No199 - Proceedings of Eurosteel 1999

ECCS Publication - Eurosteel 1999
Proceedings of the Conference

Eurosteel ´99
Prague, 26 - 29 May 1999
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FREE Download Publications www.eccspublications.eu
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2nd EUROPEAN CONFERENCE

ON STEEL STRUCTURES
PRAGUE / CZECH REPUBLIC / 26 - 29 MAY 1999
Eurosteel ´99
Volume 1
Edited by
Studnička Jiří
Wald Frantisek
Macháček Josef
Czech Technical University in Prague
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CD Publication of the
Conference Eurosteel ´99
Prague, 26. - 29. 5. 1999
Ed.
Studnička J.
Wald F.
Macháček J.
Published by
The texts of the papers in this volume were set individually by

various typists under the supervision of each of the authors
concerned.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval systems or transmitted in any
form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from
the publisher.
Copyright © Czech Technical University Praha
First edition 1999
ISBN 80-01-01963-2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 15
Welcoming Address 17
Organisation 19
VOLUME 1
SESSION – THEORY
Simplified design of thin-walled, steel, continuous beams 23

Cywiński Z.
Limit state flexural-torsional elastic postbuckling analysis of bars with asymmetric
thin walled cross-sections under axial compression 27
Ioannidis G.I., Kounadis A.N.
Pseudo plastic zone analysis of steel frame structures subject to local buckling 31
Avery P., Mahendra M.
Elastic lateral buckling of coped beams 35
Abspoel R., Stark J.
Interaction of local and global phenomena in the ultimate behaviour of plate girders 39
Néző J., Dunai L., Okura I., Iványi M.
Torsional coupling in buildings under seismic loads 43
Thambiratnam D., Clark B., Williamson M., Wilkinson S.
Experimental investigation on I-girders under eccentric patch loading 47
Lucic D.
Numerical and analytical modelling of hat-section web crippling behaviour 51
Hofmeyer H., Kerstens J.G.M., Snijder H.H., Bakker M.C.M.
Lateral buckling of thin-walled beams under asymmetric loads 55
Mohri F., Brouki A., Roth J.C.
Practical design of universal steel beams with single web openings of different shapes 59
Liu T.C.H., Chung K.F.
Test of load-displacement curves of corrugated sheets under shear and compressing 63
Biegus A., Gierczak J.
Web crippling in trapezoidally profiled sheeting and decking 67
Davies J.M., Jiang C., Liu Y.J.
Influence of the inplane boundary conditions on the buckling load of ribbed plates 71
Sapountzakis E., Katsikadelis J.
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Prague and Stuttgart experimental research on web breathing 75

Škaloud M., Zörnerová M., Kuhlmann U., Spiegelhalder U.
Fatigue assessment of slender webs breathing under repeated loading 79
Maquoi R., Škaloud M.
Local buckling and failure of thin-walled compression members 83
Kriváček J.
Experimental and theoretical investigation into the breathing of thin-walled
steel girders 87
Brož P., Novák M., Škaloud M.
Sectional buckling modes of unstiffened thin-walled steel section 91
Ungureanu V., Dubina D.
Local buckling of undulating webs 95
Novák R., Macháček J.
On the analysis of steel structures made of thin-walled members 99
Degée H.
Experimental investigation of initial residual stresses in H-beams 103
Horokhov Y.V., Vasilev V.V., Kolesnichenko S.V., Yugov A.M.
Steelbase-product data exchange for constructional steelwork 107
Hyvärinen J.
Prediction of defects in steel castings with a multi-physics numerical code 109
Pericleous K., Bailey C., Cross M., Taylor G., Moran G., Bounds S.
Safety of buried steel pipelines subjected to explosions 113
Gantes Ch.J., Bouckovalas G.D., Gerogianni D.S.
A neural network approach to the elastoplastic identification and control problems
of steel structures in presence of work-hardening 117
Avdelas A.V.
New Winrami-program based on OLE2 technique 121
Witting K.
Column strength curves in view of higher level reliability approach 125
Sadovský Z., Nádaský P.
Stochastic buckling of plate strip degraded by localized corrosion 129
Drdácký M., Sadovský Z.
Influence of the stress-strain law modelling on the non-linear analysis of steel structures 133
Baptista A.M., Muzeau J-.P., Camotim D.
Contribution of the structural steelwork educational programme WIVISS 137
Chladná M., Wald F., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J.
Experimental study on ultimate strength of plate girders with large web aspect ratio
and web width-to-thickness ratio 141
Ohgaki K., Yabe J-i., Kawaguchi Y., Ohta T., Kawashiri K., Nagai M.
Fatigue in steel structures under random loading 145
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Agerskov H.
Dynamic failure of steel tubes subjected to lateral impacts 149
Zeinoddini M., Harding J.E., Parke G.A.R.
Constant amplitude fatigue limit for riveted girders 153
Crocetti R., Al-Emrani M., Ǻkesson B., Edlund B.
Determination of the behavioural curve of eccentrically braced steel structures 157
Karakostas S.M., Mistakidis E.S.
Deformations of selected steel structural members subjected to metal plating 161
Maliszewski M., Pancewicz Z., Rękawek W., Giżejowski M.
Fire resistance of stainless steel structures 165
Ala-Outinen T.
Analysis of the influence of residual curvature on pipeline laying 169
Guarracino F., Mallardo V., Belli P.
Behaviour of structural steels in structures subjected to alternating
elastic-plastic strains 173
Šimončič M.
Reliability analysis of a steel beam under fire design situation 177
Gulvanessian H., Holický M., Cajot L.-G., Schleich J.-B.
Computation of the shape and the time growth of a fatigue crack 181
Kovše I.
SESSION – STRUCTURES
Behaviour of simply supported cold-formed Z-purlins restrained by sheeting 187
Vraný T.
Steel frames using hollow columns and open section beams 191
Davison B., Kirby P., Waters S.
Benchmark solutions for steel frame structures subject to local buckling 195
Avery P., Mahendran M.
Steel sheet in post-tensioned composite slab 199
Koukkari H.
Floor vibrations due to walking loads 203
Donkervoort D.R., Hoenderkamp J.C.D., van Oosterhout G.P.C.
On the behaviour of steel gates subjected to shock strains 207
Prodescu A., Raduica N., Ilie L.
The influence of imperfections on the behavior of one-side welded I beams 211
Vašek M.
The influence of web undulations on the section resistance of slender I-beams 215
Braham M., Rangelov N.
Assessment of cumulative seismic damage in steel members 219
Platon F., Vasilescu A.
A design method for braced steel frames comprising semi-continuous composite joints 223
Kattner M., Crisinel M.
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A design procedure for steel frames with rigid connections 227

Marino E., Neri F., Rossi P.P.
In-plane buckling behaviour of asymmetric pitched-roof steel frames 231
Silvestre N., Camotim D.
The design experience of membrane roof structures in CIS-countries 235
Mushchanov V., Romensky I.
Structural behaviour of standardized tubular space trusses 239
D’Este A.V., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
The realistic effects of stressed skin design of typical industrial hall structure 243
Kisin S.
Study of the dynamic forces acting on steel structure during gyration motion
of slewing cranes 247
Jerman B., Kramar J.
Full scale tests of steel frames under quasi-static cyclic loading 251
Iványi M., Varga G.
Perfect transparent envelope by the use of steel structure 255
Orbay Y.K.A.
Test and analysis on behaviour of tapered columns in single-span frames 259
Kvedaras A., Braham M., Šapalas V., Šaraškinas V.
Reconstruction of a two-bay industrial hall 263
Szabó G., Verőci B.
Tests of non-sway welded steel frames with RHS columns 267
Szlendak J.
Dynamic behaviour of a range of steel plane system for solar collectors 271
Axinte E., Teleman C., Taranu N.,
The influence of various errors on the durability of steel structures for
industrial buildings 275
Strateanu P., Taranu N., Isopescu D.
Effects of restraint on the behaviour of steel frames in fire 279
Allam A.M., Fahad M.K., Liu T.C.H., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J., Davies J.M.
The response of industrial portal frame structures to fires 283
Wong S.Y., Burgess I., Plank R., Atkinson G.
Behaviour factor evaluation of steel frames applying energy approach 287
Petkov Z., Belev B., Milev J.
Durability and service life of over-clad steel facades 291
Nieminen J., Salonvaara M.
The service life design strategies 295
Leino T.
Low energy steel houses for cold climate 299
Aromma P.
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A simplified model for beam-slab systems subject to fire 303

Izzuddin B.A., Elghazouli A.Y.
Ponding effect on nearly flat roofs of industrial or commercial single story building 307
Colombi P., Urbano C.
Optimal design of steel frames made of welded built-up members 311
Krajnc A., Beg D.
The problems of overhead transmission lines towers structures’ development and
making of automatic optimal designing system 315
Schevchenko Y.
Development and application of new steel structure concepts: structural systems 319
Iwata M.
Yacht landing cantilever type of structure 323
Dakov D.
Performance, durability and service life of a light framing system 327
Optimisation of bracing system of steel framed houses 331
Dubina D., Fülöp L., Zaharia R.
Economic design and construction of single storey portal frames 335
Ceuterick E., Antonissen P., Joachims W.
On structural variants of a large sluice gate 339
Raduicá N., Prodescu A.
Hard frame and expert support of connection design 343
Wald F., Truneček J., Švarc M., Vodolan M.
Study of steel lattice beams with cold-formed flanges 347
Airumyan E., Vodicka V.
Contribution of interdisciplinary collaboration of the research institute VZÚ NH a.s.
to solution of problems related with higher use of steel in housing constructions 351
Ulmann J., Devátý F., Rozlívka L., Kania M.
Authors Index 355

Sponsoring Organisations 359
VOLUME 2
SESSION – BRIDGES
Effect of girder depth on ultimate behavior and strength of long-span steel

cable-stayed bridges based on elasto-plastic finite displacement analysis 379
Nagai M., Niida Y., Xie X., Yamaguchi H., Nogami K.
Fatigue crack arrest in riveted bridge girders using stop-holes 383
Al-Emrani M., Crocetti R., Ǻkesson B., Edlund B.
Investigating the failure of a pedestrian arch bridge 387
Wang Y.-Ch., Hung F.-H.
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Free vibration of a two-span highway cable-stayed bridge 391

Wang Y.-Ch., Tang Ch.-Ch.
Design of different suspension bridges 395
Kulbach V.
Characteristics of low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and concrete
girder highway bridges and reduction measure against low-frequency sound
radiated from steel ones 399
Sugiyama T.
Application of the SRBA method in case of steel structure exposed to dynamic
load effects 403
Pirner M., Marek P.
Fatigue crack growth simulation in orthotropic highway bridge decks 407
Kiss K., Dunai L., Szatmári I.
Laboratory tests of the deck plate weld at the intersection of the through and
the cross beam of steel orthropic bridge decks 411
Kolstein H., Wardenier J.
Modelling of bridge decks including cross section distorsion using simplified
spatial beam methods 415
Unterweger H.
Results of a parametric study of steel beams under axial compression and biaxial
bending – comparisons with code regulations 419
Ofner R.
Effect of inspection on the existing steel bridge reliability 423
Tomica V., Vičan J.
Study on characteristics of seismic-isolated devices and dampers in piers for bridges 427
Nishido T., Tanaka K.
Load deflection and dynamic numerical-experimental analysis of the repaired
steel railway bridge over the river Sava by Brcko in Serbian Republic in Bosna 431
Vlajic L.M., Miskovic Z.
Temporary repair of the damaged railway bridge across the river Sava and
designing a new one according to the prenorm Eurocode 435
Gruden G., Hladnik L.
Bridge for pedestrians and cyclists across the river Drava at Ptuj 439
Pipenbaher M., Mur R.
An old steel bridge back to service (the new Tisza bridge at Cigánd) 443
Szatmári I.
Launching steel bridges on the peripheral motorway around Ankara in Turkey 447
Seliverstov V., Tchemerynski O.
Development of structural forms and analysis of steel box girders with inclined
webs for operation and erection conditions 451
Surovtsev V., Pimenov S., Seliverstov V., Iourkine S.
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Steel structures of technological and foot-bridges 455

Agócs Z., Brodniansky J.
Cable-stayed bridge across the Vistula river in Plock 459
Hajdin N., Stipanic B.
SESSION – CONNECTIONS
Strength of joints subjected to combined action of bending moments and axial forces 465
Jaspart J.-P., Braham M., Cerfontaine F.
Ultimate behaviour of bolted T-stubs: Experimental analysis and numerical simulation 469
Faella C., Piluso V., Rizzano G.
Bolted semi-rigid connections in the column’s minor axis 473
Ornelas de Lima L.R., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
Computer analysis of bolted end-plate beam splices 477
Stankiewicz B.
Shear behaviour of rosette-joints – tests and finite element analysis 479
Pasternak H., Komann S.
Influence of random material variability on the moment capacity of
beam-to-column joints 483
Mazzolani F.M., Piluso V., Rizzano G.
Investigations on eccentrically loaded bolted connections 487
Yorgun C., Bayramoğlu G., Yardimci N., Arda T.S.
Experimental verification of FEM models for steel T-stub joints 491
De Matteis G., Mazzolani F.M., Mandara A.
Mathematical modelling of column-bases under cyclic loading 495
Ermopoulos J.Ch., Stamatopoulos G.N.
Column base finite element modelling 499
Sokol Z., Ádány S., Dunai L., Wald F.
Finite element modelling of cold-formed steel bolted connections 503
Chung K.F., Ip K.H.
Reevaluation of seismic capacity and demand on beam-column connections of Japanese
moment frames-action after the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake 507
Nakashima M.
Experimental and numerical fatigue tests on flange plate connections 511
Szabó B., Kerekes E.
Reliability of moment resistant connections of steel building frames in seismic areas:
The first year of activity of the RECOS project 515
Mazzolani F.M.
The performance of frame connections in fire 519
Al-Jabri K.S., Burgess I.W. ,Lennon T., Plank R.J.
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Q-factor evaluation of moment resisting steel frames with semi-rigid connections

by applying different approaches 523
De Matteis G., Mazzolani F.M., Landolfo R., Milev J.
Stiffened end plates in structural steel connections 527
Eliášová M., Gomes F.C.T., Wald F.
The development of a design guide for rigid connection with H-beam elements
based on experimental investigation 531
Kolesnichenko S.V., Yugov A.M.
Classifications of joints 535
Gomes F.C.T.
Background of Russian design tools for bolted connections 539
Kalenov V., Loukianov K., Pavlov A.
Parametric analysis of axially loaded SHS gap K-joints by means of 3D F.E. models 543
Vyzoviti D., Gavrielides T., Mistakidis E.S., Baniotopoulos C.C.
Expert system for the design of steel connections 547
Rammant J.P., Van Isacker F., Van Loock C., El Masri N.
Test results on beam-to column welded connections 551
Calado L., Mele E., De Luca A.
SESSION - COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
Shear force distribution of headed studs of composite simply supported beams

subjected to temperature difference 557
Szabó B.
Influence of the ductility of reinforcement on the non-linear behaviour of continuous
composite beams 561
Fabbrocino G., Manfredi G., Cosenza E.
Nailed shear connection in composite tube columns 565
Beck H.
Composite semi-rigid connections for edge and corner columns 569
Ferreira L.T.S.., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
An experimental study of composite steel beams 573
Mergulhão A.J.R., Freitas A.M.S., Machado R.M.
Partial connection of steel and concrete composite beams with HVB shear connectors 577
Peleška K.
Composite steel-concrete connectors subjected to dynamic loads of seismic type 581
Pacurar V., Litan M., Petran I., Balc R., Campian C.
Effective size of composite beams for capacity design 585
Elghazouli A.Y., Migiakis C.E.
Perforated shear connector for composite steel and concrete structures 589
Studnička J., Macháček J., Krpata A., Svitáková M.
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Effective anchor connector for composite beams of desk structures 593

Airumyan E., Markov E.
Flexural strength of composite beams with a steel-concrete composite sandwich slab 595
Okui Y., Yiat Ch.J., Abe Y., Nagai M.
Nonlinear thermal analysis of composite frames 599
El-Shiny A.M., El-Hoseiny O., Askar R., El-Kader H.A.
Evaluation of composite behaviour in slimfloor structures 603
Leskelä M.V.
Non linear behaviour of composite beams under negative bending: an experimental-
theoretical comparison 607
Finite element modelling of composite frame behaviour subjected to fire 611
Huang Z., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J.
Experimental tests on steel and composite frame with semi-rigid joints 615
Kozłowski A.
Energy absorption structural systems under random and unpredictable loads 619
Bignell P., Thambiratnam D., Bullen F.
The competitive spans of composite beams 623
Kravanja S., Šilih S.
Experimental models of end-plate beam-to-column composite connections 627
Simões R.D., Simões da Silva L.
Effects of the non-linear shear connection on the behaviour of steel and concrete
composite beams under service loads 631
Faella C., Nigro E.
SESSION – CODES
Some aspects regarding the evaluation of the actions in the design of the steel
Axinte E., Teleman C.
Comparison between Eurocode 8 and 1998 Turkish specifications in earthquake
regions with respect to their parts concerning steel buildings 641
Büyüktaskin H.A., Büyüktaskin M.I., Arda T.S.
From partial factors method to probabilistic concepts in structural steel design 645
Marek P., Guštar M.
Reliability assessment of structural steel members exposed to multicomponent
load effects 649
Krejsa M., Marek P.
The improvement of standard support of steel structures design for corrosion
resistance and life 653
Korolev V.P., Tolstyakov R.G.
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Random properties of steel elements produced in Czech Republic 657

Fajkus M., Holický M., Rozlívka L., Vorlíček M.
Structural steelwork Eurocodes – development of a trans-national approach (SSEDTA) 661
Armstrong S.
Background research for Eurocode ENV 1993-2 Recommendations on bridge cables 665
Raoof M.
Statistical study of column buckling curves 669
Melcher J., Kala Z.
Stability problems of steel bridges in the new Eurocode for bridges 673
Šertler H.
A proposal of standardisation of steel structures of roofs in ceramic tiles 677
Reis, Márcia Veloso de Menezes
Comparative analysis among specifications of design to steel beam-column 681
Carlos de Araújo E.
Limit states design of steel planar frames using advanced analysis 685
Giżejowski M.A., Parameswar H.C., Uzoegbo H.C.
Fatigue shear strength of slender web plates 689
Davies A.W.
Shear strength of steel plate girders to Eurocode 3 693
Davies A.W., Griffith D.S.C.
Load-carrying capacity of hybrid compressed steel elements 697
Juhás P.
Buckling of monosymmetric beams-conjured problem 701
Baláž I.
Eccentrically braced steel frame design in seismic regions using
Eurocode 3 and Eurocode 8 705
Čaušević M.
A design model for the contact joints of steel columns 709
Stefanescu B.
Authors Index 713

Subject Index 717
Conference Attendees 727
Software Exhibitors 731
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EUROSTEEL ´99 CONFERENCE
The first EUROSTEEL Conference was held in Athens, 1995. The second EUROSTEEL
Conference was intend to provide a forum for those concerned with steel structures to discuss
topics primarily within the European context. Participants from the whole range of structural
steel, i.e. investors, contractors, consultants, academics as well as researchers were invited to
contribute. Special attention was be paid to work of young researchers aged up to 35 years.
In this Conference CD Publication the Full Length Papers are presented. The format of slides
allow to see the contents on screen as well as to print selected materials. The length of the
Papers for Publication was limited to fourteen pages only. The Abridged Papers may be
found in the Conference Proceedings ISBN 80-01-01964-0 published at Czech Technical
University in May 1999. The awarded papers by young researchers was published in Journal
Acta Polytechnica.
The Conference Papers cover various topics concerning structural steel and composite steel
and concrete structures. Special emphasis is given on the issues concerning background and
application of structural Eurocodes, European projects and new developments in theory,
software supports, design, and construction. The CD Publication is divided according to
Conference Sessions: Theory, Structures, Bridges, Connections, Composite Structures,
Codes.
Jiří Studnička
František Wald
Josef Macháček
Praha, June 1999
15
16
WELCOMING ADDRESS
It is a pleasant duty and honour for me to extend to all participants of Eurosteel '99
a cordial welcome. It is indeed fortunate thanks to the hospitality, financial support and
facilities of the Technical University of Prague to bring together so many specialist lecturers,
leading researchers, brilliant designers and modern contractors in the broader field of Steel
Structures.
The idea to organize a European Conference on Steel Structures was conceived in

Athens during the Hellenic (National) Congress on Steel Structures in 1992. Three years later,
this idea was materialized through Eurosteel '95, the 1st European Conference on Steel
Structures, organized also in Athens by the Hellenic Metal Structures Research Society
(MSRS). The present Conference was decided by the Steering Committee during
Eurosteel '95 to be held in Prague, after the enthusiastic proposal of Czech colleagues and
particularly of Dr. F. Wald. Now, in view of the 2nd Conference of Eurosteel '99, we are
looking forward to meeting in Prague all experts in theoretical - experimental research, design
and construction in the area of Steel Structures. I feel happy, because our goal to establish a
permanent institution, taking place periodically every three years in different European
Countries, was achieved.
This Conference will also provide the appropriate forum for discussing the current
specifications and steel codes which have adopted the most refined method of analysis, the
Limit State Design, a method requiring profound knowledge of fundamental sciences. The
progress in computational techniques, the introduction of informatics, the availability of high
speed computers, the structural optimization techniques, the experience gained up to now,
allow us to determine with high accuracy the ultimate strength and stiffness of complex
structures. More general, the introduction of new materials and technologies as well as new
methods of construction render steel structures more economical and safe than ever before.
In closing, I should like to thank and congratulate the members of the Organizing
Committee, and in particular Professors Studnička, Wald and Machaček as well as all those
who contributed to the excellent preparation of Eurosteel'99.
My warmest wishes to all participants for a fruitful Conference and a pleasant stay in
the beautiful town of Prague.
Anthony N. Kounadis
Member of Academia Europaea March 1999
17
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ORGANISATION
The Conference was at the Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic.
STEERING COMMITTEE
Kounadis A., Chairman Maquoi R.
Bogacz R. Mazzolani F. M.
Boukamp J. G. Moan T.
Gadeanu L. Reis A. J.
Hajdin N. Salkin R.V.
Harding J. Wald F.
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Studnička J., Chairman Kounadis A., Greece
Agerskov H., Denmark Kvedaras A. K., Lithuania
Agócs Z., Slovakia Lindner J., Germany
Alarcon E., Spain Macháček J., Czech Republic
Arda T. S., Turkey Mahendran M., Australia
Beskos D., Greece Maquoi R, Belgium
Bjorhovde R., USA Marek P., Czech Republic
Bogacz R., Poland Mazzolani F. M., Italy
Bouwkamp J. G., Germany Melcher J., Czech Republic
Braham M., Luxembourg Moan T., Norway
Beg D., Slovenia Muzeau J.P., France
Chan S. L., China Nakashima M., Japan
Crisinel M., Switzerland Owens G., United Kingdom
Dubina D., Romania Pasternak H., Germany
Drdácký M., Czech Republic Pavlov A., Russia
Dunai L., Hungary Raoof M., United Kingdom
Ermopoulos J., Greece Reis A. J., Portugal
Gizejowski M. A., Poland Salkin R. V., ECCS
Greiner R., Austria Šertler H., Czech Republic
Hajdin N., Yugoslavia Škaloud M., Czech Republic
Harding J., United Kingdom Stark J., The Netherlands
Höglund T., Sweden Turcic F., Croatia
Ivanyi M., Hungary Wald F., Czech Republic
Kouhi J., Finland Zandonini R., Italy
LOCAL ORGANISATION
Wald F., Chairman Kuklíková A.
Macháček J., Co-Chairman Kuklík P.
Rotter T., Treasurer Lázeňská M.
Beneš M. Mikeš K.
Beran J. Peleška K.
Eliášová M. Sokol Z.
Hoblíková M. Vašek M.
Kalinová Z. Vraný T.
19
20
Session
Theory
21
22
SIMPLIFIED DESIGN OF THIN–WALLED, STEEL,

CONTINUOUS BEAMS
Zbigniew Cywiński,
Faculty of Civil Engineering, TU Gdańsk, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland
Keywords: Thin–Walled Members, Continuous Beams, Steel Structures
Abstract: Preliminary design of thin-walled continuous beams, representing steel girders
used in crane gantry structures, is considered. Resting and moving load cases are discussed.
The Methods of Initial Parametars, Three Bimoments, and Bimoment Distribution are
drafted, pointing on practical values of the latter.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thin-walled members – cold-formed, rolled or built-up – are frequent elements of
steel structures, beams in particular. Often they are exposed to torsion. The relevant, most
comprehensive design theory was developed by Vlasov [1]. Author polished it, especially
for practical design of single-span beams with various boundary conditions and stiffness, as
well as – for comparable continuous beams, under resting and moving loads. Space limits
cause that only few publications, with no discussion, can be reffered to [1–7].
2 SUBSTANCE
In design of thin–walled continuous beams, the classic Methods of Initial Parameters
or Three Bimoments can be applied; it will be shown that more effective is the Bimoment
Distribution Method. The beam stiffness κ (Fig. 1) is assumed constant along the beam or
different from span to span; latter case requires the warping at intermediate supports to be
transferred in full. The approaches are examined on a practical example (Fig. 1).
• Method of Initial Parameters [1]
The governing equations, refered to the spans 0–1 (1st eq.) and 1–2 (2nd and 3rd
eqs.), are the following:
' l S0 ⎡ l 3 ⎤ m l4 ⎡ (κζ ) 2 ⎤
Θ(ζ ) = Θ 0 shκζ + ⎢− 3 ( shκζ − κζ )⎥ + ⎢chκζ − 1 − ⎥,
κ EFww ⎣ κ ⎦ EFww κ 4 ⎢⎣ 2 ⎥⎦
S ⎡ l3 ⎤
Θ(ζ ) = Θ '0 shκζ + 0
l
⎢− 3 ( shκζ − κζ )⎥ +
κ EFww ⎣ κ ⎦
⎧ l3 ⎫ m l4 ⎡ (κζ ) 2 ⎤
[ ]
S
+ 1 ⎨− 3 shκ (ζ − 1) − κ (ζ − 1) ⎬+ ⎢chκζ − 1 − ⎥ , (1)
⎩ κ ⎭ EFww κ ⎢⎣
4
EFww 2 ⎥
⎦
S0 ⎡ l2 ⎤
Θ ' (ζ ) = Θ '0 chκζ + ⎢− 2 ( chκζ − 1)⎥ +
EFww ⎣ κ ⎦
⎧ l2 ⎫ m l3
[ ]
S1
+ −
⎨ 2
κ
ch κ ( ) ⎬
ζ − 1 − 1 +
κ
[ shκζ − κζ ].
⎩
EFww ⎭ EF ww
with Θ(1) = Θ(2) = Θ'(2) = 0 and κ = 3, the solution of (1) yields:

' ml 3 ml ml
Θ 0 = 0.0152964 , S 0 = 0.4134719 , S1 = 11047048
. . (2)
EFww EFww EFww
The requested support bimoments B1 and B2 are the following:
23
2; No. 4
κ l2
B1 = − EFww Θ '0 shκ + S 0 shκ − m 2 (chκ − 1) =
l
l κ κ
= − ml ( 0.4597123 − 13807032
2
. + 10075180
. ) = −0.0865271 ml 2
(3)
κ l2
B2 = − EFww Θ '0 sh2κ + S 0 sh2κ + S1 shκ − m 2 (ch2κ − 1) =
l l
l κ κ κ
= − ml 2 ( 0.256455 − 27.800906 − 3.688932 + 22.301736) = −0.0683530 ml 2
To obtain reasonable results, an eight digits accuracy was here necessary.
• Method of Three Bimoments [2]
The general form of the governing equations is:
EFww ⎡ '
Bn −1s + 2 Bn r + Bn +1s = Θ n ( L) − Θ 'n +1 ( L)⎤, (4)
l ⎢⎣ ⎥⎦
shκ − κ κchκ − shκ
with s= 2 , r= . (5)
κ shκ κ 2 shκ
Respecting the boundary conditions and the type of loading, one obtains:
EFww ⎡ '
2 B1r + B2 s = Θ1 ( L) − Θ '2 ( L)⎤,
l ⎣⎢ ⎦⎥
(6)
EFww ⎡ '
B1s + 2 B2 r + B1s = Θ1 ( L) − Θ '2 ( L)⎤;
l ⎣⎢ ⎦⎥
⎛κ κ⎞
3
Θ 1' ( L) = −Θ '2 ( L) = −
ml
hereby 3 ⎜
− th ⎟ . (7)
EFwwκ ⎝ 2 2⎠
For κ = 3, the eight digits solution of (6) results in
B1 = – 0.0865311 ml2, B2 = – 0.0683236 ml2 , (8)
but a four digits accuracy of calculations was found equally sufficient.

• Bimoment Distribution Method [3], [4], [5]
The flexural-torsional bar stiffnesses Kik and restrains K'ki, joint stiffnesses Ki, along
with the distribution and carry-over factors – kik and k'ki, respectively, together with
κ (κ − thκ ) κ ( shκ − κ ) κ 2 thκ
α= , β= , γ = , (9)
⎛ κ⎞ ⎛ κ⎞ κ − thκ
2thκ ⎜κ − 2th ⎟ 2 shκ ⎜κ − th ⎟
⎝ 2⎠ ⎝ 2⎠
are:
EFww EF 4.4667 ' = 2 β EFww = 17664 EFww
K10 = γ = 4.4667 ww , k10 = = 0.4678, K21 . ,
l l 9.5475 l l
EF EF 5.0808 .
' = 17664
K12 = 2α ww = 5.0808 ww , k12 = = 0.5322, k 21 = 01850
. , (10)
l l 9.5475 9.5475
EF
K1 = K10 + K12 = 9.5475 ww ; four digits accuracy is sufficient.
l
The initial bimoments, with κ = 3, are:
κ κ
2 shκ − chκ + 1 2 ch κ2 − sh κ2
B = ml
0 2
= 0.0984 ml , B = ml
2 0 2
= −0.0730 ml 2 . (11)
(κchκ − shκ ) κ 2 sh κ2
10 12
24
3; No. 4
The tabulated bimoment distribution is given in Table 1. Respecting the signs of the method
of forces, the final bimoments between the beam supports result from:
shκζ ' shκζ ml 2 ⎡ κ κ ⎤
B = Bik − Bki + 2 κ ⎢ch − ch (1 − 2ζ )⎥. (12)
shκ shκ κ ch 2 ⎣ 2 2 ⎦
Having the support bimoments, it is easy to find also the torsional reactions; all data are shown
in Fig. 1. The case of κ = 0 is included for comparison (see bending context of [6], p. 258).
Similarly simple is finding of the bimoment influence lines; here only that of B10 is
presented. The distribution, basing on the initial bimoment – K10, is given in Table 2.
Table 2. Bimoment distribution for the influence line of B10
1 2 3
Σ 1–0 1–2 Σ 2–1 2–3 Σ 3–2 3–4
9.5475 4.4767 5.0808 10.1616 5.0808 5.0808 9.5475 5.0808 4.4767
1.7664 1.7664 1.7664 1.7664
100 (46.78) (53.22) 100 (50.00) (50.00) 100 (53.22) (46.78)
18.50 17.38 17.38 18.50
– 4.4667
– 4.4667 0.08263
– 0.1436 0.8263 – 0.1436
– 0.1436 0.0266 0,0266 – 0.1436
– 0.0092 0.0532 – 0.0092
– 0.0092 0.0017 0.0017 – 0.0092
– 0.0006 0.0034 – 0.0006
– 0.0006 0.0001 0.0001 – 0.0006
0.0002
4.6201 2.1613 2.3054 – 0.8831 – 0.4415 – 0.4123 0.1534 0.0816 0.0718
0 – 2.3054 2.3054 0 0.4123 – 0.4123 0 – 0.0718 0.0718
The B10(ζ) equations, in terms of the method of forces, are the following:
B l 2 ⎛ shκζ ⎞ ⎛ sh3ζ ⎞
0-1 − B10 (ζ ) = 10 2 ⎜ −ζ⎟ = −0.25611 l ⎜ −ζ⎟
EFwwκ ⎝ shκ ⎠ ⎝ 10.0179 ⎠
B12 l 2 ⎛ shκζ ' ⎞ B21l 2 ⎛ shκζ ⎞
1-2 − B10 (ζ ) = ⎜ ζ ' − ⎟ + 2 ⎜
−ζ⎟ =
EFwwκ 2
⎝ shκ ⎠ EFwwκ ⎝ shκ ⎠
⎛ sh3ζ ' ⎞ ⎛ sh3ζ ⎞
= 0.25616 l ⎜ ζ '− ⎟ + 0.04591 l ⎜ −ζ⎟ ,
⎝ 10.0179 ⎠ ⎝ 10.0179 ⎠
B23l 2 ⎛ shκ ζ ' ⎞ B32 l 2 ⎛ shκζ ⎞ (13)
2-3 − B10 (ζ ) = 2 ⎜
ζ ' − ⎟ + 2 ⎜
−ζ⎟ =
EFwwκ ⎝ shκ ⎠ EFwwκ ⎝ shκ ⎠
⎛ sh3ζ ' ⎞ ⎛ sh3ζ ⎞
= −0.04591 l ⎜ζ '− ⎟ − 0.00798 l ⎜ −ζ⎟ ,
⎝ 10.0179 ⎠ ⎝ 10.0179 ⎠
B34 l 2 ⎛ shκζ ' ⎞ ⎛ sh3ζ ' ⎞
3-4 − B10 (ζ ) = 2 ⎜
ζ '− ⎟ = 0.00798 l ⎜ζ '− ⎟.
EFwwκ ⎝ shκ ⎠ ⎝ 10.0179 ⎠
Their integration yields areas shown in Fig. 2, confirming B1 of Fig. 1.
3 FINAL REMARKS
This paper promotes the Bimoment Distribution Method for design of steel continous
beams. Its simplicity appears evident. For more details – follow [3]; appropriate computer
formulation, basing also on [7], is posible.
25
4: No. 4
C
L
m
0 1 2 3 4
S0 = 0.4135 ml S1 = 1.1047 ml S2 = 1.0364 ml S3 S4

ζl ζ´l ζl ζ´l κ = l GFV/EFww = const
l l/2 l/2 l l
Table 1. Bimoment distribution

κ=3 1 2
κ = 0 [6] × ml2 Σ 1–0 1–2 2–1
EFww
9.5475 4.4767 5.0808 l
1.7664
100 (46.78) (53.22)
18.50
0.0984 –0.0730 0.0730
ml2
0.0254 –0.0047
–0.0254 –0.0119 –0.0135
0 0.0865 –0.0865 0.0683
Fig. 1 Diagram of bimoments
– 0.0508 l – 0.0417 l
– 0.0016 l
0.0075 l
Σ = – 0.0866 l
Fig. 2 Influence line of B10
References
[1] Vlasov V. Z.: Thin-Walled Elastic Beams. Israel Program for Scientific Translations,
Jerusalem 1961.
[2] Urban I. V.: Theory of Design of Thin-Walled Bar Sructures (in Russian).
Transzheldorizdat, Moscow 1955.
[3] Cywiński Z.: Bimoment Distribution Method for Thin-Walled Beams. Der Stahlbau 47
(1978), 4, 106–113; 5, 152–157.
[4] Cywiński Z.: Drillträger–Formeln für die wichtigsten Belastungsfälle. Der Stahlbau 52
(1983), 8, 245–252.
[5] Błaszkowiak S., Kączkowski Z.: Iterative Methods in Structural Analysis. Pergamon
Press/Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Oxford/Warsaw 1966.
[6] Vorschriften, Normen und Profile. Deutscher Stahlbau Verband, Köln 1986.
[7] Cywiński Z., Nishino F.: On Element Stiffness Matrices of Thin-Walled Members.
EASEC–2, Chiang Mai 1989), Procedings, Vol. 2, 1306–1311.
26
LIMIT STATE FLEXURAL-TORSIONAL ELASTIC POSTBUCKLING

ANALYSIS OF BARS WITH ASYMMETRIC THIN WALLED CROSS-
SECTIONS UNDER AXIAL COMPRESSION
George I. Ioannidis, Anthony N. Kounadis,

Department of Structural Analysis and Steel Bridges, National Technical University of Ath-
ens,
42 Patission St., Athens 10682, Greece
Keywords: Central compression, flexural-torsional buckling, open thin-walled asymmetric

cross-sections.
Abstract: This work deals with the elastic limit state flexural-torsional postbuckling analysis
of simply supported bars with open thin walled asymmetric cross-sections under axial com-
pression. As it is well known stocky bars with the above type of cross-sections always fail by
flexural-torsional instability in the case of asymmetric cross-sections, while in the case of
cross-sections with one axis of symmetry, the failure may occur either through flexural
(Euler) buckling or flexural-torsional buckling. In all the above three cases the critical state is
associated with postbuckling strength. Emphasis is placed on the first yielding occurring at
the initial part of the post-critical path of flexural-torsional buckling for bars made from ideal
elastic-ideal plastic material. The analysis presented herein is demonstrated with the aid of a
channel rolled section commonly used in the structures.
1. INTRODUCTION
Instability problems of thin-walled cross-sections has been the subject of extensive re-
search long time ago. An excellent study in this field is the early classical work presented by
Vlassov [1]. Reviewing the present-state-of-the art one should mention the books presented
by Chen and Atsuta [2], as well as by Trahair [3] in addition to a large number of papers
based, however, on linear analyses. Moreover, postbuckling analyses of beams and beam-
columns under transverse loading have been reported by several authors [4,5]. Nevertheless,
to the knowledge of the authors, there is a lack of references in the area of the postbuckling
response of bars with asymmetric or singly symmetric thin-walled open sections under axially
applied thrust [6].
In the present work the establishment of the initial part of the postbuckling equilib-
rium path is required for the determination of the ultimate elastic load-carrying capacity of the
bar associated with first yielding. The above postbuckling path is very conveniently estab-
lished using a simple and readily employed technique presented by Kounadis [7].
2. LINEAR ANALYSIS
The system of differential equations associated with the equilibrium in the deformed
configuration of a simply supported bar, with an asymmetric open thin-walled cross-section
of area A, subjected to a centrally applied load P is [8]
27
⎫
− EI y d 2 u/dz 2 =P(u+y o j) ⎪
⎪⎪
− EI x d 2 v/dz 2 =P(v-x o j) ⎬ (1)
⎪
dj d3 j du dv dj ⎪
GJ − ECw 3 = Py o − Px o + sI p ⎪
dz dz dz dz dz ⎭
where u,v,φ are the lateral deformations and the rotation respectively of the cross-section, z
the longitudinal axis of the bar, EIx and EIy the bending rigidities about the principal cen-
troidal axes; GJ and ECw the torsional and warping rigidity of the cross-section respectively;
finally xo and yo are the coordinates of the shear center, σ=P/A and Ip = Ix+Iy.
From the above system for the case of a section with y as axis of symmetry (xo=0) the
critical load of flexural torsional buckling or simply flexural buckling, can be determined as
follows
1
Pcr = Px or Pcr = [P + P − (Pt + Py )2 −4α Pt Py ] (2)
2α t y
where α =1− Ayo2 /I o
with
π 2 EI x π 2 EI y A⎛ π2 ⎞
Px = , P = , P = ⎜ GJ + EC ⎟ (3)
A2
y
A2
t
I o ⎜⎝ A2
w⎟
⎠
( A the length of the bar and I o = I x + I y + x o + y o A ) ( 2 2

)
The smallest of the above two loads related to eq. (2) is the critical one.
3. POSTBUCKLING ANALYSIS
In order to study the postbuckling behaviour of the bar and establish the initial part of
the postbuckling equilibrium path, the more accurate relationships for the curvature
u ′′ v ′′
ky = , kx = (4)
2 1/ 2
( 1− u ′ ) ( 1− v ′ 2 ) 1/ 2
are introduced in eqs (1). [9]
Applying the approximate analytical technique mentioned in the introduction [7] one
can obtain the following system of equations yielding the postbuckling equilibrium of the bar
u (β 2 ρ y − π 2 )(β 2 ρ y − 9 π 2 ) + π 6 uo3 = − β 2 ρ y y o (β 2 ρ y − 9 π 2 )ϕ o ⎫
o
⎪
v o (β 2 ρ x − π 2 )(β 2 ρ x − 9 π 2 ) + π 6 v o3 = β 2 ρ x x o (β 2 ρ x − 9 π 2 )ϕ o ⎪
⎬ (5)
ϕ o (μβ − λ − π )(μβ − λ −9 π ) = β { y o [A1(μβ − λ −9 π ) + A3 (μβ − λ − π )] + ⎪
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
⎪
+ x o [A2 (μβ 2 − λ − 9 π 2 ) − A4 (μβ 2 − λ − π 2 ]} ⎭
where u o = u o / A , v o = v o / A are the dimentionless lateral displacements of the middle-
section of the bar, ϕ o its rotation, x o = x o / A, y o = y o / A, β 2 = PA 4 / ECw and
Cw Cw Io GJ A 2
ρx = 2 , ρy = 2,μ = 2,λ =
Ix A Iy A AA ECw
28
k y2 yo ϕo −(π 4 /8)uo3 k x2 xo ϕo +(π 4 /8)vo3

A1 = , A2 =
k y2 − π 2 k x2 − π 2
(6)
(π 4 /8)uo3 (π 4 /8)vo3
A3 = , A4 =
(k y2 −9π 2 ) ( k x2 −9π 2 )
in which k x2 = PA 2 / EI x and k y2 = PA2 / EI y .
From eqs (5), for given values of the dimensionless postbuckling load β2 the dis-
placements uo , vo and φ0 can be computed. Then the equilibrium paths ( β 2 vs uo ),
( β 2vs vo ) and ( β 2vs ϕo ) can be established.
4. COMPUTATION OF STRESSES
Since previous analyses have shown that the flexural-torsional behaviour of the above
bars is associated with postbuckling strength [6,10] , the present work deals with the onset of
first yielding occurring at the initial postbuckling path.
Clearly, first yielding occurs when the maximum normal stress in the cross-section be-
comes equal to the yield stress of the material of the bar. This stress is given by
σ max = σ y = σ o + σ by + σ w (7)
where, σ0 =P/Α is the uniform stress due to axial compression; σby = M/Zy = Pu0/Zy is the
maximum bending stress (where Zy the elastic section modulus about the y axis) and, σw is
the maximum normal stress due to warping.
Figure 1 Dimensionless axial critical stress of flexural- Figure 2 Initial part of the postbuckling path( β2 vs φο ) of a
torsional buckling vs thickness t of the channel simply supported bar with a channel cross-section,
cross-section for various values of b ,h . Compari- under simultaneous bending and torsion due to ax-
son with the critical dimensionless stress of flex- ial compression. First yielding point E.
ural buckling.
29
5. APPLICATION TO A CHANNEL ROLLED CROSS-SECTION

5.1. Linear Analysis
Applying the linear analysis, previously presented, in the case of a channel rolled
cross -section the variation of the dimensionless critical stress of flexural-torsional buckling
σcr /E as a function of the dimentionless thickness t = t / b (b the width of the flanges), the
width b = b / h (h the height of the cross-section) and the height h = h / A is presented in
plots (Fig.1).
5.2. Non-linear analysis

For the case of a channel cross-section, x o =0 . Using the simplified system of eqs
(5) the initial part of the postbuckling equilibrium paths can be established. Figure 2 shows
such a path (β2 vs φο) for a channel with h =0 .05 , b =0 .50 and t =0 .025 . In the same plot
the point E corresponding to the elastic limit state is placed on the above equilibrium path
with the aid of eq (7).
6. CONCLUSIONS
The initial part of the flexural-torsional postbuckling equilibrium path of bars with open
thin walled cross-sections under axial compression is established using a simple approxi-
mate technique for the postbuckling path.
The point of the above path, corresponding to the first yielding of the bar is, also, deter-
mined. The elastic limit state is related to the maximum normal stress due to axial com-
pression, bending and warping, being, for the above state equal to the yield stress. To this
end an ideal elastic-ideal plastic material is considered.
For the specific case of bars with channel cross-sections, the lateral-torsional buckling
configuration can be critical in the case of short bars made from high strength steels.
For the above bars, the postbuckling paths are very shallow, thus their strength can be
taken equal to the critical buckling load. Due to the shallowness of the postbuckling paths,
first yielding takes place near the critical state.
7. REFERENCES
[1] Vlasssov, B.Z. “Pieces longues en voiles minces”, Eyrolles, Paris, 1962
[2] Chen, W.F. and Atsura, T. “Theory of beam-columns”, Mc Graw-Hill, N.Y.,1977
[3] Trahair, N.S.” Flexural-Torsional Buckling of Structures”, E.N. Spon, London, 1993
[4] Woolcock, S.T. and Trahair, N.S.“Postbuckling of redundant I-Beams”, J. Eng. Mech.
Div., ASCE 1976, 102, (EM2), 293-312
[5] Kounadis, A.N. and Ioannidis, G.I."Lateral Postbuckling Analysis of Beam-columns", J.
Eng.Mech.Div. 1994, ASCE 120, 4, 695-706
[6] Kounadis,A.N. “Postbuckling analysis of bars with thin-walled cross- sections under si-
multaneous bending and torsion due to central thrust”, J. Constr. St. Res. 1998, 45, 17-37
[7] Kounadis, A.N."An efficient and simple approximate technique for solving non-linear
initial and boundary-value problems", Comp. Mech. 1992, 9, 221-231
[8] Timoshenko, S. and Gere, J."Theory of Elastic Stability”, Mc Graw-Hill, N. Y.,1961
[9] Thompson, G.M., and Hunt, G. V. “General Theory of Elastic Stability”, John Wiley &
Sons, London, 1973
[10] Ioannidis, G.I. and Kounadis, A.N."Flexural-torsional postbuckling analysis of centrally
compressed bars with open thin-walled cross-section", Eng. Struct. 1999, 21,55-61
30
PSEUDO PLASTIC ZONE ANALYSIS OF STEEL FRAME

STRUCTURES SUBJECT TO LOCAL BUCKLING
Philip Avery and Mahen Mahendran,

Physical Infrastructure Centre, School of Civil Engineering
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD. 4000, Australia
Keywords: Pseudo plastic zone analysis, Steel frame structures, Local buckling
Abstract: Application of “advanced analysis” methods suitable for non-linear analysis and
design of steel frame structures has previously been restricted to steel frames comprising only
compact sections that are not influenced by local buckling effects. A concentrated plasticity
method suitable for practical advanced analysis of steel frame structures comprising non-
compact sections is presented in this paper. The pseudo plastic zone method implicitly
accounts for the effects of gradual cross-sectional yielding, longitudinal spread of plasticity,
initial geometric imperfections, residual stresses, and local buckling. The accuracy of the new
method is established by comparison with analytical benchmark frame solutions.
1 INTRODUCTION
The refined plastic hinge method is a reasonably accurate technique for the advanced
analysis of steel frame structures comprising non-compact sections, and significantly superior
to the conventional design procedure based on elastic analysis [1]. However, comparison
with benchmark solutions identified a number of limitations and sources of error in the model
due to simplifying approximations and the use of model parameters based on empirical
specifications equations. This paper contains the formulation and verification of a rational and
more accurate method, referred to as pseudo plastic zone analysis.
2 STUB BEAM-COLUMN MODEL ANALYSIS

The distributed plasticity shell finite element method of analysis described in [1] was
used to obtain the required section capacity and stiffness reduction factors for a non-compact
I-section subject to local buckling effects. Due to symmetry of the local buckling waveform, a
stub beam-column model with length equal to one quarter of a local buckling wavelength
could be used (Figure 1). A concentrated nodal force and moment generating concentric axial
compression and uniform major axis bending were applied at one end of the model.
p la n e o f
M s y m m e tr y
R 3 D 4 e le m e n ts
e la s tic s tr ip
S 4 R 5 e le m e n ts
m=0 p=0
Figure 1. Stub beam-column model geometry, finite element mesh and deformed geometry
31
Shell finite element stub beam-column models were developed for the 3 non-compact
I-sections: the 310Ubi 32.0, 310UBr1 32.0, and 310UBr2 32.0 [1]. Each section was analysed
with pure major axis bending (m = 0), pure compression (p = 0), and 11 combinations (p/m =
0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50). Three analyses were performed for each case:
• Second-order inelastic analysis with no local imperfections. The ultimate load factors for
each load case were multiplied by the applied loads to obtain the plastic strength curve.
• Second-order inelastic analysis with local imperfections. The ultimate load factors for
each load case were multiplied by the applied loads to obtain the section capacity curve.
Axial displacements (ui) and major axis rotations (θi) were obtained for each increment.
• Second-order elastic analysis with local imperfections. The axial displacements (ue) and
major axis rotations (θe) were obtained for each load increment and subtracted from the
corresponding inelastic deformations (ui, θi) to derive the flexural tangent modulus (etf)
and the axial tangent modulus (eta), as shown in Equation 1.
θ u
etf = e ; eta = e (1)
θi u i
The initial yield point for each load case was taken as the load at which the normalised
tangent modulus corresponding to the dominant load dropped below 0.995. The plastic
strength, section capacity, and initial yield curves for one of the benchmark sections are
provided in Figure 2. The normalised moment-curvature curves provided in Figure 3 illustrate
the behaviour of a typical non-compact I-section for a variety of different load combinations.
1
1
0.9
0.8
0.8
310 UBi 32.0 0.7

AS4100 plastic strength
310 UBi 32.0
0.6 AS4100 section capacity 0.6
initial yield (linear interaction) p=0
p 0.5 p/m = 0.2
FEA plastic strength m
FEA section capacity p/m = 1
0.4 FEA initial yield 0.4 p/m = 5
0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
m Φ/Φy
Figure 2. Plastic strength, section capacity, Fig.3. Normalised moment-curvature curves

and initial yield curves for 310 UBi 32.0
3 FORMULATION OF FRAME ELEMENT FORCE-DISPLACEMENT RELATIONSHIP

The combined effects of material and geometric non-linearity can be represented by
the following force-displacement relationship for a pseudo plastic zone frame element:
⎡ ⎡ ⎤ ⎤
⎢φ A ⎢ s1′ − s 2′ (1 − φ B )⎥
2
φ Aφ B s 2′ 0 ⎥
⎧M A ⎫ ⎢ ⎢ ⎥ ⎥ ⎧θ A ⎫
s1′
⎪ ⎪ ⎢ ⎣ ⎦ ⎥⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎪ ζEI ⎢
⎡ s ′22 ⎤ ⎥ ⎪⎪ ⎪⎪
⎨ B⎬
M = ⎢ φ φ s ′ φ ⎢ s ′ − (1 − φ )⎥ 0 ⎥ ⎨θB ⎬ + flp (2)
⎢ ⎥
A B 2 B 1 A
⎪ ⎪ ⎢ s1′ ⎥⎪ ⎪
L
⎢ ⎣ ⎦ ⎥
⎪ ⎪
⎢ eta A ⎥ ⎪ ⎪
⎪⎩ P ⎪⎭ ⎪u ⎪
⎥⎩ ⎭
0 0
⎢
⎢⎣ ζI ⎥
⎦
32
3.1 Plastic strength, section capacity and initial yield

The normalised plastic strength can be conveniently defined as a function of the p/m
ratio using a series of cubic equations. The constants a0, a1, a2, and a3 were determined from a
least squares regression analysis of the stub beam-column model results for each section.
p ps
p ps = a 0 + a1t + a 2 t 2 + a3 t 3 ; m ps = ; t = tan −1 ( p m ) (3)
p m
The normalised section capacity of members subject to pure bending (i.e., p = 0) or
pure axial compression (i.e., m = 0), the section capacity can be calculated directly from the
effective section properties (kf, Ze/S) obtained from the stub beam-column analyses.
for p = 0 : m sc = Z e S
(4)
for m = 0 : p sc = k f
The normalised section capacity of member subject to combined bending and axial
compression can be defined in similar fashion to the plastic strength. The constants b0, b1, b2,
and b3 were determined from a least squares regression analysis for each section.
p
p sc = b0 + b1t + b2 t 2 + b3 t 3 ; m sc = sc ; t = tan −1 ( p m ) (5)
p m
The initial yield of a non-compact section can be defined using a modified linear
interaction equation. The effect of section slenderness on the initial yield is accounted for by
using the analytical form factor (kf) to reduce the normalised axial force axis intercept.
k f (1 − σ r σ y ) piy
piy = ; miy = (6)
kf 1 p m
1+
Z S p m
3.2 Section tangent moduli

The normalised axial and flexural tangent modulus functions for the pseudo plastic
zone formulation are defined using Equation 7. The constants c1, c2, and c3 were determined
by a least-squares regression analysis for each section and load combination.
et = 1 − c1α ′ c2 − (1 − c1 )α ′ c3 (7)
The tangent modulus is conveniently defined as a function of the effective plastic force state
parameter (α'), which can be evaluated using Equation 8.
α′ = 0 for α ≤ α iy ⎛ P Δ⎞
⎜1 + ⎟
(α − α ) (8) ζ = ⎝ H L⎠
(9)
α′ = for α > α iy ⎛ P ⎛ Δ + Δ ⎞⎞
iy
(α sc − α iy )
⎜⎜1 + ⎜ i
⎝ H ⎝ L ⎠⎠
⎟ ⎟⎟
3.3 Hinge softening

The reduction in the section capacity and stiffness due to hinge softening can be
approximately modelled by replacing the tangent modulus with a negative softening modulus
after the formation of a plastic hinge (i.e., etf = es). The normalised flexural softening
modulus (es) can be determined from the analytical moment-curvature curves.
33
3.4 Imperfection reduction factor

In order to avoid explicit modelling of member out-of-plumbness and out-of-
straightness imperfections, an improved stiffness reduction function has been derived for a
sway beam-column member as shown by Equation 9 [1]:
3.5 Second-order effects

The second-order instability of an inelastic beam-column member would require the
solution of a second-order differential equation with non-constant coefficients:
″ M + M B
E tf I ( y ) + Py = A x − M A (10)
L
After the commencement of yielding, the flexural tangent modulus (Etf) will vary along the
length of the member. It is therefore not possible to obtain a simple closed-form solution to
Equation 10. An approximate solution can be obtained by using
• Inelastic stability functions (s'1, s'2) calculated using the mean flexural tangent modulus
(E'tf) instead of the elastic modulus, as shown in Equations 11 and 12.
• A flexural stiffness reduction function based on the tangent moduli at the element ends to
account for the longitudinal distribution of plasticity.
s'1 = 4 +
2π 2 ρ'
−
(0.01ρ' +0.543)ρ' 2 + (0.004ρ' +0.285)ρ' 2
4 + ρ' 8.183 + ρ'
2
15 (11) where: ρ' = PL (12)
s' 2 = 2 −
π ρ'
2
+
(0.01ρ' +0.543)ρ' 2
−
(0.004ρ' +0.285)ρ' 2
π E' tf I
2
30 4 + ρ' 8.183 + ρ'
The mean flexural tangent modulus (E'tf) can be taken as the average of the flexural tangent
moduli calculated at the element ends (EtfA, EtfB), as shown in Equation 13.
β
φ = (0.5 − 1 β ) + (0.5 − 1 β )2 + 2etf β for β ≠ 0
EtfA + E tfB
E' tf = (13) β (14)
2
φ = etf for β = 0
3.6 Flexural stiffness reduction parameter

The flexural stiffness reduction factor (φ) can be calculated directly from the flexural
tangent modulus using Equation 14 [1] where β is the end moment ratio.
The accuracy of the pseudo plastic zone method was established by comparing its
results with a selection of the benchmark frames presented by Avery [1]. A more
comprehensive presentation of all results and comparisons is provided by Avery [1].
4 CONCLUSIONS
A concentrated plasticity model for the advanced analysis of steel frame structures has
been presented in this paper. The pseudo plastic zone model accounts for the effects of local
buckling using tangent modulus, section capacity, and initial yield equations derived from
distributed plasticity finite element analysis of a stub beam-column model.
References
[1] Avery, P. (1998), “Advanced analysis of steel frames comprising non-compact sections”,
Ph.D. thesis, School of Civil Engineering, QUT, Brisbane, Australia.
34
ELASTIC LATERAL BUCKLING OF COPED BEAMS
Roland Abspoel, prof. Jan Stark

Delft University of Technology, Subfaculty of Civil Engineering
P.O. 5048, 2600 Delft, The Netherlands
Keywords: stability, lateral-torsional buckling, cope, connection, reduction factor, end plate.
Abstract: A special type of beam to beam connection is used for a coped beam. Although this
type of detail is commonly used, modern codes, such as the Eurocode 3 [1] do not cover this
end connection for the verification of lateral-torsional buckling. At Delft University of Tech-
nology a numerical study has been carried out on the influence of copes on the lat-
eral-torsional buckling of beams. In this paper the results of the first part of this study are
presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Within the framework of his graduation work at Delft University of Technology Ilhan
Öztürk made numerical investigations [2] on the influence of copes on lateral-torsional buck-
ling of beams. In structural codes the basic reference formula for the verification of lat-
eral-torsional buckling is normally based on standard conditions of restraint at each end of a
girder. These standard conditions, as illustrated in figure 1, are restraint against vertical dis-
placement, restraint against lateral displacement, restraint against rotation about the longitu-
dinal axis and free to rotate in plan.
Fig. 1 Standard conditions of restraint at each end of a girder.
According to some European codes, other types of support can be calculated as standard sup-
port conditions, provided some conditions are met. An example is a bottom flange connection.
In many structures totally different connections are used, which do not correspond
with the standard conditions at all. A special type of connections is needed when the upper
flanges of a main girder and a secondary beam are at the same level. In this case, a part of the
flange and the web of the secondary beam must be removed. This is called a coped beam. The
consequence of this detail is that the web in lateral direction only supports the compressed
flange. This type of connection has, in principal, a negative effect on the lateral-torsional
buckling. The most important difference between the three types of connection, shown in fig-
ure 2, is the restraint against rotation about the longitudinal axis. This is illustrated in figure 2,
too. The influence of copes on lateral-torsional buckling of beams is the subject of this paper.
Note: Paragraph and figure numbering according to full paper.
35
Standard conditions Bottom flange connection End plate

of restraints
Fig. 2 Difference in rotation between different types of connection
2 TYPES OF CONNECTIONS OF COPED BEAMS

As mentioned in the introduction, the basic reference formula for the verification of
lateral-torsional buckling is normally based on standard conditions of restraint. One of these
conditions is restraint against rotation about the longitudinal axis. Implicitly this includes re-
straint against lateral displacement of the top flange. Especially this condition is not satisfied
by both bottom flange connections and coped connections see fig. 2.
The coped connection can be realised by angles, a fin plate or an end plate, see fig. 3.
Fig. 3 Coped beam connections with angles, a fin plate or an end plate.
Essential is that all type of connections used for coped beams, and also the partial depth
end plate connection, does not satisfy the standard conditions of restraint. Due to deformation
of the web, the upper flange is not fully restrained against lateral displacement.
In this first phase of the study only partial depth end plates are covered. Two types of
partial depth end plates are considered. A partial depth end plate that is welded to the web
only is called in this paper “short” end plate. And a partial depth end plate that is also welded
to the bottom flange (the flange under tension) is called “long” end plate.
4 NUMERICAL STUDY
In the numerical simulations the beam is supported at each end at one point only,
namely at the centre of the whole section. At the end of the beam, the web is stiffened by a
beam element of the same depth as the partial depth end plate. This beam element is used to
distribute the internal forces and concentrated stresses.
The influence of rotational restraint at the supports was investigated too. This restraint
depends on many factors, such as the properties of the main girder, like the span, the second
moment of area, the torsion constant, the warping constant, but also of the stiffness of the
connection.
For this reason, the total rotational stiffness has been modelled as two rotational
springs as shown in figure 4.
Variables investigated are the vertical depth and the horizontal length of the cope, the
depth and type of the partial depth end plate, the origin of the load force (upper flange, neutral
axis, bottom flange) and the span of the secondary beam.
36
The properties of the vertical beam element representing the end plate are taken con-
stant for all calculations.
The influence of the rotation stiffness about the vertical and the horizontal axis is only
investigated qualitatively.
The numerical calculations are Eigenvalue calculations. Depending on the mentioned
variables above, the Eigenvalue was calculated with the Finite Element Method. The lowest
Eigenvalue determines the elastic lateral-torsional buckling force.
5 RESULTS
The results of the study are presented in the following diagrams. The reduction of the
critical load is significant for a beam with copes in relation to the same beam with standard
restraint conditions. The influence of the partial depth of the end plates is very significant.
One illustration of the influences is given in figure 5. More results are given in the full paper.
EC-3 u.fl. l. 0-0 u.fl. sh. 0-0 u.fl. l.120-80-u.fl. sh. 120-80-u.fl.
400,0
Force load on upper flange
350,0
300,0
250,0
Fke
200,0
150,0
100,0
50,0
0,0
2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Span [mm]
Fig. 5 Diagram critical force related to span.
In this diagram the elastically critical force is related to the span. U.fl. means that the
load force is on the upper flange. EC 3 means the critical load conform Eurocode 3 based on
standard conditions of restraint at each end of the beam. sh 0-0 means a “short” end plate,
cope length and depth 0 mm. l 0-0 means “long” end plate, cope length and depth 0 mm.
120-80 means cope length 120 mm and cope depth 80 mm.
6 DESIGN RULES
Although in this first phase of the project just one profile was used, a preliminary
proposal has been developed to take into account the effect of these boundary conditions.
Eurocode 3 gives a formula to check a beam to lateral-torsional buckling:
M b .Rd = χ LT ⋅ β W ⋅ Wpl .y ⋅ f y / γ M1
(1)
βW = 1 for class 1 cross − sec tions
By means of a regression method, a reduction factor was determined from the results
of the numerical calculations. As a first attempt the following reduction factor is suggested:
37
F L IJ
6
β cope = 0 .57 + lnG

H 1000 K
25
b g
− 6 .6 c + 34d c ⋅ 10 −4 (2)
So the elastic critical buckling resistance moment of a laterally unrestrained symmetric beam
shall be taken as:
M cr = β cope ⋅ C1
π 2 EI z LM I w L2 GI t
+ + C2 z g
2
− C2 z g
OP
L2 MN I z π 2 EI z PQ (3)
The limitations for use of this suggested reduction factor are:

• Span 3 m # L # 8 m
• Cope length 40 mm # c # 160 mm
• Cope depth 20 mm # dc # 80 mm.
To check the scope of validity, several additional numerical calculations for different
cross-sections have been made.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The most important conclusions are:
• The influence of copes on the lateral-torsional buckling can be split into two parts, namely
the influence of the partial depth of the end plate and the influence of the dimensions of a
cope.
• The influence of copes on the lateral-torsional buckling of beams with a slenderness of
less than 25 is significant. The influence is the greatest on very small slendernesses.
• The simplest way to handle these phenomena is to use a reduction factor. It is possible to
use a reduction factor on the design resistance moment of a laterally unrestrained beam or,
as suggested in this paper, to reduce the elastical critical moment for lateral-torsional
buckling.
• The influence of copes on the elastical critical moment for lateral-torsional buckling can
amount to 80%.
• The influence of copes on the design resistance moment of a laterally unrestrained beam
can amount to 30%.
9 REFERENCES
[1] ENV 1993-1-1, Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures, Part 1.1: General rules and
rules for buildings.
[2] Öztürk, I.: Kipstabiliteit van geraveelde liggers (in Dutch)
38
INTERACTION OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL PHENOMENA IN THE

ULTIMATE BEHAVIOUR OF PLATE GIRDERS
János Néző1, László Dunai1, Ichiro Okura2, Miklós Iványi1

1 Dept. of Steel Structures, TU Budapest, H-1521 Budapest, POB 91, Hungary
2 Dept. of Civil Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka, Japan
Keywords: Steel Plate Girders, Robotics Welding, Stiffener-End-Gap, Horizontal Stiffener,

