthotropic Slab – Mixed Supports

FE Analysis 27
Equating External and internal work gives the following equation:

This can be differentiated with respect to each variable – but will be a challenge!

Use a trial and error approach (much easier – can be programmed in excel)

FE Analysis 28