Ultimate Behaviour, Interaction
Abstract: In this paper the effects of structural details of horizontal stiffener on the ultimate
behaviour of plate girders are studied. The investigated details are defined according to the
requirements of robotics welding. The main focus in this paper is on the size of horizontal-
stiffener-end-gap and size of the horizontal stiffener (one sided, plate section).
The ultimate behaviour of plate girder specimens are studied under pure bending conditions
by application of nonlinear finite element analyses. The finite element model was developed
and verified on the bases of experimental program completed at Osaka University [1].
Applying the FE model a parametric study is completed. The results are analysed with the
aim to find the interaction between the local and global phenomena in the ultimate behaviour
of plate girders. In the paper the results of the parametric study are presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Advanced fabrication methods use the advantages of CAD and CAM systems, which
provide more effective and economical fabrication of steel plate and box girders. To apply
these technologies modified structural details are required to make the automated fabrication
process using robotics welding as simple as possible. Conventional welding details would
require more complex robot technology which would increase the costs remarkably.
At Osaka University experimental research were done to investigate the effects of
horizontal-stiffener-end-gaps on the ultimate strength of girders under bending. A larger gap
between a vertical stiffener and horizontal-stiffener-end improve the movability of welding
robots. Four test girders were fabricated with different sizes of gaps as it is shown in Fig. 1.
230
300
2150 2200 2150
250 250
ＰＰ
12 ＤＥ
ＡＢＣ
230.4
1176 4.5 1152
9 886.6
12 230 35
500 750 500 500 1000 1000 500 500 750 500
250 250
Girder g
Ⅱ 35 9
9 Ⅲ 55 100 100
g9g 4.5
4.5 4.5 10
89 55 55 55
45
89 89
No welding No welding
Girder I Girder II and III Girder IV

Fig. 1 Test girders
Parallel with these experimental tests FE models were developed by using the
COSMOS/M finite element analysis program. The results of the nonlinear finite element
39
analyses and the results of the experimental tests were in good agreement so these finite
element models could be used for additional numerical tests.
In the present research the effects of the size of the gap and the size of the horizontal
stiffener is studied. A parametric study is completed to investigate the interaction of gap size
and ultimate behaviour, and the role of the stiffener size in this interaction.
In this paper the results of the parametric study is presented focusing on the ultimate
behaviour of the girders and the interaction of the experienced local and global phenomena.
2 PARAMETRIC STUDY
The finite element models are built up according to the four test girders. In this study
not the measured initial imperfection but a fictive one is used in order to make the results
comparable. The FE model and the applied initial imperfection are shown in Fig. 2.
b 1152 mm
w0 sp = = = 4.60 mm
250 250
⎛x ⎞ ⎛y ⎞
w( x , y ) = w0 sp sin⎜ π ⎟ sin⎜ π ⎟
⎝a ⎠ ⎝b ⎠
a) Mesh division b) Applied initial imperfection
Fig. 2 Finite element model
Seven different horizontal stiffeners are applied on the four girders. Altogether
twenty-eight cases are under investigation. The main parameters of the horizontal stiffeners
are shown in Fig. 3.
No. Spec. δ γ b b [mm] t b [m m ] bb / tb
1 JSHB 0.048 23.108 55 4.8 11.458

2 - 0.05 32 63.246 4.372 14.468
3 - 0.05 40 70.711 3.91 18.084
4 - 0.05 48 77.46 3.569 21.701
5 MSZ 0.05 67.784 92.048 3.004 30.642
6 - 0.10 48 54.772 10.096 5.425
7 MSZ 0.10 82.052 71.612 7.722 9.274
δ=
A cross-sectional area of the stiffener
bt
t thickness of the web, b height of the web
EI where Et 3 plate stiffness
γ = D=
Db 12(1 − ν 2 )
tbbb3 moment of inertia of stiffeners
I=
3
Fig. 3 Applied horizontal stiffeners
The relative area (δ) and the relative stiffness (γ) of stiffeners are used to characterise them
and the other features are calculated according to these values.
3 FEATURES OF ULTIMATE BEHAVIOUR

Completing the parametric study the features of ultimate behaviour (ultimate
strength, load-deflection curves of different points of girders, deformed shape of girders) are
40
investigated. Comparing the load-deflection curves of girders five types of ultimate behaviour
can be distinguished. The typical load-deflection curves of them are shown in Fig. 4 and the
comparison of ultimate strength is shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 4 Types of ultimate behaviour
δ = 0 .0 5 δ = 0 .1 0
1 .1 0 0
1 .0 8 0
1 .0 6 0 G ir d e r I
Pu/Py
G ir d e r II
G ir d e r II I
1 .0 4 0 G ir d e r IV
1 .0 2 0
1 .0 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
S tiffe n e rs
Fig. 5 Comparison of ultimate strength
In the case of curve a) in Fig.4 the ultimate strength of girder exceeds significantly
the yielding load and after the top the curve decreases gradually. There is a sudden change
after the top in curve b) and before the top in curve c). Curve e) just exceeds the yielding load
while curve d) is located above it. There is no sudden change in curve d) and e).
In order to give an explanation of this ultimate behaviour the local behaviour of
girders are studied and interaction of global and local phenomena is found. One of these local
phenomena is the buckling of horizontal stiffener. The slenderness of the applied stiffeners
varies in a wide range as it shown in Fig. 3. The compressive stress in the free edge of a
slender stiffener causes significant deformation (local buckling) in it as shown in Fig. 6.
0
-0.5 0 200 400 600 800 1000
-1 Stiffener:
1
Uz,rel [mm]
-1.5
2
-2
3
-2.5 4
-3 5
-3.5
-4
Points of horizontal stiffeners [mm]
Fig. 6 Deformed shapes of horizontal stiffeners on Girder I
The buckled stiffener can not support the web any more which causes the sudden
change in behaviour of girder as it can be seen in Fig. 4 in the case of curve b) and c). In the
case of curve c) it causes the failure of girder while in the case of curve b) it decreases the
ductility of girder remarkably whereas the failure is caused by the interaction of web
deformation, upper flange deformation and the plasticity of the cross section. This failure
mode also characterises the case of curve a).
41
The buckling of the web is also influenced by the size of the horizontal-stiffener-
end-gap. The bigger is the gap the longer is the unsupported part of the web (at Girder IV it is
2x10% of the distance between the vertical stiffeners). Fig. 7. shows the lateral deflection of
web panels of girders having the same horizontal stiffener.
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 Girder I 0.8 Girder I

Girder II Girder II
Pu/Py
Pu/Py
0.6 Girder III 0.6 Girder III
Girder IV Girder IV
0.4 No stiff. 0.4 No stiff.
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2
Lateral deflection [cm] Lateral deflection [cm]
a) Left panel b) Right panel

Fig. 7 Comparison of lateral deflection of web
Not only the magnitude of deflection but also the behaviour mode is influenced by the gap
size. At smaller gap snap-through buckling occurred in the right panel but as the gap size
increases the behaviour of girder gets closer to the girder without horizontal stiffener. In the
case of Girder IV snap-through buckling is not observed.
The other effect of the increasing gap size is that the behaviour of girders become
independent from the size of the stiffener. As Fig. 5 shows the ultimate strength of Girder III
and IV are almost constant despite the different horizontal stiffener. And also the load-
deflection curves of these two girder types are the same kind in each case. In Fig. 4 curve d)
describes the behaviour of Girder III and curve e) describes that of Girder IV. In these cases
because of the large gap the significant local deformation of web cause the failure of girders
and it is not influenced by the size of the stiffener.
The cases of the other two girders (Girder I and II) are more complex because their
behaviour depend not only on the size of the gap but also on the size of the stiffener. Their
behaviour is described by the curve a), b) and c). In these cases because of the higher ultimate
strength the deformation of the upper flange is also remarkable.
4 CONCLUSION
A parametric study is completed on the ultimate behaviour of plate girders with
different horizontal stiffener-end-gaps and stiffener sizes. By the analysis of results the
interaction of local and global phenomena in the ultimate behaviour of the girders are
determined and classified. Five typical modes of behaviour are recognised. The studied
structural details and their ranges are related to the behaviour modes.
Acknowledgement
This research is part of the Hungarian-Japanese Scientific and Technological Co-operation; it
was supported by the project JAP/R-4/96 of OMFB, Hungary and STA, Japan; and OTKA
project T 023378.
References
[1] Okura, I, Kazashi, A., Késmárky, Z., Nagy, A.: Effects of Stiffener-End-Gaps on Ultimate
Strength of Girders under Bending; Technology Reports of Osaka University,
Vol. 47, pp 225-235, 1997
42
TORSIONAL COUPLING IN BUILDINGS UNDER SEISMIC LOADS
David Thambiratnam, Brian Clark, Mark Williamson and Sean Wilkinson

School of Civil Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Keywords: Asymmetric Building, Torsional Coupling, Seismic Loads, Analysis, Response

Amplification
Abstract: Response amplification due to torsional coupling in asymmetric buildings under

seismic loads is investigated by analysing a number of building models. Important parameters
have been identified and their effects studied. Results indicate that torsional amplification is a
complex phenomenon and that no single parameter can satisfactorily quantify its effects. The
present research aims in quantifying response amplifications and developing simple design
aids.
1 INTRODUCTION
Most buildings are unsymmetrical in plan, elevation, distribution of vertical members or mass
distribution on floors. Such buildings are called asymmetric buildings and when they are
subjected to earthquakes, there is a coupling between the lateral and torsional components of
the building response, called torsional coupling which can result in significant response
amplifications. Simple formulae in seismic design codes have been found to be inadequate to
account for these effects and torsional coupling has been identified as one of the major causes
of poor performance or failure of multi-storey buildings during recent earthquakes effects [1].
Research in this area has mainly been on simple and mostly single storey building models
and has been carried out by many researchers, such as Chopra et al. [2,3,4]. They identified
the first uncoupled torsional/lateral frequency ratio (Ω) to be an important parameter with
peak amplifications occurring when this parameter was unity and attempted to extrapolate the
results from simple building models to multi-storey buildings. Recent research has shown
that such extrapolations had problems [4]. Real buildings are three dimensional in nature,
mostly unsymmetrical with coupled modes of vibration. In such cases, the parameter Ω is
difficult or impossible to determine and hence research findings based on this parameter
become irrelevant and indicate the need for a more realistic parameter.
2 INVESTIGATION, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To address these concerns and to develop simple design aids for enhanced seismic
design of buildings, a research program has been undertaken at the Queensland University of
Technology. A three dimensional procedure developed for lateral load analysis of buildings
[5], was used to treat a number of buildings under different levels of asymmetry and static
and dynamic earthquake loadings. Due to space restriction, only the results of three models
are presented herein. For dynamic time history analysis the first 15 seconds of the El Centro
and Kern County earthquake records were used. Static analysis followed the approach in the
Australian Standard AS 1170.4 [6], assuming the following values of the parameters.
Importance Factor I = 1.00, Site Factor S = 1.25, Response Modification Factor Rf = 6,
Acceleration co-efficient a = 0.06 (for Brisbane). All structures were of concrete with the
following material properties: Young’s Modulus E = 30 GPa, Poisson’s Ration ν = 0.20 and
material density γ = 2400 kg/m3.
43
A plan view of the first model treated in this paper is shown in Figure 1 and consists
of a rigid slab supported by 4 columns and a core. Values of Ω between 0.5 and 1.75 were
obtained by adjusting the slab dimensions, column size, core size and storey height. The core
was positioned at four different locations to provide varying degrees of asymmetry. Lateral
deflection of column 1 under Kern County earthquake is shown in Figure 2 with respect to
Ω, for different values of the eccentricity ratio es/b, where b is the slab dimension normal to
the earthquake. The graph shows that for all eccentricities, the maximum displacement
occurs at values of Ω between 0.75 and 1.00 and that largest displacements occur both at
es/b= 0.1 and es/b = 0.3. This behaviour was unexpected as maximum response is usually
expected at the highest eccentricity (es/b = 0.3), and suggests possible mode conversion.
Figure 3 shows similar results under the El Centro earthquake, where once again peak values
occur for values of Ω in the range 0.75 – 1.00, but the displacements increase with the
eccentricity ratio es/b. For static analysis an average value of the fundamental period, from
the different core positions, was used together with a load of 4 kPa on the slab. The static
response was similar to the El Centro time history response.
Fig. 1 Plan of single storey model
300
Displacement (mm)
225 e s/b = 0
e s/b = 0 .1
150
e s/b = 0 .2
75 e s/b = 0 .3
0
0 0 .5 1 1 .5 2
O m ega
Fig. 2 Dynamic response of single storey model under Kern County earthquake
400
Displacement (mm)
300 es/b = 0
es/b = 0.1
200
es/b = 0.2
100 es/b = 0.3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Ome ga
Fig. 3 Dynamic response of single storey model under El Centro earthquake
44
To compare the response of a single storey structure with that of a multi-storey

structure, the earlier four column model was projected to three storeys and analysed using the
same procedures. Figure 4 shows the time history response of column 1 displacements at
level three under Kern County earthquake, where peak responses again occur for Ω values in
the range 0.75 – 1.00. Time history response under El Centro earthquake and the static
response were similar. The distinct difference in the response between the three and single
storey models is that in the single storey model peak responses (at Ω = 1) occur not only at
the highest eccentricity, but also at the lower value of es/b = 0.10. Based on this result, it
cannot be conclusively stated that multi-storey models will behave in the same way as an
equivalent single storey model, even when the multi-storey model is a prismatic extension of
the single storey model. With real multi-storey buildings response prediction from results of
single storey models will be even more difficult or impossible.
1500
Displacement (mm)
es/b = 0
1000
es/b = 0.1
es/b = 0.2
500
es/b = 0.3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Omega
Fig. 4 Dynamic response of three storey model under Kern County earthquake
A six storey L shaped building was analysed to study the effects of torsional coupling
on structures that are asymmetric in plan.. The floor height is 3m with 0.30m x 0.30m
columns at 6m apart. The service core has external dimensions of 2.5m x 2.5m and a wall
thickness of 0.2m and was positioned at four different locations as shown in Figure 5 (plan
view), in order to develop varying degrees of asymmetry. All floor slabs have a total load of
5 kN/m2. Maximum deflections of column 8 for all core positions are shown in Figure 6
under the Kern County earthquake. It can be seen that the core position has a significant
influence on the displacement due to the rotation of the structure about the vertical axis and
the varying distance between the centres of stiffness and the column. This rotation is initially
anticlockwise for loading in the Y direction and changes to clockwise with change in core
position. Similar responses were obtained under the El Centro earthquake and static loads.
3 CONCLUSIONS
Some building models have been analysed with the objective of rationally quantifying
their response amplifications under earthquake loading. Results indicate that the uncoupled
frequency ratio, while being an important parameter for a certain class of buildings, cannot be
considered as the sole parameter influencing the response. It can be seen that contrary to past
research findings, peak amplifications occur at values of Ω other than unity for some
situations. From limited results, it is not possible to be definite as to why this happens. The
following parameters seem to influence the response: (a) mode shape of the fundamental
frequency, (b) mode change of fundamental frequency with Ω, where applicable, (c)
resonance with one or more frequencies in the earthquake, and (d) eccentricity or degree of
asymmetry in the building. The degree of influence of each of these parameters depends on
the configuration of the building and at times a combination of them influence the response.
45
This is clearly seen in the four column model where peak responses occurred at different
eccentricities for different earthquakes. Use of single storey models to predict the response of
multi-storey buildings has been questionable and the present research provided further
evidence against this use. Analysis of asymmetric buildings showed the influence of the
degree of asymmetry on the response. Research is continuing on all the above matters and it
is hoped that this will enable to rationally quantify the dynamic amplification due to torsional
coupling and to express this in terms of realistic parameters applicable to all real buildings.
Fig. 5 Plan of L shaped building
20
15 Core Pos 1
Height (m)
Core Pos 2
10
Core Pos 3
5 Core Pos 4
0
0 100 200 300 400
Displacement (mm)
Fig. 6 Response of L shaped building under Kern County earthquake
References
[1] Thambiratnam, D.P. and Corderoy, J.H.B. 1994, “Effects of Asymmetry on the Response of
Multistorey Buildings, J. Engineering Structures, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 210 – 221.
[2] Kan, C.L. and Chopra, AK 1977 “Effects of Torsional Coupling on Earthquake Forces in
Buildings”, J. Structural Division, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 103, pp. 805 – 819.
[3] Kan, C.L. and Chopra, AK 1981 “Torsional Coupling and Earthquake Response of Simple
Elastic & Inelastic Systems”, J Struct Div American Soc of Civil Engin, Vol 107, pp 1569- 1588
[4] De La Llera J.C. and Chopra AK 1995 “A Simplified Model for Analysis and Design of
Asymmetric-Plan Buildings”, J. Earthq. Engin. & Structural Dynamics, Vol. 24, pp573 – 594.
[5] Thambiratnam D.P. and Irvine H.M. 1989 "Microcomputer Analysis of Torsionally
Coupled Multistorey Buildings”, J Computers & Structures, Vol 32, No 5, pp 1175-1182.
[6] Australian Standard – Minimum Design Loads on Structures, Part 4, Earthquake Loads, AS
1170.4 1993 Standards Association, New South Wales, Australia
46
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON I - GIRDERS UNDER

ECCENTRIC PATCH LOADING
Dusko Lucic
Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Montenegro,
Cetinjski put b.b., 81000 Podgorica, Yugoslavia
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Steel Structures, Thin-walled Beams, Patch Loading,

Eccentric Load, Experimental Investigation
Abstract: Behaviour of eccentric loaded girders is pretty much different from centric ones;
also collapse forms of loaded flange and web quite differ from centric loaded girders.
Through an experimental investigation (which was carried out in 1998 at The Faculty of Civil
Engineering, The University of Montenegro), an attempt was made to clarify this problem.
Load carrying capacity of 18 girders was investigated. Deflections and deformations
measurements were obtained as well. This paper contains the main results of investigation,
test analysis are also given as well as the development of deformations and residual
deformations shapes. Influence of some parameters is discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thin-walled elements are very often subject to concentrated load. There are numerous
practical examples such as wheel loads of a crane, erection by launching, purlin loading by
secondary girders... Many researchers have dealt with this problem in the past thirty years. It
turned out to be a very complex problem. Geometric non-linearity is present from the earliest
phases of loading leading to collapse. The smallest geometric imperfections cause different
behaviour of girders from case to case. In later phases physical non-linearity is present as
well, followed by squashing of a part of the web under load and by forming of plastification
lines. Yield lines form a buckle on the web, locally around loading, which leads to the final
collapse. It can be therefore concluded that theoretically it is very difficult to obtain a
mathematical model that would describe the behaviour of girders until collapse, and that the
calculated failure load corresponds to the real load determined in experiments. In order to
investigate the behaviour of girders under concentrated or patch load more than thirty
experimental research projects have been done in the world [4], where the influence of
different parameters on the form of collapse and the extent of ultimate load have been
investigated. Due to the experience obtained from these investigations several mathematical
models or expressions for calculating the failure load have been obtained. Calculation
procedures are mainly of empirical of semi-empirical nature.
Analysing the results of more than 750 tested girders from the above-mentioned
experiments, it can be noted that the load was mostly centric with respect to the web panel. In
a very limited number of cases the phenomenon of concentrated load outside the web panel,
with the determined eccentricity [1], [2], [3] was investigated.
This problem is very interesting (figure 1), especially if we bear in mind the fact that it
is very frequent in engineering (especially with moving loads: crane rail often has an
eccentricity with respect to the web panel of the crane girder of several tenths of millimetres).
It is also interesting from the point of ultimate load, since it has been proved that the failure
load is substantially smaller under certain conditions than in cases with centric load [1], [2].
47
In order to further clarify the problem of loss of carrying capacity an experimental research
has been done and a part of the results obtained from it are presented in this paper.
2 RESEARCH PROGRAMME
The experimental research was divided into two phases, with two groups of girders
tested. The first two series were examined with centric load to the web panel, while in the
third series the girders were loaded with a certain eccentricity.
Only cases with eccentric load are analysed in this paper (figure 1) and their parallel
(of the same geometrical characteristics), centric loaded girders.
Fig. 1 Girder under load
Load spreading was done by means of a hydraulic pump and a press through load
measurer and a block for load distribution. In all cases the load was spread at the width of
c = 150 mm. For the direct load spread specially designed blocks were used, by means of
which it was possible to spread uniform load. With a block designed in this way an attempt
was made to overcome the problem of difference between loading block stiffness and the
flange stiffness. A specially designed block is shown in figure 2.
Fig. 2 Block for linear transfer of uniformly distributed load
Eccentricity was changed four times and it was e = 15, 20, 25 and 30 mm for each
girder. The girders were chosen so that the investigation was a continuation of the part of the
48
experiment in which the load was centric. Both the web and flange thickness were changed
twice (tw = 5 and 10 mm and tf = 10 and 12 mm).
Controls of the load level and failure load were registered by means of the load
measurer. Deflection curves of the loaded flange and deflections outside the web panel were
also measured.
3 THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT

Some of the results and observations from the experimental research are given in this
section. In table 1 dimensions of the tested girders are shown, physical characteristics of the
material, as well as the failure load both for eccentric loaded girders and for the parallel ones,
which were tested without eccentricity. Measurements of the deflection curve at the loaded
side of the flange, and of the deflection curve outside the web panel at central cross section
(testing B III 1/1) are shown in figures 3 and 4.
Table 1 Characteristics of the tested girders with failure load

No. GIRDER
b dw tw bf tf c e σw σf Ew Ef
Pex GIRDER
[mm] [mm] [mm] [mm] [mm] [mm] [mm] [kN/cm2] [kN/cm2] [kN/cm2] [kN/cm2]
1 BI5 700 700 5.08 150.0 10.25 150 0 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 251.7 BI5
2 B II 5 700 700 5.08 150.5 10.24 150 0 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 266.3 B II 5
3 B III 1/1 700 700 5.07 150.0 10.21 150 15 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 202.3 B III 1/1
4 B III 1/2 700 700 5.07 149.8 10.20 150 20 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 170.7 B III 1/2
5 B III 1/3 700 700 5.07 149.8 10.24 150 25 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 140.8 B III 1/3
6 B III 1/4 700 700 5.07 150.3 10.21 150 30 28.65 27.47 19671 19349 122.2 B III 1/4
7 B I 11 700 700 10.18 151.4 10.19 150 0 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 874.1 B I 11
8 B II 11 700 700 10.18 151.1 10.19 150 0 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 727.3 B II 11
9 B III 2/1 700 700 10.21 150.1 10.22 150 15 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 386.5 B III 2/1
10 B III 2/2 700 700 10.21 150.2 10.21 150 20 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 296.6 B III 2/2
11 B III 2/3 700 700 10.21 150.3 10.21 150 25 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 253.6 B III 2/3
12 B III 2/4 700 700 10.21 149.4 10.20 150 30 27.47 27.47 19349 19349 218.8 B III 2/4
13 BI6 700 700 5.02 151.2 12.39 150 0 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 265.5 BI6
14 B II 6 700 700 5.02 150.6 12.39 150 0 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 266.4 B II 6
15 B III 3/1 700 700 5.08 151.0 11.94 150 15 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 227.7 B III 3/1
16 B III 3/2 700 700 5.08 151.1 11.88 150 20 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 177.2 B III 3/2
17 B III 3/3 700 700 5.10 151.1 11.87 150 25 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 162.4 B III 3/3
18 B III 3/4 700 700 5.10 150.8 11.95 150 30 28.65 26.74 19671 20239 147.3 B III 3/4
mm
-350 -325 -300 -275 -250 -225 -200 -175 -150 -125 -100 -75 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350
0.00
5.00
6.8 kN 10.00
3.4 % Pex
191.4 kN
Pex = 202.3 kN 15.00 94.6 % Pex
20.00
25.00
30.00
FLANGE DEFLECTIONS B III 1/1
35.00
40.00
45.00
mm
Fig. 3 Measurement of deflection curve at flange (B III 1/1)
In the event of load increase the most prominent deformation is flange twisting
followed by slight web bending. Whether the flange distortion will be visible at first load
increments or later and the extent of flange distortion depends on the degree of web and
flange wedging, as well as on the flange thickness. In subseries III 1 (tw = 5 mm, tf = 10 mm)
twisting is apparent at first increment, in subseries III 3 ( tw = 5 mm, tf = 12 mm), twisting
begins somewhat later, while in subseries III2 ( tw = 10 mm, tf = 10 mm) clear twisting is
noticeable only after 50% Pex.
Girder collapse differs substantially from the collapse of centric loaded beams. While
in cases of centric loaded beams it is a question of a very complex problem of elasto-plastic
buckling and local loss of stability, in cases of eccentric load the loss of carrying capacity is a
49
consequence of elasto-plastic bending (of local character as well). The question to ask is
where the borderline between these two phenomena is, and how big eccentricity can be so
that the girder does not lose its carrying capacity in the same way as centric loaded beams.
mm
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00 120.00
0
25
50
75
100
125 191.4 kN
94.6 % Pex
150
175
200
225
250
275
Pex = 202.3 kN
300
325
350
375
400
425 6.8 kN
450 3.4 % Pex
475
500
525
550 VERTICAL LINE 6

575 x = 0 mm
600 B III 1/1
625
650
675
700
mm
Fig. 4 Deflection curves outside the web panel in the central cross section
4 CONCLUSION
Experimental research was done primarily with the aim of investigating in more detail
girder behaviour, as well as failure and the intensity of ultimate load when the load has a
certain eccentricity.
A small number of investigations, which deal with this problem, has been done so far.
Elgaaly with his collaborators [1], [2] has done two experimental research projects and
Drdacky [3] has done one research.
Experience from this research lead to the conclusion that we are dealing with quite a
different phenomenon, with failure which has little in common with the cases of centric
loaded girders. The most important question awaiting further research is: for which
eccentricity value and under which circumstances and with what combinations of parameters
(e / bf , bf / tf , tf / tw and tw), will failure be the same as with the centric loaded girders.
From all the above stated it can be concluded that it is necessary to develop a new
model for calculating failure load in these cases. Generalisation regarding centric loaded
cases with certain reduction factor seems not to be the right solution.
References
[1] Elgaaly M. and Nunan W.: Behaviour of Rolled Section Web under Eccentric Edge
Compressive Loads. Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 115, No. 7, 1989.
[2] Elgaaly M. and Salkar R. K.: Behaviour of Webs under Eccentric Compressive Edge
Loads. Journal of Structural Engineering, 1990.
[3] Drdacky M.: Non Stiffened Webs with Flanges under Patch Loading.
[4] Lucic D.: Report No. 2 - Background documentation for the Ph.D. Thesis: Experimental
research. A report to mentors, Academian Prof. dr Nikola Hajdin and Prof. dr Branislav
Coric, 129 p., Podgorica, December 1995.
50
NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL MODELLING OF HAT-

SECTION WEB CRIPPLING BEHAVIOUR
H. Hofmeyer1, J.G.M. Kerstens1, H.H. Snijder1,2, M.C.M. Bakker1

1)
Eindhoven University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning,
Department of Structural Design, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2)
Holland Railconsult, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Keywords: Hat-sections, Thin-Walled Steel, Web Crippling, Analytical Modelling,

Numerical Modelling.
Abstract: Hat-sections, if subjected to a large concentrated load and a small bending

moment at an interior support, can fail by two different mechanisms: the yield-arc and
the rolling mechanisms. Research indicated that the hat-section's corner radius has a
strong influence on the failure mechanism to occur [1,2]. Small strips of the hat-section
cross-sections can be used to gather insight into the differences of the two failure
mechanisms. For small corner radii, strip behaviour and section behaviour are
comparable. For large corner radii, this is not the case. An analytical model and a finite
element model have been developed to study the behaviour of the strips. Except for the
largest corner radius, the analytical model and finite element model give comparable
results.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Failure mechanisms for experiments (three-point bending tests)

After elastic behaviour, the rolling mechanism behave plastically and increases in
strength. After further deformation, the strength reduces. The yield-arc mechanism
decreases in strength immediately after elastic behaviour. A rolling mechanism starts
with two moving yield lines near the upper corner. With increasing load, the moving
yield line in the web moves downwards in the web. The moving yield line in the top
flange moves through the corner. A yield-arc mechanism starts with a curved yield line
in the web. With increasing load, this yield line is practically fixed.
Yield line high in web Top flange
rolling
mechanism, Web
r=10 mm Bottom flange
fixed yield lines
Load bearing plate moving yield lines
yield arc
mechanism,
r=1 mm
Yield line low in web
51
Fig. 1. Failure mechanisms for experiments: three-point bending tests.

1.2 Cross-sectional behaviour
Bakker introduced simple mechanical models for the rolling and yield-arc mechanisms
[1]. The simple mechanical models suggest that if differences between the two failure
mechanisms are investigated, it is sufficient to investigate the hat-section's cross-section
only. The investigation of differences between the two failure mechanisms will be
carried out by a finite element model and an analytical model.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
2.1 Model
A strip of the section's cross-section is loaded by a load bearing plate, which is modelled
as a solid piece of steel. The strip is loaded by a forced displacement of the load bearing
plate. Contact elements are modelled between the load bearing plate and the top flange
of the strip to prevent penetration of the load bearing plate into the strip. Because of
symmetry conditions, the strip width does not influence the results. The strip width of
the model is chosen arbitrarily to be dx=3 mm. Element sizes are 3*3 mm for web and
top flange. The corner has a radius r and is modelled by 10 elements over the corner
circumference. Shell elements are used, having four nodes with six degrees of freedom
each.
dx=3 mm
Load bearing plate
Top flange
Top corner
Corner radius = 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 mm
Web
Fig. 2. Finite element model of strip.
2.2 Load-deformation behaviour

If load deformation curves of the strips and curves for whole hat-sections (real
experiments) are compared, it can be seen that for r=1 the load-deformation behaviour
are qualitative similar. For r=10, the curves are qualitatively different: whole hat-
sections show an ascending plastic curve after mechanism initiation and hereafter a
descending plastic curve. Strips show a descending plastic curve directly after elastic
behaviour for all corner radii.
2.3 Location and movement of the first yield line

For a strip, for all corner radii, first a yield line will occur in the web. The position of
this yield line depends on the corner radius. During further deformation, this yield line
will move downwards in the web. Again this movement depends on the corner radius.
52
Hereafter, yield lines will occur in the top flange and at the bottom of the strip. For r=15
mm, an additional yield line occurs in the top corner.
3 ANALYTICAL MODEL
3.1 Location of first yield line

For a strip, the location of the first yield line in the web is predicted by an analytical
model. This model calculates the second-order bending moment in the web using
Timoshenko's equations [3]. There are some differences between the analytical model
and the finite element model, but in general the analytical model gives a good indication
of the location of first yield line and load at which the first yield line occurs.
3.2 Rigid-plastic behaviour

If the location of the first yield line is known, a new analytical model can be developed
which makes it possible to predict the rigid-plastic behaviour of the strips. At the bottom
of the web and at the middle of the top flange, an additional yield line is modelled.
Then, using equilibrium, the load on the strip for a certain deformation can be
determined. Especially the strips with small corner radii show a close correlation
between the analytical model and the finite element model. For a large corner radius,
r=15 mm, the rigid-plastic curve only joins the numerical simulation around the
mechanism initiation load.
40 40 40
30 30 30
Load [N]
Load [N]
Load [N]
20 20 20
10 10 10
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 4 8 12 16 20 0 5 10 15 20
Deformation [mm] Deformation [mm] Deformation [mm]
r=1 mm r=10 mm r=15 mm
Fig. 3. Thin lines are numerical simulations. Bold lines are the new analytical model
(3.2). Dotted lines are for the existing rolling model [1].
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Finite element models for strips and whole hat-sections

For small corner radii, the location, and movement of yield lines in the strips are quite
similar to the yield lines of the finite element model for a whole hat-section. For large
corner radii, this is not the case: for a whole hat-section, two moving yield lines occur
near the top corner (a rolling mechanism), whereas for the strip only one yield line in the
web occurs. For a strip with a corner radius r=15 mm, after some deformation, an
additional yield line did occur in the corner radius: this looks like a rolling mechanism.
4.2 Comparison of analytical models

In paragraph 3.2, an analytical model was presented to predict the rigid-plastic
behaviour for the strips. For r=15 mm, this model was not able to predict the curve of
53
the finite element model correctly. Therefore, an other, already existing analytical model
[1] for the rolling mechanism was tried for the strip with r=15 mm. This model predicts
the ultimate load for a small strip having three yield lines: two moving yield lines near
the corner and one fixed yield line at the bottom of the strip For a strip with r=15 mm,
the model predicts a part of the curve of the finite element model well. Because also an
additional yield line in the finite element model for r=15 mm occurred, it is possible that
a strip with r=15 fails by the rolling mechanism. This needs further investigation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The analytical model for a strip of the hat section, gives an explanation for the different
yield line locations for different failure mechanisms for a hat-section during an
experiment. It is important to notice that a second-order calculation is necessary to
predict the location of the first yield-line in the web.
An analytical model has been developed to find the rigid-plastic behaviour for the
numerical simulations of the strips. The model predicts the rigid-plastic curve of the
strips well for r=1, 3, 5, and 10 mm. For the large corner radius r=15 mm, only a small
part of the curve is covered.
For small corner radii, the behaviour of a strip of a hat-section's cross-section is similar
to the behaviour of a real hat-section in a three-point bending test. For r=10, this is not
the case (comparisons made between finite element models).
For a large corner radius, r=15 mm, an already existing analytical model for the rolling
mechanism predicts the first part of the rigid-plastic curve well. The finite element
model shows that for a strip with r=15 mm, two yield lines occur near the top corner.
This makes it possible that for a strip with r=15 mm, indeed a rolling mechanism occurs.
This needs further investigation.
Acknowledgement
This research is supported by the Technology Foundation STW, applied science division
of NWO and the technology programme of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
References
[1] Bakker, M.C.M., Web crippling of cold-formed steel sections, Dissertation
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, 1992.
[2] Hofmeyer, H., Kerstens, J.G.M., Snijder, H.H., Bakker, M.C.M.: Research on the
Behaviour of Combined Web Crippling and Bending of Steel Deck Sections, published
at the 13th International Speciality Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures, St.
Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., October 18-19, 1996.
[3] Timoshenko, S., Theory of Elastic Stability, Engineering Societies Monographs,

McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York and London, First edition, 1936.
54
LATERAL BUCKLING OF THIN-WALLED BEAMS UNDER

ASYMMETRIC LOADS.
F. MOHRI (1) , A. BROUKI (2) and J.C. ROTH(2)

1
IUT Nancy-Brabois. Département Génie Civil. 54601 Villers lès Nancy. (Fr)
2
LPMM. Univeristé de Metz. Ile de Saulcy. 57045 Metz (Fr)
Keywords: Thin-wall, open section, warping, lateral buckling, critical load, EC3 code.
Abstract: The elastic lateral buckling of I-beams is presented. Many parameters enter into
account. The most important are the load height parameter and Wagner coefficient. The
European code EC3 gives an analytical solution for calculating the critical loads of
monosymmetic I beams. Coefficients C1, C2 and C3 are proposed for different load cases.
These solutions are compared to ABAQUS results, in the case of simply supported beams
with free warping loaded by asymmetric loads like moment gradient. Other examples concern
I cantilevers under distributed loads. Element 3D beams with warping are used in numerical
simulations.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thin walled elements are extensively used in steel structures. More, the recourse to
slender elements renders these structures very sensitive to instabilities. The instabilities can be
local or overall. In overall instabilities all element is concerned by the instability. We
distinguish the buckling of bars and lateral buckling of beams. These instabilities can be
studied using beam theory. For a straight beam, initially in flexion in the principal axis y only,
lateral buckling is characterised by an additional displacements v(x) and θx(x) (fig.1a). The
torsion is accompanied with warping. Valssov model is applied in the study. The usual
assumptions adopted are:
- The cross-section is not deformed in its plane.
- The shear deformations in the middle surface can be assumed to vanish.
- The material is elastic linear.
2 LATERAL BUCKLING OF THIN WALLED BEAMS

Let a beam of length L in equilibrium in initial flexion in the principal axis Gy. The
shear center C of a monosymmetric I section is repaired by its co-ordinate z0 in the z axis
(fig.1b). Let u, v, w, θx the displacements of the shear center C in initial state. To study the
stability of this position, let a perturbation with new displacements (u,v+dv, w, θx+dθx). The
increase of the potential of the potential energy is:
Ub =
1
2L∫ ( 2 2
) 2 1
EI z v"2 +GJθ x' + EI ωθ x" dx + ∫ M y (θ x v"+ β zθ x' )dx + ∫ qz qθ x2 dx
2L
(1)
L
Where, E and G are the Young’s and shear modulus. Iz is the minor moment of inertia. J is the
St-Venant torsional constant. Iω is the warping moment (m6). βz is the Wagner coefficient.
1
βz = ∫ z( y + z 2 )dS − z 0
2
(2)
2I y S
55
The last term in this relation (1) is the contribution of the applied loads to potential energy. zq
is the load height parameter from the shear center C (fig.1b).
q
z z θx zq
q
x v y C
z0
w y
L G
fig.1a: Lateral buckling of beam fig.1b: A monosymmetric I section
In the case of simple loads, the critical loads (or critical moment Mcr) can be obtained by
analytical solutions. Ritz and Galerkin’s methods can be applied. With the two methods, the
displacements v(x) and θ(x) are approximated by a arbitrary set of functions of x such that the
boundary conditions are satisfied. With Ritz method, the solution is obtained by the condition
of stationary of the potential energy Ub. With Galerkin’s method, the system of differential
equations is first obtained by applying the Euler equations to functional Ub. The system of
differential equations is then solved to obtain the critical loads. In the case of simply
supported beam with free warping, the displacements v(x) and θ(x) are expressed by:
v( x) θ ( x) x
= = sin(π ) (3)
v0 θ0 L
v0 and θ0 are arbitrary coefficients. The general expression obtained for Mcr is:
π 2 EI z ⎡ GJL2 ⎤
⎢(C 2 z q + C 3 β z ) ± (C 2 z q + C3 β z ) +
Iω
M cr = C1 (1 + 2 )⎥
2
(4)
L2 ⎢⎣ Iz π EI ω ⎥⎦
C1, C2 and C3 are coefficients function of moment distribution along the beam and the
boundary conditions. Their values are reported in the EC3 [1]. For a bisymmetric section, the
Wagner coefficient βz is null, the coefficient C3 has no effect. Its importance appears only in
monosymmetric sections.
3 COMPARISON ANALYSIS
In what follows, we compare regular solutions of EC3 to numerical simulations
obtained on Abaqus. For numerical solutions, in order to calculate the critical loads, element
3D beams with warping (B31OS) are used. The attention is gone to the load symmetry in the
case of simply supported beams under gradient moments and to warping effect in the
cantilever beams under a distributed load.
3-1 Simply supported beam under gradient moments

For beams under gradient moments M and βM applied at its ends (fig.2a), only the
coefficient C1 intervene in the regular solution (C3 has no effect when βz = 0). Fig.3-a gives
the displacements modes obtained for v(x) and θx(x) with Abaqus code when 0 ≤ β ≤ 1 . The
displacement variation obeys to that used in relation (3). The regular and numerical variation
of critical moment with L is given in fig. 4-a, for three values of β ( β=0, β=0.5, β=1). The
regular and numerical results are in good accordance. The beam section used is an IPE200.
56
Fig.3-b gives the displacements modes of v(x) and θx(x) for β = -0.5. These variations cannot
be approximated by a single term like that used in relation (3). The regular and numerical
variation of critical moment with L is given in fig. 4-b, for β= -0.5. The regular and numerical
solutions are different. In order to approach the numerical results, suitable expressions for
displacements v(x) and θx(x) must take the form of the Fourier sine series with many terms
like:
n n
v( x) = ∑ ai f i ( x) ; θ ( x) = ∑ bi g i ( x) , (5)
i =1 i =1
fi(x) and gi(x) are sinusoidal functions. ‘n’ is the number of terms needed to have a
convergence to the solution. The Ritz method is used [2],[3],[4]. In this case, analytical
solutions are difficult to obtain.
3-2 Case of I cantilevers

An analytical solution has been proposed in EC3 project for the I cantilevers. This
solution is similar to relation (4), but its application is valid only in the case of bisymmetric
sections. It has not been retained in the final version of the code. In the case of cantilever
beams, the buckled mode shapes are considerably more complicated than those used in simply
supported beams. In order to approach the numerical results, the displacements need many
terms like in (5). In fig.5-a, the regular and numerical critical moment are reported for a
cantilever beam uniformly loaded on shear center. In fig. 5-b, the load is applied on the
bottom flange. An IPE100 is used. The numerical solutions of Abaqus are given in the case of
free warping and prevented warping. Also, we have reported the results obtained with Ritz
method when the warping is prevented. The warping effect is very important. The regular
solution is only valid when the warping is free. The buckling resistance of the beam is
increased when the load is on the bottom flange.
CONCLUSIONS
The lateral buckling of beams under asymmetric loads has been presented. The regular
solutions have been compared to numerical ones. The case of bisymmetric I sections is
considered here. In simply supported beams under symmetric loads, the regular and numerical
solutions are in good accordance. In the case of gradient moment (M, βM), the regular
solutions are good only when β ≥ 0. Lateral buckling of cantilevers depends highly on warping
effects. The warping effect is very important in practical realisations. The resistance of the
beam is increased when the warping at is prevented. The EC3 solution is approximate and
valid only when the warping is free.
REFERENCES
[1]: EC3 (1997): Calcul des structures en acier et document d’application nationale.
Partie 1.1 Règles générales et règles pour le bâtiment. Eyrolles (Fr.) (French version).
[2]: Kitipornchai S., Wang C.M., and Trahair N.S. (1986): Buckling of monosymmetric I-
beams under moment gradient.Jour. of Structural Engineering. Vol. 112 N°4 April. Pp781-99.
[3]: Wang C.M., Kitipornchai S., (1986): On the stability of cantilevers. Eng. Struct. Vol.
8.July. pp169-180.
[4]: Brouki A. (1998): Déversement des poutres à parois minces et à sections ouvertes.
Aspects numériques et réglementaires. Université de Metz (Fr.)
57
M
βM
L
Fig.2 : Beam under moment gradient
1 1
v (x ) a n d θ (x ) v (x) θ (x
0 ,5 0 ,5
0 ≤ β ≤ 1 β = − 0 .5
0 0
0 0 ,2 5 0 ,5 x /L 0 ,7 5 1 0 0 ,2 5 0 ,5 x /L 0 ,7 5 1
Fig.3a : Symmetric loads Fig.3b : Asymmetric loads

Fig.3: Modal displacements under symmetric and asymmetric loads
IPE200 IPE200
Mcr 135
90 Mcr (kNm) EC3
(kNm)
70 105 num
β = 0,5 β=0
50
75
30 β =1
10 45
3 4 L(m) 5 6 3 4 L(m) 5 6
Fig.4-a :Beam under gradient moment Fig.4-b :Beam under gradient moment
M, βM (β ≥ 0) M, βM (β = - 0.5)
Fig.4 : Beam under gradient moments: regular and numerical moment variation with L.
65
Mcr (kNm) IPE100 M cr (kNm) IPE100 EC3
35 EC3
Free warping Num Num
No warping 45
Free warping Ritz
25 Ritz No warping Num
Num
15 25
5 5
1,5 2 2,5 L(m) 3 3,5 1,5 2 2,5 L(m) 3 3,5
Fig. 5-a: Load on the shear center Fig.5-b:laod on the bottom flange.
Fig. 5: Regular and numerical critical moment variation with length L.
58
59
60
61
62
TEST OF LOAD – DISPLACEMENT CURVES OF CORRUGATED

SHEETS UNDER SHEAR AND COMPRESSING
Antoni Biegus, Jan Gierczak

Wrocław University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50 - 370 Wrocław, Poland
Keyworeds: Corrugated Sheets, Load-Bearing Capacity, Interactive Compression and Shear
Abstrakt: According to the state of the knowledge one can say that the problem of the
strength of the corrugated sheets under single loads causing shear, compressing is relatively
known well. Interaction between compressing and shear is know well either. Other cases of
interactions in corrugated sheets required more experimental works in order to find a right
computational model. In this paper the experimental results based on the tests of corrugated
sheet subjected shear V and compression N in the plane of the corrugated sheet diaphragm.
1. INTRODUCTION
Analysis of the global stability of diaphragms (plates) subjected to shear consists in
adopting a substitute theoretical model in the form of an orthotropic plate, subjected to shear
in its neutral plane (in reality this shear load is applied eccentrically). Hlavacek [4], adopting
the deflection function of the orthotropic plate in the form of the trigonometric series and
energy method, determined the critical load of the plate subjected to shear in the form
Vcr ,i = k i b −1 D x0 , 75 D y0 , 25 (1)
where:
Dx – stiffness of the orthotropic plate with respect to the axis perpendicular to fold axes,
Dy – stiffness of the orthotropic plate with respect to the axis parallel to fold axes,
b – the length of the orthotropic plate in the direction parallel to fold axes.
Hlavacek [4] proposed the formula (1) coefficient ki = kH = 41. Easley and McFarland [2]
propose the formula (1) for coefficient ki = kEM = 36. Lawson [5] proposed the formula (1)
coefficient ki = kL = 14.4.
The models approximating the load intensity are based on the model of corrugated
sheet and do not describe adequately the physical model, as they do not take into account:
specific stiffness characteristics of a thin - walled section, non - linearity of load intensity
ratio in the structure, the way of the connection of the sheet to the supports, eccentric load
transmission, torsional rigidity of the plate Dxy and the folds EJωe as well as geometrical
proportions of the diaphragm subjected to shear.
This paper presents the results of experimental investigation of ultimate load capacity
of corrugated sheet subjected to compression and shear. The principal object of these
experimental investigations on corrugated sheet subjected to shear and compression in the
plane parallel to the neutral plane, was to identify the load-displacement curves, to investigate
the mechanisms of failure, to determine ultimate loads on this type of surface girders and to
verify the existing solutions and assumptions in the theoretical models adopted.
2. DESCRIPTION OF MODELS, TEST STAND AND FIRST TEST RESULTS

The tests were carried out on 10 full scale models, of corrugated sheet T55x188x750
and sheet thickness t = 0.75 mm. The length of the models was l = 2.0 m. Schematic drawing
of the test stand is shown in Fig.1. The stand consisted of two parallel beams B1, B2.
63
Corrugated sheet was connections with beams B1 and B2, by means of eight M6 bolts at
every fold. Beam B1 was placed between bumpers and stops so that it could not move. Beam
B2 rested on bearings and it could move freely in a plane parallel to the tested corrugated
plate. The stand designed in this way enabled the application of the shear load V to be made at
the support axis of the corrugated sheet on the movable beam B2. The compressive load N
was effected by stressing four steel cables placed in fold axes, in the plane of bottom flanges.
Horizontal displacement of the corrugated sheet Δ and of individual folds fi as well as vertical
displacements yi at the middle of the investigated sheet were registered during the
tests.
Fig.1 Schematic drawing of the test stand

The object of the first stage of tests of models subjected to loading of single type V and
N was the identification of load-displacement curves, equilibrium state switch mechanisms
and determining the experimental ultimate load bearing capacities of corrugated plate Vu, Nu
loaded this manner. The ultimate load bearing capacity of the corrugated sheet was: in shear
Vu = 10.8 kN and compressed Nu = 40.1 kN. The experimental results of load bearing
capacities (as upper assessments of interactive curves for the combined load states)
constituted the basic for developing the program of tests for the models with simultaneous
shear and compression, carried out in the second stage.
3. TESTS OF CORRUGATED SHEET UNDER SHEAR AND COMPRESSION

In the initial stage of tests of models subjected to simultaneous shear and compression,
the corrugated plate was loaded by shear force Vi and following this, by eccentric load N
applied in the plane of the lower, narrower flanges. The tests of corrugated sheet subjected to
eccentric shear and compression were carried out by loading the model by the following
forces: Vi = 0.00Vu, 0.10Vu, 0.27Vu, 0.36Vu, 0.45Vu, 0.55Vu, 0.64Vu, 0.73Vu, and 0.82Vu (where
Vu - ultimate shear load determined experimentally). The compressive load was increased by
1 kN steps, taking each time the readings of the following displacements: yi - vertical of the
model, fi - horizontal of individual folds and Δ - horizontal of the model. Vertical
displacement y(N) of corrugated sheet subjected to plate shear Vi, is shown in Fig.2.
64
Fig. 2 Load displacement curves y(N) in corrugated sheet subjected to compression and shear
The failure of the theoretical model Vi < 0.6Vu was accompanied by the mechanism
observed earlier in the tests of the models under compression only, i.e. formation of plastic
plate-type hinges in the support zone. Plastic hinges constituting a combination of disk-type
hinge (as in the case of pure bending or compression), as well as plastic plate-type hinges (as
in the case of models under compression) were formed in models of corrugated diaphragms
subjected to shear Vi > 0.6Vu and, subsequently to compression. In models loaded to Vi <
0.6Vu the formation of plate-type plastic hinges was accompanied by the drop of compressive
load bearing capacity and in models loaded initially to Vi > 0.6Vu the sudden change of load
displacement curve was absent and, at the limit phase of capacity, an increase of horizontal
displacements Δ of the models occurred, accompanied by the absence of an increase of
vertical displacements. Load displacement curve of the models subjected to compression and
shear Vi > 0.6Vu can be described the non-linear-elastic-brittle model. Increase of the initial
shear loads Vi in subsequent models resulted in the reduction of their load bearing capacity in
compression.
4. CONCLUSION
Load displacement curve N/Nu(y/yu, Δ/Δu) of investigated corrugated sheet under
eccentric compression and shear for varying values of Vi/Vu are shown in Fig.3. They are
presented in dimensional co-ordinates assuming: yu, Nu - limit vertical displacement and
ultimate load bearing capacity of the model under compression; Δu, Vu - limit horizontal
displacement and ultimate load bearing capacity of the model subjected to shear. The load
displacement curve Δ(V) of corrugated sheet under shear can be described by a non-linear-
elastic-plastic model and, at the ultimate state of its capacity, plate-type plastic hinges are
formed. The functions of corrugated sheet under compression y(N) can be described the non-
linear-elastic-brittle model; the change of their state of equilibrium was of a sudden character.
65
Fig. 3 Load displacement curves N/Nu(y/yu, Δ/Δu) of corrugated sheet subjected to

compression and shear, for varying values of Vi/Vu
The investigation concerned solely the ultimate load bearing capacity of corrugated
sheet from the point of view of failure to destruction, and not the failure of connections of the
sheet to the support-hence a suitable number of connections. The form of failure of the
connections to the supports should be also analysed, e.g. in the case of roofing.
Shear loading was lowering the load bearing capacity in compression of the
investigated models over the entire range of loads. Experimental investigations presented here
have shown the need of taking into account the interactive capacity of corrugated sheet in
complex loading states.
References
[1] Biegus A.: Gierczak J.: Investigations of Load-Bearing Capacity of Corrugated Sheets
Subjected to Shearing and Bending, International Conference „Experimental Model
Research of Thin-Walled Structures”, Prague, September 1997, p. 191÷198.
[2] Easley I. T., McFarland D. E.: Buckling of Light-Gauge Corrugated Metal Shear
Diaphragms, Journal of the Structural Division, vol. 95, ST 7, July 1969, p. 1497÷1516.
[3] Gierczak J.: Ultimate Load-Bearing Capacity of Corrugated Sheet Subjected to Transverse
Bend and Disk Shear, Ph. D. Dissertation in Cuvil Engineering, (in Polish), Wrocław
University of Technology, 1996.
[4] Hlavaček V.: Shear Instability of Orthotropic Panels, Acta Technica CSAV, No. 1, 1968,
Prague, p. 134÷138.
[5] Lawson R. M.: Design Formulas for Steel Folder Plate Roofs, Journal of the Structural
Division, Vol. 104, ST10, October 1978.
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
PRAGUE AND STUTTGART EXPERIMETAL

RESEARCH ON WEB BREATHING
Miroslav Škaloud and Marie Zörnerová

Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prosecká 76,
190 00 Prague 9, Czech Republic
Ulrike Kuhlmann and Ulrike Spiegelhalder
Institute for Structural Design I, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Structural, Bridges, Fatigue
Abstract: The paper reports about the main results of tests carried out at (i) the Institute of
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and (ii) the
Institute for Structural Design I, University of Stuttgart on steel plate girders with webs
breathing under many times repeated combined bending and shear. The initiation and
propagation of fatigue cracks occurring in the breathing webs at the toes of the fillet welds
that connect the web with the girder flanges and transverse stiffeners, and their impact on the
failure mechanism of the whole girder, are studied.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the sixties and at the beginning of the seventies, K. C. Rockey and the first author
for several years studied, both theoretically and experimentally, the ultimate load behaviour of
slender steel webs subjected predominately to shear. They concluded that the failure
mechanism of such webs was composed of a diagonal plastic band in the web sheet and a set
of plastic hinges in the girder flanges and applied this failure mechanism in establishing an
ultimate load theory for steel plate girders with webs loaded in predominantly shear. This
failure load may exceed the critical linear elastic buckling load of the web several times.
However, the above theory was intended only for steel girders under the action of
quasi-static loading. For repeated loading additional considerations are necessary: The webs
of plate and box girders of steel bridges and similar structures are subjected to many times
repeated loading. That is why they suffer many times repeated buckling. This phenomenon is
now termed web breathing. It is in the nature of this phenomenon that pronounced cumulative
(fatigue) damage is then generated in the girders, thus very substantially influencing the limit
state of girders. Therefore, research on web breathing is most desirable.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION – A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE

CURRENT STAGE OF RESEARCH ON WEB BREATHING
Little being known about the process of cumulative damage in breathing webs, it was
obvious, as early as the initial stage of the research, that a very important role would be
played by suitably designed experiments. That is why an extensive experimental investigation
into the problem of web breathing was started in Prague several years ago, which has to date
comprised 132 tests. In all of these tests, the webs of the girders were subjected to many times
repeated predominantly shear. This was given by the small length of the test girders, which
had two square web panels. That is why it was to the benefit of the experimental research that
it could be completed by four tests conducted at the University of Stuttgart on four large
girders having four web panels, whose two outer ones were also subjected to predominantly
shear and two inner ones to both bending and shear. The following two sections will briefly
report about the two experimental programmes.
75
3 PRAGUE TESTS
3.1 Test girders
Two series of test girders (with various web depths and flange thicknesses) were
tested at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of
Sciences in Prague: (i) one series of girders with slender webs, whose depth-to-thickness ratio
λ = 250, (ii) another series of girders with less slender webs, whose depth-to-thickness ratio
λ = 175. This depth-to-thickness ratio was chosen so as to be lower than the maximum
slenderness λn,max
b
of so-called non-breathing webs (to put it more accurately, of webs not
exhibiting any fatigue cracks under repeated loading). The former group to date comprised 77
test girders, the latter 30 girders, but experiments on girders in both groups are under way.
Another series of tests, on larger girders, is under preparation.
Two other series of girders were tested (in co-operation of the first author with P.
Brož) at Klokner Institute of the Czech Technical University in Prague. In the first one, the
web depth-to-thickness ratio λ = 200 (this means that these girders were designed so as to
have practically non-breathing webs); in the other, λ = 320. The former series comprised 12
girders and is regarded as completed; the latter to date comprised 13 girders, but additional
experiments are under way.
So, if looking at the general details of all the girders tested in Prague, it can be seen that
the depth-to-thickness ratios of their web panels (which is beyond any doubt one of the main
factors influencing web breathing) were of 175, 200, 250 and 320. Consequently, they ranged
from so-called non-breathing webs to very slender ones.
It not being possible to cover in one contribution all of the 132 experiments conducted
to date in Prague, in this paper we will concentrate only on the tests carried out at the Institute
of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (see Fig. 1), while those undertaken at Klokner
Institute will be dealt with in another contribution [1] presented also at this Conference.
Figure 1: Prague test girders
3.1 Test results

A more detailed description of the results obtained and the conclusions drawn is going
to be given in the full version of the paper; in this abridged version, only the principal
observations are briefly presented herebelow:
(i) During the breathing tests, fatigue cracks occurred at the toes of the fillet welds connecting
the web sheet panels with their boundary members. They initiated at the zones of maximum
principal surface stress ranges and grew along the boundary members and frequently also
diagonally across the corner of the web, so as in the end to "cut" the tension diagonal in the
buckling web sheet.
(ii) The number N of load cycles to failure, i.e. the fatigue life of the test girder, was a
function of load range, and exhibited a tendency to determine a S-N curve (Fig. 2).
(iii) The growth of the fatigue cracks was a more or less continuous process. Never during the
tests did we observe any abrupt increase in the rate of crack propagation, such as to indicate
an unstable crack growth and to herald a critical length phenomenon known from Fracture
Mechanics.
76
(iv) The collapse of all of the girders tested so far at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics occurred in a typical shear failure mode, well pronounced plastic buckles forming
along the tension diagonal of the web panels and plastic zones developing in the flanges. In
the final stage of their fatigue lives, the test girders behaved like ones with an opening in their
webs, the opening being represented by the developed fatigue crack.
(v) The initiation and propagation of cracks and the fatigue lives of the test girders, were very
significantly affected by (a) the quality level of the fillet welds connecting the web sheet with
the flanges and stiffeners, and (b) the form and magnitude of the initial curvature of the web
sheet. It was particularly these two factors that generated a great scatter of the results obtained
(Fig. 2).
VRange
1.4
Vcr
1.2
Prague
1
Stuttgart
0.8 2.7
4.97
0.6 4.6
6.8
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 N x 106
Figure 4: The fatigue lives, in terms of the ratio shear force range Vrange /critical shear force Vcr,
of the Prague and Stuttgart test girders
4 STUTTGART TESTS
The interaction between bending and shear increases the probability of fatigue cracks
due to web breathing. The cracks are then most likely to occur in the corner of the tension
diagonal, which is located in the compression zone of the girder (see Fig. 3).
The four test girders in Stuttgart were designed so as to study the fatigue behaviour of
this particular area. Figure 3 shows the general details of the test girders together with the
section modulus Wy and the distribution of the stresses σx. The flange width in the two middle
panels was tapered in a way that the section modulus Wy became proportional to the bending
moment My, this resulting in a constant stress distribution in the two middle panels. As the
stress range Δσx is limited by the fatigue resistance, this procedure was necessary to maintain
the maximum stress range Δσx in the area considered without the stress range exceeding the
fatigue limit at the load bearing stiffener in the middle of the girder.
Figure 3: Stuttgart test girders, the distribution of Wy and σx
77
The curves in Figure 4 give the load-bearing capacities of two test girders determined
with due account to the interaction between bending and shear according to EC 3, Part 1.5,
DIN 18 800, Part 3 and the linear elastic buckling theory. The horizontal axis shows the
ultimate shear resistance VRk referred to the plastic shear force Vpl.k. The vertical axis gives the
ultimate bending resistance MRk referred to the limiting elastic bending moment Mel.k of the
girders. The index “k” indicates that the characteristic values of the geometrical and material
properties of the girders are used for the calculation. EC 3, Part 1.5 is based on ultimate load
theory and not on linear buckling theory, this resulting in a very remarkable increase in
ultimate strength. The black points show the loading of the two test girders. They lie in the
allowable range according to EC 3, but far apart from the linear buckling load and still well
above the ultimate load according to DIN 18 800, Part 3.
M Rk 1
M el.k EC 3, Part 1.5
0.8
DIN 18 800, Part 3
0.6 linear buckling theory
test girder
0.4
0.2
0 VRk
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Vpl.k
Figure 4: The loading of two test girders and their load-bearing capacities as obtained
according to design rules
All of the test girders exhibited fatigue cracks and failed as a result of crack
propagation after less than one (in one case less than one and half) million of load cycles. The
character of the cracks in the Stuttgart girders was similar to the kind of fatigue cracks that
occurred in the webs (subjected to predominately shear) of the Prague girders.
The fatigue lives of all of the Stuttgart girders are plotted, jointly with those of the
Prague test girders, in Figure 2. They support the general trend of the Prague experiments.
5 CONCLUSION
The results of both the Prague and Stuttgart tests highlight the importance of the
breathing phenomenon and testify to the necessity of additional design rules for structures
subjected to many times repeated loads.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of their research:
(i) in Prague by the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,
(ii) in Stuttgart by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft
industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen „Otto von Guericke“ e.V..
REFERENCES:
[1] Brož, P., Novák, M. and Škaloud, M.: Experimental and theoretical investigation
into the breathing of thin-walled steel girders. Proc. of the Int. Conf. EUROSTEEL, Prague,
26 – 29 May, 1999.
78
FATIGUE ASSESSMENT OF SLENDER WEBS BREATHING UNDER

REPEATED LOADING
Please see the full version of this article downloading the html version of the proceedings in
http://www.cmm.pt/~publications/pdfs/cd_EUROSTEEL-99.zip
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82
LOCAL BUCKLING AND FAILURE OF THIN-WALLED

COMPRESSION MEMBERS
Kriváček J.
83
84
85
86
EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION

INTO THE BREATHING OF THIN-WALLED STEEL GIRDERS
Petr Brož and Martin Novák

Klokner Institute, Czech Technical University, Prague
Miroslav Škaloud
Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics,
Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
Keywords: Civil Engineering, bridges, fatigue, experiments
Abstract: The objective of the paper is to report about (i) the process of cumulative damage and
(ii) the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks in the breathing (very slender, λ = 320) webs
of a series of plate girders subjected to repeated predominantly shear and tested at Klokner
Institute in Prague. The research is completed by a theoretical study of surface stress ranges in
the crack-prone areas of the breathing webs, and of the influence of (i) the shape and (ii) the
magnitude of web imperfections on the stress ranges.
1. INTRODUCTION
It is beyond any doubt that well designed experiments represent an indispensable part of
the current stage of research on the breathing and fatigue limit state of the slender webs of steel
plate girders subjected to many times repeated loading. That is why great attention has been paid
to such experiments in Prague for several years now, with several series of test girders having
already been tested and other experiments being under way. In [1], it is reported about those tests
which were conducted at (i) the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Czech Academy
of Sciences in Prague and (ii) Stuttgart University, while this contribution focuses on
experiments undertaken at Klokner Institute, Czech Technical University in Prague, and on
theoretical studies supporting the research.
2. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
2.1 Test girders

The general details of the test girders are shown in Fig.1. All the girders were subjected to
a point load F = 2 Q, located at mid -span and cycling between a minimum value Fmin = 10 kN
and a maximum value Fmax, which varied from test to test. The two web panels were then
exposed to combined shear and bending, with the influence of shear predominating.
The most important task of the measurements taken during each test was to detect the
initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks occurring in the girder web as a result of its
breathing. This was achieved by means of a combination of (i) visual inspection checks and (ii)
the acoustic emission method.
To date 11 experiments on girders with a web of slenderness λ = 320 have been
performed, other tests being in preparation.
2.2 Test results
87
The main results and conclusions drawn from the experiments can be summarized as
follows:
(i) The main impact of the cumulative damage process in the breathing webs of the test
girders was the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks. They developed in crack-prone areas,
i.e. at the toes of the fillet welds connecting the flanges and transverse stiffeners with the girder
web, and in the zones where the ranges of the principal surface stresses were maximum.
(ii) If compared with the fatigue performance of less slender webs (see[1], where λ =
250), in the case of the described series of breathing tests (where λ= 320 ), the initiation of
fatigue cracks occurred after substantially lower numbers of load cycles, and the fatigue cracks
grew more speedily so that the fatigue failure was a considerably faster phenomenon. This is
quite understandable in the light of the fact that more slender webs buckle and, if exposed to
repeated loading, breathe more intensively, thus generating sooner large surface stresses in their
crack-prone areas.
(iii) However, when the fatigue lives of the test girders are plotted in terms of the ratio
shear force range/critical shear force, thereby indirectly taking account of the difference in web
slenderness, the results of both series exhibit a tendency of lying in one band (Fig. 2 – where the
results of the tests described in [1] are also plotted).
(iv) The failure of the text girders occurred is one of the following two modes:
(a) Most girders exhibited a typical shear failure mode, large buckles developing along
the tension diagonal and plastic zones becoming manifest in the girder flanges. In the end, when
the main fatigue crack cut most of the tension band, the girders behaved, and failed like ones
having a large opening in the web (Fig. 3).
(b) Some girders collapsed as result of the compression flange buckling vertically when
the flange was separated from the web sheet (supporting the flange) by a long enough fatigue
crack.
(v) Similarly to the experiments about which it is reported in [1], all the results of the
described test series exhibited a large scatter. The reason for this is a great sensitivity of
breathing thin-walled girders to differences in the quality level of fillet welds and in the shape
and magnitude of initial imperfections.
3. THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION
The experimental research described above was accompanied by a theoretical study,

based on the non-linear variant of the finite-element method, the objective of which was to
investigate the stress in the crack-prone of the breathing web at the toes of the fillet welds
connecting the web sheet with the girder flanges and transverse stiffeners. Given the fact that the
initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks was governed by stresses of the surface of the web,
both membrane and bending stress components were studied, and measured by the principal
surface stresses in the crack-prone areas.
In the course of the experimental investigation, it was observed that test results exhibited
a great scatter, this reflecting the very significant influence of initial imperfections – in particular
that of the initial ”dishing” of the web – on the cumulative damage process. That is why, during
the theoretical investigation, the influence of (i) various shapes and (ii) various magnitudes of the
initial curvature of the web on the principal surface stresses in the crack-prone areas was studied.
4. CONCLUSION
88
The results of the tests described above highlight, like those of the experiments dealt with
in [1], the importance of the breathing phenomenon for the design of steel structures subjected to
many times repeated loads.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of their research by the Grant
Agency of the Czech Republic (project No 103/97/0002).
References
[1] Škaloud, M., Zörnerová, M., Kuhlmann, U. and Spiegelhalder, U.: Prague and Stuttgart
experimental research on web breathing. Proc. of the Int. Conf. EUROSTEEL, 26 - 29 May, 1999
Fig.1 The general details of the test girders
89
Fig. 2 The fatigue lives of the test girders
Fig. 3 The fatigue mode of one of the girders - the diagonal tension band in the web is ”cut”
by a fatigue crack
90
SECTIONAL BUCKLING MODES OF UNSTIFFENED

THIN-WALLED STEEL SECTIONS
Viorel Ungureanu1, Dan Dubina2

1
Romanian Academy of Sciences, Timisoara Branch, M. Viteazul 24, Timisoara, RO-1900,
Romania
2
“Politehnica” University of Timisoara, CMMC Department, Stadion 1, Timisoara, RO-1900,
Romania
Keywords: local buckling, distortional buckling, sectional buckling modes, interactive

buckling, unstiffened elements, Ayrton-Perry formula
Abstract: The distinction between distortional and local buckling of stiffened elements of
thin-walled sections, of both compression and bending members is clearly enough, and
relevant design formulas can be used in such particular cases. For unstiffened elements or for
those, which are not stiffened enough, the difference between distortional and local buckling
modes is not clear at all. The authors’ opinion is that in case of unstiffened elements
distortional buckling only occurs and not local one.
On the other hand, in order to use correctly an Ayrton-Perry formula for the
interaction between sectional and overall modes, like in case of local-overall buckling
interaction, the “distorted” short member has to be defined.
The paper presents the authors’ proposal for the “distorted” short member and an
approach for implementing this in an interactive formula.
1 INTRODUCTION
Cold-formed thin-walled steel compression members with mono-symmetrical cross-
section are characterised by following instability modes: local buckling of the walls,
distortional buckling of section, flexural and flexural-torsional buckling of the member. For
relevant lengths of the members, an interaction of these modes can occur.
Based on experimental evidences, and taken into account the definitions of both local
and distortional buckling [1], the authors’ opinion is that in case of unstiffened flanges
(flanges without lips) no local buckling occurs; for such elements distortional buckling mode
can appear only.
Consequently, the short member behaviour is characterised by “sectional modes”
which involve the web buckling and flange distortion and, on this basis, has to be evaluated
its contribution within the interactive buckling equation.
2. SECTIONAL INSTABILITY OF A PLANE CHANNEL

Using the energetic method [2], for the unstiffened flange in Figure 1, and
corresponding to the first buckling mode characterised by one half-wavelength, which is the
case of distortional buckling, after mathematical proceeding results:
- the half-wavelength:
0.5
⎛ h ⋅ b b2 ⎞
Ls = π ⎜⎜ + ⎟⎟ (1)
⎝ 2 . 1 3. 7 ⎠
91
- the elastic buckling coefficient:

2
⎛ b ⎞
⎜h + ⎟
2⋅b
= 2 + 0.425 ⋅ ⎝
2
1.4 ⎠
k dist 2
(2)
Ls ⎛ b ⎞
⎜h + ⎟
⎝ 1.7 ⎠
x ,u
h
y ,v
L
b
z ,w
Fig. 1
The effective width can be obtained using the following critical buckling stresses:
- for flanges (distorted):

π 2E ⎛ t ⎞
2
σ dist , flange = k dist ⋅ ⎜ ⎟ (3)

12(1 − υ ) ⎝ b ⎠
- for web (locally buckled):
π 2E ⎛ t ⎞
2
σ cr , web = kσ ⋅ ⎜ ⎟ , where k σ = 4 (4)

12(1 − υ ) ⎝ b ⎠
The elastic sectional buckling load is:
N cr , s = 2 ⋅ σ dist , flange ⋅ t ⋅ b + σ cr , web ⋅ t ⋅ h (5)
The relative slenderness λ s for a short plane channel with flanges under distortion and
web under local buckling is:
N cr , s fy
λs = = Qs ⋅ (6)
A ⋅ σ cr σ cr
in which:
A = gross cross-section area of plane channel;
fy = material yield stress;
σ cr = the lowest elastic critical stress between flexural buckling, torsional buckling or
flexural-torsional buckling;
Qs = the reduction factor of the gross cross-section area.
92
Aeff , s Aeff,s Aeff , w + Aeff , f

Qs = , and =
A A A
The short column length is equal with the distortional half-wavelength Ls, given by
(1), and is characterised by a corresponding reduced slenderness, λ s (6).
In the Qs formula, Aeff,w is the web effective area, calculated with σcr corresponding to
Eqn. (4), while Aeff,f is the flange effective are, calculated with σcr,dist corresponding to Eqn.
(3). In fact, in case of short plane channels always an interaction between flange distortion
and web buckling occurs. This type of interaction is stable in postcritical range.
Comparisons with relevant test results and EC3-Part 1.3 [3] prove the quality of this
approach.
3. SINGLE AND COUPLED INSTABILITY MODE RANGES FOR PLANE

CHANNEL SECTIONS
On the basis of short member buckling resistance evaluated by means of “sectional
buckling mode concept”, introduced above, and the ECBL theory [4], instability ranges for
plane channels can be obtained; they are shown in Figure 2.
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
I. Unstiffened compression elements (flange type) instability behaviour is characterised
by distortional modes, with one or more half-wavelength, while stiffened elements, if
are stiffened enough (web type), are characterised by local modes.
II. Sectional mode for a plane channel section is characterised by local web buckling
coupled with distortional flange buckling. This coupled instability mode is postcritical
stable. In case of reduced web slenderness, and flange significant slenderness, flange
distortion occurs only.
III. Sectional critical buckling load is successfully confirmed by test results and can be
used in the ECBL interactive buckling approach.
References
[1] Lau S.C.W., Hancock G.J.: Distortional buckling formulas for channel columns, Journal of
Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 113, No. 5, pp. 1063-1078, 1987.
[2] Timoshenko S.P., Gere J.M.: Theory of elastic stability, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,
New York, N.Y., 1959.
[3] EUROCODE 3, Design of Steel Structures Part 1.3: General rules. Supplementary rules for
cold-formed thin gauge members and sheeting, ENV 1993-1-3, February 1996.
[4] Dubina D., Georgescu M., Goina D., Ungureanu V., Iorgovan E.: Cold-Formed Steel
Sections Experimental Database. Thirteenth International Speciality Conference on Cold-
Formed Steel Structures, St. Louis, Missouri USA, October 17-18, 1996, pp 665-680.
93
2
Lt/b Lt/b2
1.41 1.41
h/t=60 h/t=50
1.21 1.21
1.01 1.01
0.81 0.81
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+ Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+

0.61 0.61
Flexural Buckling Flexural Buckling
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+ Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+
0.41 0.41
Flexural-Torsional Buckling Flexural-Torsional Buckling
0.21 0.21
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling Flange Distortion+Web Buckling

0.01 0.01
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 b/h 1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 b/h 1
a) b)
0.86
Lt/b2 Lt/b
2
1.41
h/t=40 h/t=30
1.21
0.66
1.01 Flange Distortion+
Flexural Buckling
0.81
0.46
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+
0.61 Flange Distortion+
Flexural Buckling
Flexural-Torsional Buckling
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling+
0.41 0.26
Flexural-Torsional Buckling
0.21
Flange Distortion+Web Buckling Flange Distortion

0.01 0.06
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 b/h 1 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 b/h 1
c) d)
Fig. 2 Influence of cross-section dimensions in interaction buckling modes
94
LOCAL BUCKLING OF UNDULATING WEBS
Rostislav Novák, Prof. Josef Macháček

Department of Steel Structures, CTU (Czech Technical University in Prague), Thákurova 7,
Keywords: ANSYS, Experimental Testing, Local Buckling, Patch Loading, Steel,

Undulating Web
Abstract: Experimental strengths of a series of girders with undulating web (WT girders)
under patch loading are presented. The load arrangement represents crane wheel loading with
various eccentricities with respect to vertical axis of the girder. In comparison to planar webs
the local buckling resistance of undulating webs proved to be considerably higher and less
sensitive to eccentricities of loading. Evaluation of experimental results with respect to the
latest experimental and theoretical results including design recommendations for planar webs
is presented. Preliminary theoretical non-linear analysis of the problem is also submitted in
some detail.
1 INTRODUCTION
Use of girders with undulating webs for beams and columns of industrial frames is
common due to production programme of company ZEMAN+Co [1]. The girders have high
shear and moment resistance and due to thin webs are very economical. Among other
advantages of the girders, sensitivity to vertical eccentricities of loading is apparently small.
Idea of using such girders as crane girders has to be supported by knowledge of resistance due
to local transverse loading and fatigue behaviour under repeated loads. The research of both
problems is under way in CTU. This paper presents some results concerning patch loading
resistance.
2 EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Totally 20 tests has been carried out (18 x WTA 625x2-250x20 and 2 x WTB 500x2.5
-300/12). The test arrangement is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 Test set-up and basic cross-section parameters of girders WTA
95
All specimens were simply supported on two cylindrical bearings in the distance of
900 mm, except two tests (A17, A18), in which the girders were supported on a plate at the
centre of bottom flange and the load was transferred through the web directly to the bottom
flange and support.
Three mid-span transducers (P0, P1, P2) were always installed to measure vertical
deflections. A set of strain gauges was placed in some girders for finding a strain distribution
across the web. Load by hydraulic jack was applied at the upper flange through 300 mm long
crane rail with rectangular cross-section 50x30 [mm]. The loading was controlled by
magnitude of force. Standard procedure with unloading and breaks until deformation got
settled was used. More detailed description of tests may be found in [2], [3].
Various arrangements of loading along the corrugation and with four different
eccentricities in transverse direction were tested. In some girders the end stiffeners were not
welded along the all flange lengths to distinguish the importance of flange boundary
conditions. Except the tests A17, A18 the beams collapsed by web crippling in vicinity of
crane rail about 50 mm below the upper flange. Buckling area affected approximately 7 half-
waves of corrugation. The results proved negligible influence of the load position on ultimate
load provided the load was within the width of undulating, see Table 1.
The failure mode of specimens A17 and A18 was different to that described above.
Instead of crippling near the upper flange, the webs buckled lower within the web depth: in
test A17 (ss = 200 mm) about 200 mm below the upper flange, in test A18 (ss = 50 mm) the
web buckling/crippling appeared near the plate support. It indicates that the web collapse was
governed by the spreading of knife loading through the crane rail or by the length of support
plate ss and moved accordingly along depth of the web.
Large eccentricities (e = 30 or 40 mm) caused more dramatic failure with damage area
including at least 12 half-waves of corrugation.
3 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
ANSYS software package was used for detailed geometrical and material non-linear
analysis. Boundary conditions and material properties (fy = 289 MPa for flanges, f0,2 = 256
MPa for web) corresponded with the experimental values. The behaviour proved to be close
to the experimental results (Fult.theor = 210 kN for test A1), with crippling under the flange, see
Fig. 2. Parametric study of an influence of various parameters on collapse load is under way.
Fig. 2 Deformed shape of girder A1: experimental (left) and theoretical (values in mm, right)
96
Table 1 Summary of test results
Test Eccentricity Fult

Load position Note
No. [mm] [kN]
A1 e=0 with strain gauges 231
A5 e = 20 upside down girder A4 226
A6 e = 20 with strain gauges 224
flanges are welded to the end vertical

A8 e = 20 231
stiffeners only within undulating
flanges are welded to the end vertical

A11 e = 40 205
stiffeners only within undulating
strain gauges, flanges are welded only

A15 e = 20 237
within undulating
strain gauges, support plate at the centre of

A17 e = 20 216
bottom flange, ss = 200 mm
strain gauges, support plate at the centre of
A18 e = 20 198
bottom flange, ss = 50 mm
Summary: e = 0 mm ............ Favg = 230 kN (100,0 %)

e = 20 mm................ Favg = 228 kN ( 99,0 %)
e = 30 mm................ Favg = 210 kN ( 91,3 %)
e = 40 mm................ Favg = 208 kN ( 90,4 %)
Note: Summary does not include tests A17 and A18 with different boundary conditions.
97
4 CONCLUSIONS
Resistance of planar webs under local loads was recently analysed in [4] and
implemented into [5].
Resistance of undulating webs under patch loading has been experimentally
investigated at CTU. Based on statistical evaluation of experimental results (in accordance
with [6]) and using empirical formula for resistance of planar web under knife-load according
to Bergfelt [7] the following formulas were proposed for preliminary use, before other
experimental and theoretical results would be available.
Characteristic resistance:
( ) ( )
FRk = 1,33 t w2 E f y .w 0 ,5 t f / t w 0 ,5 (1)
where
tw is the web thickness;
tf sum of flange and crane rail (if present) thicknesses.
Partial safety factor:
γM1 = 1.15 (2)
Notes:
1) The formulas are save in accordance with [6] for tested WTA girders. Verification of the
formula for other types of girders is under way.
2) The formulas presume eccentricity of loading within undulating, i.e. e max ≤ 20 mm .
3) The formulas can not be used to determine the resistance of undulating web under
transverse force transferred directly through the web to a support plate under bottom
flange (see e.g. tests No A17, A18). Here instead of crippling the web buckles in a
different way and another formulas shall be used.
Comparing the resistance of planar web with tw = 2 mm in accordance with [5] and
that obtained with the above formula the patch load capacity due to corrugating of the tested
WTA girders enhanced about n = 6,9 times. However, using the length of web wave as a
stiffener distance (here 77.5 mm), the ratio will change to n = 1.2 times. Thus using formulas
from [5] for transversally stiffened webs could be another reasonable approach for
determining the corrugated web resistance.
Acknowledgements: This work was carried out in the Department of Steel Structures
and Structural Laboratories of CTU in Prague. Financial support of Grant Agency GAČR
under No. 103/98/0062 is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] Siokola W.: Wellstegträger – Technische Dokumentation. Zeman+Co, GmbH, Wien, 1996
[2] Novák, R. – Macháček, J.: Girders with undulating webs (WT profiles). Report CTU,
GAČR 103/98/0062, 1998 (in Czech)
[3] Novák, R. - Macháček, J.: Undulating webs under patch loading. 6th Int. Coll. Stability &
Ductility of Steel Structures, Timisoara, 1999
[4] Lagerqvist, O: Patch loading. Resistance of steel girders subjected to concentrated forces.
PhD Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, 1994
[5] ENV 1993-1-5 Design of steel structures – Part 1-5: General rules – Supplementary rules
for planar plated structures without transverse loading. CEN, 1997
[6] ENV 1993-1-1:1992/A2 Design of steel structures – Part 1-1: General rules – General
rules and rules for buildings. Amendment A2, Annex Z: Determination of design resistance
from tests. CEN, 1998
[7] Bergfelt, A: Girder web stiffening for patch loading. CTH Division of Steel and Timber
Structures, Publ. S 83:1, Göteborg, 1983
98
ON THE ANALYSIS OF STEEL STRUCTURES MADE OF THIN-

WALLED MEMBERS
Degée H.
99
100
101
102
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF INITIAL RESIDUAL

STRESSES IN H-BEAMS
103
104
105
106
STEELBASE - PRODUCT DATA EXCHANGE FOR

CONSTRUCTIONAL STEELWORK
Juha Hyvärinen,
VTT Building Technology, P.O.Box 1801, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland
Keywords: Structural, Steel Structures, Product Data Technology, Information Technology

Abstract: SteelBase project was started in 1995 by 26 Finnish companies and the Technology
Development Centre (TEKES), aiming at increasing competitiveness of steel construction
industry by reducing the construction lead-time and costs by means of modern information
technology. The focus was set on data exchange between partners, especially designers and
manufacturers in steel construction projects. Based on STEP technology (ISO 10303) and
complying with CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS), Finnish SteelBase product data model
specification was developed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Development of electronic information management for efficiency and cost savings in
the field of steel construction is a challenge for wide co-operation between the different
players. Optimisation of single tasks in a project does not necessarily lead to optimal products
and processes; in fact the overall costs may even increase due to misfit of the individual
objectives. Also, without commonly agreed concepts and specifications for neutral data
exchange the efficiency and quality of information management is questionable. SteelBase
project, started in 1995 by 26 Finnish companies and the Technology Development Centre
(TEKES), has been aiming at increasing competitiveness of steel construction industry by
reducing the building costs as well as the construction lead-time by means of modern
information technology.
Traditionally, the electronic data exchange between different designers and also with
manufacturers has been based either on direct translation between native data structures or on
various neutral file formats. The most obvious benefit of the previous is run-time efficiency,
with no intermediate formats between two applications; the draw back is that separate
mapping specification and implementation is required for each pair of sending and receiving
application, as illustrated in figure 1. The use of neutral file formats, on the other hand, can be
motivated by the reduction of the number of different translators needed, as also illustrated in
figure 1. However, it has proven not an easy task to maintain the neutral format specifications
which are not formal standards: different variations usually start emerging as the participants
exchanging data are tailoring the format to meet their requirements better in each new project.
Therefore, SteelBase project has set a goal to establish a national industry standard, in
compliance with international standards - but taking into account the local practice, which
requires transfer of detailed design from designer to manufacturer.
Manufacturer Manufacturer
Contractor Contractor
Steel Designer Steel Designer
Neutral Data Exchange Format
Building owner Building owner

Structural Structural
Designer Designer
Plant Designer Plant Designer
From direct translations to neutral data exchange
Fig. 1 Data exchange paradigms
107
2 STEELBASE PRODUCT DATA MODEL

The main objective of SteelBase has been the development of specification for product
data exchange between designers and manufacturers of constructional steelwork - bearing in
mind also the needs of other project participants. To achieve the goal, first the information
requirements from the manufacturers' and designers' point of view have been defined and then
available data models have been evaluated against these requirements.
The information that can be exchanged using SteelBase data model includes geometry
and spatial configuration of steel structure with material specification, as well as the
composition relationships. The key concepts are:
- Assemblies, composed in workshop or on site,
- Parts, fabricated of plates or linear components,
- Standard sections (e.g. HEA) and SteelBase specified welded profiles,
- Connectors: standard bolts/screws, nuts and washers, e.g. M20x70 in EN24014,
- Features, e.g. holes, cut-outs, skewed ends,
- Material, as reference to standard material, e.g. S355J0 in EN 10025,
- Surface treatment specification.
In addition, general information on structure, project and related documents (drawings
and schedules) can be included.
The governing principle for targeted data exchange was the use of STEP [1]
technology: data model specification in EXPRESS language and physical data exchange
using the ISO 10303-21 file format. Furthermore, the compliance with international
standardisation is achieved by developing the data exchange specification on the CIMsteel
Integration Standards (CIS Version 1, Data Exchange Protocol DEP 4: Detailing) [2]. Only a
subset of DEP 4 is used, but with a considerable amount of "Finnish flavouring" to satisfy the
specific requirements of the local industry. The resulting specification is published in [3].
3. CONCLUSION
The STEP based product data technology is a prominent solution for data exchange
problem in steel construction industry. However, small steps on the path towards product
model based information sharing must be enabled. In SteelBase this is done by additional data
models and exchange formats, e.g. StB-model exchange for a minimal subset of information,
or manufacturers' TXREC-data exchange for the full SteelBase information content but using
a record based file instead of STEP file. For the promotion of SteelBase specifications and
product data exchange, a support tool StBrowser is developed. This provides data conversion
between the different formats and output of bills of material in SteelBase specified form.
Next step in SteelBase will be data model update for emerging CIS version 2 and at
the same time solicitation of implementation in steel design packages. Further in the future,
the scope expansion to cover structural design information will be considered.
Acknowledgement
The Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association FCSA and all the participating
companies are acknowledged for their effort and funding in the SteelBase project, as well as
the Finnish Technology Development Centre TEKES for their financial support.
References
[1] ISO: Industrial automation systems and integration - Product data representation and
exchange, ISO 10303-11, Geneve, 1994.
[2] CIMsteel: CIMsteel Integration Standards (Release One), University of Leeds,
Department of Civil Engineering, 1995.
[3] Heinisuo M.: Modeling Guide of SteelBase systems for data exchange of structural
steelworks, Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association FCSA, 1997.
108
PREDICTION OF DEFECTS IN STEEL CASTINGS WITH A

MULTI-PHYSICS NUMERICAL CODE
K Pericleous, C Bailey, M Cross, G Taylor, G Moran@, S Bounds†,

University of Greenwich, London SE18 6PF,UK, (Email: k.pericleous@gre.ac.uk)
@ †
Currently at: AEA Tech., Oxford, British-Aerospace SRC, Bristol
Keywords: Defect Prediction, Castings, Multi-Physics Modelling
Abstract: This project concerns the development of an advanced 3D multi-physics numerical code to model
the shape-casting process for metals. The complex geometrical shapes encountered in industrial castings are
tackled using novel unstructured-mesh-finite-volume (UMFV) techniques. To improve the reliability of cast
components, especially at the high integrity end of the market, the main objective of this work, is to predict
the common defects present in castings and the identify the reasons behind them. The models, which include
coupled fluid flow, heat transfer, solidification and thermal deformation, are validated against actual castings
and where appropriate, analytic solutions.
1 INTRODUCTION
During the past decade or so, there has been a concerted effort to develop simulation
tools to model the essential aspects of the casting process (e.g. [1-3]). This paper summarises
six years of work by the investigators towards this goal.
The prime objectives of this work are, to develop, implement and test a casting modelling
software tool to simulate:− (1) filling and residual flow behaviour, (2) the solidification behaviour of a
range of materials (e.g. both long and short freezing range alloys), (3)the elasto-viscoplastic
behaviour of the solid component and its distortion, including 3D metal-mould contact
phenomena, (4) the formation of macro- and micro-porosity, (5) the impact of feeding
shrinkage. All this, to be achieved in complex 3D geometries and for a range of shape-casting
processes, including investment and directional single-crystal systems.
2 THE PROCESS MODELLED

The casting of metals into a final shape is a complex process that spans traditional
discipline boundaries. It is convenient from the modelling point of view to split casting into a
series of steps, starting with the filling of the mould and finishing with the final solid product.
This division however, should not detract from the fact that these steps are usually strongly
interacting (e.g. filling often accompanied by solidification and thermal stress).
Mould Filling
Mould filling is the first step that deals with the “simple” process of hot metal poured
into a shaped cavity. However, from the fluid dynamics point of view, this is a two-phase
problem (at least!). The gas-liquid interface changes rapidly with time, the flow is turbulent
and solidification/re-melting occurs in thin layers close to the mould-metal contact points.
Correct description of filling is important, since: (a) It determines how – or whether – gas is
expelled by the incoming liquid, (b) it determines the post-fill temperature distribution in the
metal at the start of solidification, (c) it determines the amount of surface activity and
turbulence that is instrumental to oxide entrainment, and (d) it identifies regions where
premature freezing may take place.
In contrast to most other researchers in the field, who choose to neglect the gas phase,
the fluid flow equations (mass, momentum and energy) are solved in both the liquid and gas
phases, using the “SEA” algorithm, [3,4]. The salient features of the method follow:-
109
• Solve the transport equation for a conserved scalar φ, which moves with the fluid and
has values 1 or 0 in 100% liquid or 100% gas respectively, and values between these
extremes in mixture regions, where the interface lies;
• use a 2nd-order accurate TVD numerical scheme, to track accurately in time the
interface, in a fixed Eulerian mesh.
• Solve for volume conservation (rather than mass) to prevent errors due the disparity in
convection coefficients caused by large density differences across the interface.
This scheme was modified for use in an unstructured mesh 3D environment, where it was
shown tolerant to severe grid distortions [4]. The filling stage in the casting process is
computationally the most demanding; the front tracking is explicit, requiring very small
timesteps, typically of the order of 1ms.
Residual Flow and Solidification
At the end of the filling stage, flow is buoyancy driven residual convection, caused by
temperature or concentration gradients in the liquid metal. Thermal boundary conditions,
thickness of the mould, presence of chills, etc, determine temperature gradients. Solute
transport in solidifying alloys introduces additional density variations that are responsible for
macro-segregation defects. These factors have also been accounted for in the model [5]. The
enthalpy method has been used to model solidification. As solidification proceeds, a mushy
zone develops, which introduces a flow resistance, or changes the solid-liquid mixture
rheology. Depending on alloy type and temperature, an immobile mesh of columnar dendrites
may develop, represented using the Blake-Kozeny equation. If the mush has a eutectic-
equiaxed composition, an exponential viscosity increase is introduced.
Macro-porosity Formation
Shrinkage in the solidifying mush and the presence of gas leads to the appearance of
voids or “cold shuts” in the casting. Since the algorithm accounts for both gas and liquid
transport this effect can be easily modelled.
Internal shrinkage porosity occurs in thick sections of the casting, when a closed
temperature contour marks a solid region containing a liquid core. As the liquid contracts by
cooling, the pressure is reduced, leading to gas evolution. At the same time, the liquid is
constrained by the presence of dendrites; these effects plus gas-liquid gravity separation
determine the location and size of the affected region. Novel criteria based on local pressure
and feeding resistance through the mush have been introduced for this purpose and tested
against specially commissioned physical experiments [6,7]. Close to the mould wall, gas can
be entrained through the wall if this is porous. A Darcy type resistance connecting the casting
to the ambient air has been introduced for this purpose.
Thermo-mechanical Effects
As the metal becomes solid, thermal stresses within it, coupled to reaction loads from
the mould lead to distortion, which can range from viscoplastic to elastic as temperature
decreases. In addition to undesirable geometry changes to the cast component and in some
cases the appearance of cracks or tears, the mould may separate from the cast leading to the
development of gaps. These gaps have an important influence on the local heat-transfer
coefficient and affect the solidification history of the casting. The mechanical properties of
the mould have a role to play here; a “soft” yielding wall will distort with the cast at contact
points, whilst a rigid die cast wall will not.
To accommodate these effects, the code switches from a fluid flow solver to a solid
mechanics solver in regions where the solidus temperature has been reached. The
computational mesh, which is made up of mould and mesh components, remains that used for
the flow/heat transfer module, but it is now allowed to distort, so that strains may be
accommodated and gaps develop. A complex 3D contact algorithm has been developed to
enable proper interaction between mould and cast that allows stress computation in both [7].
110
The code PHYSICA–SCM has evolved in this work, designed from the onset as a multi-
physics code. It possesses some unique characteristics in its data structure, mesh definition and in its
modular construction, to facilitate complex analysis. PHYSICA uses an unstructured FV mesh,
but FE type data structure. This is to: (a) accommodate the complex geometry of castings and
running systems, (b) use the optimum method for fluid flow simulation and (c) perform
stress-strain computations in the mould and in the time-changing solidified metal regions.
Fluid variables are stored in the cell centres, whilst displacements are computed at the cell
vertices. Details of the methods used for this discretisation can be found in the reference [7].
3 MODEL VALIDATION AND APPLICATION

As this work progressed, each specific module was carefully validated, against a range of
benchmark tests from many sources. Due to lack of space, only one of these tests is given here.
The NGL “Tree” – a comprehensive study [6]
Performed by NGL, a series of experiments was conducted to highlight many of the
phenomena and defects we were trying to predict. Particularly the freezing of thin sections
(cold shuts) and macro-porosity formation. A “tree” structure of branching rectangular
sections of varying thickness was cast by in steel, using the Durville rotation method to
control the filling – a photo. of the inverted mould, CAD models of the cast and the mould,
plus a photograph of the macro-porosity and cold shut defects observed is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows three stages during the filling, reflecting the rotational effects. A
thermal imaging camera was used to measure surface temperatures of the investment casting
mould. Figure 3(b) shows direct comparison of temperature between experiment and
computation, with Figure 3(c) comparing the temperature history of two branches. However,
the most important predictions are of defects: (1) the cold-shut formation, (Figure 3(a)) and
(2) the shrinkage porosity in the stem and top branch of the tree (Figure 3(d)). These
predictions can only be obtained by the coupled approach proposed.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper described an advanced numerical model for metal castings. The model,
incorporated in the code PHYSICA, features a full coupling of fluid flow, heat transfer and
solid mechanics phenomena and allows accurate prediction of a number of important defects.
The capabilities of the model in this respect, extend beyond anything available anywhere in
the community, either from academic or commercial sources. Uniquely, in this model, key
defects of major industrial significance are predicted as a function of the interaction of
physical phenomena and not some empirical criterion.
Reliable predictions will allow castings to be used more extensively in the steel structures.
References
1. Lewis RW et al. “Casting modelling by finite elements”, TMS-AIME pp 4-13, 1991
2. MAGMAsoft, MAGMA Gmbh, Aachen, Germany
3. Pericleous K, Chan K and Cross M “Free surface flow and heat transfer in cavities – the
SEA algorithm”, Num. Heat Transfer B,27:487-505 (1995)
4. Moran et al. “3D free surface modelling in an unstructured mesh …”, CSIRO publ. pp
321-328, Australia, ISBN 0643 063064, 1997
5. Bounds et al. “FV modelling of shrinkage porosity in metal casting” MCWASP VIII
proc., San Diego, USA 1998, Publ. TMS, Thomas et al. (Eds)
6. Moran G et al “Prediction of cold-shuts using an UMFV code”, MCWASP VIII, pp101-
108, publ. TMS, Thomas et al. (eds) 1998
7. Taylor G et al.”3D FV approach to thermo-mechanical modelling of shape casting in
metals” MCWASP VIII, pp755-762, publ. TMS, Thomas et al. (eds) 1998
111
Casting Mould Centreline porosity
Shrinkage
porosity
Durville process
Cold-shuts
Figure 1: The NGL “Tree” investment casting and defects
8.
Blue = Air
Red = Metal
5.5s 7s 10s
Figure 2: Filling by rotation

Figure 3: Prediction of defects
Experiment Simulation
Bottom fin •A
Blue = Air
Red = Metal
•B
a) Cold-shut prediction b) Temperature prediction vs. expt.

c) Temperature history
850
800
750
Temperature (C)
700
650
A - Predicted
600 B - Predicted
A - Measured
550
B - Measured
500
d) Shrinkage porosity 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
112 Time (s)

SAFETY OF BURIED STEEL PIPELINES SUBJECTED TO

EXPLOSIONS
113
114
115
116
A NEURAL NETWORK APPROACH TO THE ELASTOPLASTIC

IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL PROBLEMS OF STEEL
STRUCTURES IN THE PRESENCE OF WORK-HARDENING
Aris V. Avdelas
Institute of Steel Structures, Dept. of Civil Engineering
Aristotle University, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece
Keywords: Steel Structures, Elastoplastic Analysis, Workhardening, Neural Networks
Abstract: Most structural steels under continued straining develop work-hardening. This in
general improves the load carrying capacity of the structure and reduces the deformations in
the plastic range. The structural analysis problem of the elastoplastic analysis of structures
obeying work-hardening laws can be formulated, by the help of the theory of Linear
Complementarity Problems and the use of Variational Inequalities, as a Quadratic
Optimization Problem with inequality subsidiary conditions. For the treatment of these
conditions a neural network model of analog neurons with nonlinear behaviour and with a
high degree of interconnections is proposed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are information processing systems composed of a
large number of simple processing elements with nonlinear behavior, called artificial neurons,
which are interconnected by direct links having variable weights, called connections and
which cooperate to perform parallel distributed processing in order to solve a computational
task. An ANN is defined by its node characteristics, the learning rules and the network
topology. Very interesting features of ANNs are their capability to adapt themselves to the
condition of the specific problem they must solve and their learning capability.
Most structural steels under continued straining develop work-hardening. As a result,
the load carrying capacity of the structure is generally improved and the deformations in the
plastic range are reduced. Work-hardening is a very important feature of structural steels and
modern norms, in order to ensure adequate hinge rotation capacity in plastically designed
framing, give special attention to the possibility of steel sections to compress plastically to
work-hardening without buckling. It must be noted that, if a structural member is fabricated
of a material exhibiting very limited work-hardening, it will experience very high local strains
and this will lead to local instability or, if this is prevented, to fracture of the material.
Work-hardening is also very important in the case of frames subject to variable repeated
loading.
In the present paper, the structural analysis problem of the elastoplastic analysis of
structures obeying work-hardening laws is adapted to a neural network computing
environment. The capability of ANNs to solve optimization problems was one of the first
applications and constitutes one of their major advantages. Concerning the calculations, a
neural network environment has many advantages: (i) Round-off errors are minimized. (ii)
The treatment of an inequality constrained Quadratic Programming Problem (QPP) is equally
time consuming as an unconstrained QPP. (iii) The neural network approach does not need
large quantities of memory. (iv) The parameter identification problem and the sensitivity
analysis are treated directly in a natural way without the need for complicated algorithms.
The numerical examples have been solved by simulating the neural environment on a
classical computer. Finally the inverse problem of elastoplasticity is formulated as a
supervised learning problem and is solved by the "perceptron" algorithm.
117
2 ELASTOPLASTIC ANALYSIS AND THE NEURAL NETWORKS TECHNIQUE

In this paper, the elastoplastic analysis problem of structures obeying work-hardening
laws will be formulated for a given Μ - φ law as a QPP solved through the Hopfield neural
network model [2], [3]. The minimum propositions used here, have been derived by Maier [4]
by the use of the theory of the Linear Complementarity Problems (LCP) and by
Panagiotopoulos by the use of Variational Inequalities [1], [5]. In the following, only the
incremental elastoplastic analysis will be briefly presented. The holonomic analysis leads to
QPPs having the same structure as the ones of the incremental theory. Under the assumptions
described by Maier in [4], the relations of incremental elastoplastic analysis in the presence of
work-hardening, formulated for the assembled structure, are:
e = e0 + e E + e P (1)
e = F0 s, e P = Wλ , F = N T s − Hλ (2)
λ ≥ 0, F ≤ 0, F T λ = 0 (3)
Further, the equilibrium Gs + K G u = p and compatibility e = G T u equations hold.

Relations (3) form a LCP [4]. By using the same notation assumptions and substitutions as in
[1], [6], it can be proved, either by the LCP approach proposed by Maier or by the use of
Variational Inequalities as in [1], [5], that relations (1)-(3) are equivalent to the QPP (primal
problem)
⎧ 1 ⎫
min ⎨ P ( x) = x T Mx + q T x x ≥ 0⎬ , (4)
⎩ 2 ⎭
Matrix M is generally symmetric and positive semi-definite. Through the appropriate

substitutions and assumptions [1], [6], the minimization problem
⎧ 1 ⎫
min ⎨ R(λ ) = λΤ Dλ + ( N T s E ) T λ λ ≥ 0⎬ (5)
⎩ 2 ⎭
is obtained, by the use again either of the LCP approach or of Variational Inequalities. Thus,
the main problem can be put in the following form: Find x ∈ ℜ n such as to solve the
problem
⎧1 ⎫
min ⎨ x T Mx − q T x x ≥ 0⎬ . (6)
⎩2 ⎭
Here M = {μij}is a given matrix and q = {qi} is a given vector. Equation (6) will be
solved by the use of the Hopfield neural network model [2], [3]. If fi is the general
performance of the neurons, ρi (resp. Ci), i=1,...,n are the input resistors (resp. capacitors), Vj
is the output voltage of the amplifier j and uj is the input voltage, then if a synapse of the
neurons i, j is excitatory (resp. recessional) and the synapse conductance Tij is realized
through a resistor Rij, whose absolute value is equal to 1 / Tij , the resistor is connected to the
positive (resp. negative) output of the amplifier j. Each neuron receives also an externally
supplied input current Ii. The evolution with time t of the circuit, is described by equations
derived by means of Kirchoff's law. As it can be proved [2], [3], if in the fictitious network
118
which we have introduced Tji=Tij (the original Hopfield model), the solution of the general
problem converges to solutions with the outputs ui of all neurons constant. Each such solution
is called a stable state and makes stationary (here minimum) the Liapunov function of the
system.
3 THE SOLUTION OF THE QUADRATIC OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM BY THE

USE OF NEURAL NETWORKS
The inequality constrained quadratic optimization problem has the following form:
⎧ 1 ⎫
min ⎨ f ( x) = x T Mx + q T x Ax − b ≥ 0, x ≥ 0⎬ , (7)
⎩ 2 ⎭
where M is symmetric positive definite matrix and x ∈ ℜ n , q ∈ ℜ n , b ∈ ℜ n , A ∈ ℜ n . As it can

be proved, the above QPP can be solved by the use of the penalty method [7]. For x ≥ 0 , the
energy function of the problem takes the form
2
k m m
E ( x, k ) = f ( x) + ∑ ([ri ( x)] − ) or E ( x, k ) = f ( x) − k ∑ [ri ( x)] − (8)
2 i =1 i =1
where k ≥ 0 is the penalty parameter, ri ( x) = ∑ j −1 aij x j − bi is the residual error and

m
[ri ] − = min{0, ri } is the penalty function term. The energy function formulated either as in
the first or the second of equations (8) can be expressed, by the use of the gradient approach
[7], in the form of a system of differential equations
dx j ⎡ n m ⎤
= − μ ⎢ q j + ∑ m ji xi + ∑ S i aij γ i ⎥ , j = 1,2,..., n . (9)
dt ⎢⎣ i =1 i =1 ⎥⎦
Here μ , k > 0 , S i = 1 if ri ( x) < 0 , S i = 0 if ri ( x) ≥ 0 and γ i = ri (x) and γ i = −1

if the energy function has the form of the first or the second of equations (8) respectively. The
above system of differential equations is easily simulated by an ANN [7]. In the special case
that M is symmetric and positive semidefinite, the QPP takes the form
⎧ 1 ⎫
min ⎨ f ( x) = x T Mx + q T x x ≥ 0⎬ . (10)
⎩ 2 ⎭
In this case the system of differential equations (9) takes the form
dx j ⎡ n ⎤
= − μ ⎢ q j + ∑ m ji xi ⎥ , j = 1,2,..., n . (11)
dt ⎣⎢ i =1 ⎦⎥
4 NUMERICAL APPLICATIONS IN A NEURAL NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

As a numerical application, a frame has been solved in a neural network environment.
It is assumed that the material law is piecewise-linear work-hardening, the inelastic
deformations concentrate in single sections causing rotations φ and the moment-rotation law
is reversible (holonomic). The more general nonholonomic case reduces to a sequence of
holonomic problems. The frame problem takes the QPP form [6] (c.f. also relation (5))
119
⎧ 1 ⎫
min ⎨ R(λ ) = λT Dλ − ( N T s E − k ) T λ λ ≥ 0⎬ , (12)
⎩ 2 ⎭
The calculation has been performed both by a classical QPP algorithm [8], [6] and by
embedding the QPP into a neural network environment. In the first case, the values of the
plastic multipliers λ have been obtained in a finite number of steps for different values of the
load factor. Since φ = Nλ , s P = Zφ and s = s E + s P , the total moments vector s can be
obtained for each loading case [6]. In the second case, the problem has been solved in a
neural network environment. By the use of numerical experiments, it has been concluded that
the neural network approach is very insensitive to changes of the initial conditions.
5 FORMULATION OF THE PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION PROBLEM AS A

SUPERVISED LEARNING PROBLEM OF A NEURAL NETWORK
In computational analysis the problem in which for a prescribed solution, those elastic
properties and/or geometric quantities are sought which will supply a solution very close or
identical to the prescribed one can be expressed as a not easily solvable parameter
identification problem (PIP). In a neural environment, the PIP can be can be treated very
easily if it is formulated as a "supervised learning" problem [9]. The learning, because it is
guided by taking into account what is sought to be achieved, is called "supervised". The
"perceptron learning algorithm" has been used here, where for the adaptation of the weights a
learning rule analogous to the Widrow-Hoff learning rule [9] has been applied. As an
example, an identification problem has been studied for a framed structure for which the
bending moments for certain loading cases are known and an estimation is sought of the load
factors from which prescribed moment distributions result. It must be noted that the loading
cases obtained through the learning algorithm lead to moment distributions which have, up to
the third digit, the same value as the moment distributions obtained by the direct method.
This paper is dedicated to the memory of professor P.D. Panagiotopoulos
References
[1] Panagiotopoulos, P.D.: Inequality Problems in Mechanics and Applications, Convex and
Nonconvex Energy functions, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, Boston (1985) (Russian Translation,
MIR Publ., Moscow, (1989)).
[2] Hopfield, J.J.: Neural Networks and Physical Systems with Emergent Collective
Computational Abilities, Proc. of the Nat. Acad. of Sciences 79, 2554-2558 (1982).
[3] Hopfield, J.J. and Tank, D.W.: "Neural" Computation of Decisions in Optimization
Problems, Biol. Cybern. 52, 141-152 (1985).
[4] Maier, G.: Incremental Plastic Analysis in the Presence of Large Displacements and
Physical Instabilizing Effects, Int. J. Solids Struct. 7, 345-372 (1971).
[5] Panagiotopoulos, P.D.: Variational Inequalities and Multilevel Optimization Technique in
the Theory of Plasticity, Comp. & Struct. 8, 649-650 (1978).
[6] Avdelas, A.V.: Application of the Quadratic Programming Methods in the Problems of
the Theory of Plasticity , Doct. Dissertation (in Greek) Dept. of Civil Engineering, Aristotle
University, Thessaloniki 1987.
[7] Cichocki A. and Unbehauen R.: Neural Networks for Optimization and Signal Processing,
J. Wiley, Chichester (1993).
[8] Keller, E.L.: The General Quadratic Optimization Problem, Mathematical Programming,
5, 311-337 (1973).
[9] Beal, R. and Jackson, T.: Neural Computing. An Introduction, Adam Hilger, Bristol
(1990).
120
NEW WINRAMI-PROGRAM BASED ON OLE2 TECHNIQUE
Witting K.
121
122
123
124
COLUMN STRENGTH CURVES IN VIEW OF HIGHER LEVEL

RELIABILITY APPROACH
Zoltán Sadovský, Pavel Nádaský

Institute of Construction and Architecture, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 842 20 Bratislava,
Slovak Republic
Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Slovak Technical University, Dept. of Metal and Timber
Structures, Radlinského 11, 813 68 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Steel Structures, Stochastic Buckling, Column Strength

Curves
Abstract: The contribution presents results of a parametric study on column strength curves
using a third moment reliability method based on FORM. The investigations extend over the
wide range of practically available hot-rolled sections. The uncertainties of basic variables, i.e.
material properties and cross-section dimensions, member and material imperfections are
treated. An ultimate limit-state defined by the load carrying capacity of a column in elastic-
plastic flexural buckling is assumed. The study attempts to draw an updated view on
assignment of selected groups of cross-sections to representative column strength curves.
1 INTRODUCTION
The present multiple column strength curves of Eurocode 3 (ENV-1993-1-1) resulted
from an extensive theoretical and experimental research, c.f. [1], [2]. Selection of each curve
representating the strength for a group of cross-sections has been carried out mainly by the
shape and residual stresses due to the different manufacturing procedures. Stochastic
considerations, whenever employed, were based on the second moment method using normal
[1] and later log-normal distribution for resistance [3].
A challenging idea — to find out how the column strength curves comply with
theoretical predictions based on an up to date higher level reliability approach, led to outline
of a research program. Issuing from the long-term successful research on investigation of
inclusion of skewness in probability-based design of structures carried out by Mrázik, Tichý
and Vorliček, c.f. [4], [5], a third moment reliability method was chosen. New results [6], [7],
showing by an idealized error estimate of reliability verification of structural component that
neglect of the coefficient of skewness leads to highly non-uniform approximation of the target
reliability index over the range of practically occuring cases, support the choice. The third
moment identification of model resistance is obtained following the procedure based on
FORM [8]. As an effective tool, the recently developed algorithm for determination of the
design point employing curvature of failure surface is used [9]. Since the first contribution
[10], several partial results were published. Due to not comprehensive statistical data and
model uncertainty the study of relative quantities and comparative calculations are
emphasised.
2 THEORETICAL MODEL
The ultimate limit-state is defined by the load carrying capacity of a column in flexural
buckling assuming ideal elastic-plastic stress-strain diagram. For the limit-state evaluations the
“modified column deflection curve’s” method [11] is adopted. A crucial point of the
evaluations is a numerical calculation of the moment-curvature-axial force relationship. It is
125
obtained by cross-section equilibrium equations dividing the cross-section under

consideration into at about 1000 elements and then finding relative moments at constant thrust
for increasing sequence of relative curvature values. The step length of the sequence is taken
0.01 till twice of the “yield curvature” bound is reached. Not less important for stochastic
analysis is an effective computation of the ultimate limit-state.
A non-dimensional resistance function is considered as the ratio
σ uA
R= (1)
f yn An
where σu and A denote the ultimate strength and cross-section area and fyn, An are the nominal
values of material yield strength and cross-section area. We assume that R is a function of the
random yield strength fy, modulus of elasticity E, initial deflection amplitude e0, residual
stresses magnitude ⏐σres⏐ and cross-section dimensions: height h, flange width b, web and
flange thicknesses tw, tf. The design values Rd are calculated as 0.001 fractiles of R (1), c.f.
[12]. This choice corresponds to the target reliability index βt=3.8, given in Eurocode 1 as an
indicative value “appropriate for most cases”. The nominal values Rn are evaluations of R for
nominal and characteristic (e0k) values of the random variables.
Following recommendations for theoretical analysis [1] (see Fig. 2.2.11) several
patterns of residual stresses are considered. For h/b≤1.2 they are the linear pattern with
compressive stresses in the flange tips of 0.5fyn and uniform tensile stresses in the web and the
parabolic distributions in flanges and web having compressive stresses in the flange tips of
0.5fyn and tensile stresses at the web to flange junction of 0.4fyn. For h/b>1.2 the parabolic
distributions with both maximal compressive and tension stresses in flanges of 0.3fyn and
Young’s distribution are assumed.
3 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Generally, there were studied the first three moments and the design and nominal
values of R (1), as well as the design point sensitivity factors. The results are referred to the
nominal slenderness ratio λ n and calculated for λ n := 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4.
Let us illustrate the influence of the probability distribution of initial deflection
amplitude upon the design values Rd, i.e. the effect not tractable by deterministic analysis
(nominal values Rn). Three types of the distributions were assumed: the half-normal
distribution and two log-normal distributions having the mean value of one half and of one
third of the characteristic value, c.f. [10]. In each case, the characteristic value equates 0.001
of the bar length — the limiting value of the out of straightness of bars following standards of
workmanship tolerances, with assigned 95% probability. Since the half-normal and former
log-normal distributions yield close results, we consider here only log-normal distributions.
Fig. 1 shows the “aggressivity” of the latter log-normal distribution. Even cutting the tail of
the distribution at 0.999-fractile to exclude values away of practically reasonable limits we
obtained significantly lower design values (see [8] for Monte Carlo verifications).
In Fig. 2 the weak axis buckling design values Rd are shown for various sizes of the
type HE A profiles assuming corresponding patterns of residual stresses and the “non-
aggressive” probability distribution of initial deflection amplitude. The profiles HE 400÷1000
A having h/b>1.2 are assigned to the buckling curve “b” while the remaining ones to the
buckling curve “c” of Eurocode 3. The results allow to study variations of nominal cross-
section dimensions and patterns of residual stresses from the viewpoint of the design values.
4 CONCLUSIONS
126
Despite the presence of residual stresses the influence of probability distribution of

initial deflection amplitude upon the design values Rd may be significant, Fig. 1.
In compliance with the deterministic analysis [1], variations of nominal cross-section
dimensions negligibly effects the design values, see Fig. 2. However change in residual stress
pattern due to size variation within the profiles assigned to the same representative column
strength curve may yield differences of the order adjusted between the curves, Fig. 2.
Particularly it holds for medium and smaller slenderness ratios. We note that in [13] the
suggestion for a reconsideration of the assignment has been drawn on the basis of stochastic
analysis of columns having cross-sections HE 100 A, HE 160 A and HE 360 A, λ n = 1.0 and
the “aggressive” type of probability distribution of initial deflection amplitude.
Acknowledgement
This research performed at the Institute of Construction and Architecture of the Slovak
Academy of Sciences in Bratislava was partially supported by the Slovak Grant Agency for
Science under Grant No. 2/5102/98.
References
[1] Second Int. Colloq. on Stability, Introductory Report, ECCS 1976.
[2] Eurocode 3, ENV-1993-1-1: 1991, Background Doc. 5.03, “Evaluation of test results on
columns, beams and beam-columns with cross-sectional classes 1 - 3 in order to obtain
strength functions and suitable model factors”, CEN, Brussels, 1989.
[3] Kersken-Bradley, M., Maier, W., Rackwitz, R., Vrouwenvelder, A., at al., “Estimation of
Structural Properties by Testing for Use in Limit State Design”, JCSS Working Doc.,
IABSE, Zürich, 1991.
[4] Mrázik, A. and Križma, M., “Probability-based design standards of structures”. Structural
Safety, 19(2), 1997, pp.219-234.
[5] Tichý, M., Applied Methods of Structural Reliability. Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Dordrecht, 1993.
[6] Sadovský, Z.: “Influence of Skewness on Reliability Verification and Safety Factors”, In:
Basis of Design and Actions on Structures, Background and Application of Eurocode 1.
IABSE Colloquium Delft, Delft Univ., 1996, 291-300.
[7] Sadovský, Z.: ”Asymptotic analysis of asymmetric reliability margin”, Structural Safety,
18(1996), 33-47.
[8] Sadovský, Z. - Páleš, D. : “Third-moment identification of resistance by FORM”. Building
Research Journal, 47(1999), 3, (to appear).
[9] Sadovský, Z. , “Curvature employing algorithm for determination of the design point”. In:
Proc. ICOSSAR’93, Innsbruck 9-13 August 1993, Eds. Schueller, G. I., Shinozuka, M.,
and Yao, J. T. P., Vol 2, Balkema, Rotterdam (1994), 1399-1402.
[10] Sadovský, Z. - Nádaský, P. - Páleš, D., “Stochastic elastic-plastic column buckling”, in:
Proc. 18. Czech-Slovak Int. Conf. “Steel Structures and Bridges”, Brno 28.-30.5.1997,
CENTA, Brno, 1997, 2:71-76.
[11] Chen, W. F. and Atsuta , T.: Theory of Beam-columns, Volume 1: In-plane behavior
and design. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company 1976.
[12] Sadovský, Z., “Constant probability design values — A structural reliability design
concept”, J. of Structural Engineering, 25(1), 1998, 31-36.
[13] Melcher, J.- Sadovský, Z. - Kala, Z.- Nádaský, P.: “Ultimate Strength and Design Limit
State of Compression Members in the Structural System”. In: SSRC Annual Technical
Session & Meeting , Atlanta, Sept. 1998 (to appear).
127
I
HE 360 A
0,9
R nominal
0,8
R design
0,7 μe0=e0k/2
Rd, Rn
μe0=e0k/3
0,6 μe0=e0k/3, tail cut
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,6 0,8 1,0 _ 1,2 1,4
λn
Fig. 1 The weak axis buckling design and nominal resistances of HE 360 A section column,
the influence of probability distribution of initial deflection amplitude.
Young σres
parabolic
linear σres
1,0 parabolic σres (0.3 fyn)

σres (0.5 fyn)
0,9
λn= 0.6
0,8
0,7
Rd
0,6 λn= 1.0

0,5
0,4
λn= 1.4
0,3
0,2 e0 log=normal, μe0=e0k/2

0,1
0,0
HE A 100 120 240 360 400 500 550 1000
Fig. 2 The weak axis buckling design resistances, the effects of residual stress pattern and
nominal section dimensions variations.
128
STOCHASTIC BUCKLING OF PLATE STRIP DEGRADED BY

LOCALIZED CORROSION
Miloš Drdácký1, Zoltán Sadovský2

1
Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, 190 00 Prague 9, Czech Republic
2
Institute of Construction and Architecture, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 842 20 Bratislava,
Slovak Republic
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Steel Structures, Plate Strip, Buckling, Corrosion Damage
Abstract: An experimental study concerning buckling of thin plates with free unloaded edges,
damaged by corrosion, was recently carried out [1]. A simple semi-empirical formula has been
obtained linking together critical loads and corrosion loss of weight. In this contribution we
suggest a stochastic model of the problem. The measured data in [1] are employed in an
assessment of probability distribution of corrosion loss of weight. The intact plate thickness, the
modulus of elasticity and the position of attacked area of a chosen extent are other three basic
random variables. The design and mean values of the critical loads are calculated and the
results are referred to the upper bound of probability distribution of corrosion loss of weight. A
remarkable analogy to the above mentioned semi-empirical formula is shown.
1 INTRODUCTION
Localized corrosion is characterized by a limited extent attack on an exposed surface
leaving unaffected the remaining surface. A localized reduction of thickness of structural
components due to corrosion may be particularly harmful to thin-walled structures which are
susceptible to instability phenomena. In this conjunction an experimental research has been
carried out on square plates loaded in in-plane uniform compression [1]. The tests
arrangement used a simple support of the loaded edges while the unloaded edges were free.
On the square samples a uniform mesh of nine sub-squares was marked. The plates were
exposed to a corrosive solution over a number of different sub-squares and their
combinations, protecting the remaining parts by a lacquer coating. After a specified time the
samples were cleaned and evaluated for the attack. The corrosion effects were measured by
the loss of weight and the extent of the invaded area. Then the tests for experimental
assessment of the buckling load were carried out. A regression analysis of the results showed
that a decrease of critical loads correlates with an increase of mas losses and may be roughly
estimated by a linear function for a slight corrosion damages.
Since corrosion attack is a stochastic phenomenon, with respect to the extent as well
as the position of attacked area, an adequate theoretical treatment of both effects is important.
In this pilot study we suggest a stochastic approach using a simplified mechanical model of
the problem. Numerical results are obtained by employing the data from [1]. Design values of
the plate buckling resistance are defined as 0.1%-fractiles following [2] and are calculated by
the Monte Carlo simulation. For parallel FORM-based determinations of the corresponding
design points the curvature employing algorithm [3] is used. We show a line-symbol plot of
the design and mean values of the non-dimensionalized critical loads referred to the
percentage of the upper bound of the corrosion loss of weight. The lines are drawn for several
values of a parameter describing the spread of the corroded area. We note that the reference
parameter may be related to the time of exposure of the plate to an invasive environment.
129
2 THEORETICAL MODEL
Consider a thin plate strip of the length A, the width B and the thickness t. The plate is
subjected to a uniform in-plane compression, having simply supported loaded edges and free
unloaded edges. It is well known that the buckling mode is of a cylindrical shape. The
corresponding elastic critical load can be obtained as Euler’s column buckling load corrected
by a factor expressing the influence of Poisson’s ratio ν. We adopt certain simplifying
assumptions allowing to employ the equilibrium equations of a column with abruptly varying
thickness for the case of corroded plate strip. Firstly, the eccentricity of one-sided corrosion is
neglected and corrosion is localized along the length lc in the load direction and full-spreaded
throughout the width. Further, the material of the attacked fillet is smeared to yield a uniform
reduced thickness tc by keeping the magnitude of the mass loss constant. Denoting by G and
Gc the weight of the non-corroded plate and the corrosion loss of weight, respectively, we
readily obtain
G A
t c = t( 1 − c ) (1)
G lc
The effect of smearing was checked at about 5% loss of weight. Dividing the plate
strip along the length into n equal-sized fillets of alternating full and reduced thicknesses, we
compared its critical load with that one of the mass equivalent plate strips with smeared
thickness. Increasing the number of fillets from n=21 to n=161 the differences in the critical
loads decreased from +2.45% to +1.77%.
We assume that the modulus of elasticity E, the intact thickness t, the mass loss Gc and
the coordinate of the centre of the corroded fillet are independent random variables. The
buckling resistance Pc of the corroded plate strip being a random function of the random
variables is studied in a non-dimensional form. We define a non-dimensional resistance
function R of the model referring Pc to the buckling load of the non-corroded plate:
Pc
R= (2)
π BEn tn3
2
12 A2 ( 1 − ν 2 )
where the subscript n denotes the nominal value of the random variable. The design values of
the resistance function R (2) are denoted as Rd while the mean values as μR.
The nominal values of random variables and deterministic quantities of the model are
taken from the paper [1]. Thus: En=210 (GPa), tn=1.5 (mm), A=B=200 (mm), ν=0.3. Due to
the definition of R (2), numerical evaluations of R are independent of the width B. In other
words, we may interpret R as set up for a plate strip of unite width.
A common assumption on the uncertainties of E and t is to adopt the normal
probability distributions, with the mean values equal to the nominal values, taking the
coefficients of variations vE=0.06 and vt=0.05. The random coordinate of the centre of the
corroded fillet is assumed to have an equal probability of occurrence from the outer to the
middle position. The uncertainty of the corrosion loss of weight Gc we assess by the measured
data [1]. Fig. 1 shows class frequency diagrams drawn for 6 and 12 class intervals ranging
from 0.8% to 4.8% of relative corrosion losses. We see that the uniform probability density
well describes the uncertainty of the data and can be applied in the theoretical study. The
upper bound Gck of the corrosion loss of weight is chosen as the characteristic value. Since
the ratio of the lower and upper bounds of measured values of weights of corrosion losses is
equal to 0.2, we adopt this factor to obtain the lower bound of Gc, irrespective of the
magnitude of Gck. An assessment of the upper and lower bounds completes the uncertainty
characterization of Gc.
130
4
class frequency
0
1 .0 1 .5 2 .0 2 .5 3 .0 3 .5 4 .0 4 .5
100 Gck/G
Fig. 1 Class frequency diagrams of mass loss parameter (measured in [1])
1.0
0.9
0.8
Rd, μR
0.7
0.6
0.5
Rd μR
0.4
lc=A
0.3 lc=A/3
lc=A/5
0.2
lc=A/10
0.1
0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5
100 Gck/G
131
Fig. 2 The design and mean values of the buckling resistance function of corroded plate strip
3 NUMERICAL STUDY
A parametric study of the model buckling resistance function R (2) of a plate strip
effected by localized corrosion has been undertaken. The identifications of resistance and the
design resistances were calculated assigning discrete values to the parameter defined by the
percentage of the relative corrosion loss of weight:
G
100 ck : = 0, 1, 3, 5 (3)
G
The variation of the characteristic value (the upper bound) of Gc obviously aims to show how
the degradation of resistance proceeds with the amount of corrosion attack. The second
investigated parameter is the length lc of corroded fillet in the load direction. The sequence of
its values is:
A
: = 1, 3, 5, 10 (4)
lc
We note that only simultaneous assignment of both parameters characterizes well the severity
of localized corrosion. In extreme case of a corroded fillet spread to one tenth of the plate
length and of 5% mass loss, the reduced thickness (1) is only 50% of the intact one.
Due to a lack of space we confine the presentation of results to Fig. 2 showing the
mean and design values of resistance for chosen values of parameters.
4. CONCLUSIONS
A stochastic model of buckling resistance of a plate strip attacked by localized
corrosion has been introduced and studied. Numerical results (Fig. 2) obtained for sequences
of parameters characterizing the rate of corrosion damage show that:
* The design and mean values of the resistance decrease with the increase of the mass
loss upper bound Gck and with the decrease of the length lc of the corrosion spread in the load
direction. In the most severe case of the attack studied, the design resistance is 53.4% of that
one of the non-corroded plate.
* If the corrosion occurs on a surface larger than one third of the plate length, which is
not a typical case, the functional dependence of the design and mean values of resistance on
the mass loss parameter are almost linear. This remarkably resembles the semi-empirical
formula in [1], although a direct comparison with the stochastic relationships, drawn in Fig. 2,
is not straightforward.
Acknowledgement
This research performed at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the
Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic in Prague and at the Institute of Construction and
Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava was partially supported by the
Grant Agency of the Czech Republic under Grant No. 103/97/S051 and Slovak Grant Agency
for Science under Grant No. 2/5102/98.
References
[1] Drdácký, M. and Lesák, J.: „Stability behaviour of thin walls with random damage“, Bull.
Tech. Univ. Istanbul, 47 (1994), 423-429.
[2] Sadovský, Z., „Constant probability design values — A structural reliability design
concept“, J. of Structural Engineering, 25(1), 1998, 31-36.
[3] Sadovský, Z. , „Curvature employing algorithm for determination of the design point“. In:
Proc. ICOSSAR’93, Innsbruck 9-13 August 1993, Eds. Schueller, G. I., Shinozuka, M.,
and Yao, J. T. P., Vol 2, Balkema, Rotterdam (1994), 1399-1402.
132
INFLUENCE OF THE STRESS-STRAIN LAW MODELLING

ON THE NON-LINEAR ANALYSIS OF STEEL STRUCTURES
António M. Baptista (1), Jean-Pierre Muzeau (2), Dinar Camotim (3)

(1)
LNEC, Av. do Brasil, 101 - 1799 LISBOA Codex, Portugal
(2)
LERMES / CUST, Blaise PASCAL Univ., BP 206, 63174 AUBIÈRE Cedex, France
(3)
Dept. Civil Eng., IST, Tech. Univ. of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Keywords: Elastic-plastic Analysis, Material Modelling, Cross-section Global Deformation,

Strain-hardening, Axial Load - Bending Moment Interaction.
Abstract: This paper presents a study of the non-linear behaviour of a steel cross-section,
using different stress-strain law representations and aimed at comparing their influence on the
internal forces evolution. The study is carried out by means of an efficient non-linear model,
based on the consideration of the cross-section global deformations. The results provide an
evaluation of the benefits achieved by improving the constitutive law representation.
Particular attention is paid to the situations in which the differences are more relevant.
1 INTRODUCTION
Non-linear analyses of steel structures are usually performed by means of numerical
models based on simplified stress-strain laws. The most commonly used are bi-linear, the two
segments representing the elastic and elastic-plastic steel regimes. A more accurate
representation of the actual behaviour may be obtained through multi-linear or non-linear
stress-strain laws, which allow a better fitting of the experimental curves. On the other hand,
the use of different constitutive laws may lead to significant differences in structural
behaviour.
Initially, this paper presents a mechanical model based on the analysis of the cross-
section global deformation. Then, the model is used to study the behaviour of an IPE steel
cross-section subjected to different global deformation paths. It is shown how the modelling
of the constitutive law affects the results of the cross-section elastic-plastic analysis.
The results of this investigation may help to choose the most convenient numerical
model or stress-strain law for a particular situation, depending on the characteristics of the
structure under consideration. A more refined estimate of the internal forces developed may
be useful to get a more realistic and accurate picture of their distribution among the structural
members, or may lead, for instance, to a better connection design.
2 NON-LINEAR MECHANICAL MODEL
The non-linear mechanical model used to perform this investigation is based on the
determination of the evolution of the cross-section global deformations εN and χ [1, 2], the
non-dimensional forms of which are represented by the “reduced variables”
η= εN ; μ = zM χ , (1)
ε1 ε1
designated, respectively, as "reduced axial deformation" and "reduced curvature". The scaling
variable ε1 is usually the material elastic strain limit and zM represents the maximum distance
between the cross-section centroid and its extreme (top or bottom) fibres.
The model may take into account the structural members (i) initial bow imperfections,
(ii) geometrically non-linear behaviours and (iii) global deformation interactions.
133
The material stress-strain law is modelled by a multi-linear function, which may be

different for tension and compression [2], and allows a good fitting of the steel real behaviour.
Both the effects of residual stresses and of the spread of yielding along the member length and
cross-section depth are also taken into account.
In reality, the steel behaviour may be limited by its ductility. The model also enables
the control of the cross-section ultimate limit states associated to this material property.
3 INFLUENCE OF THE STRESS-STRAIN LAW MODELLING

3.1 Constitutive laws and deformation paths
In order to study the influence of the model chosen to describe the material
constitutive law on the cross-section elastic-plastic behaviour, the evolution of the reduced
internal forces n = N/A fy and m = M/W fy of an IPE 120 cross-section, along three different
global deformation paths, is investigated. Four different constitutive laws are considered, the
first three (A, B and C) corresponding to different representations of the S235 steel behaviour
and the fourth one (D) to a steel behaviour characterised by the absence of a yielding plateau.
Law A models an elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour and law B stands for by a truly bi-
linear behaviour, by modelling the material strain-hardening. In order to model more closely
the actual behaviour of a low carbon steel, law C is represented by a multi-linear function
with four domains: an elastic zone, a yielding plateau and a bi-linear strain-hardening
behaviour up to failure. Finally, law D represents a steel behaviour without yielding plateau.
The values of ε1 and εy are identical for all four laws.
The evolution of the cross-section global deformations takes place along three
different paths (L1, L2 and L3), defined as follows: (i) η = 2μ with μ ≥ 0, for L1, (ii) η = μ
with μ ≥ 0, for L2 and (iii) η = μ / 2 with μ ≥ 0, for L3.
The numerical results (figs. 1, 2 and 3) show the growing influence of the constitutive
law used to model the material on the cross-section behaviour (internal force values), as the
deformations become progressively larger (particularly significant for η > 5 and μ > 5).
3.2 Evolution of the cross-section behaviour governed by the axial deformation
When the evolution of the cross-section behaviour is mainly governed by the axial
deformation (L1 path - fig. 1), the bending moment m experiences a sudden decrease
whenever the extreme fibre reaches its elastic limit (μ =1/3). For a perfect elastic-plastic
material behaviour (law A), m vanishes completely after the cross-section becomes fully
yielded in tension (μ =1). If the constitutive law takes strain-hardening into account (laws B,
C and D), the bending moment increases progressively for μ >1.
With law C, two inflections appear on the curve m-μ. They correspond to the lower
flange reaching each of the two strain-hardening domains (with different elastic moduli).
The real behaviour of the cross-section is better fitted by the curve corresponding to
law C, which models more closely the actual constitutive law of S235 steel. However, the real
curve m-μ should display a smoother evolution, without the discontinuities observed in fig. 1.
This means that the bi-linear law B leads to (i) an underestimation of the cross-section
bending resistance, at the start of the strain-hardening domain, and (ii) to an overestimation of
this resistance, as the deformations become relatively large (μ > 30).
In the case of law D, the same type of discontinuities can be observed in the m-μ
curve. Furthermore, it can be noted that this curve comes to an end when the extreme fibre
strain capacity is reached (μ =55,6).
As shown in fig. 1, the adoption of different constitutive laws may also lead to distinct
evolutions of the axial force. As expected, if the steel displays an elastic-perfectly plastic
behaviour (law A), the axial force remains constant (n = 1 ⇒ N = E A εy) after the whole
cross-section has yielded.
134
1,6 1,6 m
n
1,4 1,4 Law A
η=2μ
Law B
1,2 1,2
Law C
1,0 1,0 Law D
0,8 Law A 0,8
Law B 0,6
0,6
Law C
0,4 η=2μ Law D
0,4
0,2
η 0,2
μ
0,0 0,0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Fig. 1 Evolution of the reduced internal forces - L1 path
1,6 n 1,6 m
1,4 1,4 Law A
1,2 1,2 η=μ Law B
Law C
1,0 1,0 Law D
0,8 0,8
0,6 Law A 0,6
η=μ
Law B
0,4 0,4
Law C
0,2 Law D
η
0,2
μ
0,0 0,0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

1,6 n 1,6 m
1,4 Law A 1,4
1,2 η=μ/2 Law B
Law C
1,2
1,0 Law D 1,0
0,8 0,8
0,6 0,6 η=μ/2 Law A
Law B
0,4 0,4
Law C
0,2
η 0,2 Law D μ
0,0 0,0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
When strain-hardening is taken into account, the axial load increases progressively
after the cross-section has fully yielded (η > 2). However, the differences between the results
obtained with laws A, B and C may become considerably large for large deformations
(η > 15, for instance).
It has also to be mentioned that, since the axial deformation governs the cross-section
behaviour, the shape of the axial force curve is similar to the one of the constitutive law.
3.3 Yield spreading from a cross-section extreme fibre
The cross-section behaviour resulting from the L2 deformation path is also governed
by axial deformation. However, in this case, the spread of yielding is strongly restrained by
the bending effect. Yielding starts at the cross-section bottom fibres and spreads progressively
towards the top fibres, which, nevertheless, remain always elastic.
135
This behaviour corresponds to a transition between those of (i) a fully yielded cross-
section and (ii) a cross-section progressively and simultaneously yielded from the top and
bottom fibres (i.e., governed by the bending action).
When the material displays an elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour, the curve m-μ tends
now to zero. In the case of laws B, C and D, the m values increase progressively with μ, after
a relatively sudden drop exhibited in the “moderate deformation” range (fig. 2). Inflections on
the m-μ curve may still be observed, but they are of less importance, when compared with
those associated with the L1 path (fig. 1).
In the case of law A, the axial force tends to the cross-section ultimate axial strength,
as the axial deformation η increases. When strain-hardening is taken into account, the axial
force evolution is similar to the one associated to the L1 path.
3.4 Cross-section evolution behaviour governed by bending
In the case of the L3 path, the cross-section evolution behaviour is governed by
bending. When the material displays an elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour, the axial force
remains constant after the full yielding of the top flange (flange that yields last), because a
constant ratio η /μ value was imposed.
When strain-hardening is taken into account, the axial force increases progressively
with η and the influence of the modelling used to describe the constitutive law (law B, C or
D) on the n-η curve may be observed in fig. 3. The shape of the n-η curve of law C provides a
rather realistic description of the actual response of a S235 steel cross-section. Concerning
law D, it is also possible to observe the cross-section deformation ultimate limit state, attained
when the bottom fibres reach their maximum strain (η =55,6).
Finally, one should note that the bending moment evolution shape is similar to its
associated constitutive law. With an elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour, the m-μ curve tends
very quickly to the cross-section bending capacity (Mp = Wp fy), once the two flanges become
fully yielded. If strain-hardening is taken into account, the bending moment increases with the
curvature μ. When law C is adopted, for instance, the reduced bending moment m may reach
values clearly above the cross-section reduced plastic bending capacity (mp = Mp/W fy).
4 CONCLUSION
This paper presents a study of the non-linear behaviour of an I-shape steel cross-
section, based on different representations of the steel stress-strain law. The results provide an
evaluation of the benefits achieved by improving the steel constitutive law representation.
Particular attention was paid to the situations in which the differences are more relevant.
When the axial deformation controls the strain evolution, the yielding of the cross-
section occurs suddenly. The progressive yielding along the cross-section depends essentially
on the presence of bending deformations. The spread of yielding takes place at a higher rate in
the moderate deformation range and is negligible in the high deformation range.
On the other hand, although the effect of strain-hardening may be disregarded in the
small plastic deformation range, it controls the behaviour when the deformations are more
significant. Therefore, the modelling of the steel constitutive law, particularly concerning the
strain-hardening phase, may play an important role on the overall cross-section behaviour
whenever significant plastic deformations are expected to occur in the structural members.
References
[1] Baptista A.M.: Modèle non linéaire géométrique et matériel fondé sur l'analyse des
déformations globales des sections, Doct. Thesis, B. Pascal Univ., Clermont-Fd, France, 1994.
[2] Baptista A.M. and Muzeau J.P.: Modèle analytique en déformations globales pour l'étude
élastique non linéaire de sections industrielles. Construction Métallique, n°4, 1996.
136
Contribution of the Structural Steelwork Educational Programme WIVISS
Magdalena Chladná1, František Wald2, Ian W. Burgess3, Roger J. Plank3

1
Slovak Technical University of Bratislava, 813 68 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
2
Czech Technical University of Prague, 166 29 Praha, Czech Republic
3
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom
Keywords: Steel structures, Education, CD-ROM, Computer Assisted Learning, Multimedia,

Fire Resistance
Abstract: This paper summarises the benefits offered by the Leonardo da Vinci European
Project WIVISS in relation to education and training in the field of steel structures. The pilot
results of the project are described in stages: development of software tools, material contents,
master lectures and deliverables. The major part of the contribution will be devoted to the
progress in lectures on fire resistance.
1. INTRODUCTION
Following the success of the European Steel Design Education Programme (ESDEP),
three projects are running through the Leonardo da Vinci initiative to exploit the material for
a wider audience:
• WIVISS (Wider Vocational Initiative for Structural Steelwork) is being developed by a
steering group from the European steel industry, information centres and universities,
representing 15 states to make the ESDEP material readily accessible to a wide range of
users rather than being restricted to academics. The project started in May 1996.
• SSEDTA (Structural Steelwork Eurocodes: Development of Trans-national Approach) is
concerned with developing teaching material to assist with a consistent transition to EC3
by structural designers.
• SteelCAL provides a more comprehensive approach to undergraduate teaching of
structural steel design, using the current technology of computer assisted learning to
provide an interactive learning environment incorporating simulations of behaviour,
analysis and design.
The original ESDEP material, launched in 1994, consists of more than 200 'lectures'
with accompanying slides, diagrams and videos. The project is equipped with one computer
aided learning software package for PCs, providing a beam design teaching tool prepared
according to Eurocode 3. The main navigation through the design is a flowchart of the
design procedure supported by input windows, boundary condition windows, calculation
windows, a serviceability check and full explanation. The main text of the ESDEP material
has been translated into German and published on CD with hypertext technology.
2. FEATURES
ESDEP represents a work of encyclopaedic proportions, but its working method
presents some drawbacks. In particular:
• it can be difficult to locate specific material;
• text, slides and videos are not integrated;
• cross-referencing to other sections of the programme is not easy;
137
• the cost of reproducing such a large volume of information in conventional format is

high;
• different audiences require different levels of detail - it is not always easy to select what
is appropriate and the process may be time consuming.
The last point is particularly relevant to the current WIVISS project. One of the
central aims is to make the material readily accessible to a range of user groups such as
architects, technicians and contractors, and at different levels - undergraduate, postgraduate,
practitioner, manager etc. An initial pilot study, funded by the UK government,
demonstrated that CD-ROM technology could be used to overcome many of these
difficulties. In principle a Compact Disk simply provides a means of storing an enormous
amount of data which can be in the form of text, drawings, images (slides and video), and
sound. Incorporated within an appropriate delivery system it can provide much more. In
particular the following features are desirable:
• hypertext links, enabling cross-reference to other parts of the package;
• a range of navigation facilities allowing users to move through the material in the most
convenient way (linear, keyword search, index, hypertext etc);
• general Windows facilities such as the ability to cut and paste;
• variable levels of detail relevant to different user-types.
The initial study involved the development of a demonstration delivery system
incorporating these features (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Example of a WIVISS lecture on CD-ROM; Lecture 14 - Cold Rolled Z-Purlins.

The project has been undertaken by partners across Europe. These include "old" EU
member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands,
Spain, United Kingdom), but a particular feature has been the active involvement of members
from former Eastern Bloc countries including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Romania and Slovakia.
3. PILOT LECTURES
Two sections of ESDEP - those dealing with Fire Resistance and Multi-storey
Building Design - have been selected to develop pilot versions of the system. Each member
of the WIVISS Steering Group is responsible for one lecture. The initial task was to classify
each part (paragraph or sub-paragraph) of the existing material according to agreed categories
138
- qualitative, mathematical, and code-related - with further distinction between different

levels - introductory, background, advanced, specialised, and latest developments. This will
enable the delivery system to select appropriate material for display to different user types.
Authoring software has been developed to enable this to be done as efficiently as possible. It
has also been recognised that information on a computer screen is best presented in a concise
form. A second task was therefore to reduce the complete text of each ESDEP lecture to a
series of 'bullet points'.
The ESDEP lectures were originated during a period when the Eurocodes were still
under development. Therefore one of the aims of the WIVISS project was to check the
material and to correct lectures according to the latest versions of ENV 1991-1-1; ENV
1991-2-2; ENV 1993-1-1; ENV 1993-1-2; ENV 1994-1-1 and ENV 1994-1-2.
One of the important criteria on which this project will be judged is dissemination of
the results. In the UK, Steel Training Limited, an industrial training organisation, will ensure
that the WIVISS CD-ROM is available to provide valuable underpinning knowledge for
employees learning in their work place. This complements the work they are doing with
constructional steelwork contracting companies to develop and promote the in-company
training of engineering and structural design technicians, using industry defined standards of
competence (National Vocational Qualifications).
During 1997, prior to publication, the WIVISS CD-ROM training material
incorporating the outcome of this initial development was sent out for trial usage and
feedback to 200 ESDEP contacts, and through them to the trainers of architects, engineers,
contractors and fabricators throughout Europe with a request for feedback. This was
generally positive and a second phase of work is nearing completion. This has incorporated
some detailed changes to the method of presentation of material, provision for alternative
languages, and additional technical sections. The lectures related to classical element design
constitute the main additional technical content within the second phase of the project.
Although the working language at the development stage as been English, provision is
being made to substitute alternative language translations as these become available. This is
being done by developing a software tool which will allow on-screen management of
translated text but will retain the intelligence embedded within the document, for example
differentiating between summary text and full text.
4. PROTECTION: FIRE
This section consists of four lectures. The initial lecture "Introduction to Fire Safety"
introduces the global approach to fire safety and gives an overview of assessment methods
for the structural fire resistance of load-bearing elements. As shown in Fig. 2 the lectures
include tables, slides and video clips integrated with the text. The second lecture
"Background to Thermal Analysis" describes the principles of heat transfer and analytical
methods for calculating temperature changes for fire situations. The lecture "Background to
Structural (Mechanical Fire) Analysis" deals with the failure of structural elements subjected
to fire. Details of how fire resistance can be calculated from the applied load using plastic
theory are included. Distinction is made between bending elements and axially loaded
elements, and between uniformly heated sections and sections subject to thermal gradients.
The main factors influencing stability in fire are presented. The structural analysis of
composite columns and composite slabs is also discussed.
The lecture "Practical Ways of Achieving Fire Resistance of Steel Structures"
provides a survey of modern strategies and techniques for providing the fire resistance
required by steel structures, together with examples of their application.
To illustrate the essential features of fire resistance design according to EC3, the
WIVISS project also includes Design Examples dealing with simple methods of calculation
139
of fire resistance time and the thickness of insulation required to provide certain fire resistant
periods for steel and composite steel-concrete columns and beams.
Figure 2. Multimedia application; a video clip from a Cardington fire test.

Calculation examples are presented for a section of structure (see Fig. 3) for the
ambient-temperature design of a steel tension member and steel and composite beam and
column. The Eurocode processes for calculating critical temperatures and fire resistance
times of steel tension member, beam and column, and for the fire protection requirements of
the steel beam, steel column and composite beam are then demonstrated in detail.
Figure 3. WIVISS design example; fire resistance of a steel column.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge with thanks the financial support of the EU Leonardo da
Vinci programme and the help of all colleagues working on the WIVISS project.
140
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF PLATE

GIRDERS WITH LARGE WEB ASPECT RATIO AND WEB WIDTH-TO-
THICKNESS RATIO
141
142
143
144
FATIGUE IN STEEL STRUCTURES UNDER RANDOM LOADING
Agerskov H.
145
146
147
148
DYNAMIC FAILURE OF STEEL TUBES SUBJECTED TO LATERAL

IMPACTS
M. Zeinoddini, J. E. Harding & G.A.R. Parke,

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Surrey, UK.
Key words: Tubular, Damage, Lateral, Impact, Axial, pre-Loading, Dynamic, Instability,
Ship, Offshore
ABSTRACT: Steel tubular members are widely used as primary and secondary structural
framing members on offshore oil and gas platforms. A platform is susceptible to collisions
from ships which can create severe structural damage in the rig. Although ship collision is
unlikely to produce a complete collapse of the structure, a collapse study is usually necessary
to define the residual safety margins in the structure. In this paper, the dynamic failure of steel
tubes subjected to lateral impact loads has been studied. The effect of axial pre-loading on the
dynamic characteristics of the tubular members has also been investigated. It has been found
that with some tube geometries, pre-loading can seriously degrade the dynamic characteristic
of the tube. For others little change is produced. It has been shown that pre-loading can
intensely exacerbate the degree of structural damage in an impacted member. Interaction of
static pre-loading and impact forces can result in propagation of dynamic instability. Both
quasi-static and dynamic numerical modelling of impact forces have been used in the study.
NOMENCLATURE
σY Material yield stress
δ Lateral deformation at the position of the lateral load
D Tube diameter
F Concentrated lateral load
Fo Dynamic lateral step load
Fu Ultimate lateral load
Fudyn. Ultimate dynamic lateral step load
Fust. Ultimate static lateral load
L Tube length
Mo Plastic moment of resistance of the tube wall (t2.σy/4)
P Axial load
Pu Axial buckling load of the intact tube
PY Axial squash load of the tube (πDtσy)
t Tube wall thickness
8D2tσy/L Plastic collapse load of a tubular beam in pure bending
1. INTRODUCTION
Impacts from ships can create serious structural damage to a platform. The level of the
damage depends on the characteristics of the vessel; its mass and velocity; fluid forces; global
response of the platform; and the local behaviour of the impacted member. Estimating the
level of this damage is important in the safety and integrity analysis of a platform and also for
its repair and maintenance.
In this paper, the behaviour of impacted members of fixed offshore structures
subjected to quasi-static and dynamic collision loads has been examined. The study is mostly
concentrated on the effect of the existing operational load (pre-loading) in the structure on the
149
impact response. Axial compressive pre-loading, which has been studied in this paper,
provides the possibility of propagation of static or dynamic instability in the tubular members
subjected to a lateral impact load. Although a ship impact is unlikely to produce a complete
collapse of the structure, a collapse study is necessary to define the available safety margins.
2. EFFECT OF AXIAL PRE-LOADING ON THE QUASI-STATIC RESPONSE OF

THE IMPACTED MEMBER
The following equations have been proposed by Ellinas and Valsgard (1985),
Wierzbicki and Suh (1988) and Amdahl and Eberg (1993) for lateral denting of steel tubular
members respectively (when no axial loading has been included).
δ 1
F = 150 M 0 ( )2
(1)
D
16π δ 1
1
D
F= M 0 ( ) 2 .( ) 2 (2)
3 t D
D 2 δ 0.55
1
F = 22 M 0 ( ) .( ) (3)
t D
These equations are plotted in Fig. 1 for a tubular chord member of a fixed offshore
structure (Judy Platform in the UK Section of the North Sea).
To investigate the effect of pre-loading on the behaviour of cylindrical members, a
numerical model has been examined under a lateral quasi static lateral load. The ABAQUS
non-linear finite element program has been utilised to predict the behaviour of the same
member of the Judy Platform when the axial compressive loads are included. ABAQUS shell
elements (type SR4) have been used in the model. Fig. 2 shows the load-displacement curves,
for axially pre-loaded tubular members with free sliding end conditions under a concentrated
quasi-static lateral load. The modified Riks method incorporated in ABAQUS has been used
in the analysis.
Fig. 1 Load-displacement curves for a chord member of the Judy Platform (D/t=68, L/D=11.8).
A comparison of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 shows some of the differences between the
behaviour of tubular members with and without pre-loading. It can be seen that unlike Fig. 1 a
clear ultimate load appears in the curves presented in Fig. 2. This ultimate limit is created by
either propagation of instability in the member or transformation of the tubular member to a
mechanism. The lateral load exhibits a significant decrease with increase in the axial
pre-loading expressed in Fig. 2 as a percentage of the member squash load.
150
Models with different geometries (35<D/t<210, 7<L/D<15) were found to exhibit

similar behaviour to the model shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Effect of axial pre-loading on the lateral load carrying capacity of a tubular member.
3. EFFECT OF AXIAL PRE-LOADING ON THE DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS

OF THE IMPACTED MEMBER
Dynamic responses of axially pre-loaded tubular members subjected to lateral impact
loads are studied in this Section. In order to obtain a pure response not affected by the change
in external loads and inertia forces, step lateral loads have been used. Such a response allows
for a better comprehension of the dynamic characteristics of the impacted member. The
geometry and the end conditions of the tubular members are the same as those used for the
quasi-static study explained in Section 2.
151
Fig. 3 Time history of the front side displacement for an axially pre-loaded tubular member
under different lateral step loads.
The responses of the models subjected to different lateral loads are shown in Fig. 3.
The curves show the lateral displacement time histories of the cylindrical members with an
axial pre-loading equal to 50%. Some responses remain bounded throughout the time history
but, for some values of lateral load, the amplitudes become unbounded at certain stages of the
behaviour. This means that the system, under these loads, has become dynamically unstable.
An exact solution, for a system with no damping, does not exist. Only Minimum Guaranteed
Critical Loads (MGCL) can be evaluated. The dynamic critical lateral load in this case is
about 80% of the static load.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The effect of axial pre-loading on the static behaviour of tubular members of offshore
structures subjected to lateral impacts has been investigated. Considering pre-loading
provides a more accurate simulation of a ship impact situation. From the results of the current
study it can be concluded that axial pre-loading has a marked effect on the lateral load
collapse capacity of the cylindrical members and more markedly on the level of energy that
the member can absorb prior to collapse. It has been observed that local instability of the tube
wall, in members subjected to a lateral quasi-static loading, has been intensified by the
presence of pre-loading. With higher values of pre-loading, this local buckling can be
followed by global instability and collapse of the entire member.
It has been found that axial pre-loading produces significant changes in the dynamic
characteristics of some cylinders but minor changes in others.
In those cylinders where the dynamic properties remain almost constant with axial
pre-loading, the response to a dynamic lateral excitation as well as the critical lateral load can
be predicted using static results. In axially pre-loaded cylinders that undergo significant
changes to their dynamic properties, the lateral dynamic loading produces more unfavourable
responses because the dynamic characteristics of the member have already been degraded by
axial pre-loading.
Damping has been found to have a significant influence on critical lateral loads.
5. REFERENCES
Amdahl, J. and Eberg, E., 1993, ‘Ship Collision with Offshore Structures’ in ‘Structural
Dynamics EURODYN93’ Ed. Moan et al., Rotterdam, pp. 495-504.
Ellinas, C.P. and Valsgard, S., 1985, ‘Collision and Damage of Offshore Structures; A State
-of -the-Art’, 4th. International Conference of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Eng., Dallas,
pp. 475-495.
Wierzbicki, T. and Suh, M.S., 1988, ‘Indentation of Tubes Under Combined Loading’, Int.
Journal of Mechanical Science, Vol. 30, No. 3/4, pp. 229-248.
152
CONSTANT AMPLITUDE FATIGUE LIMIT FOR RIVETED GIRDERS

Roberto Crocetti, Mohammad Al-Emrani, Björn Åkesson, Bo Edlund,
Department of Structural Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology,
S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
Keywords: Riveted Girders, Fatigue, Clamping Force, Steel Bridges, Fatigue Damage
Accumulation, Full-scale Fatigue Testing.
Abstract: A fundamental topic regarding riveted structures subjected to dynamic loading, such
as bridges, is the determination of the Constant Amplitude Fatigue Limit (CAFL). In order to
gain an estimation of this limit, some 16 full-scale tests on stringers taken from an old railway
bridge have been performed at the Department of Structural Engineering, Chalmers University of
Technology. In order to reduce the extremely long time that this kind of experiments require, a
technique, which is believed to be original, is proposed.
1 INTRODUCTION
The problem of keeping old railway bridges in service as long as possible is becoming an
issue of more and more concern. This is primarily due to two reasons, namely:
- financial interest of the bridge owners;
- the inestimable cultural heritage represented by many bridges of this kind.
An adequate estimation of the remaining fatigue life of a riveted structure has often been
impeded because of the insufficiency of a reasonable database of test results of full-size
members. Even though considerable amount of fatigue testing on riveted structures has been
carried out in Europe and North America during the past decade, there is still a lack of
information in the region close to the CAFL. This region is of crucial importance, especially for
the determination of whether or not previous dynamic loading (i.e. train passages) has produced
fatigue damages.
2 CONSTANT AMPLITUDE FATIGUE LIMIT FOR RIVETED BRIDGES

The constant amplitude fatigue limit is defined as the stress range level below which
there will be no fatigue crack growth during cyclic loading. A review of previously executed
fatigue tests on rivet members by several researchers (see [2], for instance) indicates that this
limit should - if it exists - fall within the stress amplitude range of 40-70 MPa. In order to
achieve a more precise estimation about the CAFL, more tests are required within the above
mentioned stress interval. These tests, in order to be reliable, should fulfil some requirements,
such as:
i) be performed on full-scale specimens;
ii) be run to a considerable amount of cycles.
As to point i), since riveted connections do not have a “homogeneous” fatigue behaviour (mainly
due to discrepancy in clamping forces acting in different rivets of the same structural member), it
is important to include in the experiments as many “sources of defects” (i.e. rivets) as possible.
Moreover, small specimens should be avoided if one wants to obtain information about the
“degree of internal redundancy”, i.e. the capability of the structure to withstand further cyclic
loading after a crack has started to propagate in some member part.
Whilst the requirement i) is relatively simple to fulfil by use of ordinary laboratory
testing machines, point ii) may often create problems. In fact, in order to gain adequate
information about the magnitude of the CAFL, high-cycle fatigue tests (N = 50-100 million) are
often needed. Considering for example a fatigue test continued up to 50 million of cycles
153
performed with a loading frequency of 4 Hz (which is a common frequency value for the
capacity of a hydraulic pulsating machine during full-scale fatigue testing), the time needed to
conclude such an experiment would be approximately 5 months. Furthermore, taking into
account the fact that at least 5-10 tests at the same stress range are desired in order to give a
sufficient “statistical confidence” to the result, it is easy to understand the difficulties that this
procedure involves.
A method to “hasten” the procedure is proposed in this paper. It consists of the following
steps:
1) a certain number of “laboratory-virgin” specimens (riveted girders, in this case) are loaded at
a stress range well above the CAFL until failure; Ni,virg (number of cycles to failure) is
recorded;
2) specimens similar to those in point 1) are fatigue-loaded at a stress range close to the
presumed CAFL with a relatively high number of cycles (10-20 million);
3) the same specimens of point 2) are then fatigue loaded at the same stress range as at point 1)
until failure; Ni,non-virg (number of cycles to failure) is recorded.
Two scenarios are then likely to occur:

- Ni,non-virg is comparable with Nvirg, meaning that no significant fatigue damage accumulation
has occurred during the fatigue loading at point 2) and thus the CAFL is expected to be at a
higher level than the one presumed (according to 2));
- Ni,non-virg is considerably lower than Nvirg, signifying that a certain fatigue damage
accumulation has occurred during the fatigue loading at point 2) and thus the CAFL is
expected to be at a lower level than the one presumed (according to 2)).
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In August 1993 an old railway bridge, built in 1896, over the river Vindelälven in
northern Sweden, was dismantled. The bridge had three simply supported “arch type” truss
spans, each of 71.2 m length. Each truss span had 13 floor-beams supporting 24 (2x12)
stringers. The stringers were 5.93 meters in length and placed within the pair with a transverse
distance of 2.0 m. In total 36 stringers and 9 floor-beams were removed and sent to Chalmers
University of Technology for investigations. Before starting the fatigue tests, a series of other
experiments, such as tension tests, ageing tests, impact testing and chemical analysis were also
performed, all showing typical characteristics of an “ordinary mild steel”.
The full-scale fatigue testing was performed on stringers loaded in four-point bending
according to Figure 3; this test set up was chosen in order to simulate a passage by a bogie-axle
pair. The span length “L” of the girder was either 4, 4.5 or 5 m and, consequently, the distance
“a” was either 1.0, 1.25 or 1.5 m, the distance between the two jacks was constant (2 m). The
stress ratio (i.e. σ min / σ max ) ranged from 0.14 to 0.28. All the cracks observed during the
experiments, either initiated at a “neck” rivet, i.e. at the flange-to-web connection or at the flange
rivet connection, i.e. at the connection between the lower flange and the “remaining” short parts
(denoted “bracing stumps”) of the wind bracing after having been flame cut.
154
Pr Pr
Web Plate (t = 8) Rivets (d=20)
L 115x77x11
830
Bracing "Stumps"
a 2000 a
L
Figure 3: Set up for the full-scale fatigue testing performed at Chalmers
A total of 16 full-scale fatigue tests were performed at the Department of Structural

Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology. First, eleven stringers were tested, six at a
stress range of 100 MPa, three at 60 MPa and two at 40 MPa. In a second step the stringers
previously tested at stress ranges of 40 MPa and 60 MPa and for which no cracks had yet
occurred, were loaded at a higher stress range – one at 93 MPa, two at 97 MPa and two at 100
MPa. In the following, for simplicity all the tests performed at stress ranges between 93 and 100
MPa will be denoted as “100 MPa”. The results of the tests are shown in Figure 4.
1000
Prev. 20 mil. at 40 MPa
'Laboratory-Virgin' Girders
Stress Range (MPa)
Run Out
Run Out
Run Out
100
71 MPa
ECCS, Class 71 52 MPa
Design Curve
Fracture Curve
(Mean Value)
10
1.E+05 1.E+06 1.E+07 1.E+08
Number of Cycles
Figure 4: Results from fatigue tested girders at Chalmers University of Technology in

comparison with the fatigue design and the fracture curves.
155
4 INTERPRETATION OF THE LABORATORY TEST RESULTS

The two girders previously loaded at a stress range of 40 MPa failed, when loaded at 100
MPa, at a number of cycles close to the average number of cycles to failure for girders directly
loaded at 100 MPa. On the other hand, there seems to be a certain discrepancy when comparing
the average number of cycles to failure for girders previously loaded at a stress range of 60 MPa
and then subjected to 100 MPa with the average number of cycles to failure for girders directly
loaded at 100 MPa (see also Table 1). Nevertheless, one of the three girders which was
previously loaded at 60 MPa with 20 million of cycles, failed at 3.69 million of cycles that is
above the average number of cycles to failure for girders directly loaded at 100 MPa. In Table 1,
a result from Fisher et al. [2] is also reported for comparison.
Table 1: Average number of cycles to failure

Loading Chalmers Fisher et al.
(No of cycles) (No of cycles)
Directly at 100 MPa 3.19 x 106 (*) 1.26 x 106 (**)
First at 60 MPa and then at 100 MPa 1.84 x 106 -
(*): six girders, stress range 93-100 MPa; (**) four girders, stress range 103 MPa.
5 CONCLUSION
First, it must be stated that the amount of laboratory data is insufficient to serve as a
basis for a “correct” value for the CAFL. However, it seems that no sign of fatigue damage was
present in the girders previously loaded at 40 MPa (on the basis of only two tests, though), which
means that the CAFL should be above this level. For the three girders previously loaded at 60
MPa, their “fatigue behaviour” differed somewhat from that of the “laboratory-virgin” girders.
However, taking also into account the results obtained by other researchers by direct testing at a
stress range of 100 MPa [2], the discrepancy in terms of average number of cycles to failure does
not appear to be so dramatic. There are therefore reasons to believe that a stress range of 60 MPa,
per se, is not sufficient to bring girders of the type tested herein to failure, or probably not before
a very high number of cycles, perhaps 50-100 million.
The primary members of old steel bridges have normally been subjected to dynamic
loading well below the CAFL for riveted connections, during a great part of their life. It is only
recently, with a permitted increased axle weight for trains, that stresses closer to the CAFL in
main members might have been approached. However, with respect to a normal frequency of
train passages, producing normally stress range levels well below 60 MPa in the main members
of the bridge, the fatigue life (due to primary effects!) of riveted railway bridges can be assumed
to be very long.
6 REFERENCES
[1] Åkesson B.: Fatigue Life of Riveted Railway Bridges. Department of Structural Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology, Publ. S94:6, Göteborg, Sweden, 1994.
[2] Fisher J.W., Yen B.T., Wang D., Mann, J.E.: Fatigue and Fracture Evaluation for Rating
Riveted Bridges, NCHRP no. 32, Transportation Research Board, Washington 1987.
[3] Kadir Z.: Riveted Joints / Full-scale Fatigue Tests. Department of Structural Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology, Publ. S97:7, Göteborg, Sweden, 1997.
[4] Al-Emrani, M.: Fatigue Damage Retrofitting in Riveted Railway Stringers. Department of
Structural Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Publ. S98:7, Göteborg, Sweden,
1998.
156
DETERMINATION OF THE BEHAVIOURAL CURVE OF

ECCENTRICALLY BRACED STEEL STRUCTURES
157
158
159
160
DEFORMATIONS OF SELECTED STEEL STRUCTURAL MEMBERS

SUBJECTED TO METAL PLATING
Mieczysław Maliszewski, Zygmunt Pancewicz

Department of Metal Structures, ART, Prawocheńskiego 19, 10-720 Olsztyn Kortowo, Poland
Wioleta Rękawek, Marian Giżejowski
Department of Metal Structures, WUT, Armii Ludowej 16, 00-637 Warsaw, Poland
Keywords: Corrosion, Protection of steel structures, Hot galvanising, Technological

deformations, Residual stresses
Abstract: A very good protection of steel structures is ensured by metallic coatings (zinc
or aluminium coatings) applied by a submersion (igneous) or spraying method. In Poland,
the zinc coatings are used very often. They are obtained by a submersion of specially prepared
(“cleared away”) steel units in a liquid zinc at temperature of about 450 °C. This temperature,
specially in case of thin-walled elements, can cause their considerable deformations, skewings
and torsions. That was noticed in manufacturing plants after hot galvanizing of steel
structures. In order to investigate the influence of hot galvanizing on the above mentioned
deformations, the experiments on welded plate girders and long sectioned units have been
carried out, as well as the examination of steel models, which were thin-walled flanged beams
welded continuously along their length. A considerable influence of the hot galvanizing
process on beam shape was observed. The accumulation of stresses resulting in a formation of
initial deformations and skewings was also discovered. A number of recommendations have
been prepared for design of steel units subject to hot galvanising.
1 INTRODUCTION
Steel is a very good and widely used material in various civil engineering applications
(commercial and residential buildings, industrial and transportation structures, etc.).
Its quality and properties create conditions under which steel can be used in every kind of
industry. Appreciating all steel qualities, one should take into consideration factors having
a negative influence on steel, for example changes due to temperature or changes caused by
corrosion. As it is well known, the high temperature causes a degradation or even loss of
member’s durability and decreases mechanical properties of steel.
Corrosion of steel structures becomes a serious issue, because it causes losses in our national
economy reaching 6–10% of the gross state revenue. Nowadays problems connected with
corrosion of the metal structures deserve a bigger attention considering:
− wider and wider usage of metals for building structures,
− increased corrosive aggresivity of natural environment being the consequence of
a rising air and water pollution,
− usage of lighter and lighter metal structures made of thin–walled members
and reduced member section sizes,
− necessity of repairs of existing metal structures which are in bad technical conditions
caused by a low level of execution with regard to anticorrosive safeguards among
other things.
It is proper to point out that corrosion refers to all the materials, which are in due conditions.
It is an occurrence, which consists in a spontaneous, unintended reaction of environment
with a given material. Members made of concrete, ceramic, plastic etc. are also subjected to
161
corrosion. However we are going to be interested in corrosion of steel structures and strictly
speaking – behaviour of selected steel structural members, which are protected against
corrosion by using a hot galvanizing process. It is also proper to stress that corrosion creates,
except high economic cost, a serious ecological contamination and can even cause a threat to
human life and health.
One can reduce the effect of corrosion by:
− suitable shaping of structural elements,
− selection of proper alloy additions (for example: copper, aluminium, nickel etc.),
− usage of suitable protective coatings both metallic and synthetic paint.
2 EFFECT OF HIGH TEMPERATURE

An anticorrosive protection of steel structures by metallic coatings, in particular zinc
coatings, is well known in our country almost from the beginning of our century.
The execution of coating technology has been in all respects mastered. It means that we are
in the position to protect steel members against the negative effect of high temperature,
associated with the creation of zinc coating (about 450 °C). It is estimated that the biggest
anticorrosive durability – reaching almost a half of the century, is ensured by a properly
applied thick layer of zinc coating produced by submersion (igneous) method or spread
with well made paint coatings.
A range of problems connected with corrosion which need to be solved is very extensive,
therefore the subject matter of this paper is restricted only to deformations of selected welded
thin–walled beams subjected to the effect of high temperature (about 450 °C), which occurs
during hot galvanizing. This subject matter was undertaken to be investigated, because it
appeared in manufacturing plants and had to be addressed in order to ensure that all steel
products are within tolerances after the hot galvanising process. The observations have shown
among other things that elements such as:
− thin–walled beams,
− welded plate girders,
− long compound units, particularly unsymmetrical, having long continuous welded joints
(for example a U–section together with an angle bar),
− steel plates (with about sectional area 2-2.5 m2) butt welded and stiffened by angle bars
on edges,
suffer considerable deformations and thereby skewing. The initial deformations of these
elements were examined and the results are presented herein.
3 EXAMINATION OF BEAM MODELS

The investigations of the effect of hot galvanizing process (high temperature
influence) on deformations of structural elements were carried out on steel thin–walled
double–tee bars welded by hand in carbon dioxide shroud to form a continuous joint
along their length. Models of solid-web beams made of steel grades of St3SX, St3SY, 18G2A
and St0 were investigated. Besides, hybrid beams made of steel grades of St3SX and 18G2A
and perforated beams of steel grades of St3SX and 18G2A with different arrangement of
openings in their webs (squared in shape or in a form of a rectangle and a shapely hexagon)
were also examined. The lengths of beams were equal to about 10 h (h – height of the beam).
The beam web thickness of 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm, 3.0 mm and 4.0 mm were assumed. All those
beams were galvanized with the preservation of full initial process, it means removing the fat,
etching etc. In order to define the real values of presumable deformations, photogrammetric
method was used. It was found that the deformation patterns of galvanized steel elements
were different and the models of beams without stiffening ribs suffered both deformations out
of the vertical plane and torsion and their webs were subjected to a wavy motion.
162
Whereas the models of beams with stiffening ribs suffered the small deformation out
of the vertical plane, followed by the small wavy motion of the web plate segments.
A considerable influence of the hot galvanizing process on beam deformations was observed
and in some instances skewing was so big, that those beams couldn’t fulfil tolerance criteria
required by Polish code of practice.
A A
B B
C C
Vertical sections of the web
Horizontal sections of the web

A-A
B-B
C-C
Fig. 1 Values of web lateral deformations for model no. 1
163
Figure 1 shows the deformation pattern of a solid–web beam model no. 1 made of steel grade
18G2A, 300 mm high and 3000 mm long, web thickness of which is equal to 3.0 mm
and its slenderness λ equal to 100.
4 CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL REMARKS

The effect of high temperature concomitant with hot galvanizing creates
a few problems both cognitive and technical which need to be addressed. They are concerned
with issues referred to strength and skewing of elements and also to technological aspects,
related to the preparation and execution of elements and the process of hot galvanizing itself.
On the ground of experiments carried out for ten steel beam models and plate girders one can
formulate a number of general remarks and recommendations.
The one of the notices is the stress concentration effect (and the formation of substantial
initial deformations and skewing as a result of the stress accumulation phenomenon),
occurring with an unsuitable deformation of steel elements during hot galvanizing.
It concerns:
− rolled residual stresses,
− welded residual stresses,
− partial stresses, which come into existence as a result of cold forming or flamed
straightening processes,
− residual stresses, released as a consequence of high heating of elements and cooling
them up during hot galvanizing.
Designing steel elements, one should, as early as the first phase, take a method of protection
against corrosion into account. In the case of application of a zinc protective coating,
it is imperative at this stage of design to consider the following recommendations,
among others:
− dimensions of steel elements should conform with the nominal dimensions of galvanizing
pots,
− to design a proper suspension of steel elements during galvanizing,
− if necessary, an internal and invisible surfaces covered by the zinc coatings may require
special technological holes for gasses offtake, drain off and dry hydrous acid solutions,
as well as the flux and a free outflow of ashes on the zinc surface,
− internal reinforcement of bars, partitions and diaphragms must have cut-off corners
to enable free flow of the zinc,
− the elements must be formed in such a way that there is no gap between beam individual
components,
− in the case of zinc coating defects appearance one should reproduce the zinc coating layer
(for example by the shower method) or eventually apply the paint coating.
References
[1] Kurski K.: Cynkowanie ogniowe, WNT Warszawa, 1970.
[2] COBPKM „Mostostal”: Określenie wpływu cynkowania ogniowego na własności
mechaniczne i zachowanie się elementów stalowych – szczególnie giętych na zimno,
Warszawa, 1980.
[3] Białecki A.: Cynkowanie ogniowe stalowych elementów budowlanych,
Ochrona przed korozją nr 11 – 12, 1980.
[4] Białecki A.: Cynkowanie ogniowe stalowych elementów budowlanych,
Ochrona przed korozją nr 5, 1981.
[5] Ziółko J.: Utrzymanie i modernizacja konstrukcji stalowych, Arkady, Warszawa, 1991.
[6] Ziółko J., Włodarczyk W., Mendera Z., Włodarczyk S.: Stalowe konstrukcje specjalne,
Arkady, Warszawa, 1995.
164
FIRE RESISTANCE OF STAINLESS STEEL STRUCTURES
Tiina Ala-Outinen
Keywords: Stainless steel, Fire resistance, Load-bearing structures, Design method, Fire
tests, Unprotected structures
Abstract: The fire resistance of austenitic stainless steels is known to be better than that of
conventional carbon structural steels. The aim of this study was to find out whether any
austenitic stainless steels are available for use in buildings as load-bearing structures without
fire protection. Fire resistance tests were performed to develop and verify the calculation
method for determining the strength of the structures exposed to fire. The use of austenitic
stainless steels in load-bearing structures without fire protection is possible when the
parametric or local fire exposure is adapted or the fire resistance time is 30 minutes or less
according to the ISO 834 standard fire-temperature curve. The class requirement of 30
minutes in the case of standard fire exposure might cause overestimation in normal
temperature design.
1 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of studies performed at VTT Building Technology was to determine
whether any austenitic stainless steels are available for use in buildings as load-bearing
structures without fire protection. This is a critical issue, as aesthetic considerations often
actuate the use of stainless steels in buildings. Eliminating the fire protection of structures
would result in lower construction costs, a shorter construction period, more effective interior
space utilization, a better working environment and more aesthetic building design.
Furthermore, the life-cycle costs of unprotected stainless steel structures are lower than
protected carbon steel structures.
2 MECHANICAL MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF STAINLESS STEEL

On the basis of transient-state tests carried out at Helsinki University of Technology at
the Laboratory of Steel Structures [4] the strength values of material EN 1.4301 were
determined.
1
0,9
0,8
Stainless steel E
Reduction factor
0,7
0,6
0.2%-proof stress,
0,5
virgin sheet
0,4
0.2%-proof stress,
0,3 cold-formed material
0,2
0,1
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature [C]
Fig. 1: Reduction factor of 0.2%-proof stress (virgin sheet and cold-formed material) and
elastic modulus of EN 1.4301.
165
The transient-state tests were carried out for both virgin sheet and strongly strain-
hardened material. Fig. 1 shows the reduction factor of 0.2%-proof stress. The reduction
factor of the modulus of elasticity at elevated temperatures was determined from stress-strain
curves obtained from transient-state [4] and steady-state tensile tests [1]. The exact
determination of the modulus of elasticity at elevated temperatures is very difficult, since the
proportion limit of austenitic stainless steel is very low. The reduction factor of elastic
modulus in Fig. 1 is determined from linear regression analysis of test results.
3 DESIGN RESISTANCE
The same formulae are used to determine the ultimate buckling load under fire action
as at normal temperature, only the mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity and yield
strength) are reduced at elevated temperatures. The reduction factor χ for column buckling is
calculated using the buckling curve c (α = 0.49) and the limit slenderness⎯λ0 = 0.40. It has
been recommended to use a reduced modulus of elasticity of 0.85 E when considering
structures in compression [5]. The yield strength fy may be based on the actual value (stub
column test or tensile test) or on the nominal value. If the strain-hardening is utilized in
strength values, the reduction factor for the yield strength is taken as that for cold-formed
material (Fig. 1). The modified (non-dimensional) slenderness⎯λ is determined at the
temperature in question. The simple calculation method is valid when the modified
slenderness⎯λ is below 1.5 at normal temperature [2].
4 TEST RESULTS OF COMPRESSION TESTS

The concentric and eccentric compression tests were performed for hollow sections
cold-formed from austenitic stainless steel of types EN 1.4301 and EN 1.4571 (Tab. 1).
Tab. 1. Test specimens.

Section Section Material Modified
number slenderness
RHS 40x40x4 RHS1 EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) ⎯λ20 = 1.17
RHS 40x40x4 Ti RHS1 EN 1.4571 (AISI 316Ti) ⎯λ20 = 1.11
RHS 30x30x3 RHS2 EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) ⎯λ20 = 1.52
CHS 33.7x2.0 CHS1 EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) ⎯λ20 = 1.37
Fire resistance tests on steel columns were performed at VTT Building Technology at
the Laboratory of Fire Technology. In the tests freedom of rotation of the ends of the columns
was assured by the use of knife-edges for applying the load. The axial load was concentric or
eccentric and during the test kept constant. The columns were protected by rock-wool sheets
to prevent the effects of sudden variations in temperature at the start of the test and thus to
ensure a uniform temperature rise in the columns. The furnace temperature rose from 20 oC to
300 oC in 3 min and subsequently by 5 oC/min. The axial deformation of the test specimen
was determined and the temperature of each column was measured at three cross-sections
with four thermocouples at each level, one on each side.
In the following (Fig. 2), the comparison between the resistance from concentric
compression tests and design resistance is performed. In the calculations, the temperature is
assumed to be uniformly distributed throughout the cross-section and along the column. The
yield strength used (0.2%-proof stress) at normal temperature was determined for cold-formed
material with tensile tests. The modulus of elasticity is assumed to be 170 000 N/mm2 (0.85
E) at normal temperature. The load-bearing capacities were calculated with modified
166
slenderness corresponding to the temperature in question. The mechanical properties are

reduced at elevated temperatures according to Fig. 1. In Fig. 2 the design values and test
values are shown as relative values. The relative values of test values were determined by
dividing the test value by design resistance at normal temperature.
1,2
1 CHS 30x30x3 Test result
RHS 40x40x4 Ti Test result

0,8
RHS 30x30x3 Test result
RT/R 20
0,6 RHS 30x30x3 Design

resistance
RHS 40x40x4 Ti Design
0,4 resistance
CHS 33x2 Design resistance
0,2 RHS 40x40x4 Design

resistance
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature [C]
Fig. 2. The relative values of fire resistance of concentric loaded columns. The relative values
of test values are determined by dividing the test value by design resistance at 20°C.
A comparison of the fire test results with the design resistance values shows that for
columns with low slenderness (⎯λ20 = 1,1 - 1,17), the calculation method underestimates the
resistance. All the test results are on the safe side except one (circular hollow section).
Furthermore the test results of columns of material EN 1.4571 are notably on the safe side.
According to the standard time-temperature curve ISO 834 [3], the gas temperature after 30
minutes of fire exposure is 842 °C, and the temperature of thin walled cross-sections
approaches the gas temperature. It can be seen in Fig. 2 that a temperature of 842 °C
corresponds to load levels 0.22…0.28, and that according to the test results the load level is
higher. In particular, for RHS1 of material EN 1.4571 the load level according to the test
results is over 0.40.
1,2

0,8
RHS 40x40x4 Design
RT/R 20
0,6 resistance
RHS 30x30x3 Design
resistance
0,4
0,2
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature [C]
Fig. 3. The relative values of fire resistance of eccentric loaded columns. The relative values
of test values are determined by dividing the test value by design resistance at 20°C.
167
Respectively, the comparison between the resistance from eccentric compression tests
and design resistance is performed and the reliability of the calculation method can be
estimated based on Fig. 3. Eccentric loaded tests were carried out for RHS1 (⎯λ20 = 1,17) and
RHS2 (⎯λ20 = 1,52) of material EN 1.4301. The design method also underestimates the load
capacities for eccentric loaded columns, when modified slenderness is low.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the comparison of calculated and experimental results, the same formulae
may be used to determine the ultimate buckling load under fire action as at normal
temperature, only the mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity and yield strength) are
reduced at elevated temperatures. The simple calculation method is valid when the modified
slenderness⎯λ is below 1.5 at normal temperature. The possibilities of using austenitic
stainless steels in load-bearing structures without fire protection seem quite realistic, when the
parametric or local fire is adapted or the fire resistance time is 30 minutes or less according to
the ISO 834 standard fire-temperature curve. The class requirement of 30 minutes might
cause overestimation in normal temperature design. Depending on the slenderness and cross-
section dimensions, after 30 minutes’ standard fire the load level for material EN 1.4301
0.25…0.28 and for material EN 1.4571 can be over 0.40.
Acknowledgement
The work was founded by the Technology Development Centre (TEKES), The Finnish
Constructional Steelwork Association (FCSA), Outokumpu polarit Oy, Stala Oy and Jaro Oy.
Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] Ala-Outinen T.: 1996. Fire resistance of austenitic stainless steels Polarit 725 (EN 1.4301)
and Polarit 761 (EN 1.4571). Espoo: Technical Research Centre of Finland. 33 p. + app. 30 p.
(VTT Research Notes 1760).
[2] Ala-Outinen T.: & Oksanen, T. 1997,. Stainless steel compression members exposed to
fire. Espoo.: Technical Research Centre of Finland. 41 p. + app. 30 p. (VTT Research Notes
1864)
[3] ISO 834. 1975. Fire resistance tests. Element of building construction. Switzerland:
International Organization of standardization. 16 p.
[4] Outinen, J. & Mäkeläinen, P.: 1997. Mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel
Polarit 725 (EN 1.4301) at elevated temperatures. Espoo: Helsinki University of Technology,
Steel Structures, Report 1. 20 p.
[5] Talja, A. & Salmi, P. 1995. Design of stainless steel RHS beams, columns and beam-
columns. Espoo: Technical Research Centre of Finland. 51 p. + app. 37 p. (VTT Research
Notes 1619).
168
ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF RESIDUAL CURVATURE ON

PIPELINE LAYING
169
170
171
172
BEHAVIOUR OF STRUCTURAL STEELS IN STRUCTURES

SUBJECTED TO ALTERNATING ELASTIC-PLASTIC STRAINS
Miloš Šimončič
Department of Structures, USTARCH SAV, Dúbravská cesta 9, 842 20, Bratislava, Slovakia
Keywords: Fatigue Life, Notch Effect, Repeated Loading, Reliability Condition, Alternating
Plastification, Low-cyclic Fatigue
Abstract: The fatigue life of structures subjected to high-cyclic fatigue is influenced

especially by notch effects of structural details and not depends on quality of used steel, while
behaviour of structures subjected to repeated loading with high strain amplitudes depends
substantially also on used materials. Experimental investigation of low-cyclic fatigue of
structural details, manufactured from different types of steels shows negative effects of
elastic-plastic strains on fatigue life of structures manufactured from high-strength steels. The
test results of steel specimens manufactured from steel of lower quality and subjected to
increaasing plastifications show substantial reduction of expected fatigue life in area of low
number of cycles.
1 INTRODUCTION
Extended utilization of plastic reserve of materials and structures introduced into
present standards for design of steel structures [1], [2], [3] evokes requirement for close study
of failures of steel structures occured in elastic-plastic range. From the sets of well-known
reliability conditions only three basic conditions are connected with utilization of plastic
reserve of materials: a/ onedirectional unrepeated plastification - strength in elastic-plastic
range; b/ onedirectional increasing plastification - not satisfy adaptable condition; c/
alternating plastification - condition of low-cyclic fatigue. The study compares
abovementioned and standard criteria with experimental test results of specimens subjected
to repeated loading.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF STEEL BEAMS SUBJECTED TO

ALTERNATING BENDING
The fatigue curves of relationship ε~N (where ε is amplitude of test strain and N
ultimate number of cycles ) substituted discrete test results of steel beams subjected to
alternating bending are illustrated in Fig.1. The results are taken from experimental
investigation of steel beams in low-cyclic fatigue area, see [4]. The tests were performed on
steel bears with rectangular or I-cross-sections of height from 50 to 200 mm, with or without
structural notches. The span of beams was from 1.0m to 2.0m. Beams were manufactured
from different steel types (structural steels 37, 52 and high-strength steels). Horizontal lines
represent averages of experimentally obtained yield strengths of materials.
Fig.1 shows considerable differencies in fatigue life of specimens manufactured from
different steel types at area of low number of cycles. Opposite to behaviour of structural
steels, which wear limited number of alternating plastifications, fractures of high-strength
steels occur in elastic range also at low number of cycles (N>5.103). The results show also
higher sensitivity of high-strength steels to details with notch effects. E.g. the adaptable
criterion for welded beams manufactured from steel 52 is relevant up to 7000 number of
cycles and for the same types of beams from steel 37 up to 15 000 cycles, while this
criterion for high-strength steel is not decisive. It means, that reliable design of steel
structures with structural notches subjected to fatigue requires determination of fatigue
173
174
175
BEHAVIOUR OF STRUCTURAL STEELS IN STRUCTURES

SUBJECTED TO ALTERNATING ELASTIC-PLASTIC STRAINS
Miloš Šimončič
Department of Structures, USTARCH SAV, Dúbravská cesta 9, 842 20, Bratislava, Slovakia
Keywords: Fatigue Life, Notch Effect, Repeated Loading, Reliability Condition, Alternating
Plastification, Low-cyclic Fatigue
Abstract: The fatigue life of structures subjected to high-cyclic fatigue is influenced

especially by notch effects of structural details and not depends on quality of used steel, while
behaviour of structures subjected to repeated loading with high strain amplitudes depends
substantially also on used materials. Experimental investigation of low-cyclic fatigue of
structural details, manufactured from different types of steels shows negative effects of
elastic-plastic strains on fatigue life of structures manufactured from high-strength steels. The
test results of steel specimens manufactured from steel of lower quality and subjected to
increaasing plastifications show substantial reduction of expected fatigue life in area of low
number of cycles.
1 INTRODUCTION
Extended utilization of plastic reserve of materials and structures introduced into
present standards for design of steel structures [1], [2], [3] evokes requirement for close study
of failures of steel structures occured in elastic-plastic range. From the sets of well-known
reliability conditions only three basic conditions are connected with utilization of plastic
reserve of materials: a/ onedirectional unrepeated plastification - strength in elastic-plastic
range; b/ onedirectional increasing plastification - not satisfy adaptable condition; c/
alternating plastification - condition of low-cyclic fatigue. The study compares
abovementioned and standard criteria with experimental test results of specimens subjected
to repeated loading.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF STEEL BEAMS SUBJECTED TO

ALTERNATING BENDING
The fatigue curves of relationship ε~N (where ε is amplitude of test strain and N
ultimate number of cycles ) substituted discrete test results of steel beams subjected to
alternating bending are illustrated in Fig.1. The results are taken from experimental
investigation of steel beams in low-cyclic fatigue area, see [4]. The tests were performed on
steel bears with rectangular or I-cross-sections of height from 50 to 200 mm, with or without
structural notches. The span of beams was from 1.0m to 2.0m. Beams were manufactured
from different steel types (structural steels 37, 52 and high-strength steels). Horizontal lines
represent averages of experimentally obtained yield strengths of materials.
Fig.1 shows considerable differencies in fatigue life of specimens manufactured from
different steel types at area of low number of cycles. Opposite to behaviour of structural
steels, which wear limited number of alternating plastifications, fractures of high-strength
steels occur in elastic range also at low number of cycles (N>5.103). The results show also
higher sensitivity of high-strength steels to details with notch effects. E.g. the adaptable
criterion for welded beams manufactured from steel 52 is relevant up to 7000 number of
cycles and for the same types of beams from steel 37 up to 15 000 cycles, while this
criterion for high-strength steel is not decisive. It means, that reliable design of steel
structures with structural notches subjected to fatigue requires determination of fatigue
176
RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF A STEEL BEAM UNDER FIRE DESIGN

SITUATION
Haig Gulvanessian1, Milan Holický2, Louis-Guy Cajot3 and Jean-Baptiste Schleich3

1
BRE Watford, Garston, WD2 7JR, UK and Imperial College London, UK
2
CTU in Prague, Šolínova 7, 166 08 Prague 6, Czech Republic
3
ProfilARBED Recherches, L-4009 Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg
Keywords: Permanent and Accidental Design Situation, Fire Design, Reliability index,
Probability
Abstract: Reliability analysis of a steel beam supporting floor of an office area takes into
account both the persistent and accidental (fire) design situation. The beam designed in
accordance with Eurocodes is analyzed using the second order reliability method SORM. It
appears that reliability at the persistent design situation is sufficient. Reliability at the fire
design situation is strongly dependent on assumed theoretical models for which more research
is needed.
1. INTRODUCTION
A recent study [1] attempts to show that reliability methods applied commonly for the
persistent design situation may be also applied for the accidental (fire) design situation. The
example of the steel beam supporting a floor of an office area considered in [1] is also used
throughout this paper. Using partial factor methods as specified in Eurocodes 1 and 3 [2, 3, 4]
and ISO 834 [5], the steel beam is firstly designed for both the persistent and accidental (fire)
design situations. Then its reliability in the strength domain is analysed using the second order
reliability method SORM [6, 7]. The aim of this paper is to compare the reliability level for
both design situations and to recommend possible improvements of present code provisions
for future revisions of Eurocodes. [1].
2. DETERMINISTIC DESIGN
A simple supported steel beam of a span L = 8 m exposed to the permanent load G and
imposed load Q is considered in the reliability analysis below. In accordance with the
Structural Eurocodes [2], [3] and [4] reliability of the beam at the persistent and accidental
(fire) design situation should be verified using appropriate load combination and partial safety
factors. The following condition should be valid at the persistent design situation
(γGGk + γQQk)L2/8 < W fyk/γm (1)
where notations and numerical values recommended by Eurocodes are applied in this paper:
γG = 1,35 denotes the partial safety factor of permanent load G, Gk characteristic value of G,
γQ = 1,5 partial safety factor of variable load Q, Qk characteristic value of Q, L is span of the
beam, W is section modulus, fyk the characteristic value of yield strength fy, γm = 1,1 the
partial factor of material property. As an example consider the following input data
L = 8 m, Gk = 20 kN/m, Qk = 25 kN/m, fyk = 235 MPa (2)
177
which correspond to the loading width 8,33 m for an office area having the characteristic
imposed load 3 kN/m2. Using data (2) the steel profile IPE A 550 having Wpl = 2475 cm3 is
designed.
At the accidental (fire) design situation the following condition is to be considered
(Gk + ψ1,1Qk)L2/8 < W fyk ky (3)
where no partial factors γ are used while the combination factor ψ1,1 = 0,5 may be applied in
accordance with equation (9.11) in [2]. The reduction factor ky of the yield point is introduced
in accordance with [3]. It follows from (1) and (2) that ky should satisfy the condition
(Gk + ψ1,1Qk)/ (γm (γGGk + γQQk)) < ky (4)
Using data (2) the minimum reduction factor ky = 0,46.

However, it follows from (4.18) in ENV 1993-1-2 [3] that the reduction factor ky of
the yield point is a function of the temperature θ
ky = (0,9674 ((1+exp((θ - 482)/39,19))))(-1/3,833) (5)
where θ denotes the temperature in the heating phase. Taking into account ISO 834 [5] θ
corresponds to the time t (in minutes)
θ = 20 + 345 log (8 t +1) (6)
Using data (2) and equation (6) it follows thatθ = 602 °C and t is about 6 minutes (0,1 hour).
In the following equivalent fire load intensity is recalculated taking into account data
(2) and other parameters of a given fire compartment. Further it is assumed that the maximum
steel temperature θ is equal to the maximum air temperature inside the fire-affected
compartment. Then the corresponding fire load intensity may be calculated from the equation
given in Annex B of ENV 1991-2-2 [4] for time t (in hours)
t = 0,00013 qt,d Γ / O (7)
where the factor Γ = (O/b)2/(0,04/1160)2 defined in Annex B of ENV 1991-2-2 [4] is equal to
1 as the following parameters are considered for the sake of simplicity: the opening factor O =
0,04 m1/2 and the factor of the thermal properties of walls is b = 1160 J/ (m2 s1/2 K).
Considering the given input data (2), equation (7) yields the design value of fire load intensity
related to the total surface area At as
qt,d = 0,1× 0,04 / 0,00013 = 30,77 [MJ/m2] (7)
The design value qf,d of fire load intensity related to the floor surface area Af is
calculated using expression taken from Annex B of [4]
qf,d = qt,d At/Af = 30,77 × 4 = 123,08 [MJ/m2] (8)
where At/Af = 4 (assumed ratio of the total and floor surface are of the fire compartment).
178
Equation (8) gives the maximum design value qf,d of fire load intensity acceptable in
the considered office area. Obviously, this value is relatively low and actual fire load intensity
in an office area may be much greater.
3. RELIBILITY ANALYSIS
The limit state function in the persistent as well as accidental (fire) design situation
may be written as
Z = ξR R - ξE E (9)
where Z denotes the safety margin, ξR the coefficient of model uncertainty for the resistance R
and ξE the coefficient of model uncertainty for the load effect E.
The resistance R at the persistent design situation can be written as
R = W fy (10)
at the fire design situation as
R = W f y ky (11)
where the reduction factor ky is given by equations (5), (6) and (7).
Finally, the load effect E is given in both design situations as the bending moment at
the mid-span point of the beam
E = (1/8) (G + Q) L2 (12)
In reliability analysis all basic variables are considered as random variables defined in
Table 1. Note that the imposed load Q is considered as a sum of long term imposed load Qlong
and short term imposed load Qshort [6]. The fire load intensity qf is described by the Gumbel
distribution having the coefficient of variation 0,3 and the 80% fractile equal to the design
value qf,d =123 [MJ/m2]. The corresponding mean of qf is 101 [MJ/m2].
Table 1. Review of basic variables.

Basic variable Distribution Characteristic Mean Stand.dev.
X (design) value Xk μX σX
R =W fy- resistance [kNm] Lognormal 581,6 = 2475 693,0 = 2475 0,1 × μX
×235×10 -3
×280×10 -3
qf - fire load [MJ/m3] Gumbel 123 101 0,3 × μX

b = (ρ cλ) [J/m s K] 0,1 × μX
0.5 2 1/2 1)
Beta 1160 1160
O = Av √h/At [m ] 0,5 × μX
2 2
Lognormal 0.04 m 0,040
Atf = At /Af Constant 4 4 0
G- permanent load [kN/m] Normal 20 20 0,1 × μX
Qlong- long term Q [kN/m] Gumbel 25 = 3,0 × 8,33 5,00 = 0,6×8,33 0,5 × μX
Qshort- short term Q [kN/m] Gumbel 0 1,67 = 0,2×8,33 0,9 × μX
ξR - uncert. of R in pers. sit. Normal 1 1,0 0,1
ξR - uncert. of R in fire sit. Normal 1 1,0 0,15
ξE - uncertainty of E Normal 1 1,0 0,1
1)
Note on Table 1: The lower bound of two-sided limited Beta distribution for b is 1000, the
upper bound 2000 J/(m2 s1/2 K).
179
Assuming the probabilistic models indicated in Table 1, the reliability of the simply
supported beam has been analysed using the second order reliability method SORM and
program COMREL 6.21 [7]. Time invariant analysis was applied assuming that both the long-
and short-term imposed load qlong and qshort are active during the whole design lifetime. It
appears that at the persistent design situation the reliability index β = 5,1 is sufficiently high
(corresponding probability of failure is about 1,7 10-7). At the fire design situation β = 1,14
(the conditional probability of failure pf,fi given the fire flashover is about 0,13). The target
probability of failure pt may be then verified using the following simplified condition [8]
pfi × pf,fi ≤ pt (14)
where pfi denotes the probability of fire flashover, which should be determined on the bases of
a complex risk assessment taking into account actual conditions of a building.
Detail analysis indicates that the reliability at the fire design situation is strongly
dependent on assumed theoretical models for the basic variables (particularly for the fire load
qf and the opening factor O). Generally, when using Annex B of ENV 1991-2-2 [4], the
reliability index decreases with increasing value of the product (qf O). Further research is
needed in order to calibrate reliability elements used in design of structures exposed to fire.
4. CONCLUSIONS
(1) Reliability of a simply supported beam at persistent design situation is sufficient; the
reliability index is about 5,1 (corresponding probability of failure is about 1,7 10-7).
(2) The reliability index at the fire design situation is only 1,14 (the conditional probability of
failure pf,fi given the fire is fully developed is about 0,13).
(3) To verify reliability at the fire design situation, the target probability should be compared
with the conditional probability pf,fi multiplied by the probability of fire flashover.
(4) For the accidental (fire) design situation, when using Annex B of ENV 1991-2-2, the
reliability index decreases with increasing value of the product (qf O).
(5) Further reliability studies for the accidental (fire) design situation are needed in order to
calibrate partial factors and other reliability elements.
Acknowledgement
This research has been partly conducted at the Klokner Institute, Czech Technical
University in Prague, Czech Republic as a part of research project CEZ: J04/98:210000029
"Risk Assessment and Reliability of Engineering Systems".
References
[1] ECSC Semestrial Reports No. 1 to 8: Natural fire safety concept for buildings. CEC
Agreement 7210-SA/522. Final report to be published in May 1999.
[2] ENV 1991-1: Basis of design and actions on structures - Part 1: Basis of design. 1994.
[3] ENV 1993-1-2: Design of steel structures - Part 1 - 2: General rules - Structural fire
design. 1995.
[4] ENV 1991-2-2: Basis of design and actions on structures - Part 2-2: Action on structures –
Action on structures exposed to fire. 1995.
[5] ISO 834: Fire resistance - General requirements. 1995.
[6] JCSS, Working document: Eurocode random variable models. 1997.
[7] RCP Munich: COMREL, version 6.21. Part of a Structural Reliability Analysis System
STRUREL. 1998.
[8] ECCS Working Document No. 94: Background document to Eurocode 1 (ENV1991-2-2),
March 1996.
180
COMPUTATION OF THE SHAPE AND THE TIME GROWTH OF A

FATIGUE CRACK
Kovše I.
181
182
183
184
Session
Structures
185
186
BEHAVIOUR OF SIMPLY SUPPORTED COLD-FORMED Z-PURLINS

RESTRAINED BY SHEETING
Vraný T.
187
188
189
190
STEEL FRAMES USING HOLLOW COLUMNS AND OPEN SECTION

BEAMS
Buick Davison, Patrick Kirby and Shaun Waters

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK
Keywords: Sway frames, tubular columns, Flowdrill, semi-rigid connections
Abstract: This paper describes part of an ongoing investigation into the use of flowdrill
connections in frames constructed with hollow box columns and open section beams. The full
paper reports on the experimental results from 14 new tests on joints as well as initial
findings from a study to examine the implications of this form of construction in braced and
unbraced frames.
1 INTRODUCTION
Steel framed buildings are most commonly constructed from rolled open sections; H
shaped profiles are widely used for the columns and I shapes for the beams. These section
types may be readily joined together by a variety of connection types, some of which aim to
provide only shear connection between beam and column, whilst others are required to effect
a rigid connection capable of transferring moment. Joints are most commonly achieved by a
shop welding plates to either the beam or column and on-site bolting. Depending upon the
choice of joint, the frame may be designed as a simple frame - requiring bracing to resist
lateral loads and transferring little moment from beams to columns - or a continuous frame in
which the frame may be considered as a rigidly jointed structure capable of resisting lateral
loads by frame action. The attraction of the latter approach is the absence of bracing thus
leaving the internal space and external walls free from intrusions; the disadvantage is the
requirement to provide joints which are stiff and moment resisting.
This paper presents some results from an ongoing investigation examining the
feasibility of an alternative approach to the design and construction of steel frames in which
tubular columns, rather than open H profiles, are used. Closed hollow section columns are
structurally more efficient than H sections but are difficult to connect to beams as the usual
bolted joints are not practical due to the difficulty of access to tighten the nut. Blind bolting
using mechanical devices can be used but are expensive. However recent developments in the
use of flowdrilling have opened the possibility of forming bolted on-site joints to tubular
columns using normal bolts. With this development, the design of unbraced frames with
tubular columns is a potentially practical possibility. Advantages of hollow sections in this
application are discussed by France et al. [1] and will be described in the full paper.
2 FLOWDRILLING TUBULAR COLUMNS

For many tubular sections the use of ordinary bolts in tapped holes is not normally
possible due to the restricted length of thread available in the relatively thin tube wall and the
problems of adequate bolt bearing capacity. A relatively new thermal drilling technique, the
flowdrill process, allows a thread to be incorporated into relatively thin steel by locally
displacing the metal and increasing the thickness sufficiently to permit tapping of a thread
into the steel. The diagrams of Figure 1 illustrate the process. A tungsten carbide bit is rotated
at high speed and gradually applied to the base material (Figure 1a) which, due to the heat
generated by friction, begins to soften allowing the flowdrill bit to be forced through the steel
(Figure 1b-d). As the drill bit passes through the thickness of material a conical lobe is
produced on the inside which locally thickens the steel in the vicinity of the bolt. A small
191
upstand is produced on the outside as the drill is forced through, which is removed by a cutter
on the drill bit to leave a clean finish on the exterior of the tube (Figure 1e,f). A cold formed
thread capable of accepting a standard bolt without any special modifications can now be
successfully introduced, (Figure 1g). The process is only required up to 12.5mm thickness as
greater thicknesses of wall can be drilled and tapped in the normal way.
a b c d e f g
Fig. 1 The Flowdrill process
3 ROTATIONAL RESPONSE OF FLOWDRILL CONNECTIONS

A series of tests was conducted on a 200 SHS section to examine a range of joint
arrangements. The details are fully reported in references [2-4] and briefly summarised in
Table 1. The tests on simple joints (partial depth and flush endplates) performed in an
acceptable manner with no unexpected failures modes and all flowdrill connectors performed
satisfactorily. The stiffness and the strength of such joints may be controlled by the designer
by varying the type of endplate, partial depth or flush, endplate thickness, column wall
thickness and beam depth, endplate width and bolt cross centres. Using moderately thick
extended
Table 1 Test Series 1 - Schedule of Flowdrill Joint Tests on 200 x 200 SHS
Test No. Endplate Column section Steel Grade Beam size Bolt Endplate Endplate
type sizes used cross- thickness width
centres
1-13 Flush 200x200x6.3 S275 254x146x31 UB 80 10 160
18 and PD 200x200x8 356x171x45 UB 100 15 180
200x200x12.5 457x152x52 UB 120
14C-17C As above but concrete filled
19-21 Extended 200x200x8 S275 356x171x67 UB 120 25 180
23 200x200x10 S355
200x200x12.5
22C,24 C Extended 200x200x10 S275 356x171x67 UB 120 25 180
S355
25,26 Flush 200x200x8 S275 356x171x67 UB 120 25 180
200x200x10
Note: (1) C denotes concrete filled (2) PD denotes Partial Depth endplates
192
endplates leads to joints which can approach full strength. Thick flush end plates also have
significant moment resistance. When compared directly to their unfilled equivalents,
dramatic increases in the strength and stiffness of concrete filled flowdrill joints are possible.
Further tests were conducted on larger columns and beams to investigate the inherent
performance of simple joints using standard endplate arrangements as recommended for
connections to open columns. Table 2 summarises the tests conducted. In this test series the
joints had modest stiffness and strength due to the flexibility of the column face. In a
connection to an H column it is preferable to place bolts at relatively close cross centres to
prevent excessive deformation of the column flanges. Transferring the same joint geometry to
a connection to a tube places the bolts towards the centre of the column face rather than at
stiffer edges, resulting in a comparatively flexible connection. Whilst this may be beneficial
for a joint designed as a pin, it is unhelpful in a design seeking to capitalise on inherent joint
strength. For this reason a further series of tests was conducted on a single column and beam
size with the aim of adjusting the bolt spacing and endplate widths to control the level of
moment resistance and joint stiffness. A further refinement to the test programme was the
addition of stub beams on the perpendicular faces of the column to investigate the effect of
enhanced stiffness on the unloaded column faces (earlier tests had shown deformation of the
unloaded face induced by distortion of the connected face). A summary of these tests is
provided in table 3.
Table 2 Test Series 2 - Schedule of tests using standard simple connections
Test No. Connection Column Axial load Beam size Connection details
Arrangement section size
1 cruciform 200x200x6.3 220 457x191x74
2 cruciform 300x300x10 1130 457x191x74
3 cruciform 250x250x10 850 457x191x74 Flush endplate 200 wide x 12 thick
4 cantilever 300x300x10 1340 457x191x74 8M20 8.8 bolts at 120 centres
5C cantilever 300x300x10 1340 457x191x74
6 cruciform 300x300x12.5 920 686x254x125 Extended endplate 250 wide x15 thick
8M24 8.8 bolts
Note: (1) C denotes concrete filled
Table 3 Test Series 3 - Schedule of tests using 300SHS with wide endplates and bolt centres
Test Loaded beams Column Sizes Stub beams Endplate Bolt gauge
No. Width
1 No 200 120
2 Yes 200 120
3 All All No 250 120
4 457x191x74 300x300x10 Yes 250 120
5 No 250 150
6 Yes 250 150
7 No 250 170
8 Yes 250 170
4 MODELLING OF JOINT RESPONSE

Joint performance is controlled by a large number of variables, as noted earlier.
France [5] proposed an analysis model which accounted for the most important variables
which was verified against test data then available and found to give good predictions of
ultimate capacity and reasonable estimates of initial stiffness. Moh'd Salleh [6] programmed
the proposed model into a spreadsheet which was compared with test data from later test
series with a wider range of section sizes and endplate geometry, again with reasonable
193
results. This model allows a wide range of joint geometry to be studied and the influence of
some of the main parameters (bolt spacing, tube size, plate width etc.) to be quantified.
5 RESPONSE OF FRAMES WITH FLOWDRILL CONNECTIONS

A number of analytical studies were conducted on braced test frames to examine the
influence of joint stiffness on the buckling resistance of tubular columns. Results will be
reported in the full paper. The beneficial effect of joint stiffness has been shown to outweigh
the detrimental effect of moment transfer and columns in braced frames may be safely
designed as axially loaded, ignoring the effects of joint eccentricity. This finding for hollow
columns concurs with earlier work on H profile columns and confirms that the so called “α-
pin approach” [7] for column design is applicable.
In order to study the effect of joint performance on sway frame behaviour, a test
frame was designed and analysed using a second order analysis progam making a number of
different assumptions about frame action - braced or unbraced - and joint response. The three
storey frame was based on a 6m by 6m grid with storey heights of 4.5m. For this study the
four bay frame was assumed to act non-compositely with a precast concrete floor spanning
the 6m between frames. Sections for the beams and columns were selected from those for
which a range of test data existed, namely 457x191x74UB beams and 300x300x10 SHS
columns.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by British Steel (Tubes and Pipes)
without which the experimental tests would not have been possible. A number of
investigators and sponsors have been involved in the ongoing research reported here, their
contributions are acknowledged. Some of the analytical work reported herein was conducted
by Ahmad Baharuddin Abd-Rahman and Christophe Hennebert and their contributions are
gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] France, JE, Davison, JB and Kirby PA: An economic comparison of the use of open and
closed section columns in low rise multi-storey buildings, Procedings Sixth International
Symposium on Tubular Structures, Melbourne, Australia, December 1994.
[2] France, JE, Davison, JB and Kirby PA: Strength and rotational of moment connections to
tubular columns using flowdrill connectors, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol 50
No.1, April 1999, pp. 1-14.
[3] France, JE, Davison, JB and Kirby PA: Strength and rotational stiffness of simple
connections to tubular columns using flowdrill connectors, Journal of Constructional Steel
Research, Vol 50 No.1, April 1999, pp. 15-34.
[4] France, JE, Davison, JB and Kirby PA: Moment-capacity and rotational stiffness of
endplate connections to concrete-filled tubular columns with flowdrilled connectors, Journal
of Constructional Steel Research, Vol 50 No.1, April 1999, pp. 35-48.
[5] France, JE: Bolted connections between open section beams and box columns, PhD
Thesis, University of Sheffield, January 1997.
[6] Mohd Salleh, MA: Flowdrill connections for semi-continuous braced frames, MSc
Dissertation, University of Sheffield, September 1998.
[7] Kirby, PA, Bitar, SS and Gibbons, C: Design of columns in non-sway semi-rigidly
connected frames, Proceedings of the First World Conference on Constructional Steel
Design, Acapulco, Mexico, December 1992.
194
BENCHMARK SOLUTIONS FOR STEEL FRAME STRUCTURES

SUBJECT TO LOCAL BUCKLING
Philip Avery and Mahen Mahendran,

Physical Infrastructure Centre, School of Civil Engineering
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD. 4000, Australia
Keywords: Analytical benchmark solutions, Steel frame structures, Non-compact sections,

Local buckling, Advanced analysis
Abstract: Application of “advanced analysis” methods suitable for non-linear analysis and
design of steel frame structures has previously been restricted to steel frames comprising only
compact sections that are not influenced by local buckling effects. A research project has been
conducted with the aim of developing simplified concentrated plasticity methods suitable for
practical advanced analysis of steel frames comprising non-compact sections. This paper
contains a comprehensive set of analytical benchmark solutions for steel frames comprising
non-compact sections, which can be used to verify the accuracy of these new methods. The
benchmark solutions were obtained using a distributed plasticity shell finite element model
that explicitly accounts for the effects of gradual cross-sectional yielding, longitudinal spread
of plasticity, initial geometric imperfections, residual stresses, and local buckling.
1 INTRODUCTION
Distributed plasticity methods of analysis are particularly suitable for the analysis of
benchmark calibrations frames which can be used to verify the accuracy of simplified
concentrated plasticity methods of analysis. Although various distributed plasticity analytical
benchmarks have been provided for steel frames comprising compact sections [1,2], no data is
available for steel frames comprising non-compact sections. Research was therefore
undertaken to produce a comprehensive series of distributed plasticity analytical benchmarks
for steel frames comprising non-compact sections, subject to the effects of local buckling [3].
This paper contains a detailed description of the analytical benchmark frames comprising
non-compact sections and ultimate capacities.
2 MODEL DESCRIPTION AND VALIDATION

The HKS /Abaqus S4R5 element was selected for all analyses. A mesh of eight
elements per web or flange with an aspect ratio of 1.0 was used to accurately model the
residual stress distribution, spread of plasticity, and local buckling deformations. The
geometry and finite element mesh of a typical benchmark frame model is illustrated in Figure
1. Point loads were applied to the nodes, and distributed using a rigid multiple point constraint
equation. The rigid multiple point constraint also served to provide a rigid connection and to
spread the loads. Distributed loads were approximated by lumped nodal loads. The column
base fixed connections were modelled using single point constraints eliminating all the
degrees of freedom of the nodes located at the base of the columns. Out-of-plane constraints
were modelled using single point constraints to eliminate the out-of-plane horizontal degrees
of freedom of all the nodes located at the intersection of the flanges and web. These
arrangements prevented global out-of-plane member or frame buckling but did not restrict
out-of-plane displacements due to local buckling.
195
Figure 1. Geometry and finite element mesh of a typical benchmark frame model
Local imperfections were included in all non-compact sections by modifying the nodal
coordinates using a field created by scaling the appropriate buckling eigenvectors obtained
from an elastic bifurcation buckling analysis of the model. The magnitudes of the local flange
and web imperfections in the non-compact benchmark models were taken as the assumed
fabrication tolerances. Out-of-plumbness and out-of-straightness member imperfections were
included in sway and non-sway frames, respectively based on the compression member
tolerances specified in AS4100 [4]. The assumed residual stress distribution for hot-rolled I-
sections was recommended by ECCS [5]. The residual stress distributions used for other
section types are provided by Avery [3]. The residual stresses were modelled using the
Abaqus *INITIAL CONDITIONS option, with TYPE = STRESS, USER.
The accuracy of the distributed plasticity model was established by conducting two
series of comparisons. The first series involved the use of results published by Vogel [2] for
the following frames comprising only compact sections: Single bay, single storey sway portal
and gable frames with fixed and pinned base restraints, respectively, and Two bay, six storey
sway frame with fixed base restraints. The second series of comparisons involved the results
obtained from three large scale experimental tests of single bay, single storey, sway frames
comprising non-compact sections and fixed base connections and rigid joints [3]. They
comprised of non-compact hot-rolled I-sections subject to major axis bending, slender cold-
formed rectangular hollow sections subject to minor axis bending and slender welded I-
sections subject to major axis bending. Full details of the verification analyses and results
including load-deflection curves are provided by Avery [3] for both the Vogel frame study
and the test frame study. The verification analyses demonstrated that the shell finite element
model accurately represents distributed plasticity resulting from the combined effects of
applied forces, residual stresses, geometric imperfections, and local buckling.
3 ANALYTICAL BENCHMARKS AND PARAMETRIC STUDIES

The analytical benchmark model was used to develop a comprehensive range of analytical
benchmarks comprising non-compact I-sections (hot-rolled), suitable for the verification of
simplified methods of analysis. The following benchmark frames were selected to represent a
variety of typical frame configuration and parameters (a total of 129 frames):
1. Modified Vogel frames: 3 Vogel frames but with non-compact sections.
2. Benchmark series 1 frames: 18 single bay, single storey, fixed base sway frames
comprising non-compact I-sections with major axis bending.
3. Benchmark series 2 frames: four single bay, single storey, pinned base sway frames
196
4. Benchmark series 3 frames: four single bay, single storey, leaned column sway frames
5. Benchmark series 4 frames: four single bay, single storey, pinned base non-sway frames
6. Benchmark series 5 frames: two single bay, single storey, pinned base sway frames
comprising non-compact I-sections with minor axis bending.
However, only the Series 1 frames are used to illustrate the process in this paper.
P P
beam
H Column slenderness Beam/column stiffness Load case
(Lc/r) identifier (γ) identifier (P/H) identifier
ψ 0 = 1/500 ψ0
right column
left column
h
bmX-XXXX
Frame configuration Section slenderness
s (series) identifier (kf, Ze/S) identifier
Figure 2. Benchmark series 1 frames Figure 3. Benchmark numbering system
The configuration of the benchmark series 1 frames is illustrated in Figure 2. The

investigation embraced a range of parameters that could influence the behaviour of steel
frame structures comprising members with non-compact cross-sections. They are:
Section slenderness parameters kf and Ze/S: The section slenderness was modified by
changing the web and flange thickness, and the yield stress. Each benchmark frame was
initially analysed using shell element assemblage idealisations of current Australian non-
compact hot-rolled I-sections (360UB44.7, 310UB32.0, 250UB25.7 - designated type “i”),
and then reanalysed with a variety of different element thicknesses and yield stresses. Two
series of reduced sections were used, designated types “r1” and “r2”. Sections of type “r1”
had identical centreline dimensions to the corresponding type “i” sections, with the flange
thickness reduced by one mm, the web thickness reduced by 0.5 mm and the yield stress
increased by 50 MPa. Similarly, the flange thickness of sections of type “r2” was reduced by
two mm, the web thickness was reduced by one mm and the yield stress was increased by 100
MPa. The section slendernesses ranged from kf = 0.943 to 0.802, and Ze/S = 1 to 0.887.
Column member slenderness: The column member slenderness was varied by
changing the height of the columns (Lc = h). Three column heights were considered: 3.0
metres, 5.0 metres and 7.0 metres. All columns were 310 UB 32 base sections (type “i”, “r1”
or “r2”). The column slenderness ratios (Lc/r) for the three column heights were therefore
24.2 to 24.4, 40.3 to 40.7, and 56.4 to 56.9, covering the range of typical column
slendernesses.
Ratio of vertical to horizontal load: 3 P/H ratios: 3, 15, and 100, allowing bending
dominant, compression dominant, and combined bending and compression behaviour to be
represented.
Ratio of column stiffness to beam stiffness γ: This was changed by varying the frame
width to height ratio and using different beam sections. Two width to height ratios (s/h) were
used: 1.5 and 1.0. Two beam base sections were used: 250 UB 25.7 and 360 UB 44.7. The
250 UB 25.7 section was used in conjunction with the width to height ratio of 1.5, while the
360 UB 44.7 section was used with the width to height ratio of 1.0. This resulted in two ratios
of the column to beam stiffness for each section slenderness category: γ = 2.29 to 2.31, and γ
197
= 0.54 to 0.57. This range ensured that both stiff column / flexible beam and flexible column
/ stiff beam behavioural types were represented in the parametric study.
The identification system used to describe the parametric variables for each
benchmark analysis is illustrated in Figure 3. For example, benchmark frame analysis bm1-
2123 has the following parametric variables: fixed base sway frame, major axis bending, 310
UBr2 32.0 column section (kf = 0.802, Ze/S = 0.887), 250 UBr2 25.7 beam section, column
height (h) = 5.0 metres, beam span (s) = 7.5 metres, Lc/r = 40.7, γ = 2.31, P/H = 15.
A summary of the ultimate vertical loads (Pu) for part of benchmark series 1 is
provided in Table 1. The ultimate horizontal loads can be obtained by dividing the ultimate
vertical loads by the appropriate P/H ratios. The vertical and sway load-deflection curves for
each benchmark series 1 analysis and results of all other benchmark frames are provided by
Avery [3]. These tabulated load-deflection results are suitable for the calibration and
verification of simplified methods of analysis for frames.
Table 1. Summary of benchmark series 1 analytical results
Benchmark Pu (kN)
frame P/H = 3 P/H = 15 P/H = 100
bm1-11X1 383 828 1072
bm1-12X1 432 877 1076
bm1-21X1 241 617 980
bm1-22X1 279 681 1018
bm1-31X1 176 466 805
bm1-32X1 202 536 901
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has described the development of a comprehensive set of benchmark
solutions for steel frames comprising non-compact sections, which can be used to verify the
accuracy of simplified concentrated plasticity methods suitable for practical advanced
analysis. The benchmark solutions were obtained using a distributed plasticity shell finite
element model that has been validated using analytical and experimental solutions.
References
[1] Kanchanalai, T. (1977), “The design and behaviour of beam-columns in unbraced steel
frames”, AISI Project No. 189, Report No. 2, University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA.
[2] Vogel, U. (1985), “Calibrating frames”, Stahlbau, Vol. 54, pp. 295-301.
[3] Avery, P. (1998), “Advanced analysis of steel frames comprising non-compact sections”,
PhD thesis, School of Civil Engineering, QUT, Brisbane, Australia.
[4] SAA (1990), “AS4100-1990 Steel Structures”, Standards Australia, Sydney, Australia.
[5] ECCS (1984), “Ultimate limit state calculation of sway frames with rigid joints”, Tech.
Committee 8 - Structural Stability Technical Working Group, Publication No. 33.
198
STEEL SHEET IN A POST-TENSIONED COMPOSITE SLAB
Heli Koukkari
Keywords: Steel-concrete composite slab, post-tensioning, unbonded tendon, steel sheet,

load-bearing structure, design
Abstract: A thin-gauge steel sheet of a composite slab with unbonded tendons acts as a
platform and shuttering during the construction stage, increases the stiffness of the slab at the
working load especially when cracking occurs and forms part of the positive moment
resistance. The embossments of the steel sheet have to be capable to transfer the compressive
force due to the anchorage to the sheet at the slab ends when the structural advantages of
composite action are planned to be utilized. The magnitude of the compressive force on the
steel sheet depends not only on the properties of the joint but also on the buckling of the flat
parts of the thin-gauge steel sheet. The strength of the joint of a composite slab shall be
verified experimentally both for the point load and bending.
1 INTRODUCTION
Post-tensioning is normally carried out by the aid of unbonded tendons in floor slabs
as this method has minor requirements on slab height and no additional grouting of the duct is
needed. Post-tensioning takes place gradually when the strength of the concrete has gained
20-90% of the design strength. The tendons are lengthened with a special hydraulic jack at
one or both ends and anchored against the hardened concrete. The tendon force is transferred
from the anchorages into the concrete and steel sheet at the slab ends.
A B C
A B C
A-A B-B C-C
CONCRETE TENDON
STEEL SHEET ANCHORAGE
Fig. 1 A steel-concrete composite slab with curved unbonded tendons.
The steel sheet will be wholly or partly compressed during the different loading stages
of a composite slab with unbonded tendons. During tensioning work, the slab is loaded only
by the self-weight and the tendon force at its maximum. The live loads may have their maxi-
mum as the tendon force has gained its reduced long-term value. The stresses in the steel
sheet will also vary because of shrinkage and creep of the concrete. In design, different
loading stages at different times are necessary to be treated in order to verify the reliable
performance of the slab. The flat parts of a thin-gauge steel under compression may buckle
which also has to be taken into account in analysis and design.
199
2 ANALYSIS OF A POST-TENSIONED COMPOSITE SLAB
Post-tensioning with unbonded tendons causes internal forces in the composite slab:
the anchorage imposes compressive forces at the ends and the curved shape of the tendon
induces vertical force components along the slab. When a composite slab is load-balanced, its
internal upward loads (w) are as great as the gravity loads (Fig. 2).
P P
w
2 Psin(θ /2)= wL
w = 2 Psin(θ /2)/L
L w = 2P( θ /2)/L
L/2
P
Psin( θ /2)
θ /2 hf
2hf
tan(θ /2) = 2h f /(L/2)
θ
θ /2 = 4h f /L
w= 8Ph f /L2
Fig. 2 Uniformly distributed vertical components w of the tendon force P. L is the length and
hf is the drape and of the parabola.
The preliminary design aims at an appropriate solution for the combination of the
gravity loads, span length, tendon force and drape (sag) of the tendon (see also Fig. 2).
Usually the load-balanced situation is chosen so that the tendon force P is at its minimum and
the permanent loads are at their maximum. All the loading situations different from the
balance can be handled through the effects of differences of the loads. In balance, there are
only compressive stresses in the slab with the exception of anchorage zones where also tensile
stresses in concrete and shear stresses in the joint are induced.
The ribs of the sheet affects the weight of the slab and arrangement of the tendons.
The requirements of the achorage have also to be fulfilled which may prevent the use of an
otherwise beneficial type of a steel sheet. The anchorages require space and additional
reinforcement around themselves to prevent splitting of the concrete. They should also be
placed at the level of the centroidal axis of the composite cross-section so that no adverse end
moments are introduced.
The design of a composite slab with unbonded tendons includes the verification of the
adequate safety of the slab at the ultimate limit states. The failure may take place in the
anchorage zone, in the joint between the concrete and steel sheet or in concrete at the support
or in the middle of a span when the slab is underreinforced.
3 STEEL SHEET OF A COMPOSITE SLAB UNDER COMPRESSION
A load-balanced composite slab is uniformly compressed. In the case of full interac-

tion, the ratio of the compressive stresses in the steel sheet σa to those in the concrete σc is as
great as the ratio of elastic modulus of the materials. The compressive force transferred from
the anchorage to the sheet Pa depends on the axial stiffnesses of the parts and effective area of
the sheet (Fig. 3). Ac is the concrete area, Aa the effective area of the sheet under
compression.
200
εc σc na(t) = Ea / Ec (t)
Pc P(t) = Pa(t) + P (t)

c
P σa = n(t)σa
a
n(t) A a P(t)
P (t) =
εa σa a n(t) A + A c
a
Fig. 3 The division of the tendon force P(t) into compressive forces on the concrete and steel
sheet Pc(t) and Pa(t), respectively, at the load-balanced state.
2
The usual range of compressive stresses in concrete vary from 1.0 to 2.5 N/mm at
long term in a balanced slab and then the compressive stresses in the sheet are from 10 to 50
2
N/mm for normal-weight concrete. Some local buckling might take place, and the risk is
higher if the tendon force is higher. The elastic modulus of concrete is 1.5-2 -times that of the
long-term value at the tensioning which means a higher propotion from the tendon force to the
concrete but also some hogging end moment.
On the other hand, technical documents of a post-tensioning methods give the admis-
sible tension force of one tendon normally around 180 kN during the tensioning work. Suppo-
sed that there are tendons at the distances of 500 mm, the total compressive force on the
cross-section is 360 kN/m. This force acts locally on the joint near the anchorage. The shear
stresses induced in the joint might be very high compared to the design strength of the joint in
flexure.
4 TESTS ON COMPOSITE COLUMNS

Experimental methods are seen preferable to study the anchorage zone in a composite
slab as the length of the transferring area of the compressive force is not known by calcula-
tions. The composite action between the concrete and steel sheeting was investigated by
column tests simulating a balanced composite slab in research projects at the Technical
Research Centre of Finland VTT.
F 1200
1000
400 800
FORCE P, kN
1000 600
200
Point 4, concrete 400
Point 5, concrete
320
Point 6, steel sheet
200
Point 7, steel sheet
320 0
-0,800 -0,700 -0,600 -0,500 -0,400 -0,300 -0,200 -0,100 0,000
F COMPRESSION, prom.
Fig. 4 Composite columns with SteelComp sheet and results from measurements.
No stirrups were place at the ends of the columns, and they all failed due to tensile
stresses in concrete. However, the compressive force on the cross-section at failure was much
201
higher than the relevant tendon force at the slab end. The relative displacements in steel sheet
and concrete developed similarly in the middle of the columns over the 200 mm length when
the measurement points in steel were just in the level of embossments in ribs (see Fig. 4). A
conclusion could be made that this special type of steel sheet is suitable for post-tensioning.
The actual division of the compressive force to the sheet and concrete cannot be find
from results exactly as there were some local buckling seen during testing. The local elastic
buckles do not influence on the behaviour of a slab under flexure when the embossments and
concrete around them ensuring the mechanical strength of the joint remain unchangable.
The compressive stresses in a post-tensioned composite slab are at the level of 15 % of

the yield strength of steel which in comparison is the aim to reach in a composite walling or
column.
CONCLUSIONS
Post-tensioning and combining steel sheet and concrete structurally are advanced on-
site construction techniques for slabs. When used together, they results to an economically,
ecologically and structurally effective building construction. A slim and stiff composite floor
slab can be reached with slightly compressed cross-sections and internal balancing loads.
The steel sheet in a composite slab with unbonded tendons is totally or partly
compressed during the different loading stages due to the compression force transferred from
the anchorage at the ends of the slab. The embossments of the sheet have to be capable of
transferring the axial load to the sheet in order to ensure the composite behaviour of the slab
also at the ultimate limit state of flexure. The verification of the suitable joint type is
recommended to be made by colimn tests.
Acknowledgement
Two research projects carried out at the Technical Research Centre of Finland were founded
by the Technology Development Centre (TEKES), Rautaruukki Ltd and VTT.
References
[1] Koukkari H. Design basics of a posttensioned steel-concrete composite slab. Espoo

1996.Technical Research Centre of Finland. VTTResearch Notes 1804. 37 p. + App.
10p. (in Finnish)
[2] Malaska M. & Pajari M. Long-term behaviour of composite slabs prestressed with
unbonded tendons. Espoo 1996, Technical Research Centre of Finland. VTT Research
Notes 1778. 29 p. + 11 App.
[3] Lin, T.Y. & Burns, N.H. Design of prestressed concrete structures, 3rd edition.
Singapore 1982. John Wiley & Sons. 646 p.
[4] Wright H.D. & Gallocher S.C. The behaviour of composite walling under
construction and service loading. J. Construct. Steel Research 35(1995)3, p. 257 - 273.
202
FLOOR VIBRATIONS DUE TO WALKING LOADS
D.R. Donkervoort1,2), J.C.D. Hoenderkamp2), G.P.C. van Oosterhout1)

1)
TNO Building and Construction Research, P.O. Box 49, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands
2)
Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Keywords: Floor Vibrations, Vibration measurements, Acceptability criteria
Abstract:
Traditionally floors are designed for static strength and stiffness. Improved methods of
construction and design, using high strength-lightweight materials, have resulted in strong and
stiff floors that display unsatisfactory dynamic behaviour when exposed to walking loads. The
paper discusses a method, partly based on recent work at Eindhoven University of
Technology, to predict the dynamic response of floors subjected to walking forces. Several
floor types were tested and analysed by this method. The results of these tests are presented
and compared to floor vibration criteria that are based on ISO 2631.
1 INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, floors are designed for static strength and stiffness. The stiffness criteria
have also acted as a kind of a guarantee that excessive vibrations due to dynamic loads will
not occur. Improved methods of construction and design, using high strength-lightweight
materials, make that these criteria do no longer perform this function satisfactorily.
Subsequently, the dynamic behaviour has become an increasingly important part of floor
design.
Floor vibrations can be induced by both external forces, such as road and rail traffic,
and by internal forces such as rotating machinery. Probably the most important cause of these
vibrations in residences and offices, however, is pedestrian traffic. These floor motions can
cause annoyance, which makes it difficult to concentrate, or even sickness.
This paper deals with a method for predicting the dynamic response of floors
subjected to walking forces. Several floor types were analysed by this method. The results of
these tests are presented and compared to floor vibration criteria that are based on ISO 2631.
2 FLOOR VIBRATION CRITERIA

ISO standard 2631 contains an average vibration perception threshold, which may be
considered as a base curve for floor vibration criteria. A criterion is found when the
perception threshold is multiplied by a constant, the so-called multiplication factor. ISO 2631
suggests values for the multiplication factor as function of the floor use and the type of
vibration imposed on the floor.
This paper considers floor vibrations induced by walking, whose character is a mix of
transient and continuous components. It is therefore proposed that multiplication factors are
used for floor vibrations due to walking that are slightly higher than the values suggested by
ISO 2631 for continuous loads. Accordingly, Wyatt and Dier [4] proposed multiplication
factors of 4 and 8 for residential and office floors respectively. The corresponding criteria are
shown in figure 1.
The two criteria in figure 1 were used to compare the different floor types that were
tested in this project.
203
1000
ISO2631:perception threshold
residential
office
100
rms a [mm/s^2]
10
1
1 10 100
frequency [Hz]
Fig. 1 Annoyance threshold for vertical floor vibrations according to ISO standard 2631 [3].
3 DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR IDENTIFICATION

The dynamic properties of the floors are obtained through experimental modal
analysis (EMA). The technique of EMA, where a controlled force excites a structure and the
resulting vibrations are measured simultaneously, is discussed by Ewins [2].
In this study the dynamic properties of a floor were identified by a mass drop test. In
this test a sand-filled ball of about 3 kg is dropped from a height of 1 m. The ball hits the floor
at mid-span. The force spectrum due to the impact of the ball is relatively flat, i.e. all major
frequencies are excited by this impact.
The response of the floor has been measured at mid-span, 600 mm to the left and the
right of the impact. A typical time trace of the floor acceleration is shown in figure 2a. The
corresponding transfer function (force to acceleration) is found when the response spectrum is
divided by the force spectrum. A typical floor transfer function is shown in figure 2b.
2 0.006
[m/s^2/N]
[m/s^2]
1.5 0.005
1
0.004
0.5
0.003
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
-0.5 0.002
-1 0.001
-1.5
0
-2 [s] 0 10 20 [Hz] 30 40 50
Fig.2 a) Response time history b) Transfer function
The transfer function of a floor may be used to assess modal parameters. For example,
figure 3b clearly shows a lowest natural frequency of 13 Hz. Modal damping may be
determined from the transfer function by means of the half power bandwith method.
4 DYNAMIC FORCES DUE TO WALKING

Once the transfer function between force and response has been established, forces
due to walking can be easily assesed by walking on top of the floor and measuring the
resulting vibrations. Figure 3a shows a typical floor response due to walking.
The floor response spectrum, in combination with the transfer function, yields the
floor walking load spectrum, as is shown in figure 3b.
204
25
[N]
0.2
0.15 [m/s^2]
20
0.1
0.05 15
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 10
-0.05
-0.1
5
-0.15
-0.2 0
-0.25 [s] 0 10 20 [Hz] 30 40 50
Fig. 3 a) Floor response due to walking b) Walking force spectrum.
Walking causes a combination of impulsive (from the initial contact between the floor
and the foot) and continuous (from the successive footsteps) forces. The main components of
the continuous forces are below 8-10 Hz and may be recognized in figure 3b by the peaks at
2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 Hz, representing the stepfrequency and its higher harmonics. The impulsive
components of the walking loads mainly contribute to the force spectrum above 15 Hz, as can
be appreciated from components above 8-10 Hz.
5 PREDICTION OF FLOOR VIBRATIONS DUE TO WALKING

Six different floor types were tested in this study. Floor type 1 is a precast concrete
ribbed floor element.
Floor types 2 and 3, known as the IBS-floor (Innovative Building System), are
constructed out of thin trapezoidal shaped steel plates. Both floors are topped with hardboard,
insulation material and plasterboard and only differ as far as the finishing layer is concerned.
A 50-mm concrete slab with integrated vertical ribs is the basic concept for both floor
types 4 and 5. The floors, topped with plywood, differ in the rib concept that was used. In
floor type 4 the ribs were made of steel I-beams, where in floor type 5 the ribs consisted of
conrete beams. Table 1 summarizes the modal parameters of the investigated floors.
Table 1 Modal parameters of the investigated floors

floor no. material material top span (m) resonance damping
structural parts layer frequency (Hz) (%)
1 concrete concrete 5.6 13 3.3
2 steel wood / tiles 5.4 13 10.5
3 steel wood / carpet 5.4 12 13.9
4 concrete/steel wood 6.0 47 -1
5 concrete wood 4.8 23 4.8
The response of the investigated floors due to walking can now be predicted since both
the relationship between force and response, which is enclosed in the floor transfer function,
and the dynamic forces due to walking have been established.
1
Damping was not determined for this floor
205
1000
residential
office
100
rms a [mm/s^2]
floor 1
floor 2
floor 3
floor 4
10
floor 5
1
1 10 100
frequency [Hz]
Fig. 4 Predicted floor response due to walking plotted against the criteria according to ISO
Standard 2631.
The root mean square values of the predicted vibrations have been checked against the
criteria that were established in section 2. Figure 4 shows the performance of the five floor
types. Floor types 1, 3, 4 and 5 meet the office criterion. The performance of floor 2 is poor,
in spite of the high value of the modal damping, as none of the criteria is met.
Improving the dynamic behaviour of floor 2 by increasing the floor modal damping
therefore is not an option. Improvement may be achieved by increasing the floor stiffness, for
instance by reducing the span of the floor.
6. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a method for predicting the dynamic response of floors subjected to
walking forces is presented. Both the dynamic forces due to walking and transfer functions of
different floors have been established experimentally. Walking forces can be considerd as a
mixture of low frequency continuous and high frequency impulsive components.
All concrete and concrete composite floors meet the office criterion. The performance
of the steel IBS-floor is questionable since only one variant meets the office criterion.
Improvement of the dynamic behaviour however may be realized by increasing the floor’s
stiffness.
References
[1] Donkervoort D.R.: Floor Vibrations - Prediction of the dynamic behaviour due to walking
loads (in Dutch), TUE CO 98.13, Eindhoven, May 1998.
[2] Ewins D.J.: Modal Testing – Theory and Practice, Research Studies Press Ltd,
Letchworth, England, 1986.
[3] International Standard 2631 Part 2, Guide for the Evaluation of Human Sensitivity to
Whole Body Vibrations, International Organization for Standardization, 1974.
[4] Wyatt T.A. & Dier A.F.: Floor Serviceability under Dynamic Loading, CIB W 85 paper
no.20.
206
ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF STEEL GATES SUBJECTED TO SHOCK

STRAINS
Adrian PRODESCU, Nicolae RADUICA

Department of Steel Structures, Technical University of Construction Bucharest - Romania
Lucian ILIE
ADDL Paris - France
Keywords: segment gate, log, impact, mathematical model, step by step analysis
Abstract: Steel gates are used within the hydraulic structures as mobile equipment. Their
purpose is to control the discharge and the upstream water level and to evacuate the floating
bodies (ice, logs) and the alluvions. During the water discharge through outlets equipped with
gates, impacts may occur between the gate and solid bodies carried by the water flow. The
behaviour of the gates subjected to different loads has a direct influence on the safety of the
hydraulic structure equipped with these gates.
1. PRESENTATION OF THE STUDIED GATE

The structure of the gate may be seen in fig. 1. The main sizes of this gate are the
following: the span (16.00m) and the water height at its normal level (5.25 m).
2. PHENOMENA AND HYPOTHESES

During the water discharge through the spillways equipped with gates, these may be
hit by floating bodies (logs, ice) carried by the water stream. The studies focused on the
impact produced by a floating log having 0.60 m diameter and 2700 kg weight. The impact
hypotheses, considered the most adverse for the gate structure, are as follows:
1. The gate is partially lifted and the log, carried by the water stream, hits the gate at
its lower part; the log's speed in the moment of the impact is 8 m/s; the impact occurs near
the symmetry axis of the gate.
2. The same as first hypothesis, excepting that the impact occurs behind the joint
between the pillar and the gate body.
3. The gate is lowered and the log, carried by the water stream that overtoppes the
gate, hits the gate at its upper part; the log's speed in the moment of the impact is 2 m/s;
the impact occurs near the symmetry axis of the gate (fig. 2).
4. The same as the third hypothesis, excepting that the impact occurs behind the joint
between the pillar and the gate body.
3. MATHEMATICAL MODEL
The analyzed gate was meshed entirely in thin shell finite elements having 6 degrees
of freedom per node. The gate mesh was made using only thin shell elements having 4 nodes
because the OPTRIS program, which is suited to the situations when plastic deformations
occurs, does not admit triangular elements. In the impact computation, the mesh refinement is
very important for the accuracy of the results. Thus, the requirements regarding the result's
accuracy led to a very refined model, having about 16700 elements connected in about 16500
nodes (fig. 2). It was necessary to mesh the entire structure of the gate because the impact did
not occur in the symmetry axis.
The log was meshed by tridimensional brick elements with 8 nodes and 6 degrees of
freedom per node. The mesh refinement was increased in the impact zone.
207
Author under 35; Abridged Paper no. 136; Page2
Fig. 1. The analyzed segment gate
The OPTRIS program performed step by step computations. The size of the time step Δt is
limited by the finite elements' size and by the characteristics of the materials. The time step
must be small enough to ensure the stability of the solution. The time step size was about 1.5
microseconds.
208
Fig. 2. The third impact hypothesis
4. RESULTS OF ANALYSES
The main results of the analyses regarding the behaviour of the segment gate structure
subjected to shock strains are contained in Table 1.
Table 1.
Characteristics unit Hypotheses

1 2 3 4
log's speed m/s 8 8 2 2
total energy J 87570 87570 5473 5473
scatted (dissipated) energy J 72500 63000
max. force due to the impact kN 1055 1918 150 343
max. reaction in the hinge D kN 1095 1883 162 488
max. displacement in the impact point mm 113 48 33 13
max. equivalent stresses N/mm2 306 315 224 145
overstrain deformation % 4.83 4.93 0.128 -
The most adverse hypotheses were the first and especially the second.
• In the first hypothesis, the most affected element is the lower longitudinal beam.
The overstrain deformations in this structural element are about 4.8%. The equivalent stresses
in the lower longitudinal beam reached due to impact 300 N/mm2. Maximum reaction due to
impact resulted in the hinge is about 1095 kN.
• In the second hypothesis, when the impact occurs near the joint between the pillar and the
gate body, maximum plastic deformations also appear in the pillar and are about 4,9%. The
equivalent stresses in this zone due to impact are 315 N/mm2 (see fig. 3). Maximum reaction
due to impact resulted in the hinge is about 1883 kN.
• The third hypothesis, the equivalent stresses in the upper longitudinal beam is about
224 N/mm2. This value, superposed with de stresses due to water pressure, exceeds the yield
limit of she steel and produces plastic deformation.
• In the fourth hypothesis, the maximum stress produced by the impact is relatively small,
of about 135 N/mm2, but the reaction is quite important, reaching about 490 kN.
209
Author under 35; Abridged Paper no. 136; Page4
Fig. 3. Results of the second impact hypothesis - equivalent stresses [N/mm2]

after 24 ms from the beginning of impact
5. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

The OPTRIS program does not offer the facility to superpose the static loads and the
dynamic loads. The stresses and the reactions due to impact were superposed in each
hypothesis with the results obtained with a static analysis.
Fig. 4 presents the stress distribution due to impact in some structural elements of the
gate. One can see that the yield point (240 N/mm2) is exceeded in 3 of 4 analyzed hypotheses.
Fig. 4. Comparative presentation of the results - stresses in the gate structure
As a conclusion, the studies made on the behaviour of the segment gate subjected to
shock strains confirmed the fact that this type of loads endangers the structure of the gate. It is
necessary to adopt specific measures in order to avoid the impact with the floating bodies
carried by the water stream.
References: [1] *** OPTRIS and FICTURE - Training Manual
210
THE INFLUENCE OF IMPERFECTIONS ON THE BEHAVIOR OF

ONE-SIDE WELDED I BEAMS.
Milan Vašek
Department of Steel Structures, CTU, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Praha 6, Czech Republic
1. INTRODUCTION
The development of the business in the Czech republic brought new fabricators of steel struc-
tures from abroad to the market. Some of the imported industrial halls and storage halls seem
to be very light and competitive. The automatic fabrication should ensure high quality. The
competition and the effort to save material and labor cost to minimum leads to the usage of
some rather not obvious structural details. The one side fillet welds of the I welded section is
one of these. The one side fillet welds are possible according to the EC 1993-1-1. The most
important condition is that the loads applied to the flanges of the beams are acting without the
eccentricity. The other condition is that the tolerances of the geometry are in the prescribed
range by an appropriate code. Also the stack one side welds are sometimes used, even on the
main frame.
All these technologies suppose that structure itself is properly designed and perfectly fabri-
cated. Unfortunately, we had very dangerous experience with such an imported hall designed
99% closely to the design stress. The design did not respect proper loading conditions, proper
design of connections etc. The product fairly across almost all the tolerances of the geometry
of I section given in the ENV 1090-1. The undulation of the webs was one of the minor sins
against the proper design.
2. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE HALL

The discussed building has about 50m span (Fig.1) with the middle column made from the hot
rolled HEB 280. The length of the building is about 200m. The height of the building is be-
tween 11m and 12m.The saddle roof is supported by the Z thin walled sleeved continuous
purlins. The main frames are spaced 10m. On the side of the whole length of the building is
the suspended canopy with the span 6m. The thin-walled profiled sheets are used for the roof
cladding and for the walls of
the building. The main frame
is made from tapered beams
and columns. The calculated
stresses are close to the design
stress as much as is possible.
The main frame is one side
welded. The central part of the
main frame is made from
welded I section; the web is
6mm thick and flanges of the
size 200x8mm. The height of
the beam is linearly varying
from the 540mm to 750mm.
Fig.1. The mainframe of the hall
211
3. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DESIGN AND THE FABRICATION.

The check of the design of the hall shown the following:
• The calculation was based
on the mixture of the DIN
code (version based on the
allowable stress design) and
on the ENV 1993-1-1.
• The connections were not
calculated (Fig.2); the design
was based on the allowable
stress design tables. The end
plates of the middle part of
the main frame beam were
12mm thick (the calculated
thickness was 24mm).
• The loading values ac-
cording to the Czech code
ČSN 730035 were changed Fig.2. The connection
only in the text of the cal-
culation, the data for the computer input were different.
• The effect of continuous
purlins was not taken into the
calculation of a mainframe.
• The effect of the 6m can-
opy along the length of the
building was absolutely
omitted
• The effect of fictitious
horizontal forces imperfec-
tions of the main frame was
omitted
• The effect of one side
loading by the snow was
omitted. This loading case is
the critical loading case for
the frame with the middle Fig.3. The twisted and crooked beams
support.
• The effect of the unbraced
frame was omitted.
This list of problems corresponds to the extra values of stresses. The result designed stresses
are far bigger then the reserve available in the design. The hall was redesigned and the streng-
thening of columns and beams and connections were recommended. The structure was pro-
duced and came after about three months to the place of the erection with very little cor-
rections. The new problems with the quality of the structure started.
The following structure imperfections were found:
• The connections were not properly provided - end plates were 12mm thick and backing
plates 6mm thick were added (Fig.2).
• The strengthening plates were on several position badly welded and some of them were
not in the proper position
212
• The beams of the main frame

were twisted and the webs were
not perpendicular to the flanges.
The tolerances were about twice
bigger than the ENV 1990-1 re-
commends (Fig.3).
• The undulation of webs
shown about twice bigger waves
then ENV recommends (Fig.4).
• About 40% of fillet welds
were thinner then declared and
some of them were of the bad
quality
• The painting thickness was
Fig.4. The undulated web
about 60% then was declared.
According to the documentation
the quality control of the manufacturer was satisfying the ISO code.
4. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE HALL

The hall was erected under the high pressure of the time and penalty. The twisted beams were
repaired in-situ by the controlled heating. The undulation of webs was not repaired. The bolts
in connections were changed for the better quality and the backing plates of proper thickness
22mm and 24 mm were added. The corner welds were completed on both sides of the web at
all positions where the undulation and skew of the web was more then tolerances allowed by
ENV 1990-1.
5. THE NON-LINEAR FEM SOLUTION

According to the several simple calculations of the stresses at the fillet welds the welds are
subjected to the stresses perpendicular to their direction due to the undulated web. The
stresses are of the similar value as the stresses in the basic material. Also the influence of the
eccentricity of the loads should have impact to the carrying capacity of one-side welds. The
Fig.5. The FEM model of the part of the beam with the one-side welds
sway of the whole cross-section is also not so much positive. Each of this influence taken
separately takes off several percents of the carrying capacity of the beam. All of these influ-
ences together can consume all the safety of the beam, designed up to limit stress. If we will
213
take into the account

the other mistakes
mentioned above
against the proper de-
sign, we should have
no doubts about the
bad end of the struc-
ture with very com-
petitive price.
The structure sub-
jected to so many
types of imperfections
is rather difficult to
study theoretically.
The non-linear FEM
solution of the imper-
Fig.6. The transversal stresses in the beam fect beam is rather
more useful. The study
of the part of the central part of the main frame beam was done. The undulations (Fig.5) of the
web were arbitrarily modeled with the waves corresponding to the measured values
The influence of the undulated web, the eccentricity of loads on the upper flange and the ef-
fect of one side welding were studied. The effect of the eccentricity of the load (position in
one quarter of the flange width) was not significant. The effect of undulated webs was highly
dependent on the supports of the studied beam [1]. For the simply supported beam, subjected
to the purlins reactions and to the stress distribution corresponding to the part of the main-
frame, the undulated web and the one-side weld area shown instability when the applied loads
were about 50% of designed values. Due to the symmetry of the hall the rest of the structure
supports the critical area of the web longitudinally and the instability of the solution occurred
around 90% of the designed load. The stresses closed to the yield point occurred also in the
one-side weld area. The additional welding of the imperfect sections was therefore fully justi-
fied.
6.CONCLUSION
The steel structure designed up to the upper limit of the design stress should be correctly de-
signed and fabricated. All kinds of imperfections are adding some additional stresses and one-
side welds are sensitive to this. The non-linear behaviour of the imperfect beam is important
but for the tolerances above the recommended limits only the detail modeling can help to
solve the situation. In the case that structure has some other problem in the design, the cus-
tomer is faced to the critical situation. Therefore the detail check of some competitive offers is
warmly recommended before the contract is made.
Acknowledgement:
The FEM study was done with the partial support of the ČVUT research grant 309803401.
References:
[1] M.Braham, R.Maquoi, N.Rangelov, C.Richard: L'Influence des Defauts de Planeite
deL'Ame des Profiles Reconstitues Soudes sur Leur Resistance en Flexion at Compression,
Construction Metallique, No.1-1995
214
THE INFLUENCE OF WEB UNDULATIONS

ON THE SECTION RESISTANCE OF SLENDER I-BEAMS
Marc Braham,
ASTRON Building Systems, Commercial Intertech S.A., Luxembourg
Nickolay Rangelov,
Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Division of Steel and Timber Structures, Sofia
Keywords: Welded I-girders, slender section, imperfection, out-of-flatness, residual stresses
Abstract: The paper is a summary of various steps accomplished by the authors since 7 years
in the evaluation of the influence of web out-of-flatness in welded beams, on the resistance of
their cross section, mainly in bending. The results of the corresponding studies have been
separately published in distinct occasions, but no summary has been made so far. Though the
first studies only considered the influence of the geometrical imperfection of the web itself,
assuming negligible influence of the residual stresses, a first attempt has recently been made
in order to incorporate this influence. The paper highlights the main conclusions of the studies
and indicates further directions of research.
1. INTRODUCTION
Beside the well-known use of hot-rolled beams, steel industry is today quite often
concerned with fabricated beams, i.e. built-up girders made of thin plates which are sheared to
desired length and width, and welded together as to form an I section for example. Not only
these girders can reach section dimensions far above those of hot-rolled beams, but they can
also be proportioned so as to achieve a good balance between internal forces and resistance
distributions, for example by tapering the web. These are the two main advantages of welded
fabricated beams.
It is however well known that the most economic I-section beam has a slender web,
which hot-rolling cannot achieve, associated with relatively thick flanges (fully effective).
This situation and the related fabrication process often leads to geometric imperfections, the
most "important" one being web undulations (figure 1), and structural imperfection (residual
stresses). The amplitude of the web undulations can be very high but it is most of the time
unpredictable and, on the other hand, impossible to correct after production. Residual stresses
also are almost unpredictable as they evidently also tend to redistribute when web out-of-
flatness appears and increases during cooling and shrinking of the welds.
Unfortunately imperfections, at least
geometric, are in general presumed to be
unfavourable. In the specific case of web out-
of-flatness, limitations are given in several
codes in terms of fabrication tolerances.
Exceeding these tolerances is often seen as
unacceptable, although the background for
these limitations is rarely justified by the
resistance aspect.
Fig. 1: Web undulations in a built-up I beam
215
2. CALCULATION OF SLENDER SECTIONS RESISTANCE

Modern codes today base the design of slender cross-sections on the effective width
concept, which has an experimental background, thus covers a certain level of geometric and
structural imperfections. For example, EC3 design model, using the empirical Winter
formula, implicitly accounts for such imperfections as plate out-of-flatness and residual
stresses. Unfortunately the level of imperfections which is covered in this approach is not
known.
It is thus of prime importance to evaluate to which extend this effective width
approach includes imperfections. On the other hand, if it can be shown that the actual design
procedure accounts for large imperfections, for example larger than the so-called tolerances,
then there is no need to further limit the concerned imperfections, what would result in
excessive production costs, provided no negative consequence exists.
3. PRELIMINARY PLATE-STUDY
A first study has been made by Rangelov in 1992 and is reported in [1]. It is however
dealing with plates in general, thus not devoted to beam-webs, showing out-of-plane
imperfections, but no residual stresses. An analytical solution of the Von Karman - Marguerre
large deflection plate theory is obtained through a Rayleigh-Ritz type procedure. Pure
compression and pure bending of the plates, as well as an intermediate situation are
envisaged.
The results show that the weakening effect of the geometrical imperfection
considerably depends on the type of loading (pure bending, pure compression, etc.) and on the
plate slenderness, having a maximum value where the undimensional slenderness is equal to
unity, and decreasing continuously as the slenderness increases above this value.
Though the paper concludes in favour of relaxing the out-of-flatness tolerances of
plates in general, the results are not compared with resistances as calculated with the
effective-width concept; thus no argumentation as in 2 above is done. Also there is no attempt
to incorporate the results of the study in a more general analysis of beam-sections
4. APPLICATION TO THE WEB OF SLENDER I-SECTION GIRDERS

Taking advantage of the previous work, a more general study has been performed in
1994 by Braham et al. [2], in which Rangelov’s preliminary analysis is particularised to the
behaviour of slender girder-webs. The parameters which govern the fabrication of welded
beams are discussed, and actual values are considered. For example the length of the web-
undulation (wave-length) is taken equal to twice the web-depth.
The same procedure is used as in [1] to
100
find out the resistance of plates having various
levels of imperfection. Besides Winter formula
Relative resistance (%)
90 for effective width is used to calculate a

reference resistance of the plates, and the results
80
d° = h/1000 of the analytical model for the imperfect plates
d° = h/200
d° = h/150 are compared with this reference resistance.
70
d° = h/100 Figure 2 shows such a comparison, for the plate
d° = h/72
d = h/50
in pure bending (dO is the out-of-plane web
Winter imperfection and h is the web depth).
60
1 2 3 4
Plate slenderness
Fig. 2: Relative resistance of plates in bending
216
It can be seen that Winter formula, leading itself to substantial reduction in strength as
compared to a “perfect” plate (dO = h/1000), thus implicitly covers a rather high level of
imperfection, however variable with the plate slenderness.
The results for plates are then used to evaluate the resistance of full I sections, where
the imperfect plate is the web. An additional parameter must here be considered, Aw/A in
which Aw is the area of the web and A is the total area of the section. Figure 3 shows the
results for pure bending (a) and for eccentric compression (triangular diagram of stresses; b),
the only imperfection considered here being as large as permitted by MBMA [3], i.e. dO =
h/72.
EC3 = 100% EC3 = 100%
100 100
90 90
a. pure bending
b. eccentric compression
80 80
Aw/A = 0.25
Aw/A = 0.33 Aw/A = 0.25
Aw/A = 0.50 Aw/A = 0.33
70 Aw/A = 0.75 70 Aw/A = 0.50
Aw/A = 1.00 Aw/A = 0.75
Aw/A = 1.00
60 60
1.0 1.5 2.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Web slenderness Web slenderness
Fig.3: Relative resistance of I sections, referred to EC3 (Winter) calculation;
the web imperfection is h/72 (MBMA [3])
As expected the strength reduction found for plates mitigates when a full section is
considered as the web resistance is only part of the total section resistance; however, the
deleterious effect of web out-of-flatness is only significant when compression becomes
predominant and for slenderness close to unity. For practical cases, i.e. with Aw/A ≤ 0.5, the
loss in capacity as compared to the EC3 model of calculation is most of the time negligible.
5. FINITE ELEMENTS SIMULATIONS ON I-BEAMS

In order to ascertain the results which had been derived from the above studies, two further
investigations have been performed: one by Rangelov & Braham, reported in [4], and one by
Rangelov, to be published in [5].
In both researches a portion of an imperfect I-beam is
analysed using nonlinear FEM computer program, with account
taken of geometrical and material nonlinearity, as well as
residual stresses.
In the first study, the FINELG program has been used at
Liège University (B), and in the second ABAQUS code was
used at Cottbus University (D).
The length of the model used for the studies is equal to a
quarter of the web imperfection wavelength, thus half the web-
depth. Figure 4 shows the model used by Rangelov in [5].
Residual stresses are applied in the first study only on the web,
leading to unsatisfactory results from that point of view.
Fig. 4: The model and its FE discretisation
217
The results however, when considered without residual stresses, confirm the
conclusions drawn from the "plate-based" approach described here above in 4.
The study explained in [5] exclusively focuses on bending resistance. To assess the
relative effect of the imperfections, the case dO = h/1000 with no residual stresses is adopted
as ”perfect”, and all results are referred to its capacity taken as 100%. Figure 5 shows the
main results of the simulations as well as the results from the EC3 calculation model (Winter).
100 100
98 98

96 96 d° = h/1000
d° = h/150
94 94
d° = h/100
92 92 d° = h/72
d° = h/50
90 90
Aw/A = 0.50 Aw/A = 0.375 EC3
88 88
86 86
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
Web slenderness Web slenderness
Fig. 5: Relative bending resistance of imperfect I-sections

with (⎯) and without (--) residual stresses
The following observations can be drawn from figure 5:

- Though the influence of the web imperfection decreases when the slenderness
increases, the combined influence of web imperfections and residual stresses remains rather
constant, mainly at high slenderness.
- The resistance predicted by EC3 model covers a quite high level of web
imperfection; in the worst case (Aw/A = 0.5, web slenderness = 1 with dO = h/50) the
insecurity offered by EC3 is only 2%.
CONCLUSION
The fabrication of welded I-beams is often accompanied by out-of-plane undulations
of the web. The studies performed by the authors show that the calculation procedure of EC3,
based on the effective width concept, for the resistance of slender I-beam sections however
implicitly covers a very high level of such imperfections. There is thus no justification for
keeping severe tolerances in the fabrication codes. Even the value permitted by MBMA [3]
appears to be perfectly safe from the point of view of the section resistance.
References
[1] Rangelov N.: A theoretical Approach to the Limiting of Initial Imperfections in Steel
Plates; Stahlbau 61 (1992), H.5, pp. 151-156.
[2] Braham M., Maquoi R., Rangelov N., Richard C.: L'influence des défauts de planéité
de l'âme des profilés reconstitués soudés sur leur résistance en flexion et compression;
Construction Métallique, n° 1, 1995.
[3] MBMA: Low Rise Building Systems Manual; Metal Building Manufacturers
Association, 1986.
[4] Rangelov N., Braham M.; Are the Web Imperfections in Built-Up I-Beams of any
Importance?; Internat. Colloq. on Stability of Steel Structures. Budapest, Sept. 1995.
[5] Rangelov N.; Influence of Web Imperfections in welded I-Beams with Slender Webs;
Internat. Colloq. on Stability & Ductility of Steel Structures, Timisoara, Sept. 1999.
218
ASSESSMENT OF CUMULATIVE SEISMIC DAMAGE IN STEEL

MEMBERS
219
220
221
222
A DESIGN METHOD FOR BRACED STEEL FRAMES COMPRISING

SEMI-CONTINUOUS COMPOSITE JOINTS
Markus Kattner, Michel Crisinel
ICOM – Steel Structures, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne,

CH-1015 Lausanne EPFL, Switzerland
Keywords: steel beam-to-column connection, composite joint, frame, design method
Abstract: A design method for braced frames comprising semi-continuous composite joints is
proposed. In this design method, the ultimate load carrying capacity is calculated considering
the plastic moment resistance of the composite joint in the hogging moment region as well as
a defined percentage of the plastic moment resistance of the composite beam in the sagging
moment region. The defined percentage depends on the required rotation at the support and is
based on the assumption of a certain available rotation of the composite joint. This assumption
is assured by design rules for composite joints on the basis of existing experimental studies.
1 INTRODUCTION
In composite construction, economic design solutions for frames are achieved when
using partial strength composite joints and applying a plastic design method. In general, a
joint will reach its plastic moment resistance Mj,pl before the composite beam has developed
its plastic resistance Mpl. For this reason, a basic requirement for plastic design is that joints
must be able to undergo large rotations without loosing their resistance until the beam has
plastified. The plastification of the exterior span of a frame is shown in Fig 1.
q
ΦS
Mj,pl
Φreq
ΦS Φreq = Φj + ΦS
Φreq
Φj
L
Mj
joint Φreq
Mmax Mj,pl
Φj,av Φj Φj,av+ ΦS
M(x)
κel κ
Mel
Mpl
cross- Mmax
section Mpl
M
Fig. 1 Plastification of braced frame comprising composite joint
223
For the given load, the joint will transmit Mj,pl and the maximum sagging moment
Mmax will lie between Mel and Mpl. In order to activate this moment resistance, a certain
rotation of the axis of the beam at the support, the so-called required rotation Φreq, is
necessary. Assuming the moment-curvature relationship shown in Fig. 1 for the cross section
of the composite beam, the required rotation to develop Mpl tends towards infinity.
The attainable moment in the sagging moment region depends on the available ro-
tation Φj,av of the composite joint and the column rotation ΦS due to the column moments.
In this article, first a theoretical study of frame behaviour that deals with the problem
of required rotations is described. Second, on the basis of existing experimental studies of
composite joints, the problem of available rotations is discussed. Third, a plastic design
method is proposed based on the conclusions on required and available rotations.
2 THEORETICAL STUDY OF FRAME BEHAVIOUR
The relationship between the required rotation Φreq and degree of beam plastification
ω = Mmax/Mpl for a certain number of relevant structural sytems and arrangements are
determined using a parametric analysis, which was conducted by means of a numerical
model.
The main parameters investigated were the slenderness of the beam, the position of the
span in the structure (interior or exterior span), the loading type, the degree of shear
connection, the influence of partial interaction, the steel grade, the support conditions of the
composite beams during construction (propped or unpropped), and the resistance of the joint.
Two major conclusions of the study are that partial interaction of the shear connection
leads to a significant increase in Φreq (Fig. 2a), and that for composite beams not propped
during construction, Φreq is significantly larger compared to the propped case, even if the free
initial rotation Φini of the steel joint is subtracted (Fig. 2b).
Φ req [mrad] Φ req [mrad]

50 60
full interaction propped
40 50 unpropped
partial interaction
unpropped
40 (reduced by Φini)
30
30
20
20
10 10 Φini
0 0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
a) ω = Mmax / Mpl b) ω = Mmax / Mpl
)
Fig. 2 Relationship between required rotation Φreq and Mmax/Mpl
The main reason for the larger Φreq in the unpropped case is that, due to the preloading
of the steel profile, the elastic resistance Mel of the composite beam diminishes, whereas the
elastic curvature κel increases. Hence, plastification of the composite beam occurs at a lower
224
load level than in the propped case and curvatures are significantly bigger for
Mel≤ Mmax ≤Mpl.
3 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF COMPOSITE JOINT BEHAVIOUR
The available rotation Φj,av,exp of a joint is defined from test curves according to
Fig. 3a. Since the total rotation of the joint governs the plastification of the beam in the
sagging moment region, the elastic and the plastic parts of the M-Φj curve are considered. The
available rotation of 42 existing composite joint tests has been analysed. Fig. 3b illustrates the
relationship between the reinforcement ratio and Φj,av,exp obtained from these tests.
Φ j,av,exp [mrad]
Mj 80
Mu
0.9·Mu
60
Mj,el 40
available rotation
Φj,av,exp 30
20
Φj,pl
0
Φj,el Φj,av,exp 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00
Joint rotation Φj b) Reinforcement ratio [%]
a)
Fig. 3 Definition of available rotation Φj,av,exp and influence of reinforcement ratio on Φj,av,exp
It can be seen that, in most cases, composite joints are able to reach available rotations
exceeding 30 mrad. Design rules making it possible to optimise the rotational behaviour of
composite joints and to reach large rotation values are proposed.
4 DESIGN METHOD FOR BRACED FRAMES
The design method is based on the assumption that the joint has reached Mj,pl,Rd. The
ultimate load carrying capacity of the frame is calculated considering Mj,pl,Rd and a defined
percentage of the plastic moment resistance of the composite beam Mpl,Rd. The design process
is illustrated in form of a flow chart in Fig. 4. For uniformly distributed loads, ωo-values
(ΔMj = 0) are given in Tab. 1 assuming that the available joint rotation Φj,av ≥ 30 mrad.
Tab. 1 Attainable percentage of plastification ωo = MSd / Mpl,Rd
pSd L/h
gSd 15-22 22-30
S355 0.95 0.85
propped
S235 1.00 0.90
S355 0.90 0.80
unpropped
S235 0.95 0.85
225
qSd
A
L
• Mj,pl,Rd
B Mpl,Rd
h • assume : Φj,av
Mj2,pl,Rd Mj3,pl,Rd
C ΔMj = Mj2,pl,Rd − Mj3,pl,Rd
L
D I ΔMj ≥ 0 II ΔMj < 0

ΦS ΦS
→ ΦS ≥ 0 → ωI ≥ ωo → ΦS < 0 → ωII < ωo
⇒ ΦS must be considered
⇒ ΦS can be neglected
ΦS = f (ΔMj , EI , column length)
Φreq Φreq
Φj,av + ΦS
ΦS
Φj,av Φj,av
Φj,av + ΦS ΦS
MSd MSd
ω= ω=
ωo ωI Mpl,Rd ωII ωo Mpl,Rd
ωatt = ωI = ωo ωatt = ωII
Mj1,pl,Rd Mj2,pl,Rd
E qRd = f (ωatt , Mpl,Rd , Mj1,pl,Rd , Mj2,pl,Rd , L)
ωatt⋅Mpl,Rd
Mpl,Rd
F qSd ≤ qRd
L
Fig. 4 Design process for braced frames comprising composite joints
226
A DESIGN PROCEDURE FOR STEEL FRAMES WITH RIGID CON-

NECTIONS
E. Marino, F. Neri, P.P. Rossi

Institute "Scienza delle Costruzioni", Faculty of Engineering, viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania,
Italy
Keyword: Civil Engineering, Structural, Steel Structures, Rigid Connections, Design Criteria,
Codes
Abstract: In the present paper the authors propose a design procedure which allows to design
steel frames with rigid connections failing in a global mode. Within such a procedure the
beam sections are dimensioned to resist vertical loads only while the bottom sections of the
columns of the first storey are designed on the basis of economic and technologic issues; the
strength of the other column sections is evaluated by means of an application of the limit de-
sign. In order to evaluate the behaviour of steel structures designed according to the described
procedure a large set of moment resisting steel frames have been tested by means of either
push-over and dynamic response analyses using artificial accelerograms; furthermore ultimate
and serviceability limit state checks have been carried out.
1 INTRODUCTION
Seismic codes at the moment in force allow to design structures at the ultimate limit
state by using elastic structural analyses. In such analysis buildings are subjected to horizontal
forces having intensity lower than that corresponding to the inertia forces induced by the de-
sign ground motion on the same structures in the hypothesis of an indefinitely elastic struc-
tural behaviour. This procedure takes into account that structures are allowed to withstand the
effects of strong earthquakes without either partial or global collapse by means of both
strength and ductility.
Ductility demands are always strongly influenced by the plastic hinges distribution:
the distributions corresponding to partial mechanism modes allow a moderate dissipation of
energy and rapidly lead to high ductility demands inconsistent with the mechanical character-
istics of the material; conversely widespread plastic hinges distributions, which particularly
involve beams, lead to lower ductility demands and great energy dissipations.
In order to avoid that frames subjected to strong ground motions experience partial
mode mechanisms characterised by low energy dissipation, seismic codes provide design
rules based on the capacity design concept which purpose to induce the formation of plastic
hinges in beams rather than in columns. According to this rules in each joint must be:
∑M R ,c
≥ ∑ M R ,b
(1)
where M R ,c is the resisting moment of the ith column and M R ,b the resisting moment of the ith
beam framing into the joint, even if not all seismic codes agree in the definition of the share
of the bending moments to be increased in columns.
227
Unfortunately no one of the proposed simplified design rules can prevent plastic
hinges from forming at the ends of columns because they do not take into account the varia-
tion of the structural scheme due to the plastic deformations. The above-mentioned goal
would be reached only if plastic hinges form contemporarily, being this opportunity not real-
istic because of the unavoidable overstrength due to the adoption of commercial sections and
because of the action of vertical loads [1].
The moderate efficacy of the rules proposed by codes for the design of framed struc-
tures in preventing columns from being seat of plastic hinges and in favouring global failure
mechanisms has driven some researchers to the study of design methods which were able to
overcome the limits of application of the simplified rules provided in the seismic codes [2],
[3]. In order to avoid a mistaken exploitation of the inelastic deformation capacities of framed
structures, a design procedure leading to global mechanism modes is herein presented applied
to steel frames with rigid connections.
2 THE PROPOSED METHOD

Within the proposed design method the strength of all beam cross-sections and that of
the bottom cross-sections of the columns of the first storey is preliminary assigned. The first
one is chosen so that beams can support vertical loads only, so as referred by other authors,
while the last one is determined on the basis of technologic and economic considerations. The
limit design theory makes possible to determine the sum of the bending moment at the ends of
the columns of every storey in the collapse configuration, with reference to global mechanism
mode:
= α c ∑ Fk (hk − hr −1 ) − ∑∑ (2 ⋅ M b ,ik )
nc ns ns nb
∑M
i =1
B
c ,ir
k =r k = r i =1
(2)
∑ Fk (hk − hr ) − ∑∑ (2 ⋅ M b,ik )
nc ns ns nb
∑ M cT,ir = α c
i =1 k = r +1 k = r i =1
(3)
where the loading multiplier αc is equal to:
∑ M cP,i1 + ∑∑ (2 ⋅ M b,ik )
nc ns nb
αc = i =1 k =1 i =1
(4)
Fk ⋅ hk
For the structural design it is not sufficient the knowledge of the global strength of the
columns at each storey but each value of strength of the columns at each storey is required.
We cannot determine rigorously such quantity but we can estimate it by the mean value of the
strength at each storey only:
⎛ nc nc
⎞
⎜ ∑ M cT,ir ∑ M cP,ir ⎟
M c ,ir = max⎜⎜ i =1 , i =1 ⎟
⎟ (4)
nc nc
⎜ ⎟
⎝ ⎠
228
In order to obtain acceptable values of the resisting bending moments at the base of
the frame an iterative procedure is carried out as long as the global resisting bending moment
at the base of the frame equal the maximum value at the upper storeys. The calculated flexural
strength of the columns is generally not sufficient to avoid the formation of plastic hinges in
the columns because the maximum internal forces of the columns during the loading process
do not necessarily equal those corresponding to the collapse mechanism mode: generally, at
the lower storeys, the maximum bending moment of the column bottom cross-section is
reached before the collapse occurs. Furthermore the horizontal shear is not equally distributed
between the columns at each storey: different stiffness between central and lateral columns
involve differences between the share of the shear resisted by central and lateral columns. Fi-
nally nodal plastic moments are not equal at each node, e.g. in the case of beams having equal
span the outer joints are subjected to the plastic moment of the beam framing into it while
central joints are subjected to a nodal bending moment equal to the double of the plastic mo-
ment of the single beam cross-section.
3 NUMERICAL ANALYSES
More types of numerical analyses have been carried out using DRAIN-2DX soft-
ware [4] with reference to a set of 108 steel frames with rigid connections having different
geometry (number of storeys, span length, type of commercial section used for beams) and
vertical loads (high or low) to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed methodology. In par-
ticular:
• push-over analysis with linear distribution of the horizontal forces along the height are
performed to evaluate the collapse mechanism mode of the frames;
• dynamic analyses assess the actual behaviour of structures subjected to seismic events in
terms of ductility and strength demand;
• elastic seismic response allow to check ultimate and serviceability limit states according
to Eurocode 8.
3.1 Push-over analyses

With reference to a linear distribution of horizontal forces all the steel frames have
been at first analysed having the design strength at both ending cross-sections of beams and
columns. The results show that in every case partial mechanisms are avoided. In particular the
global mechanism mode forms rigorously only in the case of frames with two columns while
in the other frames plastic hinges form in columns of the upper storey owing to the approxi-
mations of the method. The presence of such plastic hinges does not strongly affect the inelas-
tic behaviour of the structures because in most cases they locate at the top cross-section of the
columns of the top storey giving rise to collapse mechanisms which are not perfectly global
but have the same dissipation capacities of the global ones. Finally, only in few cases the col-
lapse mechanism mode is characterised by plastic hinges at the top cross-sections of the cen-
tral column at intermediate storeys.
3.2 Dynamic analysis

A further check of the structural behaviour has been obtained evaluating the dynamic
response of the steel frames to ten accelerograms artificially generated; they match the elastic
response spectrum proposed by EC8 for subsoil C scaled at 0.20 g, 0.35 g and 0.50 g. The
strength of the columns is generally able to avoid plastifications in the columns except for
229
some few cases in correspondence of a peak ground acceleration of 0.50 g. In order to evalu-
ate the damaging of the sections the ratio of the maximum rotation over the available value
has been calculated at the ending cross-sections of beams and columns. The available rotation
has been fixed by the stable part of the M-φ diagram of the cross-section. The results have un-
derlined that the damage is largely below the failure threshold.
3.3 Structural behaviour according to Eurocode 8

The elastic analyses by the spectrum proposed for subsoil class A and C evidently
show the different influence of the structural parameters on the maximum interstorey drift.
The change of the number of storeys greatly affects the maximum interstorey drift, much
more if long beams are supposed in the structural scheme. The values of the displacement pa-
rameter of interest are quite never minor than the limit value imposed by EC8 for buildings
having non-structural elements of brittle materials and only sometimes minor than that one
the imposed for buildings having non-structural elements fixed in a way as not to interfere
with structural deformations. In particular this last value is verified only by three-storey
frames subjected to low intensity vertical loads.
The frames already examined in the previous section have been then subjected to the
combination of loads imposed by Eurocode 8 for the ultimate limit state. In the columns the
bending moments do not ever exceed the resisting bending moments corresponding to the
maximum axial force while in the beams only few times the bending moments slightly exceed
the member strength.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this work is presented a method to design resisting steel frames to failing in global
mode based on limit analysis. The method have been tested by means a set of numerical
analysis. The push-over one show as the frames designed by means the aforementioned meth-
ods are characterise by high energy capacity dissipation failing with a mechanism of global
type, while the dynamic response is characterised by levels of ductility demand quite less than
available one. The serviceability checks in term of interstorey drift point out as the design of
steel structures is influenced by deformation limits. The method is able to reach the proposed
aim and, if compared with other procedures, is characterised by an easy definition of the
structural members. In conclusion, the easiness of use and the effectiveness of the method
made it a powerful tool for seismic design of steel structure with rigid connection.
5 REFERENCES
[1] Neri F. Comportamento Sismico di Telai in Acciaio a Nodi Rigidi. Doctorate Thesis Uni-
versità di Catania. Catania Italy.
[2] Lee H.S. (1996). Revised Rule for Concept of Strong-Column Weak-Girder Design.
Journal of Structural Engineering 122, 359-364.
[3] Mazzolani F.M. and Piluso V. (1997). Plastic Design of Seismic Resistant Steel Frames.
Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics 26, 167-191.
[4] Powell G.H. (1993). DRAIN-2DX, Program Description and Users Guide. Department of
Civil Engineering University of California, UCB/SEMM-93/17, Berkeley, US.
230
IN-PLANE BUCKLING BEHAVIOUR OF

ASYMMETRIC PITCHED-ROOF STEEL FRAMES
Nuno Silvestre, Dinar Camotim

Civil Eng. Dept., IST, Techn. Univ. of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Keywords: In-Plane Stability, Second-Order Effects, Pitched-Roof Frames, Semi-Rigid

Column Bases, Asymmetric Characteristics, Moment Amplification, Design Methodology
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present and discuss results concerning the influence of
the presence of asymmetric characteristics (geometry and loading) on the in-plane buckling
behaviour of one bay unbraced pitched-roof frames. First, an investigation of the in-plane
stability of the pitched-roof frames is performed, which incorporates the effects of both
geometric and loading asymmetries. Frames with hinged, fixed and semi-rigid column bases
are considered. Next, the stability results are used to deal with the need and definition of an
appropriate indirect procedure to take into consideration the P-Δ effects in this type of frames.
Finally, the paper concludes with a few guidelines on the implementation of easy-to-use
design aids to take into account the concepts introduced.
1 INTRODUCTION
According to Eurocode 3, (i) the classification of an unbraced steel frame as sway or
non-sway (lateral resistance) and, in the case of sway frames, (ii) the consideration of second-
order effects (P-Δ type) require the evaluation of the elastic critical load Vcr associated to the
sway buckling mode.
In previous studies [1,2], the authors found the in-plane buckling behaviour of one bay
unbraced pitched-roof frames to be conditioned by two bifurcation loads, (i) often very close,
(ii) associated to anti-symmetric and symmetric buckling modes (VASM and VSM) and (iii) both
involving lateral displacements. Such investigations took place in the context of symmetric
frames (figure 1(a)-(c)) and, although this is the most common case, one must be aware of
other situations in which the frame characteristics (geometry and/or loading) are not
symmetric.
VSd/L Nc Nr Nr Nc
Ir , Lr Ir , Lr RI = Ic/Ir
α HSd
HSd Nr RL = Lr/Lc
Ic , Lc Ic , Lc Nr
Semi-rigid RN = Nr/Nc
K connection K
L Nc Nc S = KLc/EIc
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 1 Unbraced pitched-roof frame (a) geometry, (b) loading and (c) stability model
The objective of this work is, therefore, to present a study which deals with the
influence of asymmetries on the buckling behaviour of pitched-roof frames. The frames are
characterised by (i) the roof pitch inclination α, (ii) the inertia and length ratios RI and RL, (iii)
the axial load ratio RN and (iv) the column base stiffness parameter S (figure 1(c)). The first
part of the paper briefly reviews the in-plane stability behaviour of symmetric frames [2] and
it is also shown how the presence of asymmetries may modify such behaviour. Approximate
analytical expressions to estimate the values of the two first buckling loads are presented and
discussed. Next, the frame stability results are used to formulate an indirect amplification
method for taking into account the P-Δ effects. A parametric study is performed to validate
231
and study the applicability of the approximate expressions and procedure presented. Finally,
the paper concludes with some comments concerning the usefulness of the concepts
introduced and a few guidelines on the implementation of easy-to-use design aids to take
them into account.
2 STABILITY BEHAVIOUR
When performing a linear stability analysis, one looks for equilibrium configurations
in the vicinity of the fundamental equilibrium path. Thus, in the case of frames with semi-
rigid column bases, such an analysis requires only the knowledge of the corresponding initial
stiffness value K. The frame in-plane elastic stability behaviour is conditioned by two
buckling modes [3], one anti-symmetric (ASM) and the other symmetric (SM), both
displaying lateral displacements at the column tops (figure 2(a)).
Νr ASM
ASM SM
ASM Ν r.0 α3>α2>α1>0
SM
Νr.0
α2 α3
0 α1
SM 1
RN
ASM SM
Ν c.0 Νc.0 Νc
(a) (b)
Fig. 2 (a) Buckling mode configurations (b) Variation of (Nc-Nr)b with α and RN
An extensive parametric study unveiled the essential aspects of the in-plane elastic
stability of one bay symmetric pitched-roof frames, which are shown, schematically, in figure
2(b) [2,3]. Concerning the critical load λcr, the variation of the combination (Nc-Nr) at
bifurcation, with the inclination α and the loading ratio RN (RI, RL and S fixed), was shown to
display the following characteristics (NASM,c.0 , NSM,c.0 , NASM,r.0 and NSM,r.0 - bifurcation loads
for RN=0,∞):
(i) The ASM behaviour (solid line) does not depend on the value of α.
(ii) The SM behaviour (dashed lines) depends on the value of α, as the frame stability is
controlled essentially by the rafters.
(iii) For low RN values, λcr=λASM,b (no dependence on α).
(iv) For high RN values, either λcr=λASM,b or λcr=λSM,b (dependence on α).
(v) The variation of λcr with RN involves either both the ASM and SM (α=0°; α1; α2) or
only the ASM (α=α3).
2.1 Frames without symmetry

In spite of the fact that symmetric pitched-roof frames are the most common case, one
must also study the influence of asymmetries on the frame stability behaviour, namely the
buckling mode configurations and related buckling load values. In this work, frame
asymmetries in loading and geometry are dealt with. Concerning loading, it is clear that the
presence of horizontal loads (wind or seismic) leads to different axial forces essentially in the
columns (the difference is negligible in the rafters), even for symmetric frames. Concerning
geometry, it is obvious that different (i) member inertias or lengths or (ii) column base
stiffnesses imply an asymmetric frame configuration and, hence, an axial force asymmetry.
Such an asymmetry may be caused, for instance, by the existence presence of a pronounced
ground slope, leading to the need to adopt different columns.
The study presented here focus on two types of asymmetry, namely different column
(i) axial forces (figure 3(a)) and (ii) lengths (figure 3(b)). In order to quantify the "amount of
232
_ _
Lc1
Nc1 _ _ Nc2 Lc2
(a) (b)
Fig. 3 Pitched-roof frame with asymmetric column (a) axial forces and (b) lengths
asymmetry" displayed by a frame ("distance" from an "equivalent symmetric frame", with
Nc=(Nc1+Nc2)/2 or Lc=(Lc1+Lc2)/2), it is convenient to define the parameters
N c2 - N c1 Lc2 - Lc1
ηN = ηL = , (1)
N c2 + N c1 Lc2 + Lc1
associated, respectively, to the loading and geometry lack of symmetry.
As in the symmetric case, there are still two possible critical buckling modes, now
with "approximately" anti-symmetric and symmetric configurations. Naturally, increasing
values of the relevant asymmetry parameter lead these configurations further away from those
shown in figure 2(a). In order to enable a comparison between the buckling loads of the
asymmetric (λb) and "equivalent symmetric" (λmed) frames, figure 4 shows the variation of
(λb/λmed) with ηN (figure 8(a)) and ηL (figure 8(b)), for different values of RN=2Nt/(Nc1+Nc2).
It is possible to observe that:
(i) (λb/λmed)ASM=1, for all RN values (bifurcation load depends only on VSd, not on HSd).
(ii) (λb/λmed)ASM increases with ηL (variation from 1 to 1.4, for RN=0 and Lc2=2Lc1).
(iii) (λb/λmed)SM decreases with both ηN and ηL. For RN=0, it varies with ηN from 1 to 0.79
(Nc2=2Nc1) and with ηL from 1 to 0.64 (Lc2=2Lc1).
(iv) (λb/λmed)ASM and (λb/λmed)SM converge to a value close to 1 for increasing RN values
(frame stability conditioned by the rafters, which are symmetric).
λb λb
ASM SM RN=0
λ med λ med
1.0 1.2
RN=0.5
RN=0.5 RN=1
0.9 1.0
RN=1
0.8
RN=0 0.8 RN=0.5
RN=0
0.7 0.6
0.0 0.1
(a)
0.2 0.3
ηN 0.0 0.1
(b)
0.2 0.3 ηL
Fig. 4 Variation of (λb/λmed)ASM and (λb/λmed)ASM with (a) ηN and RN and (b) ηL and RN
In order to avoid the need to perform linear stability analyses, easy-to-use analytical
expressions to estimate λASM,b and λSM,b were developed, which are presented in the full
paper. A numerical validation procedure showed that the expressions yield rather accurate
results.
3 SECOND-ORDER EFFECTS
The authors investigated the buckling behaviour of symmetric pitched-roof frames and
proposed an indirect amplification method to incorporate the P-Δ effects on the displacement
and moment values [4]. As symmetric vertical distributed loads acting on symmetric pitched-
roof frames (figure 1(b)) induce significant displacements at the column tops, three first-order
displacement (u) and moment (M) components may be identified: (i) non-sway (NS) and (ii)
symmetric sway (SS), both due to the vertical load (VSd), and (iii) anti-symmetric sway (AS),
due to the horizontal load (HSd). The similarity between the 1st order displacements (uI ,SS, uI ,AS
) and the buckling modes (SM, ASM) led to the proposal of amplifying separately the two
components. The 2nd order displacements/moments (E) are then approximately obtained from
233
−1 −1
⎛ V ⎞ ⎛ V ⎞
II
E ap = I
E NS + ⎜⎜ 1 − Sd ⎟⎟ E SS
I
+ ⎜⎜ 1 − Sd ⎟⎟ E AS
I
. (2)
⎝ VSM ⎠ ⎝ V ASM ⎠
where E is either a displacement or a moment and VSd, VASM and VSM are the design and
bifurcation values of the vertical load.
We turn now our attention to asymmetric pitched-roof frames acted by horizontal and
vertical loads (figure 5(a)). Since the non-linear buckling behaviours of asymmetric and
symmetric frames are qualitatively identical, the previous procedure is still valid (with a few
changes). The decomposition described still applies and, therefore, one has (i) a non-sway
(figure 5(b)) and (ii) two sway (figure 5(c)) components. Due to the asymmetry, no similarity
exists between these two sway configurations and the "S" and "AS" mode shapes. In order to
obtain similarity with the modes shapes, it is necessary to change the decomposition of the
sway component. This is achieved by considering the "anti-symmetric sway" and "symmetric
sway" components shown in figures 5(c1) and 5(c2). The loads Fij are calculated by forcing the
lateral displacements at the column tops to satisfy the relations observed for the buckling
modes. The details involved in the application of this method, as well as its numerical
validation, are presented in the full paper. It is shown that rather accurate and mostly
conservative results are obtained, which makes the method ideally suited to be incorporated in
easy-to-use design aids.
VSd/L VSd/L R1 R2 HSd
R1 R2 +
HSd (c)
NS
= + =
(a) (b)
F11 "AS" F21 F12 F22
"SS"
+
(c1) (c2)
Fig. 5 Decompositions of (a) general loading in (b) non-sway and (c) sway components
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Results concerning the influence of asymmetric characteristics (geometry/loading) on
the buckling behaviour of one bay unbraced pitched-roof frames were presented. The frame
stability was first investigated, namely the influence of the asymmetries on the relevant
bifurcation loads. Approximate analytical expressions were developed and validated. Next,
the stability results were used to modify a previously proposed indirect amplification method
to take into account second-order P-Δ effects. The method yields rather accurate and mostly
conservative results and, therefore, may serve as basis for the implementation of design aids.
References
[1] Silvestre, N. and Camotim, D.: In-Plane Stability and Second-Order Effects in Pitched-
Roof Steel Frames, Proc. 5th Int. Coll. on Structural Stability, Rio Janeiro, 607-618, 1996.
[2] Silvestre, N.: Stability and Second-Order Effects in Pitched-roof Steel Frames (in
portuguese), M Sc. Thesis, Technical University of Lisbon, 1997.
[3] Silvestre, N. et al.: In-Plane Buckling Behaviour of Pitched Roof Steel Frames with Semi-
Rigid Connections, Proc. SSRC Ann. Techn. Sess. and Meet., Atlanta, 1998 (in print).
[4] Silvestre, N., Camotim, D. and Corrêa, M.: On the Design and Safety Checking of
Unbraced Pitched-Roof Steel Frames”, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 46,
nº1-3, 328-329 (full paper in the CD-ROM - paper # 188), 1998.
234
THE DESIGN EXPERIENCE OF MEMBRANE ROOF STRUCTURES IN

CIS-COUNTRIES
Mushchanov Vladimir, Romensky Igor,

Donbas State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2, Derzhavin str., Makeyevka,
339023, Ukraine.
Keywords: Membrane Structures, Variant Design and Optimization, Probabilistic-Based

Optimization
Abstract: According to research carried in the CNIISK by V.A.Cucherenko, CNIIPSK by

N.P.Melnikov and in the other organisations, membrane roofs is of 40% from suspension
roofs which are designed in former Soviet Union. This fact is explained by well-known
advantages as compared with cable roofs. The modern design principles are considered as
regards to large-span membrane roofs.
1. INTRODUCTION
The sphere of sheet metal membrane structures using is wide-spread very much (see
Table 1). Large-span membrane roofs is the principal type of membrane structures which is
investigated in this paper. There are possibility to cover again a maximum span and to use the
modern fabrication and erection technique side by side with the architecture expressiveness.
But this fact requires of application of modern design methods.
2. ANALYSE OF STRUCTURAL FORM EFFECTIVENESS

The membrane roof structural form stipulates typical advantages and disadvantages in
many respects. So, the principal advantage of a zero Gauss curvature membrane roof is a
possibility of it’s prefabrication out of the same type rollings. This decision simplifies the
design, prefabrication and erection of this roofs. But, properly from cinematic analyse, this
systems are most flexible and needed in the additional stabilization. As consequence, the
traditional identification of a zero Gauss curvature membrane roof behaviour as parallel
flexible threads is correct for following conditions: straight support contour elements are as
endless rigid; curve membrane edges are as free; load - uniformly distributed on surface. In
this case the spatial behaviour of the shell is expressed by means of the known increase of
elasticity modulus E/(1-μ2). The fastening of membrane to curve support contour elements is
brought to the increase of stresses to the perpendicular direction σ2 =(0.4..0.6)σ1. Moreover,
the increase of a support contour element slenderness in horizontal plane furthers to the
improvement of membrane spatial behaviour. The elaboration of a rational reserved support
contour is a important design problem for cylindrical membranes on the rectangular plan. The
plane reserved rectangular contour of higher slenderness in the horizontal plane is most
preferable today. The system in the form of sheet (or rope) element (used for the perception of
traction forces from a span with purpose of creation of unbending support contour) is a
obsolete and irrational decision (position 1, 2 Table 1). Also, the use of a cross-form support
contour (position 4 Table 1) is rational unlikely.
235
Some unique large-span membrane roofs

Table 1
N Place of erection, time, Structure name Type Principal structure Material
design organization parameters expenditure
steel concrete
CIS
1 Byshkek, 1974, The sport palace by 1 Rectangular 42*63m, tm = 2 54.4
Sojuzkurortproekt, Lenin mm
CNIISK
2 Kharkov, 1976, The swimming-bath 1 Rectangular 30*63m, tm = 62-st
Promstroyniiproekt, 1.5 mm (Al-alloy) 4.7-
CNIISK Al
3 Riga, 1992, CNIIPSK The air-liner hangar 1 Rectangular 100
108*72m,tm=4mm
4 Moscow, 1980, USH “Izmaylovo” 1 Rectangular 116 9
Sojuzkurortproekt, 66*72 m,tm=2 mm
CNIISK
5 St.-Petersburg, 1978, Film & concert complex 2 Circle, 160 m, tm = 6 mm 114 15
LenZNIIEP
6 Moscow, 1980, The Cover stadium s/c 2 Oval 224*183 m, tm = 5 mm 107 16.5
CNIISK, Mosproekt-2 “Olimpiysky”
7 Moscow, 1982, NIIZB “Compressor” plant, 2 Rectangular
shop N2 66*81 m, tm=4 mm
8 Ust-Ilimsk, 1983, The timber cart stand 4 Circle, 206 m, 70 10
LenpromstroyNIIproekt tm=5...25 mm
9 Moscow, 1980, The cycle trek in 4 Oval,168*138 m, 157
MNIIPOKOS, CNIISK Krylatskoje tm = 4 mm
Ukraine
10 Kiev, 1978, The shop-exhibition 4 Square 63*63 m, tm=4 mm
KievZNIIEP
where: 1 - the monochord membrane of a zero Gauss curvature; 2 - the monochord membrane of a
positive Gauss curvature; 3 - the composite monochord membrane of a positive Gauss curvature; 4 - the
monochord membrane of a negative Gauss curvature.
The principal difference of a positive Gauss curvature membrane roof on rectangular

plan is a pronounced membrane behaviour as a ductility in two directions. This roofs are as
less flexible than zero curvature roofs but and they are needed in the additional stabilization
system, as a rule. In this case the use of a rather flexible support contour on the rectangular
plan brings to the considerable bending lowering in the middle of support contour and it’s
concentration on corner zones. This zones must be strengthened by struts (object 7 Table 1).
The rise of waves with the length lw and amplitude 0.1lw in corner zones attituded by
impossibility by the unfolding of a double curvature surface on the plane. This fact is some
disagreeable, but is not exert essential influence for the roof behaviour on the whole. The
circle plan permits to create the most economical roofs because the tension membrane is
stressed in two directions, the ring support contour perceives the strut of the roof span without
bending. If a dead-weight and a technological equipment weight is sufficient then additional
roof stabilization is not necessary. The important problem of roofs on the circle plan is a
choice of create method because the support contour cross-section is conditioned by
assembling loads frequently. The stress and strain state shell dependence with an initial roof
geometry (the square or cube parabola, flexible thread) is great too. The use of ellipse plan
inserts a considerable complication in design, making and creating of membrane roof as
compared with a circle plan, although alterations of stress and strain state parameters are
insignificant if a correlation of ellipse axises is less than 1.2.
236
The modern design membrane roof approaches are based on the use of optimum
design conception. The result of use of this modern design methods is a creation of the
minimum cost structure, answered by safety and durability requirements. For all that, the
principle parameters stipulating enumerated criterion values are contradictory according to
their nature. It is possible to distinguish the next approaches to the estimate of structure form
effectiveness:
Variant design conception

The variant design is based on limited number of variants and a designer’s intuition. In
this case unknown criterions are described by the analytical approximation, and the solution
of the most economical structure form is sought with it’s use.
Membrane roofs are considered as systems consisting out of separate membrane strips,
supporting “bedding” elements, the steel or concrete support contour, the central ring (for
suspension membranes on the circle plan) and central post (for tent membranes). The making
working hours are determined as the sum of working expenditures for membrane strips (Tm),
support contour (Tc), “bedding” (Tb), central ring (Tcr), central post (Tcp):
T = Tm + Tc + Tb + Tcr + Tcp (1)
Membrane strip from 3 mm to more are made on specialized making roll blank lines.
Usually, strip is assembled of standard sheets 1.5 x 6 m. In the total working hours a treatment
compiles 10%, assembly - 20%, welding - 55%, rolling - 5%, preparatory and conclusive
works - about 10%. The total roll sheet making working hours are determined as
[
Tm = K nc K s K wh α m ( Gm nm )
0.11
]
+ 0.02S m N m (men x hours) (2)
where coefficients accounting: Knc = 1.3 - non-calculated operations, Ks - the value

series influence for making working hours, Kwh = 1.00 ... 1.17 - the increase of specific
working hours during use of the higher strength steel; am - coefficient equal 11.65 for
rectangular strip and 9.42 for trapezium strip; Gm, nm - the strip mass (t) and number of it’s
compiling sheets (piece), Sm - the membrane sheet square (m2), Nm - number of sheets for the
whole roof.
The rational support contour structure is a significant reserve of improvement of roof
technical and economical indexes on the whole. It is ascertained the membrane and contour
parts put 95 ... 98% of a working expenditures and 90 ... 95% of final cost. Moreover, the
contour part put 50 ... 75% of a general working expenditures and 35 ... 60% of a general final
cost. The steel support contour working hours are determined as ordinary welding beams.
Optimal design conception

Optimal design is logical and natural step of the select process of the effective
structure decision. The best decision is selected on the mathematical program methods base.
For all that the methods of first and second directions are not opposed and their apt
combination permit to choose the most economical structure decision really. The membrane
roof probabilistic-based optimal design conception on the base of safety criterion [1,2] is a
most generalizing optimal design approach. The i-element safety index distribution (yi) may
be accepted as a normal (F0(gi)) with a sufficient exactness for the practical calculations. The
variation dyi (or the same dyi/dti ) is determined as
237
dψ i ∂ ( F0 (γ i )) ∂γ i 1 ∂γ
⋅ e −0.5γ i ⋅ i ;
2
= ⋅ = (5)
dt i ∂γ i ∂t i 2π ∂t i
Y σ − σ yp
where γ i = ~ = r - the element safety character (safety index) introduced by
Y σ r + σ yp
A.R.Rzanitsyn and Corneal C.A.; σ yp , σ r - the mathematical expectations of yield point and

reduced stress for the plane stress state; σ yp , σ n - dispersions of values.
The correcting of this suggested design optimization approach is considered to the
design perfection. They are projects of large-span cylindrical shell membrane roofs on
rectangular plan. These results are adduced in the Table 2.
Values topt (mm) to shell zones with the maintenance period (years)
(The plan dimensions - 96 x 72 m, the flexible contour, f = 1/20L,
material - carbon steel C255)
Table 2
Maintenance period (years)
Zone without the corrosion wear account with the corrosion wear account
10 25 50 100 10 25 50 100
Corner 4.0 4.5 4.5 7.0 4.5 4.5 6.0 8.0
Near contour 2.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 4.5
Periphery 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.8 3.0 2.8 3.5 4.0
Central 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.2 2.8 3.0 4.0
References
[1] MUSHCHANOV V.F. Probabilistic-optimum design of sheet structures. EUROPEAN
WORKSHOP "Thin-walled steel structures", pp. 121-125. Wroclaw (Poland), 25-27
September 1996.
[2] GOROKHOV, Y.V., MUSHCHANOV, V.F. The new design concepts for large-span
membrane roofs. J.Construct.Steel Res., Vol. 46, Nos. 1-3, pp. 335-336, paper number 191.
Elseiver Science Ltd, Oxford, 1998.
238
STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOUR OF STANDARDIZED

TUBULAR SPACE TRUSSES
A. V. D’Este1, S. A. L. de Andrade2 and P. C. G. da S. Vellasco3

1
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO.
2
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO and Structural Engineering Department, UERJ.
3
Structural Engineering Department, UERJ.
Keywords: Steel structures, Structural behaviour, Tubular space trusses, Eccentric

connections, Experimental analysis.
Abstract: In this paper the structural behaviour of tubular space trusses composed of
continuous end flattened members stacked above each other and joined together by a single
bolt is described. The structural design of these trusses are still subjected to some criticism
since the loss of stiffness in the bars’ extremities is not taken into account. To enlighten this
problem a full-scale experimental programme was performed in a 12m x 12m space structure.
1. INTRODUCTION
The use of tubular space frames made of continuous chord members has increased in
the last few years. This increase is mainly due to the lower fabrication costs and high erection
speed associated with these structural systems. The chord members are made of cold-formed
shapes or tubes. The connections between chord and diagonal members are made wiht special
connectors or simply by staking end flattened diagonal members over chords by a single large
diameter bolt, Figure 1 and 2. In spite of this fact, the structural behaviour of the connections
used in this system is still not fully understood. The main objective of this paper is to describe
the experimental results obtained from a full scale test programme performed on a 12m x 12m
tubular space truss. From this test programme the structural behaviour, up to collapse, of
eccentric and centred nodes was discussed.
2. THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME

In order to obtain representative results of real-sized structures, a twenty meter span
square structure was considered. The spatial frame is supported by six columns on the
boundaries. Four supports are located in the bottom chord plane while the other two are
present in the top chord plane. The structure was supposed to cover a column free area with
the following geometric characteristics: Square on square diagonal configuration; Two meter
structural module in both directions; Double-layer grid height of 1500 mm. The materials
used in this project were: Hot-dip galvanised steel deck (single sheet with 0.65 mm
thickness); Cold-formed steel tubular sections, ASTM A-325 high-strength bolts in all the
connections.
The initial planning of this project involved a twenty meter span structure. The space
truss was designed and detailed for fabrication, summing up to more than eleven hundred bars
to be dealt with. Due to the space limitations, the structures size was reduced to a 12 m by 12
m space truss with 416 bars, and five support, Figure 3, D’Este[2]. The supports 2, 3 and 4
shown in Figure 3 were introduced with the purpose of reducing the compression forces in the
diagonal bars located far from the support. Thus, the non-symmetric structure was induced to
develop higher diagonal forces near the first support. This strategy was used to closely
239
investigate what instability effects could arise. Moreover, at the predicted collapse load levels
both the square 20 meter span and the 12 meter span structures would present the same
member forces near the region of the first support. It is important to note that in these tests all
chord member failure modes were prevented.
Chords
Diagonals
Figure 1 - Eccentric connection Figure 2 – Members and nodes used

detail investigated. in the space truss system.
12,0 m
2,0 m
1
2,0 m
2
12,0 m
NOTATION
φ 33,5 x 2,0 mm
φ 42,2 x 2,0 mm
3 φ 48,3 x 2,0 mm
5 φ 60,3 x 2,0 mm
Supports
Permanent loads
Loading point
Figure 3 – Space truss test layout.
The experimental programme consisted of four tests identical in terms of geometry,

bars sizes and thickness. In the first test all the grid nodes used identical eccentric one bolt
joints. In the other three tests, the nodes located at the support and nearby regions were
substituted by a steel plate assemblage that would eliminate one of the system eccentricities.
3. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

All the structural nodes used in first test used bars with flattened end extremities. This
connection type presents a loss of the stiffness due to the flattened end bars as well as a
double eccentricity in relation to the chords direction axis. This eccentricity appears due to the
folding made in the bar’s flattened ends and enables the formation of a structural node by
using only one high strength bolt and, consequently, improves the structure’s assembly speed.
The end of the first test happened at a 99.5 kN, load level where the structure did not
stand the action of the applied loads. The collapse was reached by the formation of a plastic
240
mechanism, in the minor inertia axis located in the superior end of the first diagonal, Figure 4.
This diagonal was located in the structure’s most loaded support.
In order to improve the structure’s loading capacity centred nodes were used in the
support nodes of the second test. This simple measure decreased by half the eccentricity
present in the diagonals bars of the supports nodes. The centred nodes were designed and
fabricated with two gusset plates to sustain the flattened ends of the diagonals bars, creating
two shear plans in the connection bolts. The second test ultimate load corresponded to 129.23
kN. The observed failure mechanism of the first test was again observed. The only difference
was that the superior end of the second diagonal support bar failed, instead of the inferior
diagonal bar.
Figure 4 – Collapse mechanisms present in the first, third and fourth tests.
The third test had similar characteristics to the second test. The most significant
difference was that the centred support nodes made of one gusset plate to support the flattened
end bars with only one shear plane. The structure’s capacity was decreased to a value of 72.32
kN. At this loading level the gusset plate of the first support node collapsed by bending in a
transverse direction to the support diagonal plan, Figure 5. The collapse happened in a violent
way making impossible to distinguish if the collapse happened in the flattened end support
bars or in the gusset plate of the support node. It is important to notice that the gusset plate
support node thickness was less than its design value. This structural node proved to be
inefficient due to its reduced compression resistance as well as the lack of any kind of bracing
against chord axis bending plan.
Finally, the fourth test was conducted using the centred nodes used in the second test
(two gusset plates). In this test, in addition to the support nodes, some of the nearby nodes of
the supports also used centred solutions. These nodes presented the same characteristics used
in the third test (one gusset plate reinforced by a stiffener). The maximum load value reached
by the structure corresponded to 99.18kN. A similar plastic mechanism developed in the first
and second tests was the main reason for the second diagonal bar collapse, Figures 6. This
collapse happened due to the use of bars with end flattened end lengths greater than their
design values and plated connectors with thickness less than their specified values.
4. CONCLUSIONS
One of the main objectives of the paper was to investigate the moment of inertia
variation effect that occurs due to the flattening of ends of the structure’s bars. The
experimental tests confirmed the reduction in the structure’s global resistance. The main
reason for this loss of resistance was the interaction between the bar’s flattening ends and the
241
type of structural connection used in the truss system. The displacements measured in the
tests presented values less than the maximum accepted values suggested by the steel design
standards.
The first test load carrying capacity (compressive resistance of the first support
diagonal) was 26.42% less than the design load predicted by the Brazilian steel standard
NBR8800. This was due to the type of eccentric stacked node used in the structure. This node
presented a double eccentricity, due to the bar’s non alignment, that was responsible for the
decrease of the bar’s compressive resistance. Another important factor for this decrease in
resistance was the end flattening length present in the structure’s bars.
This behaviour could be substantially improved if, during the fabrication phase, more
care were exercised in the stamping and folding of the bar’s ends. The first test structural
collapse was associated with the excessive length used in the flattened bar ends which leaded
to the formation of a plastic mechanism.
In order to improve the excessive loss of structural compression resistance observed in
the first test, the support node configuration was changed to the use of a centred solution. This
strategy reduced the eccentricity to a half of its original value for the support diagonals. This
structure was used in the second test improving the associated loading capacity to only 4.46%
less than the value predicted by Brazilian code NBR-8800 [1]. In this test the same plastic
mechanisms present in the first test occurred. The resistance loss for the second test was
smaller than the value obtained in the first test. This can be explained due to the decrease in
eccentricity associated with the use of a centred support node.
The collapse of the third test happened due to the bending of the gusset plates present
in the support node. This can be credited to a mistake made in the fabrication process that
used a plate thickness thinner than the specified one (design value 8 millimetres, actual
measure 4.75 millimetres). This fact conducted to a resistance value 49.45% less than the
Brazilian code predicted value. A bracing system used with a thicker node plate would
significantly increase the load carrying capacity of the third test. The bracing system should
be used in a plane where the bending occurs. This was the main motivation for the fourth test.
The loss in compressive resistance found in the second diagonal bar observed in the
fourth test was very close to the value obtained in the first test. This decrease can be
associated to the excessive length of the flattened ends of the second diagonal bar. In addition
to this fact, this test loading capacity could be improved if the fabricators used the actual
design specification for the plated connectors.
A very important conclusion drawn from this investigation is that the reduction in the
node eccentricities of the structure’s supports not always leads to an improvement in the
structure’s load carrying capacity. This was confirmed by the third test in which a structural
system using centred support nodes conducted to poorer results when compared to the
eccentric solution present in the second test.
References
[1] ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS - NBR-8800 - Projeto

e Execução de Estruturas de Aço de Edifícações: Métodos dos Estados Limites, Rio
de Janeiro, 1986. (In portuguese)
[2] D’ESTE, A. V. Structural mehavior of standardized tubular space trusses, MSc.
Dissertation, PUC-Rio, Civil Engineering Department, 1998.
242
THE REALISTIC EFFECTS OF STRESSED SKIN DESIGN OF

TYPICAL INDUSTRIAL HALL STRUCTURE
Srdjan Kisin
Professor, Faculty of Tehnical Sciences University Novi Sad and Scientific Advisor,
Institute IMS, 11000 Belgrad, Bulevar v. Misica 43, Yugoslavia
Keywords : Sheeting, Stressed - Skin Design, Structure, Codes
Abstract : Stressed - Skin design is well known method of steel structural analysis
accepted by Eurocode 3. Using sheet diaphragms with bearing function at roof and wall
planes produces technical and economical effects. The results of realistic torsional stiffness
experimental investigation are presented. Also the treatment of typical industrial hall
model in sense of sheeting participation in global system deflection is included. The
correlation between models with diaphragms and stiffeners based on experimental and
numerical results is discussed. The comparison of material and total costs is made between
different structures designed by classical and stressed - skin design. Conclusion remarks
are focused on realistic effects of stressed - skin design.
1. INTRODUCTION
Introducing of sheeting diaphragms with bearing function is a world - wide known
″stressed - skin design ″ method, established by E. R. Bryan and J. M. Davies from Salford
University - England. Based on their research [1] Commitee XVII of ECCS published
European recommendation [2] . The same authors published in 1982 a handbook with
examples based on this concert [4]. This material contains data necessary for ultimate
states of panels and connectors deformability and bearing capacity calculation. The
informative Annex A of Eurocode 3. [8] generally treats diaphragms as cold - formed
systems ( part 7 ) , capacity of screws ( part 8 ) and testing methodology (part 9 ). The
general impression is that Eurocode 3 did not establish stressed skin design in expected
manner, particularly in sense precisely stating of obligatory or alternative procedures.
General conditions of sheeting treatment as integral part of structure are given in the
Appendix A7 and can be characterized as a conditional acceptance of the method. The
conditions are defined by a set of exceptions : connectors placed directly through sheet
into the covering beam at the distance limited to 500 mm mutually and edge splitting
preventive length, the total surface of openings up to 15 %, guaranted shearing capacity of
panels and screws. The national documents of Eurocode 3 must include simple and
helpfull procedure that promote stressed skin design as routine design method. The author
completed a research project focused on this problem at Institute IMS - Belgrade in 1994..
Further, the results of this investigation [14] are going to be presented. The author
participate in a more complex research of sheeting bearing function, which was carried out
on a typical industrial hall model at the Institute IMS - Sarajevo in 1985. The part of
testing and numerical results of the investigation [8,10,11] are included in the paper.
Finally, the presented investigations, recommendations and codes are a reliable base of
direct application. The author designed several real structures by stressed skin design
method. The results achived by panel bearing capacity introduction are presented in the
last chapter.
243
2. TORSIONAL STIFFNESS OF COVERING SHEETING

The testing included six models; three of them with a single steel sheeting (CE models)
and the other three with double aluminium sheeting (Al models). Each of the models was
represented by two samples. The framework of the models was (175 x 3000) mm
accompanied with next additional situations : B (frame stiffened by linear diagonal
elements), C ( frame stiffened by sheeting) and D (frame stiffened by linear elements and
sheeting simultaneosly). The connecting of the panels with steel structure was done by 4
mm self - screws. The mutual panel connectors were 3 mm steel rivets (steel sheet) and 3
mm copper rivets (aluminium sheet). The cantilever model was concentically loaded on
free edge using hidraulic jack with 500 kN capacity. The monitoring of deflections was
done by inductive sonde and stresses by strain gauge. The process was covered by
computer analyzer. The average horizontal deflections of the free edge in dependence of
load level are given in Table 1
Table 1.
DEFLECTION
MODEL FORCE / kN /
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
CE - B 8 17 25 36 52 - - -
CE - C 8 23 35 51 - - - -
CE - D 8 16 23 28 38 48 77 >100
AL - B 8 16 23 29 36 46 - -
AL - C 8 17 24 31 - - - -
AL - D 8 14 19 24 31 38 47 60
The characteristic record for Al - B - 1 model can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Model AL-B-1 Force-Deflection Diagram Figure 2. Numerical Model
The same model was analysed numerically (Figure 2). Using step by step method the
corelation between known deflection data obtained by testing and numerical values for
different torsional stiffeness was established. The conclusion of this research was
limitation torsional stiffeness amounts to at least up to 5 % of the flexural panel stiffness.
The additional condition is adequate connections capacity.
3. THE SHEETING PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL HALL

STRUCTURAL DEFORMABILITY
The model of a typical industrial hall in scale 1 : 3 is treated using experimental and
analytical methods. The model has 8 m(4 x 2 m) length, 3m width and 2,5 m heigth on the
lower level and 2.8 m on the upper level. The main structure consists of five frames (I NP
140 rolled profile), purlines and covering beams ( [ 65 ), stiffeners of crossed diagonals
244
( L45⋅45⋅5) and profiled sheet Al Tr 40/120. Four models were analysed : model A (
frames connected with purlines and covering beams), model B(model A + linear
stiffeners), model C (model A + sheeting) and model D(model B + C). Models were fixed
inside testing hall frame - structure. The applied loadings were : vertical on roof plane,
horisontal at along plane and horisontal on shield planes.
Figure 3. Numerical Simulation of the model D
The standardize load level was 1.0 kN/m2. The same procedure was numerically simulated
on the model shown in Figure 3. The both analyses were focused on deflection parametric
establishing in order to determine real sheeting effects as primary structural elements.
The characteristic results of the investigation are presented in Figure 4 (horisontal
transversal loading).
Figure 4. Deflection of Columns
At the same time model corelations on the middle along line can be seen on Figure 5.
Table 2. contents percentage of particular elements introducing effects.
Figure 5. Deflection of Lateral Line
245
Table 2.
LOADING TYPE
MODEL Vertical Horisontal – Horisontal - Horisontal - Horisontal –
transverzal along transverzal transverzal
A -Deflection (mm) 0.191 1.080 0.984 3.067 4.360
B - Reduction (%) 0.00 67.07 66.77 61.82 92.66
C - Reduction (%) 5.64 88.27 88.10 96.66 99.54
D - Reduction (%) 6.90 92.63 92.86 99.31 99.68
4. EFFECTS OF STRESSED SKIN DESIGN INTRODUCTION

In his design practice the author realized alternative analysis of sheeting introducing with
bearing function. First of all metal structures with openings up to 15 % of covering surface
were analysed. The key results are included in Table 3.
Table 3.
Object Ground Volu- Total Stiffners Mass Finance Connection Final
description plan me mass mass reduction effects price rise effects
(m 2 ) (m 3 ) ( kg ) ( kg ) (%) (%) (%) (%)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Deposite hall 5760 69120 299520 23962 7.90 9.20 1.20 8.00
Warehouse 900 7200 16800 1257 7.48 8.90 1.00 7.90
Warehouse 1800 14400 31300 1960 6.26 8.20 1.00 7.20
Resid. loft etage 590 1940 21610 3020 13.97 14.15 1.50 12.65
Sport′ s hall 1215 12750 357210 23647 6.62 7.60 1.30 6.30
Restaurant 2650 9275 127200 8268 6.50 7.20 1.20 6.00
Industrial hall 3600 27000 18200 1565 8.60 9.30 1.40 7.90
5. CONCLUSION
The sheeting introduction in structural complex induced important technical and
economical effects. The main bearing function is in dependence with torsional stiffness in
self plane that can be included up to five percent of flexucal stiffeness. The deflection
reduction in space structures with diaphragms is between 82 and 96 %. It means that linear
stiffeners can be omitted if connectors capacity is guaranted. The total financial effects
obtained on different projects are between 6 and 12.65 %.
6. LITERATURE
1.E.R.Bryan and J.M.Davies : Diaphragm Action in Multi - storey Buildings “, University of Salford, 75/76.
2.CONSTRADO : “ European Recommendation for the Stressed - skin Design of Steel Structures “, ECCS,
Committe 17.,1977.
3.Atrek, E. and Nilson, A.H.:“Non-linear Analysis of Cold-formed Steel Shear Diaphragm“,J Struct. Div.
3/80.
4.J.M.Davies and E.R. Bryan : “ Manual of Stressed Skin Diaphragm Design “ , Granada,1982.
5.Wei - Wen Y. : “ Cold - Formed Steel Design”, John - Willey and Sons, 1985.
6." European Recommendation for the Testing of Profiled Metal Sheets", ECCS, Committee 17., 1982.
7." European Recommendation for the Testing of Connections in Profiled Sheeting and Other Light Gauge
Steel Components", ECCS, Committee 17., 1982.
8.EUROCODE -3, Final Draft,1989.
9.O. Jokanovic, N.Terzic, S. Kisin, V. Ropac and D. Loncaric : “ Rationatilly of Metal Structures with
Sheeting, “ ,Publication RTF, Sarajevo, 1985.
10.O. Jokanovic, N.Terzic, S. Kisin, V. Ropac and D. Loncaric : “Space Structural Analysis Including
Diaphragms with Bearing Function ”,Proceedings. IMK Vol 14, Sarajevo, 1985.
11.S.Kisin : “ Numerical Analysis of Space Structures “, Meeting AEBH, Sarajevo, 1990.
12.S. Kisin:″Corelations Eurocode-3. and Actual Yugoslav Standards”, Simpozium ACENS, N.i Sad,1993.
13.S.Kisin, R. Lekic : “ Testing as Alternative Method at Eurocode -3. “, V Simpozium ACEM, Ohrid,1993.
14.S.Kisin, Z. Ribic: “ Realistic Torsional Stiffeness of Sheeting”, Journale Izgradnja 5/94, Beograd, 1994.
246
STUDY OF THE DYNAMIC FORCES ACTING ON STEEL STRUCTURE DURING

GYRATION MOTION OF SLEWING CRANES
Boris Jerman, Janez Kramar

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana
Keywords: Steel Structures, Slewing Cranes, Gyration Motion, Lagrange’s Equations, Equations of
Motion, Load Sway, Dynamic Forces, Measurements
Abstract: The vibrations and sway of the load at slewing cranes are caused mainly by the gyration
motion of the jib around the vertical axis and by radial movement of the load suspension point. In the
paper only gyration motion of a jib that produces a space motion of the pendulum is considered
because has been much less investigated than translation of the suspension point. The objective is to
investigate the dynamic forces acting on the crane's steel structure. Therefore a non-linear
mathematical model of the load sway is set up. A non-linear nature of the swinging motion for large
angles and non-linearity of power transmission is considered. The structure's elasticity, friction,
damping of materials and air resistance are also taken into account. The effects of various types of
inputs on the trajectory of the suspended load are also studied. For confirmation of the mathematical
model a physical model of a crane was built and measurements were carried out.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cranes are fundamentally designed to transport a payload from an initial point to a desired
point as quickly as possible [6, 12, 8, 1]. In different circumstances cranes of different types are used
[9]. Let us take a closer look at one family of cranes called slewing (rotary) cranes. Three main
motions are performed by slewing cranes: the gyration motion of the jib (on slewing platform) around
the vertical axis, radial movement of the load suspension point (crab movement or movement of a tip
of the jib) and load hoisting (lifting or lowering). Less investigated so far has been the gyration motion
of a crane’s jib [6, 12]. Only this motion is considered in the paper.
Gyration motion is controlled by a driving motor and by brakes. Thereby angular accelerations
and decelerations are produced. During rotation also a centrifugal acceleration occurs. As a
consequence of the accelerations the dynamic forces are introduced, acting on the steel structure and
also on the suspended load causing a space motion of a pendulum. Besides direct inertial loads, this
motion is the main cause for dynamic forces acting on the crane’s steel structure during one
transportation cycle.
In the paper a mathematical model of the load sway on a slewing crane is considered (see
figure 1). A non-linear nature of the swinging motion for large angles is considered. For reason of
simplicity some assumptions are made:
a) all masses of a crane are represented by two moments of inertia and two point masses;
b) elements, connecting the masses, are rigid and weightless. Elasticity and damping [4] of a members
are represented by five springs and five dampers placed between masses;
c) friction in the slewing ring is represented by constant moment of friction;
d) friction in other bearings is encountered by the coefficient of efficiency;
e) air resistance is represented by forces acting on point masses;
Three co-ordinate systems as shown figure 1 are introduced: a global inertial co-ordinate
system XYZ, and a local coordinate system xyz, which rotate together with the jib, and a local co-
ordinate system ξηζ , which is placed into the mass suspension point.
Two different types of driving of the slewing motion are considered. The first possibility
includes the dependence of the driving moment on the rotating speed of a rotor of the electromotor.
The second possibility is so called "programmed motion" where time dependence of rotating speed of
a jib ϕ
1 is previously defined.
247
Differential equations of motion:

For deriving equations of motion the following form of Lagrange's equations is used [11, 2]:
d ⎡ ∂T ⎤ ∂T ∂V
⎢ ⎥ − + = Q' j j = 1, ... , 8 Eq.1
dt ⎣⎢ ∂q j ⎦⎥ ∂q j ∂q j
First of all, 8 independent co-ordinates for 8 degrees of freedom must be defined:

q1 = ϕ1 q5 = H = (H0 + Δz)
q2 = ϕ2 = (ϕ1 + Δ1) q6 = ξ = L ⋅ sin αR
q3 = ϕ3 = (ϕ2 + Δ2) q7 = η = L ⋅ cos αR ⋅ sin αT
q4 = R = (R0 + Δx) q8 = ζ = -L ⋅ cos αR ⋅ cos αT
A total kinetic energy T of a system is defined as a sum of contributions:
T = 12 J 0 ϕ 12 + 12 J 1 ϕ 22 + 12 m 2 (R 2 + ϕ 32 R 2 + H { [ ]
2 ) + 1 m ϕ 2 ⋅ (R + ξ) 2 + η 2 + R 2 +
2 3 3
Eq.2
2 + ξ 2 + η 2 + ζ 2 + ϕ R ⋅[− 2η]+ ϕ ξ ⋅[− 2η ]+ ϕ η ⋅[2(R + ξ)]+ 2 R ξ + 2 H
+H 3 3 3
ζ }
Potential energy of the system is a sum of contributions of forces with potential:
V= g[m 2 H+ m 3 (H+ ζ )] + 12 [k 1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ1 ) 2 + k 2 (ϕ 3 −ϕ 2 ) 2 +

1
Eq.3
+ k x (R −R 0 ) 2 + k z (H−H 0 ) 2 + k L {ξ 2 + η 2 + ζ 2 − 2L 0 (ξ 2 + η 2 + ζ 2 ) 2 + L20 }]
Generalized forces ( Q′j ) for non conservative (active and dissipative) forces are:
Q H '=−d z H − dz v H
Q1 '=d1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ 1 ) + M1 zu 2 2 −d zu 3 v 3{H +ζ}
Q 2 '= − d1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ 1 ) + d 2 (ϕ 3 −ϕ 2 ) − M LZ * d

Q ξ '=− L2 ξ(ξξ +ηη +ζζ )−d zu 3 v 3{R +ξ −ϕ 3 η}
L
Q 3 ' = − d 2 (ϕ 3 − ϕ 2 ) − d zu
y
2 v 2 ϕ3 R +
2 dL
Q η '=− 2 η(ξξ +ηη +ζζ )−d zu 3 v 3{ϕ 3 (R +ξ)+ η }
+ d zu 3 v 3 {−ϕ 3 [(R +ξ) 2 + η 2 ]− η (R +ξ) + R η + ξ η} L
Q R ' = −d x R − d zu d
2 v 2 R −d zu 3 v 3{R +ξ−ϕ3 η}
x
Q ζ '= − L2 ζ (ξξ + ηη + ζζ ) −d zu 3 v 3{H
+ ζ }
L
* ... sign for MLZ is minus for ϕ 2 ≥ 0 and plus for ϕ
2 ≤ 0. Eq.4
Components (equations 1 to 4) must be adequately treated and adequate derivatives must be

calculated. When the corresponding expressions are introduced in to equation 1, following equations
are obtained:
J0 ϕ
1 − k 1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ1 ) = d 1 (ϕ 2 − ϕ 1 ) +M 1
J1 ϕ
2 + k 1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ1 )−k 2 (ϕ 3 −ϕ 2 ) = −d 1 (ϕ 2 −ϕ 1 )+d 2 (ϕ 3 − ϕ 2 ) − M LZ *
3 + 2R R ϕ 3 ) + m 3 {ϕ
m 2 (R 2 ϕ + ξ) + η
3 [(R + ξ) 2 + η 2 ] − η(R (R + ξ) + 2ϕ 3 [(R + ξ)(R + ξ )+
+ ηη ]} + k (ϕ −ϕ ) = − d (ϕ − ϕ ) − d y v ϕ R 2 −d v {ϕ R 2 + η (R + ξ)− R η − ξ η}
2 3 2 2 3 2 zu 2 2 3 zu 3 3 3 3
m2 R { 3 3}
−R ϕ 2 + m − ϕ {
+ ξ −ϕ 2 (R + ξ)− 2 ϕ η + k (R −R ) =
3 η + R 3 3 x 0 }

= − d R − d v R − d v { x − ϕ η}
x
x zu 2 2 zu 3 3 3
248
+ m H
m2 H 3 2{ 3 z }
+ζ + g[m + m ]+ k (H−H ) = − d H
0 z
− dz v H
zu 2 2
− d v {H
zu 3 3
+ ζ }
{
m 3 −ϕ + ξ)−ϕ 2 (R + ξ) − 2ϕ η + k ξ⎡1 − L 0 ⎤ =
3 η +(R }
L ⎢
L ⎥⎦
3 3
⎣
d
= − L2 ξ (ξξ + ηη + ζζ ) − d zu 3 v 3 {− ϕ 3 η +(R + ξ )}
L
⎡ L ⎤
m3 ϕ { − ϕ 32 η + 2 ϕ 3 (R +ξ ) + k L η⎢1 − 0 ⎥ =
3 (R + ξ) + η
L⎦
}
⎣
d
= − L2 η(ξξ + ηη + ζζ )− d zu 3 v 3 {ϕ 3 (R + ξ) + η }
L
+ζ + g m + k ζ ⎡1 − L 0 ⎤ = − d L ζ (ξξ + ηη + ζζ )−d v {H

m3 H { } + ζ } Eq.5
3 L ⎢ ⎥ 2 zu 3 3
⎣ L ⎦ L
Equations 5 represents a system of eight nonlinear differential equations with non constant
coefficients. A system like this can be solved numerically by using the Runge-Kutta method. For this
task a computer program was developed.
Notation:
Z, z di … dumping coefficient (i=1, 2, x, z, L);
dzu i coefficient of air resistant on mass i (i=2 and 3);
y g… gravity;
ζ η H… momentary height of the crane (H0…initial…);
Ζ
dx,k x
Ji … moment of inertia (i=1 and 2: see Fig. 1);
i Η
dz,k z
ϕ3
i
ki … spring constant (i=1, 2, x, z, L);

d2,k 2
i
i m2 ξ L… length of the wire rope (L0…initial length);
J1 Δ2
Η
M1 ... driving moment of a driving motor;

x mi … point mass (i= 3 and 4: see Fig. 1);
ϕ2
X
MLZ ι
dL,k L
J
MLZ moment of friction in slewing ring;

αT Qj’… generalized forces of non conservative forces;
d1,k 1
J
Ι
Y T… total kinetic energy of the system;

αR V… potential energy of the system;
Δ1
ι
m3
J0 vi … absolute value of speed of mass i (i=2 and 3);
i
ϕ
αR…
ι
1
M1 load swinging angle in radial direction;
αT… load swinging angle in tangential direction;
ΔX… change of the position of the mass m2 in x
X direction (ΔZ … in z direction);
ΔL… change of the length of the wire rope;
ϕi … angle of rotation of a jib (see Fig. 1);
Figure 1: Mathematical model
3. MATHEMATICAL SIMULATION AND MEASUREMENTS

Simulations were carried out with different load masses, different amplitudes of the
suspension point and different lengths of the load carrying rope. The effects of various types of
accelerations and deceleration on the trajectory of the suspended load were also studied.
Besides the mathematical also a physical model was made. To enable a comparison between
these two models for the simulation, the data from the physical model were used. Also the printout of
the simulation is adapted to measured quantities. Sample results of the simulation and measurement
are shown in graphs 1 and 2 in chapter 4.
249
4. RESULTS
Results are shown for the following cycle: constant acceleration of 1.039 rad/s2 from zero to a
maximum rotating speed of 0.738 rad/s, constant rotation with that speed for 8 s and then constant
deceleration back to zero. ALFAr is a radial angle and ALFAt is a tangential angle of pendulum
swinging, Ng represents an angle of rotation of the driving shaft and Nn an angle of rotation of a
slewing platform with a jib.
Graph 1: Simulation Graph 2: Measurement

Simulation V3T1L Measurement V3 T1 L1
20 400 20 400
15 350 15 350
300 300
10 10
250 ALFAr [sto] 250
5 ALFAt [sto] 5 ALFAr
200 Nn [sto] 200 ALFAt
Nn
0 Ng [sto] 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 150 Ng
0 5 10 15 20 25 150
-5 -5
100 100
-10 50 -10 50
-15 0 -15 0
Time [s] Time [s]
6. CONCLUSIONS
The objective of the paper was to investigate the dynamic forces acting on the crane's steel
structure. These forces are mainly caused by load sway. Therefore a qualitative and quantitative study
of the pendulum motion of the load suspended from the jib of a slewing crane was carried out.
Lagrange’s equations were used to derive the equations of motion. Computer program was developed
for solving these equations.
The derived mathematical model has no restriction with regard to small angles of load sway.
This enables us to study the crane’s behavior in extreme conditions. So the influence of such
conditions on loading of the steel structure can be obtained. Also the effects of different (extreme)
inputs (acceleration and braking) on load sway can be tested.
A nonlinear characteristic for spring coefficient k1 is introduced, because in the physical
model a highly nonlinear elastic coupling is used to connect the driving and torsion shaft. All data
needed for simulation can be calculated precisely enough, to get satisfactory results of simulation. The
exception is the data on damping of members. It is more accurate to estimate them by means of
measurements (if possible) than by calculations.
The mathematical model was checked with measurements on the physical model. The reader
can compare the calculated results with measured ones in graphs 1 and 2.
References:
[1] Dixit D.: Dynamic damping of Payload Motion for Cranes Beliveau,
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, v 119, n 3, 1993;
[2] Kojić M.: Dinamika, teorija i primeri, IDP Naučna knjiga, Beograd 1991;
[3] Lau W. S. M., Low K. H.: Motion Analysis of suspended Mass attached to a Crane,
Computers and Structures, v 52, n 1, 1994;
[4] Lazan B. J.: Damping of Materials and Members in Structural Mechanics; Pergamon Press, 1968;
[5] Moustafa K. A. F., Ebeid A. M.: Nonlinear modeling and control of overhead crane load sway,
J Dyn Syst Meas Control Trans ASME, v 110, September 1988;
[6] Onish E.: Automatic control of an overhead crane, Proceedings of the Eight Triennal IFAC World
Congress, Kjoto, Japan, August 1981; Pergamon, Oxford, England 1982;
[7] Sato K., Sakava Y.: Modelling and control of a flexible rotary Crane, Int J Control, v 48, n 5, 1988;
[8] Shapiro H. I.: Cranes and Derrick, McGraw-Hill, New York 1982;
[9] Vaha, P.: Dynamics of a closed kinematic Chain Crane with a suspended Load, Sahko, v 61, n 6, 1988;
[10] Wei, Zhixin, Baoliang: Mathematical Model of the Load vibration-sway on fixed Type Tower Cranes,
Modelling, Measurement & Control B, v 51, n 3, 1993;
[11] Wells A. D.: Schaums's outline series: Theory and problems of Lagrangian Dynamics
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967;
250
FULL SCALE TESTS OF STEEL FRAMES UNDER QUASI-STATIC

CYCLIC LOADING
251
252
253
254
PERFECT TRANSPARENT ENVELOPE BY THE USE OF STEEL

STRUCTURE
Yesim Kamile Aktuglu Orbay

Faculty of Architecture, Dokuz Eylül University, Sehitler Cad 12, Alsancak 35230 Izmir,
Turkey
Keywords: Glass towers, vierendeel girder, tie-down connections, threaded connection,

minimalist structures
Abstract: The glass towers of the Centro de arte Reina Sofia, which is the host of Picasso’s
Guernica, have a very elegant existence onthe facades of 18th century Madrid hospital. The
towers are minimalist structures, consisting of welded steel frames with clear glass skins, that
contrast dramatically with the solidity of the existing building(Fig.1). The primary structure
of the towers is based on a simple welded steel vierendeel girder, whereas the machined
stainless steel components of the glass walls have a completely different character. The glass
is hung from an external suspension system which compensates for changes in temperature by
means of springs and variations in material properties. As technological demands have
increased, and under the influence of fashionable forms of lightweight engineering such as
areospace components or racing bicycle design, architects and engineers at this end of the
market have been moved to apply the aesthetics of delicacy and precision to the building
facade- most often dramatising the interaction of glazing with the structure needed to counter
gravity and wind loads, as at the walls designed by Ian Ritchie and Ove Arup & Partners for
these glass towers(1)
1 INTRODUCTION
There should be a clear connection between design and structure in architecture. The
understanding of structure related with construction should be a joy which informs design
ideas.
The three glass towers, each approximately 36m high, of the Centro de Arte Reina
Sofia, close to the Prado in Madrid, are designed to provide for the vertical circulation of
visitors and of art works(Fig.2).
Fig.1 Visitors’ towers
255
Fig.2 Site location
Two identical visitors’ towers are on the main facade, flanking the entrance and facing
out onto the Plaza. These each contain three glass wall climber lifts and provide circulation
for visitors. The third, for goods, is around the corner. It contains a stair, a passenger lift and a
goods lift large enough to accept Picasso’s Guernica(Fig.3), which is 3.5m*7.82m. Although
the different functional requirements alter the design, the basic principles are the same as
those for the visitors’ towers.
Fig.3 Picasso’s Guernica
2 STRUCTURE
Primary Structure: The basic structure of a visitors’ tower is a welded steel
vierendeel girder which forms a wall separating the lifts from the landings and the
building(Figs4-6). The girder cantilevers from the ground floor and provides horizontal
stability parallel to the building, while the landings tie the girder to the building for stability
in the other direction. The landings are concrete flat slabs which span between the vierendeel
and the building, to which they are pinned.
Fig.4 Visitors’ tower primary structure
Fig.5 Visitors’tower vierendeel
256
Fig.6 Visitors’ tower plan at landing
Glass: The most important part of the design was the glass.
Roof Structure: The suspension systems hang in pairs from T-shaped cable-stayed
tubular steel booms.
3 GLASS
Structure: The entire glass envelope to each 36m high tower is suspended by
stainless steel rods from roof level. Each panel of glass is individually supported. The size of
each panel is determined by wind load, economic glass thickness, structural module and
heights between floors. Each 12mm thick pane of toughened glass is 2966mm wide by
1833mm high and is suspended from one central patch fitting on its top edge(Fig.7). Flush
planar fittings at each corner provide fixing points for the wind bracing system.
Fig.7 Diagram of single sheet suspension
Temperature Movement:From a technical point of view, the most interesting part of

the design is the glass suspension system.
Wind Loads: Wind forces on the glass are carried back to the primary structure by
brackets connected to each corner of the glass.
All of the pieces(Figs14-16) associated with the glass are stainless steel, not only for
durability but also to maintain the distinction between primary structure and skin. The plates
used in the suspension arms and the wind brackets reinforce the theme of planarity.
Fig.7 Dolphin plate assembly
257
Fig.8 Exploded isometric of support arm.1 patch fitting, 2 ‘905’ body, 3 stainless-steel dolphin plates,
4 pivot block, 5 stainless-steel support rod, 6 stainless-steel tie-down rod
Fig.9 Exploded isometric of wind restraint tie.1 modified ‘905’ planar body, 2 pig-nosed clevis pin, 3 laser-cut
6mm thick stainless steel plate, 4 locking nuts, 5 anchor bar, 6 pig-nosed end thrust and locking screw, 7 fork
plate, 8 packing shims, 9 fixing plate welded to primary structure
4 CONCLUSION
As a result,
from the point of designing the structure of glass towers,
the objectives were;
• acting as an effective visual counterpoint to the old hospital building,
• adding interest to the Plaza,
• providing fine views for the visitors, both from the ouside of the glass towers and
also from the inside of them.
from the point of a visitor,
• for the towers are very transparent, the human wants to enter it,
• for the towers are very transparent, the human wants to know how its structure
carries the tower, up to the 36th meter high,
• for the towers are sparent, the human worries about how steel works on helping to
carry both the structures and the glass.
During whole time while visiting the art museum, the human feels itself as being in
Pompidou, because of the realistic steel structure of perfect transparent envelope.
References:
[1] “Smart cars versus smart facades”, p.98-103
[2] Thornton, J.A., (August 1993), “The glass towers at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia,
Madrid”, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Civil Engineering, p.110-117, GB
[3] Conolly, Simon, (15June1995), “Toward the transparent envelope”, The Architect’s
Journal, p.42-44, GB
[4] Brookes, Alan J., Grech, Chris, (1996), “Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art, Madrid”,
The Building Envelope & Connections, p.215-219, Architectural Press, GB
[5] Berichte.Reports, (3/96), “Vorhange aus Glas- Beispiele konstruktiver Intelligenz”,
Bauing, p.91-94
[6] “Art Centre, Madrid”
[7] A visit to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, in Madrid, in 8th and 14th of May in 1998
258
TEST AND ANALYSIS ON BEHAVIOUR OF TAPERED COLUMNS

IN SINGLE-SPAN FRAMES
Audronis Kvedaras
VGTU, Saulėtekio al. 11, Vilnius, LT-2040 Lithuania
Marc Braham
ASTRON, Route d’Ettelbruck, P.O. Box 152, L–9202 Diekirch–Luxembourg
Vaidotas Šapalas
Viačeslavas Šaraškinas
Keywords: Tapered columns, single span frame test, behaviour, computer simulation
Abstract: There were made two single–span frame tests. The span of frame is 6m, column’s
height 4.17m. Frame supports are pin. Connection between column and rafter is rigid. The
rafter of the frame was loaded with two vertical and one horizontal loads. There were
measured frame’s deflections and strains in the section near the column and rafter connection.
Loading scheme was selected so, that first should colapse column not the rafter. For this
reason rafter is braced in four places in direction perpendicular to the frame plane. The
stability of frame was analyzed using computer programme COSMOS with plate FE. Test
results were compared with results obtained from computer calculation. Differences between
computer simulations and test results are small.
1. INTRODUCTION
In this paper are presented test results of single span frame with tapered columns test.
Were measured strains in the section near the column and rafter connection. Results of
calculated stresses according to the values of measured strains are given in the Table 2. Also
was measured deflections of the frame (see Table 1).
The frame was also analysed with computer using programme COSMOS with plate
FE. The stresses were calculated. The buckling resistance analysis was made too. First
buckling form of tapered column calculated with programme COSMOS/M was achieved in
tests, too.
2. SINGLE SPAN FRAME TEST
There were made two single–span frame tests. The span of frame is 6m, column’s
height 4.17m (see Fig. 1). Frame supports are pin. Connection between column and rafter is
rigid. Beam of the frame was loaded with two vertical and one horizontal loads. There were
measured frame’s deflections and strains in the section near the column and rafter connection.
Loading scheme was selected so, that the first have to colapse column not the rafter. For this
reason rafter is braced in four places in direction perpendicular to the frame plane. Testing of
frame was carried out in horizontal position. So directions of loads depend on their orientation
in frame plane.
259
Fig 1. Frame test scheme. 1 – compression jack, 2 – loading beam, 3 – test frame,
4 – braces, 5 – deflection indicators.
Firstly the first load step was created by vertical compression jack, than by horizontal
one. Load step was equal 50 kN. The time interval between the neighbouring load steps was
10 minutes. Vertical load was divided into two parts using supporting beam. In section A-A
of tapered column there were measured strains using longitudinaly or longitudinaly and
transversally positioned strain-gauges (see Fig. 2). Some test results are presented in Table 1
and Table 2.
Fig. 2. Strain–gauges scheme in section A–A: a) test 1, b) test 2.
260
Table 1. Test results. Deflections.

Load V×H Deflections (mm) in points (see fig.1)
(kN) Test 1 Test 2 Theoretical
6 8 6 8 6 8
1) 50×25 2.4 10.1 2.325 10.795 1.95 12.8
2) 100×50 4.415 22 4.035 20.805 3.91 25.5
3) 150×75 6.36 29.8 6.615 29.29 5.86 38.3
4) 200×100 8.325 40.9 8.7 37.88 7.82 51
5) 250×125 10.175 50.2 11.055 46.785 9.77 63.8
6) 300×150 11.32 64.4 13.09 58.11 11.7 76.5
7) 350×175 11.345 77.6 16.595 68.925 13.7 89.3
8) 400×200 13.275 91.4 - - 15.6 102
Table 2. Test results. Stresses.

Load V×H Stresses (MPa) in cross- section A-A (see fig.2)
(kN) Test 1 Test 2 Theoretical
1 9 2 10 1(2) 9(10)
1) 50×25 -61.8 41.2 -57.6 43.2 -66 50.3
2) 100×50 -109.2 80.3 -113.3 86.5 -132 101
3) 150×75 -156.6 107.1 -173 123.6 -198 151
4) 200×100 -218 154.5 -239 170.9 -264 201
5) 250×125 -276 193.6 -296 210 -330 251
6) 300×150 -342 243 -387 278 -396 302
7) 350×175 -408 298 -463 346 -461 352
8) 400×200 -474 370 - - -527 402
All deflections were calculated taking into account supports movements occuring
during test. During the first frame test the tapered column collapsed at the load 400×200 kN
(vertical load×horizontal load). During the second test the tapered column collapsed at the
load 390×175 kN. In both tests columns collapsed in lateral-torsional buckling way.
Theoretical deflections and stresses were calculated using a computer programme STAAD III.
Theoretical and test values of deflections and stresses are quite close.
In test1 the vertical experimental deflection (in point 6, see Fig. 1) is about 17.5%
smaller than theoretical one. The horizontal experimental deflection (in point 8) is about
11.6% smaller than theoretical one. In test2 vertical experimental deflection (in point 6) is
about 21.1% bigger than theoretical one. The horizontal experimental deflection (in point 8) is
about 29.6% smaller than theoretical one.
In test1 an experimental compression stresses in section A-A is about 11.2% smaller
than theoretical one. An experimental tension stresses in section A-A is about 8.65% smaller
than theoretical one. In test2 an experimental compression stresses in section A-A is about
0.43% bigger than theoretical one. An experimental tension strain in section A-A is about
1.73% smaller than theoretical one.
During both tests at the load step 7 column began to twist in the middle of it height
about her longitudinal axis and to bend about her weak axis. Hovewer, at the final load steps
the buckling column’s web and flange near the column and rafter connection occured.
261
3. FRAME ANALYSIS WITH PROGRAMME COSMOS/M
Frame was calculated using program’s triangle form plate FE of various thicknesses.
Plate’s maximum dimension is 50 mm. There were calculated stresses of total frame. Also
there were analyzed ten buckling forms of column. Stresses in tapered column according to
program COSMOS/M simulations are quite close to stresses from experimental test.
First buckling form of tapered column according to calculations with programme
COSMOS/M was achieved with load ratio 0.777617. This means that the first buckling form
appears at the load 0.777617×(400×200 kN)=311×155.5 kN. Differences between the
computer simulations and test results are 28.6%.
Fig. 3. First buckling form of tapered column (zoomed in).
4. CONCLUCIONS
Experimental deflections differs from theoretical deflections (calculated with

programme STAAD III) about 19.9%. Experimental stresses in section A-A differs from
theoretical strains (calculated with programme STAAD III) about 5.55%.
First buckling form of tapered column according to calculations with programme
COSMOS/M was achieved with load ratio 0.777617. Differences between the stresses from
computer simulations and test results are 28.6%.
Because the column’s web is very thin (cross-section class 4 according to Eurocode 3)
at the load step 6 and 7 column’s web achieved lateral buckling. But column was still carrying
the load.
262
RECONSTRUCTION OF A TWO-BAY INDUSTRIAL HALL
263
264
265
266
TESTS OF NON-SWAY WELDED STEEL FRAMES WITH RHS

COLUMNS
Szlendak J.
267
268
269
270
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF A RANGE OF STEEL PLANE SYSTEM

FOR SOLAR COLLECTORS
Elena Axinte, Carmen Teleman, Nicolae Taranu,

Department of Civil and Industrial Constructions, Steel Structures, Faculty of Construction
and Architecture, UT Iasi, 6600 Iasi, Romania
Keywords: Solar collectors, Steel Structural System, Wind Dynamic Action, Wind Induced
Vibrations and Displacements, Laboratory Tests, FEM modeling.
Abstract: In the paper some experimental studies are developed referring to the dynamic
response to the wind action upon the light structural elements of a range of solar collectors
mounted on the flat roof of a building with residence suites. The studies were meant to put
into evidence the possibility of developing of the resonance phenomenon. The analysis of the
behaviour of the solar collector was made by using the finite element method.
1 INTRODUCTION
The system engendered by the solar collectors and the steel sustaining structure, which
may be seen in fig. 1, is naturally exposed to the climatic actions: wind, snow, hail and
temperature variations. The wind dynamic action is, in this particular case the most important
to be considered due to some peculiar aspects:
- the usual turbulence of the wind engendered by the obstacles from upstream, to which the
separated streamlines and eddies due to the presence of the closely situated buildings is
adjoined;
- the intrinsic system of solar collectors and steel sustaining structure is light and flexible and
the collector itself has the greater weight, set up as a dynamic system, this way being exposed
to the specific unfavorable effects (vibration, displacements, etc.).
In this context, tests in situ on specimens and in laboratory on model at natural scale
had been run in order to obtain more information on the vibrations of the system.
Fig. 1 Solar Collectors mounted in range (parallel) on the a flat roof of a building with residence suites.
271
2 IN SITU MEASUREMENTS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE

FUNDAMENTAL VIBRATION PERIOD OF A RANGE OF SOLAR
COLLECTORS
The measurements were run on rows of two respectively five panels of solar collectors
joint together, mounted on steel flexible supports, made up of thin gauge cold formed profiles
(fig. 2). The rows of collectors are tied up with the help of steel tie rods in the horizontal
plane.
Fig. 2 Rows of two and five solar collectors on which the dynamic characteristics were measured
A special recorder had memorized the vibrations in range, registered with a micro-
seismic graph device.
The eigen values for the period of vibration an frequency measured on the longitudinal
and transversal direction of the rows of the solar collectors, f2x = 4.00 Hz and f5x =5.88 Hz
were superior to the frequency of the upstream turbulent wind (f = 0.005…0.02 Hz) to which
the frequencies due to the vorticity created by the collectors themselves (f = 0.33…3.01 Hz)
are added. The tests proved the efficiency of the system against resonant amplification of the
vibrations.
3 MODAL ANALYSIS OF A RANGE OF SOLAR COLLECTORS

In order to analyze the behavior of the system of the solar collector the method of finite
element (FEM) was adopted and the program on the computer was “SAP-L1 05”.
The program considers the stiffness of the system known, in fact the stiffness of the
plane frame of the collector whose structural constitutive make it act like an nonlinear and
nonisotropic. This situation had to be solved by tests on models at natural scale (fig. 3).
The plane of the solar collector, simple supported along the short sides (fig. 3a) was
progressively loaded. The displacements registered with which gauges C1, C2 may be seen in
fig. 3b. In the fig. 3c one may see the displacement of the plate (Δ = 1.08 mm) for a maximum
load of 69.5 daN.
The model of the plane of the solar collector was designed using the concept of
equivalent diagonal, which takes into account the interaction between the steel frame, and the
elements that constitute the plane. The stiffness of the plane, considered as infinite rigid for
horizontal actions is replaced with an equivalent stiffness belonging to a steel diagonal (E =
2.1⋅106 daN/cm2), double articulated. The model in the fig. 4 was used to obtain a moment of
inertia I = 0.339 cm4 which corresponds to the moment of inertia of a steel rod with the
diameter of 1.621 cm. This equalization of the total mass of the collector has the advantage of
replacing the whole system with a plane system of bars, this giving credit to use the program
SAP L1 05.
272
Fig. 3 The experimental determination of the deformation of the plate of the solar collector: a.- the
loading scheme (C1, C2 – micro-gauges); b.- the variation of the deformation of the plate for different
loads (−C1,---C2); c.- the static scheme for the determination of the stiffness of the plate.
Fig. 4 Row of solar collectors : a.- view and cross section; b.- static scheme.
The modal analysis was developed to the row of five collectors (fig. 4). The stiffness
introduced by the external pipes and by the connections was neglected.
The program determined frequencies and displacements for the first six modes of
vibration, the fundamental frequency being 10.39 Hz.
The displacements of the structure on the three axes considered x-x, longitudinally,
y-y, transversally and z-z, vertically are shown in the fig. 5.
273
Fig. 5 Displacements for the six modes of vibration (−x-x , - - - y-y and - · - · - z-z axes)
The measurements in situ of the fundamental frequency of the row obtained with five
collectors pointed out smaller values than those registered from the program. The conclusion
is that the real stiffness of the system is bigger that that modeled on the computer.
References
[1]Axinte E.: Modelarea fizică a interacţiunii vânt-structură pentru proiectarea
captatoarelor solare, Ph. D. Thesis, Iaşi, 1988.
[2]Ciongradi C.: Contribuţii privind interacţiunea dintre schelet şi pereţii de umplutură supuse
acţiunilor seismice, Ph. D. Thesis, Iaşi, 1979.
274
THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS ERRORS ON THE DURABILITY OF

STEEL STRUCTURES FOR INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
Petru Strateanu, Nicolae Taranu, Dorina Isopescu
Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Iaşi, B-dul Copou 22, Iaşi-6600,
ROMANIA
Keywords: Industrial Buildings, Steel Structures, Errors, Durability
Abstract: A thorough investigation of six industrial buildings with steel framing systems and
different cladding elements exploited in an aggressive industrial environment has been
performed and a complete survey of damages caused by aggressive factors has been obtained.
Three main types of errors affecting the long-term behaviour have been identified: design
errors, construction errors and errors of exploitation. As a cumulative result of all these types
of errors, the corrosive penetrations, and a significant structural deterioration have occurred
leading to sharp decrease in load-bearing capacity of most structural members of the
industrial buildings under investigation. Based on this errors survey, solutions to rehabilitate
the industrial steel buildings can be performed.
1 INTRODUCTION
The industrial buildings with steel framing systems require large financial resources
and, therefore it is essential that their service condition are permanently checked and kept
under control.
The reliability of an industrial steel building is significantly influenced by the quality
of design, quality of erection and also by the working environment.
Therefore the identification of any possible errors and the assessment of their influence on the
loadbearing capacity of the structural steel members and on their durability are needed in
order to set up the retrofitting solutions. Figure 1 presents a general picture of defects, errors,
their influence on the structural performance and the principal means of intervention to
remediate the damaging effects.
A survey carried out on steel industrial buildings in service has lead to the following
percentages of error sources:
- 9% - design errors;
- 6% - workshop fabrication errors;
- 40% - assembling errors on construction site;
- 45% - service errors.
2 DESIGN ERRORS
After a careful examination of the contract documents and especially the structural
drawings and specifications, the following design errors have been identified:
- unproper layout of industrial buildings with respect to neighbouring terrain

features causing severe pollutant concentrations;
- the use of carbon steels with low corrosion resistance instead of weathering
steels;
- ignoring certain phenomena such as natural ageing, corrosive fatigue and
corrosive cracking that may favour the steel brittleness and premature failures;
- selection of steel members with small cross-sectional areas vulnerable to corrosive
275
wearing and excessive number of change in size connections sensitive to

corrosion;
defect characteristics
nature location spreading
defect causes
design errors erection errors service errors
the influence of defects

are felt on
strength stability durability
means of intervention
periodical current major strengthening

maintenance repairs overhauls
Fig.1 A general overview of defects in structures, their influence and means of intervention
- the use of steel members with large perimeter/cross-sectional area ratios;

- difficult access to the members surface for periodic painting and current
maintenance;
- inappropriate supporting conditions (purlins on trusses, trusses on columns) and
also beam-column connections or column-footing connections causing
accumulation of dust and/or water;
- unsuitable bolt spacing leading to pieces tear out or to debonding of the adjacent
components and to corrosive spots between them;
- the use of intermittent fillet welds when steel structures are exploited in a
corrosive atmosphere;
- inappropriate design and construction of the roof cladding structure causing
condensation and speeding up the corrosion process;
- insufficient roof slope and insufficient overlap of the steel cladding panels causing
water seepage;
- inappropriate selection of the protective systems.
3 CONSTRUCTION ERRORS
The survey carried out on six steel framed industrial buildings has enabled the
276
identification of the following construction errors:
- lack of the mill test certificate;

- disregarding the thicknesses of the steel members specified in the design
drawings;
- unproper welding procedures, causing residual stresses, stress concentrations and
large distortions of the welded member;
- insufficient tightening of the bolted connections;
- incorrect surface preparation of the steel members before the application of the
paint coatings;
- deterioration of the preliminary corrosion protection systems during transport,
handling, temporary storing and assemblage;
- application of fewer paint coatings than specified in the project;
- inadequate quality control of the protective system in workshop and for/or at the
construction sites;
- negligence in filling up the reception certificates both in workshops and/or
construction sites.
4 EXPLOITATION ERRORS
The survey carried out on the industrial buildings and on their service conditions has
been lead to the identification of the following exploitation errors [1]:
- lack of an efficient policy to decrease the atmospheric agressivity in the areas

sorrounding the industrial steel buildings;
- uncontrolled access and circulation of unauthorised persons on the roof cladding
of the industrial buildings causing the damage of the insulating systems;
- deterioration of the protective systems applied on the steel columns due to the
knockings caused by the moving loads carried by the overhead crane bridges;
- careless periodical inspection of the technical state of the structural steel members,
or lack of inspection during service life;
- lack of regular works of periodical maintenance, current repairs and major
overhauls;
- carrying out the remedial works without eliminating the major damaging factors
that may deteriorate the structural integrity of steel members.
5 THE MAIN OVERALL EFFECTS ON THE LOADBEARING CAPACITY

STRUCTURAL MEMBERS
The errors committed in the design construction and exploitation stages as well as
improper operating conditions under corrosive environment have sharply decreased the
strength and the rigidity of all loadbearing elements, decreasing their durability.
The technical state of the structural systems, Figure 2, has been assessed using visual
inspection and non-destructive testing; some of the main results of this assessment are listed
below relating to the structural members [2]:
Purlins
- degraded areas of the protective system up to 80%;
- the section modulus decrease ratio Wc/Wo ≈ 0.785 (Wo = the noncorroded initial
section modulus; Wc = the section modulus of the corroded member);
- corrosion penetration ∆ = 0.1÷0.8 mm.
277
Crane girders:
- local deterioration and surface degradation up to 60%;
- the section modulus decrease ratio, Wc/Wo ≈ 0.910;
- corrosion penetration 0.1 ÷ 0.4 mm.
Frame plate girders:

- the most degraded areas up to 90% identified in the heavily stresses regions;
- corrosion penetration 0.12 ÷ 0.95 mm;
- Wc/Wo ≈ 0.823 ÷ 0.901.
Columns:
- the protective system has been degraded from 7% to 100% and corrosion products
peeled;
- Wc/Wo ≈ 0.789;
- Ac/Ao ≈ 0.820 (Ao is the noncorroded initial area and Ac the corroded cross-
sectional area).
Fig. 2 The main structural systems of the assessed industrial buildings

a. structure with steel trusses; b. rigid frame type structure
It can be seen from the partial results presented above that all geometric
characteristics have been affected and the performances of the structural members have
decreased (strength, stiffness, local and general stability). Therefore special retrofitting
solutions have been designed and applied to restore the loadbearing capacity of the structural
systems.
References
[1] Strateanu P. – PhD Thesis, Technical University of Iasi, 1997.
[2] Taranu N., Strateanu P., Isopescu D. – Structural Rehabilitation of an Industrial Steel
Building. Proc. of the IABSE Colloquium “Saving Buildings in Central and Eastern Europe”,
Berlin, June 1998.
278
EFFECTS OF RESTRAINT ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF STEEL FRAMES

IN FIRE
A.M. Allam1, M.K. Fahad2, T.C.H. Liu2, I.W. Burgess1, R.J. Plank3 and
J.M. Davies2
1
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK
2
School of Engineering, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
3
School of Architectural Studies, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
Key words: Finite Element Method, Fire Testing, Structural Fire Behaviour, Structural
Connection, Horizontal Restraint.
Abstract: This paper describes a collaborative project between the universities of

Manchester and Sheffield to investigate the behaviour of steel beams within framed structures
in fire. The effects of restraint to the thermal expansion of unprotected beams from protected
columns and adjacent cool beams is being investigated, and some early numerical studies are
reported. The experimental programme associated with the analytical studies is also
discussed, although this is still under development.
1. INTRODUCTION
The traditional approach to the design of structural steelwork for fire resistance, which
involves the application of a prescribed thickness of fire protection material to limit steel
temperatures within required fire resistance periods, is progressively being replaced by a fire
engineering approach. This requires the designer to calculate the response of loaded structural
elements to increasing temperatures, allowing fire to be considered as one of the limit states
for which the structure is initially designed. The fire engineering approach demands a better
understanding of the factors which govern the behaviour of both individual steel members and
the structure as a whole in fire conditions. A fire engineering approach should take into
consideration the fact that the objective of controlling fire by construction can be satisfied
only if both the movement of fire is controlled and structural stability is provided. The control
of fire by construction has begun to be a normal method used in building codes to achieve fire
safety. When subject to fire, an unprotected steel structure will lose its stiffness and strength
as a result of deterioration in its material properties. The traditional approach to this problem
has been to design the structure for ambient temperature strength and serviceability, and then
to apply various insulation techniques to its load-bearing members to meet the requirements
for fire resistance.
The majority of medium-rise steel-framed buildings at present use non-composite pre-
cast concrete floor slabs carried by steel beams with connections designed to act simply.
Although such beams act essentially as independent elements at ambient temperature, in fire
conditions their behaviour is highly affected by the restraint forces due to interaction between
the fire-affected members and the adjacent cool structure. Observed effects from tests
include local buckling near to the connections when a beam tries to expand during the heating
phase and brittle fracture at the connections when it tries to contract during the cooling phase.
Some of these aspects were revealed clearly during the recent full-scale fire tests on a steel-
framed building at Cardington. The restraints which affect a heated beam may be due to the
rotational stiffness of its connections, the flexural stiffness of the columns and the axial
stiffness of the adjacent structure which stays near to ambient temperature. The thermal
279
straining of the heated beam also induces additional bending moments and/or axial forces onto
its neighbours.
This project was set up to address most of these aspects by investigating the effects of
axial and rotational restraint on steel beams in fire. The University of Manchester is carrying
out a series of tests on sub-frames, and is also performing detailed numerical modelling of
connections. The University of Sheffield is carrying out parallel analyses using its VULCAN
software, which models the global behaviour of structures in fire. This will be used to control
the fire tests and to perform further studies.
2. TEST FRAME ARRANGEMENT AND OVERVIEW

The work will be based largely on two-dimensional studies, both analytical and experimental,
and will complement those which have already been conducted on the full-scale frame at
Cardington. The experimental work is still at an early stage, and the Sheffield structural
analysis software has been used to perform predictive studies on the proposed test
arrangement, allowing detailed modifications to be made. The basic layout of the furnace is
shown in Fig 1.
All dimensions in mm Protected Loading jacks
432x100 channel 203x203x60UC
Reaction Frame
3000 Test Beam

600 800 600
Furnace Wall
Fig. 1 Elevated temperature test arrangement.

The furnace has been designed to accommodate frames with 2m beam length and 3m column
height, taking account of the large displacements associated with high temperature testing.
The heating requirements are very much dependent on the volume of the furnace and the size
of section to be tested. However, because of the availability of the 400kW portable gas burner
and control equipment in the fire testing hall at Manchester University no higher-capacity
heating was considered, on the grounds of cost. The burner system is fully computer-
controlled to follow any required time-temperature curve, with automatic recording of the
results and a runtime display. The arrangement of the members to be tested is in the form of a
complete “Rugby-post" frame, shown in Fig. 1. At beam level the frame may be provided
with varying degrees of additional horizontal restraint by continuing it through to the reaction
frame. The beams will mainly be unprotected, although they may have varying amounts of
fire protection, including the case in which the lower flange is exposed and the upper flange is
encased in a concrete slab. The columns will generally be fire-protected, and therefore be
reusable for a series of tests. The section of the beam and column in the region of the
connection will normally be exposed to the fire. The moments and thrusts transmitted by the
connections to the columns will be determined by measuring the horizontal reaction forces on
the top and bottom of the column using calibrated-pin load cells.
280
The major areas for this study are as follows:

• Assessment of the influence of restraint on the behaviour of steel beams throughout the
temperature range which may be experienced during a fire. This covers a series of
qualitatively different phases, from the low-temperature stage at which axial compression
forces increase rapidly, to the final stage at which the beam hangs in catenary. A major
theme is to assess the effect of catenary tension on ultimate survival times for beams, and
the connection and restraint conditions needed if it is to be utilised. The results will be
interpreted in conjunction with those from the Cardington tests.
• Integrity of the connections during cooling, when under the influence of tensile forces,
will be studied both experimentally and analytically, leading to an assessment of the
effects of these on connection performance.
3. FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING

3.1 The Manchester FEAST program
The finite element program FEAST, developed at the University of Manchester, is
capable of simulating the behaviour of steel beam-to-column connections and of predicting
their moment-rotation characteristics at elevated temperatures. The finite element model uses
an eight-noded shell element to model steel plate segments and line elements to model bolts.
It is capable of generating the non-linear characteristics of a connection, and allows for the
inclusion of arbitrary temperature distributions over the cross-section and along the members.
Fig. 2 compares simulated and experimental temperature–rotation curves at various levels of
applied moment for flush end-plate connections tested previously, and shows an excellent
degree of agreement.
800
Bottom flange temperature (°C)
5 kNm
700 10 kNm
15 kNm
600 20 kNm
25 kNm
500
400
Fire tests
300 F.E. model
200
100
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Connection Rotation (x 0.001 rad)
Fig. 2 Temperature-rotation curves at various moment levels for flush end-plate connections.
3.2 The Sheffield VULCAN program

The program VULCAN has been developed to simulate the global behaviour of steel-
framed and composite 3-dimensional building structures at elevated temperatures. The
program is based on a highly non-linear line element which simulates steel beams, four-noded
shell elements which model concrete slabs, and two-noded spring elements of zero length
which represent semi-rigid connections. The spring element is very versatile and can be
placed at any position within the frame since in-plane, out-of-plane and translational
displacements are represented.
281
4. THE EFFECT OF CONNECTION STIFFNESS

Although steel beams are often designed as simply supported, practical connection
details generally afford significant rotational stiffness. When exposed to fire this can have the
effect of reducing the deflection of the connected beam, even when its degradation with
temperature is accounted for. In the case of a simply supported beam, failure is a result of
run-away deflection at elevated temperatures due to reduced beam stiffness and strength. In
this case, the normal stability failure criterion limiting beam deflection to span/30 is a
reasonable approximation of a strength failure criterion. However, when a beam is connected
rigidly to adjacent structure it no longer exists in isolation. Where a fire is restricted to part of
a structure only, there is some load redistribution away from the fire-affected zones to regions
unaffected by the fire. This redistribution generally has the effect of enhancing the
performance of the heated members. The results of an early study shown in Fig. 3 indicate
that the rotational stiffness of connections diminishes deflection over a considerable
temperature range, and that the restraint to axial movement provided by cool columns
effectively prevents any real run-away behaviour to very high deflections. The elevated-
temperature moment-rotation curves used in this study were defined by using FEAST at
ambient temperature and then assessing the material degradation at elevated temperatures
according to EC3 part 1.2.
0
-20
Deflection (mm)
-40 Reaction Frame

-60
Test beam
-80
-100
-120 Rigid
-140 Pinned
Flush End Plate (FEAST & EC3)
-160
-180
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Temperature °C
Fig. 3 Vertical deflection of beam at elevated temperature for different connection types.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The use of analytical methods for predicting the behaviour of steel structures and
structural elements in fire is a valuable complement to conventional experimental methods. It
also provides a means of examining aspects of behaviour in a parametric fashion which would
not be affordable in test furnaces alone. In this project the two finite element programs
FEAST and VULCAN are being used, together with an experimental programme at
Manchester, to investigate the effects of rotational and axial restraint on the performance of
steel beams in fire. The furnace testing phase of the project will begin shortly, but it can be
seen from early modelling that the effects of both kinds of restraint could be beneficial to real
fire resistance. When this behaviour is fully researched, it may have significant implications
for future fire engineering design of steel framed structures.
Acknowledgement
This research was financially supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council of Great Britain under grants GR/L/41783 (Sheffield) and GR/L/41776 (Manchester).
282
1; No. 72; U35; S Y Wong, I Burgess, R Plank and G Atkinson
THE RESPONSE OF INDUSTRIAL PORTAL FRAME STRUCTURES TO FIRES
Shao Young Wong1, Ian Burgess1, Roger Plank1, Graham Atkinson2

1
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK.
2
Health & Safety Laboratory, Buxton, SK17 9JN, UK.
Keywords: Steel, Industrial Portal Frames, Fire, Experiments, Parametric Studies
Abstract: A number of recent fires in warehouses have drawn attention to a current lack of
understanding about the structural responses of industrial portal frame buildings to elevated
temperatures. Current fire resistance design concentrates almost entirely on the prevention of
fire spread beyond the building of origin by ensuring that column base connections are able to
prevent boundary wall collapse, but other aspects of the behaviour may control the way in
which the fire develops, the probability of its control by fire-fighters and the spread of smoke
which ensues. The UK Health and Safety Laboratories and the University of Sheffield are
jointly investigating this behaviour in a current research project. This paper presents results
from a series of analytical parametric studies on pitched-roof portal frames under the
influence of both localised and overall internal fires. A finite element computer program
VULCAN, developed at the University of Sheffield, has been used in modelling these cases.
The studies have investigated the effects of load ratio, main span-to-height ratio, and
the boundary conditions at the bases of the portal frames during the fire. A series of large-
scale fire tests on model frames has been conducted as part of the project at HSL Buxton. The
results of these fire tests are presented, and are used to assess the validity of the numerical
modelling approach used.
1. INTRODUCTION
Over half of the total market share of the constructional steelwork fabricated in the
United Kingdom is used in single-storey buildings. Portal frame construction is the most
common form of these single-storey buildings found on any modern industrial estate, due to
the fact that it is simple and cost-efficient. A number of recent fires in single-storey
warehouses have drawn attention to a current lack of understanding about the structural
response of industrial portal frame structures to elevated temperatures.
A Portal frame structure is a rigid plane frame with assumed full continuity at the
intersections of the column and rafter members. In the United Kingdom it is usual to design
such structures plastically. It is normal practice to adopt the design assumption of pinned
column bases to avoid high foundation cost, as well as the complexity of forming a rigid
connection. On the other hand, current fire resistance design concentrates almost entirely on
the prevention of fire spread beyond the building of origin by ensuring that column base
connections retain sufficient rigidity to prevent collapse of the boundary wall. The U.K.
regulatory authorities require the designer either to provide fire protection for the rafters, or to
ensure that the base of the column would resist the forces caused by the rafter collapse in
fire[1]. It is believed that other aspects of the behaviour may control the way in which the fire
develops, the probability of its control by fire fighters and the spread of smoke which ensues.
A non-linear finite element program, VULCAN, has been developed at the University
of Sheffield and used for analysing the structural performance of steel and composite framed
building when exposed to fire. A series of large-scale fire tests on a model frame have been
conducted at HSL Buxton and the results have been used to assess the validity of the
numerical modelling. A series of analytical parametric studies on portal frames have also
283
been conducted using VULCAN to investigate the effect of load level, span-depth ratio and
column base rigidity of the frames.
2. FIRE TESTS ON A SCALED PORTAL FRAME

A scaled portal frame warehouse model was constructed at HSL Buxton so that a
series of fire tests could be conducted. Fig. 1 shows the structural layout.
Fig. 1. The overall layout of the portal frame warehouse model.
Three major fire tests were conducted on the internal frames of the warehouse model.
The first test involved heating the whole rafter and the second aimed to produce a more
localised fire scenario. In neither test did the maximum temperature in the steel rafter become
high enough to cause overall structural failure. Thus, whilst there were some significant
deformation of the frame, there was no structural collapse. In the third test however, the
portal frame was insulated to enable higher temperature to be achieved and the base
connection was intentionally detailed as a “pinned” condition. As a result the maximum
temperature in the steel reached 1150°C and there was a substantial collapse of the rafter.
Fig. 2. Lateral deformation

Fig. 3 Collapse of the Portal Frame and Fire Hinges
of the rafter in fire tests.
Formed during the Test
284
After the first test the deformed portal frames were inspected visually. It was found
that the whole rafter had deflected vertically, and that the hottest part (between the eaves and
the first purlin) had also deformed laterally as shown in Fig. 2. The same phenomenon of
lateral deformation was seen again in the second test. This is thought to be due principally to
lateral buckling precipitated by the axial force induced in the rafter because of the restraint to
lateral expansion provided by the cold columns.
In the third test the spread at the eaves increased steadily as the temperature increased
until a point just before failure at which it suddenly reversed and the column deflected
inwards. This agrees with the prediction in the parametric studies presented in Section 3. A
combined mechanism is shown, and this failure mode is believed to be the most typical one
for a pitched-roof portal frame in fire. As shown in Fig. 3, plastic hinges are clearly indicated
by regions of high rotation.
50
Temperature (°C)
Vertical Disp (mm)
0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Experimental Data
-50
VULCAN Analysis
-100
-150
-200
Fig. 4. Comparison of VULCAN results with test results
for the third test: Vertical displacement at apex.
One of the main reasons for conducting the fire tests was to validate the computer
modelling results produced by VULCAN. In the third experiment, and the analysis included
the interaction of the purlins with the frame. The results are shown in Fig. 4, as vertical
displacements at apex plotted against temperature. It can be seen that the analysis agrees
rather well with the experiment. This gives confidence in the use of VULCAN for parametric
studies.
3. PARAMETRIC STUDIES ON PORTAL FRAMES

A large series of parametric studies on pitched roof portal frames was planned and
conducted using the finite element program VULCAN. To investigate the effect of different
load levels, a typical industrial Temperature (°C)
warehouse portal frame was used. 200
The span and column height were
Displacement (mm)
0
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
30m and 7m respectively where the -200
rafter pitch is 14.9° and pinned -400
column bases were considered. The -600
ultimate load capacity of the portal -800
frame can be determined with 0.8
-1000
simple plastic analysis. Different Load Ratio 0.7 0.6 0.5
0.4
-1200 0.1
levels of vertical loading were then 0.3 0.2
applied to the rafter varying the load -1400
ratio from 0.1 to 0.8. A very small Fig. 5. Parametric studies at different load levels:
Vertical displacement at apex.
285
horizontal force was used to avoid bifurcation. The fire scenario assumed the whole rafter
was heated up uniformly but the column remained cold.
The results from this study are plotted in Fig 5. The apex initially deflects upwards
due to the thermal expansion of the rafter, and the eaves are pushed outward. The failure
temperature for a load ratio of 0.1 is about 800°C. This reduces steadily as the load level is
increased, reaching 400°C at a load level of 0.8. Investigating the failure mode at high
temperature, all the different load cases have failed in a similar manner, which can be
described as a rotational failure. Two plastic hinges form at high temperature near to the apex
and eaves respectively as shown in Fig. 6. The rafter rotates to the right, about the centre of
rotation, due to the imperfection added initially. The computer analysis was terminated as
soon as the plastic hinges had formed.
However, it is logical that at higher temperature the right eaves will be pulled back and
be deflected inward by the high tension experienced by the rafters. The eaves spread will then
reduce quickly and produce the failure shape shown in Fig. 7. This phenomenon can be seen
in the third fire test described in Section 2.
Centre of Rotation
Fire Hinge
Fire Hinge
Fig. 6 Formation of the fire hinges and Fig. 7 The final shape of failure after the
failure mode of the portal frames formation of fire hinges
3.1 Effect of span and column height

The parametric studies have been extended to investigate the effect of different
geometries, including the span and height of the portal frames. It was decided to maintain a
constant heating condition, with the rafter heated evenly. The base condition was again
assumed to be pinned. A series of portal frames was designed with span-height ratio ranges
from 2 to 12, providing a good range of frame geometry.
These frames were modelled with different loading. The failure modes were all
similar to the rotational failure shape described earlier. Within each series of frames the
failure temperatures at a given load level were very comparable, especially at low load ratios.
This is an indication that the failure temperature of a portal frame in fire depends largely on its
load ratio, regardless of its overall geometry.
4. CONCLUSION
The experimental data has compared well with the results from VULCAN, giving
confidence that it can be used for further parametric studies. There are several interesting
observation from the experiments, and the investigation is continuing.
From the series of parametric studies presented, the major factor influencing the
failure temperature of a portal frame is seen to be the load ratio. The only mode of failure in
fire was found to be a rotational mechanism, which has been shown by both the parametric
studies and experiment observation. The rotational stiffness at column bases does not affect
the failure mode of the portal frame but the failure temperature is improved. However, it is
necessary to conduct further parametric studies to investigate different fire scenarios and
modes of failure.
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BEHAVIOUR FACTOR EVALUATION OF STEEL FRAMES APPLYING

ENERGY APPROACH
287
288
289
290
DURABILITY AND SERVICE LIFE OF OVER-CLAD STEEL FACADES
291
292
293
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THE SERVICE LIFE DESIGN STRATEGIES
Tapio Leino
The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Institute for Building Technology, Box 18071,
FIN-02044 VTT, Finland
Keywords: Steel structure, building, building product, component, failure, risk, service life,
design, durability
Abstract: The structural behaviour of steel is usually independent of time. However,

deterioration and time-dependent material properties of steel must be taken into account in some
circumstances, for example in high temperatures or in other straining conditions. Considering
different steel structures, they also need maintenance, and the results of some studies infer that
the quality of some steel structures does not remain at its original level without actions. This
report considers results of several research projects carried out at the VTT Building Technology
institute where conditions of many existing steel structures have been inspected and the factors
affecting service life have been studied. From the results of these studies it becomes evident that
within most steel product groups the designers estimate of the service life can be very valuable
for the owner of the building.
1 INTRODUCTION
The only requirement regarding the effects of ageing found in the earlier structural codes
was the check of the environment type. This caused the designer to determine how much to add
the material thickness or how to protect the surfaces with paint or other methods. The EU steel
design code, Eurocode 3, and the code for the execution of steel structures, ENV 1090-1, give
more precise requirements for the durability and design of steel structures. However, principally
the alternatives and procedures for the design have remained the same. The subject of service
life design is not very well known to the design engineers.
In the service life planning the main design criteria concerns the age of the structure, i.e.
the design working life. The tasks of the practitioners consist of the structural design at ultimate
limit state and the checks for the serviceability limit state rules. Also the considerations on how
to guarantee the durability and intended life or the design working life of the structure are
important tasks. For that, three major strategies are available:
1. Estimated service life design,
2. service life calculation and design,
3. protection of the steel against ageing.
The protection methods for various building materials and structures have been studied a
lot. So the properties of paint materials as well as other methods of protection are not discussed
here. The service life planning methods, where one actually calculates statistical estimates for
the service lives, have originally been developed for concrete structures. They have not yet been
applied to steel structures. The estimated service life strategy (No. 1) is therefore the only one
discussed in this text.
2 THE FACTOR METHOD FOR ESTIMATING SERVICE LIFE
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The ISO Standard Draft [1], which considers the service life planning of the structures,
has been published for voting in 1998. It includes a rough factor method for estimating the
service life of a structural component or an assembly of components or the whole structure.
The factor method allows an estimate of the service life to be made for a particular steel
component or assembly of components in specific conditions. It is based on a reference service
life (i.e., the expected service life in the conditions that generally apply to that type of
component or assembly of components) and a series of separate modifying factors that relate to
the specific conditions of the case. The reliability of the reference service life figure is critical. It
will also affect the estimate significantly. It is obvious, that if the reference service life can be
chosen for example from a table of values (for different environments, conditions and failure
hazards) according to the case, most factors would become 1,0 or relatively near to it (included
in reference service life).
Any one (or a combination) of these variables can have an effect the service life. The
factor method can therefore be expressed as a simple formula in which the Estimated Service
Life of a Component or product (ESLC) is calculated from its Reference Service Life (RSLC):
ESLC = RSLC x A x B x C x D x E x F x G . (1)
The method uses modifying factors for each of the followings (Table 1):
Table 1. Modifying factors and their description.

Factor type Factor Description
A quality of structural components or products
Quality factors B quality of design of components or structures and joints
C work execution quality level, control
Environment D indoor environment effects
E outdoor environment effects
Use F in-use conditions of components or products
G maintenance level and frequency
3 THE USE OF FACTOR METHOD FOR STEEL STRUCTURES

The factor method is a way of bringing together the consideration of each of the variables
that is likely to have an effect on service life. It can be used to make a systematic assessment
even when exposure data does not fully match the anticipated conditions of use, because no
absolutely accurate results are needed. Its use can bring together the experience of designers,
observations, intentions of the managers, and manufacturers’ assurances as well as data from
testing institutions.
The factor method does not provide an assurance of a service life - it merely gives an
empirical estimate based on what little information is available. The information taken into
account should also be recorded (and compared to the conditions of the reference service life), so
that it is clear whether the estimate is particularly robust or not. The forecast cannot be expected
to always be either accurate or precise.
It may be desirable to consider the consequences of failure when estimating service lives
using the factor method. Failure risk may be used as a guide both to those components that
should be included in estimates and in deciding those where failure would be most critical. The
method itself does not indicate the seriousness of failures. Interpretation of results may suggest
components that are too “risky”. For these it may be necessary to be extra cautious, either by
296
critically reviewing the reference service life (and possibly changing the product) or typically by
being particularly rigorous in assessing the value of factors.
The following sections of this text deal with some results from earlier research projects
where inspections on existing steel structures and studies on their risks for failure were carried
out. These results give hints on some of the effects of ageing which should be taken into account
when the factors of the formula (1) are being considered for a specific case.
The factor method can be applied to both components and assemblies of components or
structures. When applied to assemblies it is necessary to consider the interfaces (i.e., joints)
between components as well as the components themselves. Different external environment and
maintenance factors may apply to an assembly of components.
The method relies on judgement and experience in the selection of values for the
reference service life and for each of the modifying factors. It also requires a critical examination
of the overall result to ensure that a combination of values has not produced an unrealistic
service life estimate, or life cycle cost (in the case of product design). The deviation of the
estimation result to the reference service life should always lead to a design decision.
4 THE FAILURE RISKS

As a result from a reported collapse of an ice hockey stadium, a 2-year research project
[Opmhalli, report in Finnish] was initiated and carried out. The objective of the project was to
identify the possible failure risks for similar steel framed structures, and for the athletes using the
facilities as well as for the spectators. Because of the possible large amount of people residing in
such buildings at the same time, the ice hockey, soccer, equestrian and other sports arenas and
stadiums are very important structures. According to the Finnish steel structures design code
they should be designed and built with appropriate consideration and care by people who are
certified as having the necessary skills.
Table 2. Some structural problems found during the research project.

Problem Description
Fillet welds As a result of some cost comparisons, the fillet welds are frequently used in steel
frames and trusses and in other structural parts. In many steel frames faulty, low-
quality and partly non-existing (!) fillet welds could be noticed, as well as welds
with under size throat thickness.
Bolted joints between Most facilities inspected some bolted joints were found where nuts could be
the pre-fabricated opened manually. The pre-stressing of the bolts had not been done, or at least, done
building elements according to the code rules. The bolts had become loose.
Stiffening of the steel In some cases, the stiffening of steel structures was problematic. The amount of
structures stiffening elements could be wrong, or the durability of the structure was not in
accordance with the code. The stiffeners are not included in the frame analysis, and
so the hand made calculations often had errors. Some braces had been installed in a
compressed position.
Problems in erecting In some cases the structural parts had flaws. Also the dimensions of the parts may
and the use of be wrong having forced into modifications during installation. Some of the
the structures modifications had been made against the code rules and without any written
consent from the designer. Drawings were missing.
The report from the project shows, that most structural failure risks originate from the
design, manufacture or from erecting the steel structures (Table 2). Risks related to use (F, G) or
the environment (D, E) seldom alone have the capacity to cause failures. The risks reported were
clearly mostly related to the quality factors A, B and C (Table 1). It was also reported that the
factors F and G were seldom considered separately in the design. However, excess natural loads
297
(snow, wind), clearly represent a risk in Finland. Such a load alone is not a big risk, but together
with hazards related to the quality and environmental factors they produce a substantial collapse
risk to the structure. As obvious, all the reported collapses of steel structures were results from a
sum of several risks (and other occasional hazards) which went down at the same moment.
The Finnish Construction Steelworks Association organises courses for practitioners in
order to avoid the problems described above, and to improve their design skills, and to certify
them as chief designers for class 1 buildings. The results of this project as well as information on
many other research projects and results have been included in this education lately.
5 MODIFYING FACTORS FOR DIFFERENT STEEL PRODUCTS

During 1995-1997 a research project [Terapit, report in Finnish] on the durability of
steel structures was carried out at VTT Building Technology Institute. In research the estimated
service life properties of three different steel based product groups were studied. Table 3 sums
up the results.
Table 3. Most important factors influencing the service life in steel product groups.
Structure type Most important factors affecting the service life
Thin sheet Technical: quality of the design of structural details, and the environment
structures Aesthetic: environmental conditions and the quality of maintenance
Soil and water Different factors affecting the corrosion rate of the structure. Exceptional
structures environmental effects. The structural detailing is critical.
Composite steel Factors affecting thin steel sheets or the concrete, plus factors effecting a
and concrete chemical reaction of the concrete materials to zinc coating of thin steel
sheets.
For civil engineering soil and water structures, composite steel and concrete structures,
and for other heavier steel structures the strategy for determining or estimating the service life
can be chosen from the any three strategies. For plastic coated thin sheets as wall or roof
structures the estimated service life method is the only possibility. The original reference service
life of such products is short and mistakes in the design can have a major effect on the durability
and resistance.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Additional research is needed for reliable estimation of service life, especially concerning
the reference service lives of the components and their assemblies but also to refine the
modifying factors for different cases. Evidently the factors must be relatively different depending
on the product and the intended life of the structure. The designers and builders need additional
awareness and skills to have the service life estimation as standard design task. It is much
cheaper to plan all the maintenance and repair actions in advance than to be forced to them as a
result of a failure.
References
[1] ISO/DIS 15686-1. Buildings - Service life planning- Part 1: General principles. Draft
International Standard (Voting began 1998-07-16). International Organisation for
Standardisation. 1998. 62 p.
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LOW ENERGY STEEL HOUSES FOR COLD CLIMATE
Pekka Aromaa
Rautaruukki Oyj, Corporate R&D, Fredrikinkatu 51 - 53, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Keywords: Steel construction, light framing, low-energy, durability.
Abstract: New building systems and concepts, based on perforated light steel profiles, are
developed in a comprehensive demonstration project in Finland. The aim of the R&D project
was to ensure adequate performance, suitability and economy of a light-gauge steel frame
under cold climatical conditions. Project included researchwork, product development and
testing of the building frame and envelope for structural capacity and hygrothermal
performance as well as research on the energy performance and environmental impacts of
steel buildings. The results of this demonstration project show, that the light-gauge steel
framed concepts allows for construction of energy efficient buildings and, that the
environmental profile of the steel house is very favourable for the use of steel in housing in
the Finnish climate. The project was a part of ECSC funded European development program
"The Use of Steel in Urban Habitat", where Rautaruukki Oyj was the Finnish partner.
1. INTRODUCTION
Light-gauge steel-framed structures have been used as external walls in office and
commercial buildings for about 10 years in Finland. The structure was based on crossed steel
framing in order to reduce thermal bridging in the structure. New applications with perforated
webs in light-gauge steel frame gave two advantages for the structure. Due to the
perforations, thermal properties of the structure were improved significantly, which gave a
possibility to use the structure as a single-frame wall system. The development of thermal
assessment tools have helped for the rapid development of well insulated light-gauge single
framed steel structures introducing perforated webs as thermal breaks in the structure.
Four buildings, three detached houses and one apartment house, based on a new
concept for steel construction were built at Ylöjärvi and demonstrated to the public at Annual
Fair of Habitation 1996 in Finland. Two of these four houses were ECSC-MEGA 5
demonstration buildings, where new steel products like light steel frame, load bearing and a
stiffening wall panel with "thermal profile", dry intermediate floor, pre-fabricated bathroom
modules, and a new "Snap-On" roofing panel were used.
The aim for this demonstration project was to show that steel buildings are suitable for
use in a cold climate of Finland and furthermore that it is possible to build steel buildings
having a low heating energy demand. The environmental impacts of using steel as load-
bearing material in walls and roof trusses was analysed and the results were compared to
corresponding wooden and brick houses. Results show, that the light-gauge steel-framed
concept allows for construction of energy efficient buildings and, that the environmental
profile of the steel house is very favourable for the use of steel in housing in cold climate.
299
2. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES
The project started with architectural design of the experimental houses in October
1995. Research work, product development, component testing, evaluation of frame
components and manufacturing of steel products was carried out aside design process.
Construction at site started in February 1996 and buildings were completed in June 1996.
Building process at site was very short, only 5 months, showing clearly advantages of steel
construction: pre-fabrication, component construction, high quality, accuracy and rapid
construction at site.
Low-energy Steel House was constructed at site using pre-cut materilas. In order to
obtain better energy efficiency, enhanced thermal insulation in floor, walls and roof, special
windows and special floor heating system and heat recovery system in ventilation were
applied. The extra cost for these special arrangements were estimated in advance to be
economical in comparison between the advantages reached by savings in the heating energy
costs.
Normal House, which was used as reference, was constructed according to Finnish
building code for thermal insulation, where normal insulation in building envelope, normal
windows and normal radiator heating and ventilation systems were applied. Frame of this
house was built using large panel wall element system.
Both of these two one level 3 family row houses were designed and planned with
exactly the same room areas and lay-outs in order to make comparison possible. House size in
respect of living area (208 m2) can also be considered as single family house.
G ypsum board 9 m m
G ypsum board 13 m m
G ypsum board 13 m m Polyethylene 0,2m m
G ypsum board 9 m m
Polyethylene 0,2 m m
Insulation 175 m m
Insulation 175 m m +Fram e
V entilated air gap + Fram e
+Facade
Exterior insulation 45 m m
+V entilated air gap
+Facade
W all 1 W all 2
25 m m
Perforations
Figure 1. Web of the thermoprofile is perforated for better thermal performance. Cross-
sections of the walls in Ylöjärvi demonstration buildings (wall 1= reference, wall 2 = low-
energy).
300
3. THERMO-PROFILE
Steel member in insulated structure is considered as a thermal bridge, if it penetrates

the insulation. The effect of thermal bridging may be reduced by perforation of web (slotted
web), which reduces the heat conduction along the web by 80 - 90 %. Since the perforations
reduce slightly structural strength of a steel profile, the extent of perforations must be a
compromise between the desired structural and thermal properties of the frame member.
Material thickness of the frame profiles is typically 1.2 - 1.5 mm.
In the beginning of the project present design rules or guidelines did not cover the
kind of perforated profiles and sections. Therefore the purpose of the research part of this
project was to ensure experimentally that the steel framing had sufficient capacity in terms of
stiffness and strength. The capacity of the framing systems were verified experimentally. By
means of these test results new calculation criteria could be produced.
4. LOW-ENERGY STEEL HOUSE
There are many different design solutions for energy efficient buildings. There are two
basic principles of saving heating energy: reduction of heat losses and use of free sources of
energy. In this demonstration case chosen strategy for the design of the demonstration
buildings was simple and clear: extra costs were minimised, investments for energy efficiency
were affordable and economical and payback time were short. Results of the study were good.
Experimental buildings perform well with chosen solutions in respect of heating energy
consumption. The usage of heating energy of the low energy-house is at the level of objective
- about 50 % of consumption of the building constructed according to the Finnish building
standards and the reference house worked better than expected. These results show that steel
can be used effectively in structures of low-energy buildings.
5. DURABILITY OF STEEL FRAMED BUILDING ENVELOPE
Service life of buildings and building components has become more and more
important in marketing of building products. In Finland, like in many other countries too,
mould and moisture problems have been addressed in the existing building stock. Therefore,
new building systems with verified performances are needed. Durability of light-steel frame
was assessed using the results of relative humidity monitoring in estimation of endurance of
sink coating of steel frame members in wall construction of Ylöjärvi houses. The results show
that, the durability of the wall structures depends mainly on the outdoor climate and the
hygrothermal properties of the wind proofing material attached on the outside of the profiles.
According to the standard ISO 9223, the service life of the zinc coating can be estimated to be
well more than 50 years, and thus the service life of the whole frame system can be expected
to be much longer.
6. ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE OF STEEL-FRAMED BUILDING
The environmental impacts of the light-gauge steel framed building envelope were
studied also and compared with frame systems made of wood and brick. There are no
significant differences in respect of environmental aspects between studied load-bearing
constructions, when steel frame is compared with wood or brick. Results points out that
energy consumption and related emissions connected with the manufacture and transport of
301
the building materials and products of the low-energy house and the comparison house differ
fairly little from each other.
During the estimated service life of the house, energy consumption and emissions
connected with the use of domestic electricity and heating of the house and its domestic water
are considerably greater than are the energy consumption and emissions connected with the
manufacture and transport of building materials and products. This emphasises the
importance of life cycle energy consumption and emissions and reduction of energy
consumption in use of the buildings. As the service life of a steel component in insulated
structure is expected to be very long, an energy efficient steel house has low impacts during
the whole life cycle of the house, especially when the components can be recycled or reused
at the end.
7. CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this demonstration project was to show, that steel can economically and
technically be used as frame material in low-energy houses and steel components perform at
least as well or even better than the structures in the conventionally constructed houses in
cold climate. Project produced practical experience was collected by careful documentation in
dirfferent phases of the project. Collected notes, photographs and filmed video material were
used in production of design guidelines for architects and structural engineers as well as in
production of buildersguide. Research work, test and monitoring results, calculations,
collected experiences and marketing success with new building system show that objectives
of this demonstration project have been reached.
REFERENCES
[1] Nieminen, J. Energy efficient steel house. Steel Symposium at Finnbuild '96, The Finnish
Building Fair 1996, Helsinki Fair Centre, April 22 - 25, 1996.
[2] Nieminen, J., Saari, M., Salmi, P. Steel framed low-energy house. Proceedings of the R &
D Symposium for Steel Structures. Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association 1997. Oulu,
January 16 - 17, 1997.
[3] Tattari, K. Environmental impacts of steel houses. Proceedings of the R & D Symposium
for Steel Structures. Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association 1997. Oulu, January 16 -
17, 1997.
[4] Nieminen J.; M. Saari; P. Salmi and K. Tattari. 1997. Low energy steel house for a cold
climate. Proceedings of the International Conference Cold Climate HVAC'97. Reykjavik,
Iceland May 1- 2, 1997. Iceland Heating, Ventilating and Sanitary Asso-ciation ICEVAC.
[5] Nieminen, J. 1997. New well insulated light-gauge steel framed wall structure. Pro-
ceedings of the 5th International Conference Modern Building Materials, Structures and
Techniques. Vilnius, Lithuania May 24 - 26, 1997. Vilnius Geminida Technical University.
[6] Sandberg, P., Nieminen, J. 1997. Steel houses in a cold climate. Iron and steel - today,
yesterday and tomorrow. Stockholm Sweden June 11 - 13, 1997.
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A SIMPLIFIED MODEL FOR BEAM-SLAB SYSTEMS SUBJECT TO

FIRE
303
304
305
306
PONDING EFFECT ON NEARLY FLAT ROOFS OF INDUSTRIAL OR

COMMERCIAL SIGLE STORY BUILDINGS
Pierluigi Colombi, Carlo Urbano

Department of Structural Engineering, Polytechnic of Milan, Piazza L. da Vinci, 32, 20133
Milan, Italy
Keywords: Ponding effect, non-linear analysis, flat roof, service limit state.
Abstract: The roof system is one of the most expensive part of the whole structure. Due to
economical reasons the flat roof systems of industrial or commercial single-story buildings
may be very flexible in the vertical direction. Due to its flexibility, ponding effect then takes
place in flat or nearly flat roof (with a slope less than 5%). In fact, water could be collected in
pools which may be formed due to the deflection of structural members of roofing material or
retained by snow. The additional loading due to ponding effect is clearly a self-exciting one
since its intensity is function of the vertical deflection which is function itself of the external
loadings.
1 INTRODUCTION
Recently, several flat roofs of industrial or very large single story buildings were
damaged in the USA by exceptional meteorological disturbance. Due to the presence of an ice
border on the perimeter of the roof water was collected on the top of the building. This
phenomenon, in the literature called “ponding effect”, produces an accumulation of
hydrostatic loading on the roof. This kind of additional loading is clearly a self-exciting one
since its intensity is function of the vertical deflection which is function itself of the external
loadings. Precambering of beams, provided that a residual precambering is present after the
application of permanent loadings, may reduce the likelihood that rainwater collects into
pools. Otherwise, the structure can undergo damage by different mechanisms:
* the service limit state could be reached and curtain walls, padding walls etc. could be
damaged.
* the ultimate limit state could be reached and the roof structure could collapse under
this additional self-exciting loads even if the snow loading is in agreement with the design
code. In this case the hydrostatic loading reduces the reliability of the structure provided by
the design code.
Marginal attention is devoted to ponding effect on Eurocode 3 at point 4.2.3 [1]. The
instability phenomenon connected to self-exciting loading gives rise to a classical mechanical
instability problem. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how to avoid the onset of this very
dangerous phenomenon on nearly flat roof when, due to economical reasons, a relevant
flexibility in vertical direction is present. To this end numerical analysis is performed in order
to evaluate:
• the effect of precambering
• the effect of the grid dimension
• the effect of the vertical flexibility on the development of the ponding effect.
Finally a numerical example illustrates the phenomena with reference to a particular

roof beams grid system.
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2 MATHEMATICAL BACKGROUND
In order to illustrate the instability problem connected with flat roofs under self-
exciting loading, consider a row (see fig. 1a ) of simple supported beams of length l and let lint
the distance between each beam. Moreover, let y(x) be the deflection of the beam and y0(x) the
residual precambering after the application of the permanent loadings. The external loading is
given by two contributions. The first one is connected to the height of the rainwater outlet h0
and is equal to h0⋅Y, provided that Y is the statically equivalent weight of the water (in this
introductory example Y is given by γ⋅lint where γ is the dead weight of the water). The second
one is connected to the deflection of the beams and is given by y(x)⋅Y. The governing equation
of the problem reads [3]:
y '''' ( x ) − ω 4 y ( x ) = ω 4 h0 + y 0 '''' ( x ) (1)

y ( l / 2) = y ( − l / 2) = 0 ; y ( l / 2) = y ( − l / 2) = 0
'' ''
where ω4=Y/(E⋅I) and E is the Young modules and I the moment of inertia of the cross
section. Solving Eq. (1) one readily obtains the expression of the deflection of beam as
function of the rainwater outlet h0, the beam length l and the distance between the beams lint.
To this end, one considers a symmetric expression for the precambering:
y 0 ( x ) = − m ⋅ cos(π ⋅ x / l ) (2)
where m is the precambering parameter.
f/f0
a) b) 3.5
a d d itio n a l w a te r c o lle c te d o n 3 1) m=0
th e b e a m d u e to d e f le c tio n 2) m=0.02 [m]
2.5 3) m=0.04 [m]
y 0 (x ) 2 4) m=0.06 [m]
5) m=0.1 [m]
x 1.5
y 1 1)
2)
3)
0.5 4)
y (x ) 5)
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
l l (m)
Fig. 1. a) simple supported beam under self-exciting loading b) deflection ratio f/f0 vs. beam
length.
The instability due to the self-exciting loading takes place [2] [3] if (ω ⋅ l ) 4 = π 4 .
Moreover, let f and f0 be the displacement of the beams at x= 0 with and without the self-
excitation effect, respectively. Fig. 1b plots the ratio f/f0 as function of the beam length l for
different value of the precambering parameter m. As the beam length approaches the critical
length l = 4 π 4 E ⋅ I / Y the ratio f/f0 becomes very large due to the instability phenomenon.
Fig. 1b clearly shows the benefit due to the precambering of the beam: the deflection in fact is
reduced as m increase.
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APPLICATION TO A ROOF BEAMS GRID SYSTEM

Consider a roof beams grid system where more than one secondary beams of length l2,
moment of inertia I2 and vertical displacement y2(x) are simple supported on the primary
beams of length l1, moment of inertia I1 and vertical displacement y1(x) (see fig. 2a). The
secondary beams were considered to be simple supported on the primary beams. The external
loading is given by two contributions. The first one is connected to the height of the rainwater
outlet h0 and is equal to γ⋅h0⋅ l1/4 while the second one is connected to the deflection of the
secondary beams and is equal to γ⋅y2(x)⋅l1/4. As the beams grid geometry become more
complex, an analytical solution becomes very difficult to achieve and then numerical methods
must be implemented. A 3D finite element program capable to analyse beams grid under self-
exciting loading was then developed [2]. The self-exciting loading effect could be introduced
in the analysis in two different ways: one could modify the local stiffness matrix of the beam
by introducing a sort of geometric stiffness matrix or, at each incremental loading steps, one
could evaluate the self-exciting loading as additional external loading by computing the
weight of the additional water (see fig. 1a) collected on the roof due to deflection. In this
study this second approach was used. Coming back to the proposed roof beams grid system,
numerical analyses were performed in order to evaluate the stability limit curve for different
safety factor ν (see fig. 2b) as function of the non dimensional parameters [3] (ω1⋅l1)3 and
(ω2⋅l2)4 where ω13 = Y⋅l1⋅l2/(8⋅E⋅I2) and ω24 = Y⋅l1/(4⋅E⋅I2). Fig. 2b reports also the couples
(ω1⋅l1)3 and (ω2⋅l2)4 for different values of the ratio n=f2/f02 where f2 and f02 are the deflections
in the middle of the secondary beams with and without the self-excitation effect, respectively.
Moreover, in fig. 2b the couples (ω1⋅l1)3 and (ω2⋅l2)4 for different grid dimension are
superimposed. Finally fig. 2c illustrates the effect of the precambering parameter m2 (the
symmetric expression of the precambering used in the previous section is adopted also in this
case) on the deflection f2/f02 and bending moment M2/M02 where M2 and M02 are the bending
moment in the middle of the secondary beams with and without the self-excitation effect,
respectively. Clearly, as precambering increase, the vertical deflection f2 and bending moment
M2 decrease and then the likelihood that rainwater collects in pools is reduced.
CONCLUSIONS
A finite element analyses of a beams grid systems were performed in order to
investigate the ponding effect on nearly flat roofs. Precambering of beams may reduce the
magnification of displacements as clearly illustrated by the numerical example. Finally, the
onset ponding effect may be avoided just forcing the maximum beam deflection to be some
fraction (1/400 say) of the beam length. In this way the vertical deflection is not significantly
influenced by the self-exciting loading and the instability phenomenon connected to ponding
effect is avoided.
Acknowledgement
This research has been supported by funds from the Italian Ministry of University and
Scientific and Technological Research (MURST).
References
[1] ENV 1993: Eurocode 3 - Design of Steel Structures - Part 1-1: General Rules and Rules
for Buildings, (1994).
[2] F. Bontempi, P. Colombi and C. Urbano: Non-linear analysis of ponding effect on nearly
flat roofs, in Chang et al. (eds.), Fifth Pacific Structural Steel Conference, Seoul, 1023-1028,
(1998).
[3] C. Urbano: Effetto piscina sulle coperture piane (in italian) Istituto Lombardo (Rend. Sc.)
A 131, 43-88 (1997).
309
(1)
(2)
l1 (3)
l2
(ω1⋅l1)3
180
170
160 l1=0.75⋅l2
150 n=100
140 n=200
130 n=400
n=800
120
Limit curve
110
100 ν=1 l1=l2
90
80
70 l1=1.25⋅l2
60
50 ν=3
40 ν=2
30
20
10 (ω2⋅l2)4
0
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 17.5 20 22.5 25
f2/f02 f2/f02 f2/f02 M2/M02 M2/M02 M2/M02

m2 = 0
(1) 1.03 1.08 1.32 1.03 1.10 1.33
(2) 1.03 1.10 1.38 1.03 1.11 1.39
(3) 1.03 1.08 1.32 1.03 1.10 1.33
m2 = 0.025 m
(1) 0.82 0.87 1.07 0.82 0.88 1.07
(2) 0.83 0.88 1.12 0.83 0.89 1.12
(3) 0.82 0.87 1.07 0.82 0.88 1.07
m2 = 0.05 m
(1) 0.62 0.66 0.82 0.62 0.66 0.81
(2) 0.63 0.67 0.85 0.62 0.67 0.85
(3) 0.62 0.66 0.82 0.62 0.66 0.81
Fig. 2. a) the beams grid under investigation (IPE 300 for the principal beams and IPE 240 for
the secondary beams) b) stability limit curve for different safety factors with superimposed
the couples (ω1⋅l1)3 and (ω2⋅l2)4 for a given f2/l2 ratio and the couples (ω1⋅l1)3 and (ω2⋅l2)4 for a
given l1/l2 ratio. c) deflection f2/f02 and bending moment M2/M02 ratio for l1 = l2 = 6 m (first
and fourth column), l1 = l2 = 8 m (second and fifth column), l1 = l2 = 10 m (third and sixth
column).
310
OPTIMAL DESIGN OF STEEL FRAMES MADE OF WELDED BUILT-

UP MEMBERS
Krajnc A., Beg D.
311
312
313
314
THE PROBLEM OF OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINES TOWERS

STRUCTURES' DEVELOPMENT AND MAKING OF AUTOMATIC
OPTIMAL DESIGNING SYSTEM.
Yevgene Shevchenko
Donbass State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Dergavin 2, 339023,
Makeyevka, Ukraine
Keywords: Optimization, Tower, Overhead Transmission Line, Conductor and Earth Wire,
Reduced Tension, Tensioned-Deformed State, Model of Computation, Solid-Body Designing,
Trial Assembly.
Abstract:
The computation model of OHTL (considered as unified system) formulated in present
work taking into account the joint operation of structures' elements and was proposed an
algorithm of its solution. The procedure for optimization of OHTL towers has elaborated and
studied the loads of powered conductors and earth wires. Author has suggested an algorithm
of descent's direction searching under optimal parameters' determination. The modeling
design system of OHTL towers developed for personal computer. This system includes a
solid-body designing and computer's trial assembly.
1. INTRODUCTION
The 35-1150kV OHTL towers are subjects of investigations, they are erected with two
main schemas: self-supporting and guyed-type towers (see fig.1).
The fast and efficient development of OHTL towers can be done by their optimization
and design automatization including as follows: making of the model of computation
(hereinafter MC) where OHTL considered as unified Network and given the algorithm of its
solution; investigation of loads in conductors and earth wires on their simultaneous work with
towers' structures depending on locality relief and climatic conditions; an analysis of
tensioned-deformed state of powered conductors, earth wires, guys, trunk of tower and
foundation of tower during their simultaneous operation; optimization of their constructive
frames taking into account the requests of economy and technology; one-stage automatic
designing system development.
2. COMPUTATION MODEL
The CM of OHTL (considered as unified system) formulated in present work taking
into account the joint operation of structures' elements and was proposed an algorithm of its
solution.
An anchored section (the distance between adjacent tension towers) accepted as a
model. As example can be analyzed the single-circuit OHTL consisting of two tension towers
and N-number of suspension towers situated among them. These towers carry three
conductors and one earth wire (see fig.1). They are rigidly fixed on tension towers and
tensioned, but they suspended through intermediate elements (insulator sets) on suspension
towers. A concentrated force of broken conductor and evenly distributed load of conductors
and earth wires are effect on the tower. Balance of system will set in when conductors' and
earth wires' deformations will be equal to towers' structures deformation.
315
H H
H
H H
H H
Fig. 1 Computation model of OHTL
The studied examples show that reduced tension in the span adjacent to broken one
will be the more the farther from tension tower the conductor has been broken.When number
of these spans more than 5 or 6, there will be no significant enhancement of tension, and the
process dies away.
The approximate dependences accepted in conductors' calculations based on change
the circuit line by parable, can not be used to calculate conductors of wide crossings. The
автоматизированного конструирования металлоконструкций опор ВЛ.
Разработана система проектирования опор ВЛ методом моделирования в
персональном компьютере. Система включает в себя твердотельное моделирование,
разработку investigations proved that in case of computations of OHTL conductors' tension
at plane surface, miscalculation does not exceeds 3% and approximate method can be applied,
but it should not be ignored when evaluated the sag and clearance to earth or to masts and
spars of vessel.
3. OPTIMIZATION OF TOWERS
A tension-deforming state of OHTL towers' structures investigated in a second stage
of CM evaluation, in order to their further optimization.
An optimal design's task formulated as follows. Should be defined the geometrical
parameters of Network, varying the co-ordinates of system and topology, according to
required cross-sections, weight's or cost minimizing on condition of norms and constructive
limitations' observance.
The carried out investigations made a possible to propose a procedure of various
mathematical methods' applying and their sequence as follows: first of all, the optimal type of
bracing has been determined; then optimization of geometrical parameters have been done
316
with methods mentioned below with type of bracing's adjustment, applying a combinative
algorithm.
Author has suggested an algorithm of descent's direction searching under optimal
parameters' determination. At first, an initial polyhedron having a form of regular simplex
should be specified in n-dimensional space. The matter of this algorithm is that peak where
target function has a maximum value will be shifted by definite way through the peak where
this function is minimal. The direction of search considered successful if the new value of
target function has been less than maximal one in the initial polyhedron. In that case, the
maximal peak replaces by the improved one and guiding vector squeezes according to given
coefficient. Under the condition of passing through the accessed variables' area, the point
located on border of limitations accepted as improved point, it placed on vector of shifting
direction of "improving" peak. If received value of target function is equal or exceeds the
maximum, then direction of search should be considered as unsuccessful and searching
should be continued until the peak where target function had have a maximum value
disregarding the maximal peak. If there is no achieved improvement in this case also, then
vector of shifting should be turned successively from peaks in the order of target function's
diminution in them. An optimal value of target function has been the initial one on conversion
to the next optimization method.
Results of optimization from different initial points illustrated in fig. 2. Locality of
extreme has been confirmed by the fact of small difference between the received values of
target function (up to 1.8% under the condition of shorten assortment) and varied parameters
differed larger, besides the target function's value in optimal point less than in any adjacent
one. This investigated function is the poly-varianted one within the limits of extreme area.
Fig. 2 Results of tower У330-2+9 optimization from different initial point
317
4. THE SYSTEM OF AUTOMATIC DESIGNING

On the base of stated methods, the one-stage system of automatic optimal designing of
OHTL towers' structures was worked up during 1975-1997. The software complex includes as
follows: a subsystem for calculation of conductors, earth wires and loads' accumulation on
towers; a subsystem for calculation and optimization of towers' bearing steelworks; a
subsystem for technical-economic analysis OHTL steel structures; the dialogue type system
of automatic OHTL steel structures' designing;
The modeling design system of OHTL towers developed for personal computer. This
system includes a solid-body designing, detailed drawings' working out, assembly schemes
and computer's trial assembly. A software program package is worked up for model of tower
making and for applying this model to draw up the detailed drawings and assembly schemes.
A trial assembly of tower's section in form of solid-body model illustrated in fig. 3.
Unite 1
The model of section Unite 1

Fig. 3 The solid-body model of section of tower U330-2+9
5. ACCURACY OF THE PROGRAM'S PACKAGE

An accuracy of the applied program's package has been analyzed on the following:
recalculation of typical OHTL towers; during optimization from various initial points and
reaching of the same optimal result of project; on automatic designing and towers'
manufacturing by J.S.C. Donetsk Power Transmission Plant; during the full-scale tests of
four-circuit 220kV suspension and tension towers (manufactured for Egypt) at the Test
Station of Donbass State Academy of Building and Architecture.
Author in co-operation with Head Institute "Ukrenergosetproject" in Kharkov,
according to the Plan of Ukrainian Ministry of Electricity carried out the investigation of new
OHTL's towers' types for their applying in Ukraine.
According to the investigation, applying of 35-110kV OHTL narrow-base towers
makes a possible to save up to 14% of steel, reduce an expenditure of reinforced concrete on
foundations up to 43% and decrease by four times an excavation value during making of
foundations' ditches.
318
DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF NEW STEEL STRUCTURE

CONCEPTS: STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
Iwata M.
319
320
321
322
YACHT LANDING CANTILEVER TYPE OF STRUCTURE
Dakov D.
323
324
325
326
PERFORMANCE, DURABILITY AND SERVICE LIFE OF A LIGHT

FRAMING SYSTEM
Jyri Nieminen, Mikael Salonvaara

VTT Building Technology, Box 1804, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland
Keywords: Building, wall, component, performance, service life, durability
Abstract: A wall system with perforated steel profiles performs satisfactorily in the climate of
Northern and Central Europe. Perforations reduce the heat loss along the profile by 70 - 90 %,
and the total heat loss of a wall by 40 - 50 % compared to structures with ordinary steel profiles.
The type of the perforation and quality of thermal insulation have a great effect on the reduction
of thermal bridging. Moisture calculations, laboratory weather tests and field measurements
show that a steel framed wall has low moisture and corrosion risk. The service life of the
perforated steel profile in an insulated wall is mainly dependent on the outdoor weather
conditions. The durability of the frame system can be improved by suitable structural solutions.
1 INTRODUCTION
The web of a light-gauge steel profile can be perforated for better thermal properties of a
wall compared to a wall with ordinary profiles. Perforations perform as a thermal break for the
steel profile. Thermal effects of perforations were analysed using 3-D heat flow calculations and
measurements with full sized wall structures in a calibrated and guarded hot box.
Hygrothermal performance and durability of a wall system based on perforated steel
profiles was analysed using 2-dimensional heat, air and moisture transfer simulations using
hourly weather data from Helsinki (Finland) and St.Hubert (Belgium), extensive laboratory
weather tests and field measurements in completed buildings. The results were used for the
estimation of service life of the wall system.
2 THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF A LIGHT FRAMING SYSTEM

Just like all frame materials in an insulated structure, a steel member is a thermal bridge.
But, since thermal conductivity of steel is high, severe bridge effects are possible. Thermal
bridging can be reduced by perforated or slotted webs of a steel profile. The perforations perform
as thermal breaks for the steel member reducing the heat conduction along the web by 70 - 90%,
depending on the number, location, dimensions and shape of the perforations. The heat loss
through the steel framed wall will be considerably reduced, figure 1. Also the thermal
conductivity of insulation material used to insulate a wall structure affects the performance: the
lower is the thermal conductivity the better is the total performance of the wall.
The temperatures on inner surface of a single frame wall are sufficiently high to
prevent ghosting, surface condensation or even relative humidity high enough to increase the risk
of mold growth on the wall surface, figure 2. Temperature on the inner surface of the wall on
top of the frame is 1 - 2 °C lower than the temperature between the frames.
327
0,55
0,5 STEEL FRAME

C - 150…250 - 1,2…2,0
0,45
2,0 mm
U-VALUE [W/m2K]
1,5 mm
0,4
1,2 mm
THERMO-PROFILE 1,2 mm: 2,0 mm
0,35
MEASUREMENT: ISO8990 1,5 mm
1,2 mm
0,3
THERMO-PROFILE 1,0 mm
C - 150…250 - 1,2…1,5 45 mm
0,25
WOODEN FRAME
0,2
45 * 150…250
0,15
125 150 175 200 225 250 275
INSULATION THICKNESS [mm]
Fig. 1. Calculated values of thermal transmittance for steel-framed and wood-framed walls. The
thermal benefit of the perforations in a steel member of a single frame structure is 40 - 50%
depending on the insulation thickness of the wall
>24,9°C
24,0
22,0
20,0
18,0
16,0
<15,0°C
Fig. 2. Infra-red image of a steel framed wall composed of profiles with perforated web.
328
3 DURABILITY OF LIGHT-GAUGE STEEL FRAMED WALLS

The corrosion of a metal depend on the micro climate on the surface of a component.
Continuous corrosion is possible, if relative humidity on the metal surface exceeds 80% at the
same time as temperature is above 0°C (ISO 9223).
Figure 3 shows the monthly maximum values of relative humidity of eight measuring
points in the outer flange of the steel profiles measured in the Ylöjärvi steel houses. The results
show that relative humidity in wall 1 has exceeded 80%, but no condensation has occurred. The
humidity in wall 2 has not exceeded 80%. confidence of the results.
YLÖJÄRVI STEEL HOUSES

MEASURED MONTHLY RH MAXIMUM IN EXTERNAL WALLS
100
90
80
RELATIVE HUMIDITY [%]
70
60
WALL 1 WALL 2
50
PROBE LOCATION
40
30
20
10
0
8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10
MONTH 1996 - 1997
Fig. 3. Monthly maximum of relative humidity on the outer flange of the steel members in the
external walls of the Ylöjärvi steel buildings.
Corrosion risks caused by other building materials in contact with steel are studied in an
on-going long-term laboratory test. Insulated steel frames are placed in different climates to see
the effect of material and air humidity on corrosion. The materials being studied are cellulose
fiber insulation, glass wool insulation, rock wool insulation and impregnated wood
The laboratory test has been going-on for about 32 months (23000 hours of time of
wetness). The results show, that the cellulose insulation and impregnated wood promotes zinc
corrosion in humid conditions. There are no signs of corrosion in the test pieces insulated with
mineral wool products.
The hours of wetness were also calculated for single frame walls using the 2-D heat, air
and moisture transfer simulation program LATENITE. The hourly climates of Helsinki, Finland
and St.Hubert, Belgium were used. Normal indoor air conditions were assumed.
329
An example of the accumulated time of wetness for the two-year period in different parts
of the wall structures is shown in Figure 4. The results show, that the durability of a wall
depends mainly on the outdoor climate and the hygrothermal properties of the wind proofing
attached on the outside of the profiles.
H e lsinki
W eek # 104
IW E T
0.40
6000
5000
4000
1000
3000
2000
0.35
1000
Width, m
6000
0.30
0.25
0 .00 0.05 0 .1 0 0 .15 0.2 0 0.2 5

D istance from exterior surface, m
Fig. 4. Accumulated time of wetness in the layers of the steel frame wall. Helsinki weather data.
Length of the simulated period is 2 years (104 weeks).
5 CONCLUSIONS
The analysis carried out so far shows that the new application of perforated light gauge
steel frames fulfills the requirements set for performance and durability. The thermal properties
of a thermoprofile are comparable to other solutions of load-bearing frame structures. There are
no major moisture or corrosion risks involved with the structures. Thus the structures can be
expected to have a long service life. However, using light-gauge steel frames in residential and
commercial construction is rather new in Finland, and there is not yet long-term feedback from
realized buildings.
REFERENCES
1. Low-energy steel house for a cold climate. ECSC project application of steel in urban habitats.
Project n:o 7210-SA/902 - 95 - F6.1. Final Report. Rautaruukki Oy 1998.
2. Nieminen, J, Salonvaara, M. Hygrothermal performance of a new light gauge steel framed
envelope system. Journal of Thermal Envelopes & Building Science, Volume 22 - October
1998.
330
OPTIMISATION OF BRACING SYSTEM OF STEEL FRAMED

HOUSES
D. Dubina, L. Fülöp, R. Zaharia

*The “POLITEHNICA” University of Timisoara, Civil Engineering Faculty, Dept. of CMMC
Keywords: steel framed house, cold-formed steel sections, sheeting, bracing.
Abstract: Framed steel houses became more and more attractive in the recent years. They are
characterised by a good price-quality ratio and, very important, they can be built very quickly.
In a country like Romania, in which there is a big demand for housing, steel framed houses
could be a very good solution. The problem is that Romania is a severe seismic territory, and
such a structure has to fulfil specific design criteria. Both sheeting diaphragm effect and
different bracing systems are studied in order to analyse the stability and seismic ULS and
SLS of steel structure houses.
The results of the study presented by the authors are in connection with a “pilot project” for a
two-storey steel framed house.
1. INTRODUCTION
Within the actual technological and economical contest, construction industry needs methods
to build faster and obtain better quality “products”. Steel framed constructions can be a
solution to satisfy this need, due to easy prefabrication, reduced erection time, and possibility
of high-precision quality control[1].
In a seismic territory, like Romania for instance, using light gauge steel framed houses has the
advantage of a reduced mass and good ductility. The problem is to properly design the
bracing system in order to satisfy both overall stability and structural rigidity under seismic
action. The diaphragm effect of both wall and floor sheeting could be also used in order to
improve the building rigidity.
The present paper analyses, from the point of view of dynamic and stability performances,
four different structural solutions for a two story steel framed house.
2. THE ANALYSED STRUCTURE

The structure is a private house under construction in Timisoara, identified as medium
seismicity region by the Romanian code. The main dimensions of the structure are presented.
The structure is a “wall stud” [2,3] structure with corresponding floor and roof joists of cold
formed lipped channel steel sections. The fastening technology is based on self-drilling
screws. The structure has been designed according to the Romanian standard.
Because the structure is made of class four sections, the behaviour factor ψ, equal to 1/q, from
Eurocode 8, has to be taken equal to 1. This means that during the earthquake the structure
remains in elastic range and energy dissipation is not considered.
331
Figure 1 :The analysed steel framed house.
The study was developed on four bracing solutions (Table 1).

Table 1 : Bracing solutions.
Name Walls Floor
Type 1 X bracing X bracing (straps)
Type 2 X bracing Sheeting acting as diaphragm
Type 3 X bracing in longitudinal Sheeting acting as diaphragm
walls and sheeting in fronton
Type 4 X bracing Concrete slab diaphragm
The three solutions of the floor, corresponding to Table 2, are shown below:
-hard-wood parquet (2.2 cm) -hard-wood parquet (2.2 cm) -hard-wood parquet (2.2 cm)
-ISOVER phonic isolation -ISOVER phonic isolation -light-weight concrete slab
(2.5 cm) (2.5 cm) with mash (6 cm)
-wood decking (5 cm) -wood decking (5 cm) -sheeting (LLP 20/0.5)
-C200/2 joists -sheeting acting as diaphragm -C200/2 joists
-gypsum board (1.25 cm) (LLP 20/0.5) -gypsum board (1.25 cm)
-C200/2 joists
-gypsum board (1.25 cm)
Figure 2 : Floor solutions.
332
For practical reasons sheeting can be used for exterior walls only. Due to the openings (e.g.
windows and doors) the diaphragm effect is introduced for the two fronton walls only, where
the “effective” area of the sheeting is more than 80%.[4] For the computer analysis, the effect
of sheeting has been replaced with an equivalent bracing system. Figure 3 shows the St.
Andrew bracing system, the sheeting diaphragm and its equivalent bracing for the Ax. 1
fronton wall.
- original bracing for one of the lateral walls

using 120x0.8 Fe360 steel straps on both side
of the wall fastened at the ends with 5.5 self-
drilling screws
-lateral wall covered with LLP20/0.5 external -equivalent bracing, having the same rigidity
sheeting, fastened in every trough with 5.5 as the above mentioned sheeting
mm self-drilling screws
Figure 3 : Bracing systems
3. STABILITY ANALYSIS
A 3-D eigenbuckling stability analysis has been carried out with AXIS-3D, for the four
different structural typologies. The computation has been done with and without considering
out-of-plan imperfections, and the results show that, there are no overall instability problems
for the structure. For each case, we have member instability is likely to occur, problem to be
solved with proper design.
4. WIND AND SEISMIC ANALYSIS

Both wind and seismic actions were considered in order to evaluate the effectiveness of
different bracing. Base sheer forces corresponding to the transversal walls and maximum
horizontal displacement for the floor have been monitored.
For the evaluation of the seismic load, a 3-D dynamic analysis has been carried out with
AXIS-3D. The periods for the three eigenmodes of vibration, corresponding to Y direction,
are shown in Table 2, while the sheer forces corresponding to the main axis on this direction,
Qi, and the maximum drift, ΔHmax, are presented in Table 3 .
Table 2 : Eigenperiods.
T1(s) T2(s) T3(s)
333
Type 1 0.183 0.133 0.108

Type 2 0.195 0.148 0.115
Type 3 0.217 0.173 0.123
Type 4 0.179 0.119 0.114
Table 3 : Seismic analysis results.
Q1(kN) Q2(kN) Q3(kN) Q4(kN) ΔHmax(mm)
Type 1 57.24 50.42 65.47 53.99 6.0
Type 2 42.62 55.64 67.15 40.21 6.5
Type 3 36.10 49.85 65.67 41.57 8.0
Type 4 85.72 42.86 62.29 88.45 5.4
5. CONCLUSIONS
In this case seismic load combination is the design criteria for both bracing and anchor bolts.
The main structure has been designed from the fundamental load combination. It is obvious,
in case of an unefficient bracing system, the influence of horizontal forces may become
effective for the main structure.
The wall sheeting acting as diaphragm gives poor result due to the large number of openings.
Due to the openings and other discontinuities the diaphragm sheeting effect has to be
combined with traditional bracing. A such combination of two different bracing solutions for
the same structure, is clearly a disadvantage. Even in case of nearly compact walls, the
replacement with sheeting of the bracing, reduces the overall stability of the structure..
In contrast, for the floor diaphragm effect is significant. The structure which accounts for this
effect behaved well and the results are comparable with the ones obtained for the original
structure.
The best results, in terms of slab rigidity and overall seismic behaviour, are obtained with the
concrete slab, which is rigid enough to ensure a box-like behaviour. This is the only case
where base sheer force is distributed on base of rigidity rather then loading conditions for the
walls, (i.e. lateral walls take higher load due to the bigger rigidity they have),but the price is,
due to the increased weight, larger values for this forces.
References:
[1] Davies J.M. :Light Gauge Steel Framing for House and other Low-Rise Constructions, in
New Technologies and Structures in Civil Engineering: Case Studies on Remarkable
Constructions, Ed. Orizonturi Universitare, 1999, pp. 101-120
[2] Residential Steel Design and Construction, John H. Hacker, Julie A. Gorges, McGraw-
Hill,1997
[3] residential Steel Framing Manual for Architects, Engineers and Builders, american Iron
and Steel Institute
[4] ECCS; European Recommendation for the Application of Metal Sheeting acting as a
Diaphragm, First Edition, 1995
334
ECONOMIC DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF SINGLE STOREY

PORTAL FRAMES
335
336
337
338
ON THE STRUCTURAL VARIANTS OF A LARGE SLUICE GATE
Nicolae RADUICA, Adrian PRODESCU

Department of Steel Structures, Technical University of Construction Bucharest - Romania
Keywords: sluice gate, cracks, consolidation, new structure proposals, mathematical model.
Abstract: The paper presents some results of the studies concerning the structure of the middle gate
equipping the "Iron gates" Romanian sluice. The sluice and, therefore, the gate, were put in operation
in 1969. During this time, the checking revealed the appearance of some defects of the gate, such as
cracks located especially in the welding. The authors tried to explain the causes of these cracks. Some
studies have been also made regarding the choice of a new optimal structure for the gate.
1. PRESENTATION OF THE STUDIED GATE

The middle gate equipping the "Iron gates" Romanian sluice ensures the circulation of the
ships through the sluice. The gate closes a hole having 34 m × 15.75 m (see fig. 1). The gate has big
dimensions (16.65 × 36.50 m) and a total weight of about 9500 kN. Therefore, it is made of two
superposed independent parts (the upper and the lower parts). The bearing of the gate on the concrete
structure of the sluice is made by 2 × 3 bearings for each part. For the ease of the maneuvering, there
is a dry compartment in the central zone of the lower part of the gate. The material used was steel
FB50 AK (according with Mannessman specifications), having the admissible tension σa = 240
N/mm2.
The periodic inspections revealed numerous cracks located in the welding and in the adjacent
material. These cracks have been repaired. The number and length of the cracks in the lower part were
about 2...3 times bigger than the once in the upper part. Because of this, the studies were focused on
the lower part of the gate. During the consolidation made in 1990, the 20 mm sheets between the
flanges (deformed by the water pressure) were stiffened by adding longitudinal beams and by filling
the adjacent holes in the transverse walls. Even after the consolidation of the gate, some new cracks
appeared on the place or in the neighbourhood of the old ones.
The analyzed gate was meshed entirely in thin shell finite elements having 6 degrees of
freedom per node. It was necessary to mesh the entire structure of the gate because some of the load
hypotheses were not symmetric. The model (see fig. 2. a) contains about 6200 elements connected in
about 6000 nodes. In these studies, the ANSYS program was used.
3. COMPUTATION HYPOTHESES
The model of the lower part of the gate was analyzed in some hypotheses:
1. The initial structure of the gate, subjected to maximum water pressure; the bearing is made through
all the six bearings.
2. The present structure of the gate (including the consolidations) loaded and beared the same as in the
first hypothesis.
3. The present structure of the gate loaded the same as in hypotheses 1 and 2, but beared only on five
bearings, which is possible because of the different wearing of the bearing surfaces.
4. RESULTS OF ANALYSES
The main results of the analyses regarding the behaviour of the sluice gate structure are
contained in Table 1.
In fig. 2 one can notice the strong deformations in the 20 mm sheets between the flanges of
the initial structure. The stresses reach 300 N/mm2 in the downstream sheet, near the dry compartment
and near the bearing zone.
339
Fig. 1. Presentation of the studied sluice gate; a) vertical section through the gate;
b) vertical section through the lower part; c) horizontal section through the lower part
Table 1
Upstream flanges Downstream flanges Web I5 Web of the
Hypoth Reactions Deflection (N/mm2) (N/mm2) (N/mm2) bearing beam
eses (kN) (mm) σx σech σx σy σech σx τxz σech σx σech
6280
1 6880 70,2 232 275 253 280 300 160 73 181 143 155
7980
2 same as 1 63,7 161,3 172 153 117 171 146 73 161 140 155
9870
3 0 64,3 161,6 175 154 118 175 150 75 170 200 226
11270
340
Because of the above-mentioned consolidations, the deflection was reduced to 63.6 mm, very close to
the admissible value. The stresses in the downstream sheets were reduced to 171 N/mm2.
In table 1, one can notice the big value of the reaction in the upper bearing in the third
hypothesis, exceeding with 50% the design value of the bearings.
Fig. 2. Deformations of the initial structure of gate
5. PROPOSALS REGARDING THE REPLACEMENT OF THE EXISTING GATE

The appearance of cracks even after the consolidations were made leads to the conclusion that
the quality of the welding (especially the on site welding) is inadequate and strongly affects the safety
of the gate. In these conditions, the authors proposed the replacement of the existing gate with a new
gate having structural orthotropy of the flanges (see fig. 3). The overall dimensions of the structure
could be modified only in the limits of the existing concrete structure of the sluice. This paper presents
two of the analyzed variants, which proved to be the optimum ones:
1. The thickness of the flanges is the same along the span, 25 mm.
2. The structure of the lower part of the gate is the same as in the first variant, excepting the
thickness of the flanges in the central zone of the span, which is 30 mm.
6. RESULTS OF THE PROPOSED VARIANTS' ANALYSES

The main results of the analyses regarding the proposed variants for a new structure of the
sluice gate are contained in Table 2.
Table 2
Variant Reactions Deflection Upstream flanges Downstream Web I1 Web of the
(kN) (mm) (N/mm2) flanges (N/mm2) (N/mm2) bearing beam
σx σech σx σech σx τxz σech σz
7387
1 7343 59,1 164 169 168 179 167 91 167 96
7360
2 same as 1 55.9 150 160 153 170 153 91 167 96
In both variants, the reactions do not exceed the design value of the existing bearings
(7500 kN). A growth of the weight of the structure in the second variant of only 2% leads to
the diminution of the deflection and stresses of about 10%. The deflection is 55.9 mm and the
values of the tensions do not exceed 170 N/mm2.
341
Fig. 3. Proposed structure of the lower part of the gate
Fig. 4. Equivalent stresses in the web I1 [N/mm2]
7. CONCLUSIONS
The analyses made on the initial, existing and proposed variants of the structure of the lower
part of the gate proof the correctness of the consolidations made on the gate's structure and offer the
possibility of choosing a variant for a new gate. The authors consider that the optimum variant is the
second one, in which the deflection and stresses decrease with 10 % in comparison with the first
variant. No matter what variant will be adopted, the on site welding zones must not overlap with the
zones with important stress concentrations (see fig. 4).
342
HARD FRAME AND EXPERT SUPPORT OF CONNECTION DESIGN
František Wald1, Jaroslav Truneček2, Marek Švarc1, Miloš Vodolan3

1
Czech Technical University, 166 29 Praha, Czech Republic
2
HARD a.s., ul. Jaroslava Ježka 20, 790 41 Jeseník, Czech Republic
3
FINE s.r.o., Štítného 23, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic
Keywords: Steel structures, FE - modelling, Component method, Expert system, Structural

frames, Eureka 130 CIMsteel
Abstract: The arrangement of the connection design especially the column bases has an
significant influence on the portal frame behaviour, design as well as economy. The paper is
aimed to describe the step reached by applying the output of European project EUREKA 130
CIMsteel to design toll HARD FRAME. The tool with expert support of multilevel structural
design including 3D modelling, climatic loading, structural detailing, global analysis,
checking of design rules was developed to economise the product, its design and production.
1 EUROPEAN ACTIVITY
The European project EUREKA 130 CIMsteel (Computer - Integrated Manufacturing for
constructional steelwork including expert systems) [5] was streamed for support of design and
production of steel structures by informatic. The work started in 1987 and finished in 1997.
The project was prepared and guided by Prof. J. Brozzetti from Centre technique industriel de
la construction metallique (CTICM), and by F. K. Garas from Taylor Woodrow Constructing
Holdings Ltd. since 1995.
The main activity was streamed to production of European integrated system for support
of design, production and erection of steel structures [6]. The system is based on shearing of
standard background, application software, reference materials, production systems as well as
marketing procedures. The topic was divided into needs of design procedures and expert
systems, pre-design of engineering prototypes (modelling, design, production) and on
preparation of integrated systems [7].
Figure 1 3D impute of industrial hall, secondary structures modelling
343
The work was sheared by most European research institutes streamed to structural
steelwork. Czech Technical University co-operates in Great Britain with by Taylor Woodrow
Constructional Holding limited, SCI, CICA, Rowan Limited, QSE limited, University of
Leeds, University of Nottingham, in with Italy Sidecad S.P.A, in Denmark with Ramboll
Limited, Force Institutes. ISC A/S, in Finland with FCSA Cadex OY , HAKA Group, Juva
Eng. Lim., in The Netherland with TNO Delft., ECCS B.V. in France with Centre technique
industriel de la construction metallique, in Austria with Ing Leibetseder GMBH,
Öesterreichische Stahlbauverband, Technische Datenvebereichnung GMBH, TU Gratz,
Voest-Alpine M.C.E., Wagner Biro Stahl MBH and in Sweeden with Bjerking A.B. At
Czech Technical University we co-ordinate the work of Czech partner's and served as
reference place of project trade mark CIMsteel for Czech Republic. The work by each partner
is possible to divided into European activity and local activity following and supporting the
main goals as well as localisation of the results. As a partner serving till the end of the project
we had opportunity to help with European procedures for design of connection summarised in
Procedure Guide Sheets, CTICM [6], Engineering Based Documents, SCI [7] as well as
Databank CIMsteel - CIS (ISO 10303 AP 230) [9].
2 NATIONAL ACTIVITY
The Czech part [9] was streamed under project No. OE-03/1996 to the main part procedures
for Column Bases, Expert systems for frame design, Expert systems for connections, imputes,
outputs and databanks. The output of the project are flowcharts and procedures as well as
pilot software tool for design of industrial frames, see Figure 1.
Figure 2 Graphical output of design check of one selected frame, secondary structures,
loading, element and connection check under combination with full snow loading
The proposed solution can be compatible due to the project interface Eureka 130 CIMsteel -
CIS. Experts from Czech Technical University co-operate under the project with partners
form INDBAU - HAOK a. s Rokycany, FINE s. r .o., Konstruktiva s.r.o., Europrojekt, and
HARD s.r.o.
The first basic step of main parts of company software tool HARD FRAME [8], see Figure 2,
was completed based on project procedures in 1998 as a part of a complex production system.
The tool consist of 3D impute module of industrial frames including secondary structures.
The climatic actions are generated on the 3D model. All the work is possible in separate into
344
two main modes manual and automatic. The automatic process optimise the plane frame
based on company databanks of elements, connections and column bases according to
geometrical conditions with use of best company engineering practice. The manual operation
allows to include special loading, unusual connections and column bases. The check of the
structure after the selected type of global analysis includes elements, connections and column
bases. The toll is offering the structural sketches and most of needed economical information
for example weld length bolts and so on. The transfer of data for detailing and production
drawing is prepared based on CIMsteel Integrated Standard (CIS) [6].
The preferable global analysis is geometrical and physical non-linear calculation using
step by step procedure for each load combination. The typical full check calculation is
running till 180 s. The frame imperfections are introduced as horizontal loading for the global
analysis [1]. The element imperfections are modelled by stability check of each compressed
element [8], see Figure 2. The load combinations are selected based on mask chosen with
intelligent support by user. The first order linear solution as well as stability check is
included for each load combination to clarify the non-linear output. The special attention in
devoted to precise modelling of torsion boundary condition to model realistically the lateral
torsional condition for analysis of slender elements under bending. The elements are checked
along their length. The bending stiffness of connections and column bases is included into
calculation. For the serviceability check are used special load combinations [1]. The hot
rolled and welded profiles are selected from active databases including inclined haunches.
Special haunches are prepare for application also under connection detailing.
Obr. 2 Příklad kontroly globální analýzy konstrukce
Figure 3 Check of connection from databank and offer of manual changes for particular
solution
3 CONNECTION DESIGN
The good description of working diagram of each structural joint (connection and column
bases) is one of the main feature of the proposed solution [3]. The methodology is based on
Eurocode Annex J procedures [2]. Each element in databank is equipped with its connection
of different types according to the best engineering practice, see Figure 3. The offer is based
on comparison of internal forces at the end of each element. The warnings and explanation
are included to guide to good solutions of the hand made design, see Figure 4. It is for
example possible to have a bolt out of end plate, or only out of position satisfied by design
rules, in this case is the bolt not taken into the calculation, which is announced included
advice for a best possible solution. The second level of good practical experiences is
expected to be included into next versions of tool.
345
• The practical application shows efficiency of support of directly oriented design tool
compare to universal packages.
• The design tool under user friendly systems, with complex system support, bring higher
need of skilled engineers with deep knowledge of structural design and detailing and less
needs of computer knowledge.
• It can be expected that coming standardisation (ISO 10303 AP 230) of steelwork
electronic data exchange will change the working environment of today design to more
next generation of design support.
Figure 4 Check of column bases from databank and offer of manual changes for particular
solution
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledges with thanks the help of project partners and financial supports
of Czech Ministry of Education Grant EUREKA 130 CIMsteel No. OE-03/1996.
References
[1] Eurocode 3: ENV 1993-1-1, Part 1.1, Design of Steel Structures, European Prenorm,
CEN, Brussels, 1992.
[2] Eurocode 3: ENV 1993-1-1/A2, Part 1.1, Design of Steel Structures, Annex J, European
Prenorm, CEN, Brussels, 1998.
[3] Connection design and detailing (Engineering basis documents), No. P151 , SCI, London,
1996, p. 340 . ISBN 1-85942-023-0 including supported materials.
[4] Baddo N. R., Morrow A. W., Naji F. J., Taylor J. C.: Design procedures to C-EC3, No.
P117, SCI, London, 1996, p. 29. ISBN 1-870004-75-2.
[5] Brown D. G.: Modelling of steel structures for computer analysis, No. P148 , SCI,
London, 1995, p. 74. ISBN 1-85942-025-7.
[6] Garas F. K.: CIMsteel Integrated Standards, Journal of Constructional Steel Research,
Vol. 46, 1998, p. 372, ISBN 0-08-042997-1.
[7] Shönaurer M.: Optimalisation and Standardisation of Steelwork Electronic Data
Exchange, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 46, 1998, p. 369-371, ISBN 0-
08-042997-1.
[8] Vodolan M.: FINE OCSPOJ, verze 1, uživatelská příručka, FINE Praha, p. 112, 1998.
[9] Wald F., Mazura V.: Design and production with support of computers, Navrhování a
výroba OK s pomocí počítačů, in Ocelové konstrukce, ČVUT, Praha, pp. 57-63, 1997,
ISBN 80-01-01828-8, in Czech.
346
STUDY OF STEEL LATTICE BEAMS WITH COLD-FORMED

FLANGES
Eduard Airumyan, Vaclav Vodicka,

Melnikov Institute CNIIPSK, Moscow, Russia
TZUS Institute for Constructions, Prague, Czech Republic
Keywords: Lattice beam, Point welding analysis, Tests, Static load, Bending,
Recommendations
Abstract: Results of analysis and full-scale tests of steel lattice elements with cold-formed
flanges and point weld connections are presented. The light elements were prefabricated with
the automatic continuos bending unit, using unique technological method.
1 INTRODUCTION
The steel lattice elements for frames of roof, floor and wall structures were fabricated
with the firm TIM in Prague. The elements of height from I5O to 300 mm consist of parallel
flanges and lattice, fixed through 240 – 265 mm (Fig. 1).
Each flange was made as a cold-formed open section zinc-coated steel with thickness
of 1,2 mm. Triangular lattice was made of from zinc-coated round steel with diameter 8 mm.
Capacity of automatic unit for prefabrication of the elements is 6 – 10 m of the readymade
elements for a minute. The elements, marked as TIM, were used for structures of some
buildings and mansards in Czech Republic and Russia (Fig. 2).
347
Some beam elements TIM were tested at the institutes TZUS and CVUT in Prague
together with CNIIPSK (Russia). Comparison of these test and analysis results is presented
below.
2 ANALYSIS
Design geometric properties of the elements TIM were calculated with rules for cold-
formed thin members in Eurocode 3 (Table. 1).
Table 1. Design properties and mass of elements TIM

Mark of Height Design properties of cross-section Nominal
element of element, Flange Elements mass per
mm meter,
Ix104 Iy104 Ix104 Iy104 Wx103 kg/m
mm4 mm
4 mm4 mm4 mm3
TIM 50/8-150 150 128,3 17,1 2,84
TIM 50/8-200 200 240,2 24,0 2,18

0,86 2,93 5,86
TIM 50/8-250 250 387,4 31,0 3,12
TIM 50/8-300 300 569,7 38,0 3,26
For calculation of nominal mass of elements TIM in Tab/ 1 design spacing of lattice
was taker of 240 mm Resistance and deflections of elements TIM were determinated,
allowing combined compressing and bending of the flange.
348
Yield strength of steel was equal 255 MPa for flanges and 230 MPa for the lattice.
Local buckling of the compression flange and struts of lattice were verified with critical
length equaled a half of distance between the weld points. Design loading was corresponded
to uniform distributed load per a single span element.
3 TESTS
Load capacity and rigidity of elements TIM were determined with the tests of four
single span specimens:
TIM 50/8-200 with span 2,8 m (specimen 1);
TIM 50/8-230 with span (specimen 4).
Specimen 1 – 3 was consisted of two similar elements, placed parallel each to other on
distance from 400 to 1000 mm. Specimens were free supported and fixed with timber bars to
avoid torsion distortion, and buckling of elements under loading. The word-chipping desk
with thickness of 20 mm was placed on the top flanges of the specimen 1 and fixed with
screws through 400 mm.
Two line loads were applied using two hydraulic jacks and steel joists on distance of
quarter of the span of specimen 1. The specimens 2 and 3 were tested with uniformly
distributed loading, using bricks or cement accordingly. The load was placed on steel
trapezoidal corrugated sheeting, fixed in each wave to the top flanges of elements. The
specimens 4 were consisted of three elements TIM, placed parallel each to other. The cement
fiber desk of thickness 18 mm was placed on the top flanges of elements and fixed to them
screws. Five line loads were applied using steel joists, distributed beam system and the
hydraulic jack.
The load was increased in increased in increments up to failure or loss of carrying
capacity of specimens at each stage of the loading, the deflections at the mid span and near
supports of elements were measured with accuracy of 0,01 mm (Fig. 3)
In order to determinate stresses at some principal locations on the specimen 2, strain

gauges were placed at the flanges hear midspan and at the lattice compress and tension struts
349
near supports. The ultimate load carrying capacity was taken as the value of the test load,
when the specimen unable to sustain any further increase in load.
Loss of carrying capacity of specimens 1 and 4 was taken place after bucking of the
support compress diagonal of the lattice
Failure of specimens 2 and 3 was taken place after rupture of she compress flange hear
mid span of the element. The maximum stresses at the compress and tension flanges were of
240 MPa. Stability of the compression struts of the element 2 was noted with maximum stress
of 120 MPa. Comparison of tests and analysis results are shown at Fig. 3 and Table. 2.
Table. 2. Comparison of test and analysis results (f–midspan deflection)

№ Height of Spacing Equivalent uniform load, kN/m
specim specimen, of f = L/250 failure
en mm lattice,m analysis test analysis test
m
1 200 240 5,8 5,6 4,3 6,1
2 200 250 2,53 2,51 2,5 3,37
3 300 257 0,6 0,5 0,9 1,08
4 230 248 1,17 0,9 1,4 1,9
4 CONCLUSION
Resistance of the elements TIM could be determinate more exact with testes under
uniform distributed load. The elements TIM have safety factor of 20 – 30 % as compared with
design load. Deflections of the elements TIM are corresponded with analysis results under
design load equaled not more than 0,7 of failure load. Maximum single span of 6 m is
recommended for the elements TIM with height from 200 to 300 mm.
350
CONTRIBUTION OF INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION OF

THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE VZÚ NH A.S. TO SOLUTION OF
PROBLEMS RELATED WITH HIGHER USE OF STEEL IN HOUSING
CONSTRUCTIONS
351
352
353
354
AUTHORS INDEX
Please consult the Authors Index downloading the html version of the proceedings in
355
356
357
358
SPONSORING ORGANISATIONS
The financial support provided by the following outstanding organisations is gratefully acknowledged:
VOEST-ALPINE INDUSTRIEANLAGENBAU PRAHA ENGINEERING s.r.o. (VAI), Opletalova 55, 111 21 Praha 1
EXCON a.s., Podlišovská 703/12, 198 00 Praha 9 - Kyje
HARD Jeseník a.s., ul. Jaroslava Ježka, 790 41 Jeseník
Commercial Intertech S.A., ASTRON Building Systems, Route d’Ettelbruck, L-9202 Diekirch, Luxembourg
METROSTAV a.s., Dělnická 12, 170 04 Praha 7
HUTNÍ MONTÁŽE OSTRAVA, a.s., Hrušovská 20, 702 28 Ostrava
RANNILA Velvary, s.r.o., RAUTARUUKKI GROUP, 273 24 Velvary 420
EUROPROJEKT s.r.o., Kudrnova 144/17, 150 00 Praha 5 – Motol
British Steel Central Europe s.r.o., Malá Štěpánská 9, 120 00 Praha 2
359
360
FERRO OK s.r.o., Radlík, 254 01 Jílové u Prahy
KOVOVÉ PROFILY s.r.o., Průběžná 74, 100 00 Praha 10
PONTEX s.r.o. , Bezová 1658, 147 14 Praha 4
CZECH CONSTRUCTIONAL STEELWORK ASSOCIATION, Komerční 5a, 710 00 Ostrava 10
Seele CZ, Domažlická 200, 318 04 Plzeň
TOPCON servis s.r.o., Varšavská 30, 120 00 Praha 2
VIKAM a.s., ul. Přátelství 681, 104 00 Praha 10 - Uhříněves
PROJEKTOVÉ A INŽENÝRSKÉ SLUŽBY (PIS), Lidická 42, 602 00 Brno
KOVONA LICHTGITTER s.r.o., Závodní 540, 735 06 Karviná
361
362
Proceedings of the Conference

Eurosteel ´99
Prague, 26 - 29 May 1999
363
364
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2nd EUROPEAN CONFERENCE

ON STEEL STRUCTURES
PRAGUE / CZECH REPUBLIC / 26 - 29 MAY 1999
Eurosteel ´99
Volume 2
Edited by
Studnička Jiří
Wald Frantisek
Macháček Josef
365
CD Publication of the
Conference Eurosteel ´99
Prague, 26. - 29. 5. 1999
Ed.
Studnička J.
Wald F.
Macháček J.
Published by
The texts of the papers in this volume were set individually by

various typists under the supervision of each of the authors
concerned.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval systems or transmitted in any
form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from
the publisher.
Copyright © Czech Technical University Praha
First edition 1999
ISBN 80-01-01963-2
366
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 15
Welcoming Address 17
Organisation 19
VOLUME 1
SESSION – THEORY
Simplified design of thin-walled, steel, continuous beams 23

Cywiński Z.
Limit state flexural-torsional elastic postbuckling analysis of bars with asymmetric
thin walled cross-sections under axial compression 27
Ioannidis G.I., Kounadis A.N.
Pseudo plastic zone analysis of steel frame structures subject to local buckling 31
Avery P., Mahendra M.
Elastic lateral buckling of coped beams 35
Abspoel R., Stark J.
Interaction of local and global phenomena in the ultimate behaviour of plate girders 39
Néző J., Dunai L., Okura I., Iványi M.
Torsional coupling in buildings under seismic loads 43
Thambiratnam D., Clark B., Williamson M., Wilkinson S.
Experimental investigation on I-girders under eccentric patch loading 47
Lucic D.
Numerical and analytical modelling of hat-section web crippling behaviour 51
Hofmeyer H., Kerstens J.G.M., Snijder H.H., Bakker M.C.M.
Lateral buckling of thin-walled beams under asymmetric loads 55
Mohri F., Brouki A., Roth J.C.
Practical design of universal steel beams with single web openings of different shapes 59
Liu T.C.H., Chung K.F.
Test of load-displacement curves of corrugated sheets under shear and compressing 63
Biegus A., Gierczak J.
Web crippling in trapezoidally profiled sheeting and decking 67
Davies J.M., Jiang C., Liu Y.J.
Influence of the inplane boundary conditions on the buckling load of ribbed plates 71
Sapountzakis E., Katsikadelis J.
367
Prague and Stuttgart experimental research on web breathing 75

Škaloud M., Zörnerová M., Kuhlmann U., Spiegelhalder U.
Fatigue assessment of slender webs breathing under repeated loading 79
Local buckling and failure of thin-walled compression members 83
Kriváček J.
Experimental and theoretical investigation into the breathing of thin-walled
steel girders 87
Brož P., Novák M., Škaloud M.
Sectional buckling modes of unstiffened thin-walled steel section 91
Ungureanu V., Dubina D.
Local buckling of undulating webs 95
Novák R., Macháček J.
On the analysis of steel structures made of thin-walled members 99
Degée H.
Experimental investigation of initial residual stresses in H-beams 103
Steelbase-product data exchange for constructional steelwork 107
Hyvärinen J.
Prediction of defects in steel castings with a multi-physics numerical code 109
Pericleous K., Bailey C., Cross M., Taylor G., Moran G., Bounds S.
Safety of buried steel pipelines subjected to explosions 113
A neural network approach to the elastoplastic identification and control problems
of steel structures in presence of work-hardening 117
Avdelas A.V.
New Winrami-program based on OLE2 technique 121
Witting K.
Column strength curves in view of higher level reliability approach 125
Sadovský Z., Nádaský P.
Stochastic buckling of plate strip degraded by localized corrosion 129
Drdácký M., Sadovský Z.
Influence of the stress-strain law modelling on the non-linear analysis of steel structures 133
Baptista A.M., Muzeau J-.P., Camotim D.
Contribution of the structural steelwork educational programme WIVISS 137
Chladná M., Wald F., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J.
Experimental study on ultimate strength of plate girders with large web aspect ratio
and web width-to-thickness ratio 141
Fatigue in steel structures under random loading 145
368
Agerskov H.
Dynamic failure of steel tubes subjected to lateral impacts 149
Zeinoddini M., Harding J.E., Parke G.A.R.
Constant amplitude fatigue limit for riveted girders 153
Crocetti R., Al-Emrani M., Ǻkesson B., Edlund B.
Determination of the behavioural curve of eccentrically braced steel structures 157
Deformations of selected steel structural members subjected to metal plating 161
Maliszewski M., Pancewicz Z., Rękawek W., Giżejowski M.
Fire resistance of stainless steel structures 165
Ala-Outinen T.
Analysis of the influence of residual curvature on pipeline laying 169
Behaviour of structural steels in structures subjected to alternating
elastic-plastic strains 173
Šimončič M.
Reliability analysis of a steel beam under fire design situation 177
Gulvanessian H., Holický M., Cajot L.-G., Schleich J.-B.
Computation of the shape and the time growth of a fatigue crack 181
Kovše I.
SESSION – STRUCTURES
Behaviour of simply supported cold-formed Z-purlins restrained by sheeting 187
Vraný T.
Steel frames using hollow columns and open section beams 191
Davison B., Kirby P., Waters S.
Benchmark solutions for steel frame structures subject to local buckling 195
Avery P., Mahendran M.
Steel sheet in post-tensioned composite slab 199
Koukkari H.
Floor vibrations due to walking loads 203
Donkervoort D.R., Hoenderkamp J.C.D., van Oosterhout G.P.C.
On the behaviour of steel gates subjected to shock strains 207
Prodescu A., Raduica N., Ilie L.
The influence of imperfections on the behavior of one-side welded I beams 211
Vašek M.
The influence of web undulations on the section resistance of slender I-beams 215
Braham M., Rangelov N.
Assessment of cumulative seismic damage in steel members 219
A design method for braced steel frames comprising semi-continuous composite joints 223
Kattner M., Crisinel M.
369
A design procedure for steel frames with rigid connections 227

Marino E., Neri F., Rossi P.P.
In-plane buckling behaviour of asymmetric pitched-roof steel frames 231
Silvestre N., Camotim D.
The design experience of membrane roof structures in CIS-countries 235
Mushchanov V., Romensky I.
Structural behaviour of standardized tubular space trusses 239
D’Este A.V., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
The realistic effects of stressed skin design of typical industrial hall structure 243
Kisin S.
Study of the dynamic forces acting on steel structure during gyration motion
of slewing cranes 247
Jerman B., Kramar J.
Full scale tests of steel frames under quasi-static cyclic loading 251
Perfect transparent envelope by the use of steel structure 255
Orbay Y.K.A.
Test and analysis on behaviour of tapered columns in single-span frames 259
Kvedaras A., Braham M., Šapalas V., Šaraškinas V.
Reconstruction of a two-bay industrial hall 263
Tests of non-sway welded steel frames with RHS columns 267
Szlendak J.
Dynamic behaviour of a range of steel plane system for solar collectors 271
Axinte E., Teleman C., Taranu N.,
The influence of various errors on the durability of steel structures for
Strateanu P., Taranu N., Isopescu D.
Effects of restraint on the behaviour of steel frames in fire 279
Allam A.M., Fahad M.K., Liu T.C.H., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J., Davies J.M.
The response of industrial portal frame structures to fires 283
Wong S.Y., Burgess I., Plank R., Atkinson G.
Behaviour factor evaluation of steel frames applying energy approach 287
Durability and service life of over-clad steel facades 291
The service life design strategies 295
Leino T.
Low energy steel houses for cold climate 299
Aromma P.
370
A simplified model for beam-slab systems subject to fire 303

Ponding effect on nearly flat roofs of industrial or commercial single story building 307
Colombi P., Urbano C.
Optimal design of steel frames made of welded built-up members 311
Krajnc A., Beg D.
The problems of overhead transmission lines towers structures’ development and
making of automatic optimal designing system 315
Schevchenko Y.
Development and application of new steel structure concepts: structural systems 319
Iwata M.
Yacht landing cantilever type of structure 323
Dakov D.
Performance, durability and service life of a light framing system 327
Optimisation of bracing system of steel framed houses 331
Dubina D., Fülöp L., Zaharia R.
Economic design and construction of single storey portal frames 335
On structural variants of a large sluice gate 339
Raduicá N., Prodescu A.
Hard frame and expert support of connection design 343
Wald F., Truneček J., Švarc M., Vodolan M.
Study of steel lattice beams with cold-formed flanges 347
Airumyan E., Vodicka V.
Contribution of interdisciplinary collaboration of the research institute VZÚ NH a.s.
to solution of problems related with higher use of steel in housing constructions 351
Authors Index 355

VOLUME 2
SESSION – BRIDGES
Effect of girder depth on ultimate behavior and strength of long-span steel

cable-stayed bridges based on elasto-plastic finite displacement analysis 379
Fatigue crack arrest in riveted bridge girders using stop-holes 383
Investigating the failure of a pedestrian arch bridge 387
Wang Y.-Ch., Hung F.-H.
371
Free vibration of a two-span highway cable-stayed bridge 391

Wang Y.-Ch., Tang Ch.-Ch.
Design of different suspension bridges 395
Kulbach V.
Characteristics of low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and concrete
girder highway bridges and reduction measure against low-frequency sound
radiated from steel ones 399
Sugiyama T.
Application of the SRBA method in case of steel structure exposed to dynamic
load effects 403
Pirner M., Marek P.
Fatigue crack growth simulation in orthotropic highway bridge decks 407
Kiss K., Dunai L., Szatmári I.
Laboratory tests of the deck plate weld at the intersection of the through and
the cross beam of steel orthropic bridge decks 411
Kolstein H., Wardenier J.
Modelling of bridge decks including cross section distorsion using simplified
spatial beam methods 415
Unterweger H.
Results of a parametric study of steel beams under axial compression and biaxial
bending – comparisons with code regulations 419
Ofner R.
Effect of inspection on the existing steel bridge reliability 423
Study on characteristics of seismic-isolated devices and dampers in piers for bridges 427
Nishido T., Tanaka K.
Load deflection and dynamic numerical-experimental analysis of the repaired
steel railway bridge over the river Sava by Brcko in Serbian Republic in Bosna 431
Temporary repair of the damaged railway bridge across the river Sava and
designing a new one according to the prenorm Eurocode 435
Bridge for pedestrians and cyclists across the river Drava at Ptuj 439
An old steel bridge back to service (the new Tisza bridge at Cigánd) 443
Szatmári I.
Launching steel bridges on the peripheral motorway around Ankara in Turkey 447
Seliverstov V., Tchemerynski O.
Development of structural forms and analysis of steel box girders with inclined
webs for operation and erection conditions 451
Surovtsev V., Pimenov S., Seliverstov V., Iourkine S.
372
Steel structures of technological and foot-bridges 455

Agócs Z., Brodniansky J.
Cable-stayed bridge across the Vistula river in Plock 459
Hajdin N., Stipanic B.
SESSION – CONNECTIONS
Strength of joints subjected to combined action of bending moments and axial forces 465
Jaspart J.-P., Braham M., Cerfontaine F.
Ultimate behaviour of bolted T-stubs: Experimental analysis and numerical simulation 469
Bolted semi-rigid connections in the column’s minor axis 473
Ornelas de Lima L.R., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
Computer analysis of bolted end-plate beam splices 477
Stankiewicz B.
Shear behaviour of rosette-joints – tests and finite element analysis 479
Influence of random material variability on the moment capacity of
beam-to-column joints 483
Investigations on eccentrically loaded bolted connections 487
Experimental verification of FEM models for steel T-stub joints 491
De Matteis G., Mazzolani F.M., Mandara A.
Mathematical modelling of column-bases under cyclic loading 495
Column base finite element modelling 499
Finite element modelling of cold-formed steel bolted connections 503
Chung K.F., Ip K.H.
Reevaluation of seismic capacity and demand on beam-column connections of Japanese
moment frames-action after the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake 507
Nakashima M.
Experimental and numerical fatigue tests on flange plate connections 511
Reliability of moment resistant connections of steel building frames in seismic areas:
The first year of activity of the RECOS project 515
Mazzolani F.M.
The performance of frame connections in fire 519
Al-Jabri K.S., Burgess I.W. ,Lennon T., Plank R.J.
373
Q-factor evaluation of moment resisting steel frames with semi-rigid connections

by applying different approaches 523
De Matteis G., Mazzolani F.M., Landolfo R., Milev J.
Stiffened end plates in structural steel connections 527
The development of a design guide for rigid connection with H-beam elements
based on experimental investigation 531
Classifications of joints 535
Gomes F.C.T.
Background of Russian design tools for bolted connections 539
Kalenov V., Loukianov K., Pavlov A.
Parametric analysis of axially loaded SHS gap K-joints by means of 3D F.E. models 543
Expert system for the design of steel connections 547
Test results on beam-to column welded connections 551
SESSION - COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
Shear force distribution of headed studs of composite simply supported beams

subjected to temperature difference 557
Szabó B.
Influence of the ductility of reinforcement on the non-linear behaviour of continuous
composite beams 561
Nailed shear connection in composite tube columns 565
Beck H.
Composite semi-rigid connections for edge and corner columns 569
Ferreira L.T.S.., Lopes de Andrade S.A., Gonzalves da Silva Vellasco P.C.
An experimental study of composite steel beams 573
Partial connection of steel and concrete composite beams with HVB shear connectors 577
Peleška K.
Composite steel-concrete connectors subjected to dynamic loads of seismic type 581
Pacurar V., Litan M., Petran I., Balc R., Campian C.
Effective size of composite beams for capacity design 585
Perforated shear connector for composite steel and concrete structures 589
Studnička J., Macháček J., Krpata A., Svitáková M.
374
Effective anchor connector for composite beams of desk structures 593

Airumyan E., Markov E.
Flexural strength of composite beams with a steel-concrete composite sandwich slab 595
Nonlinear thermal analysis of composite frames 599
Evaluation of composite behaviour in slimfloor structures 603
Leskelä M.V.
Non linear behaviour of composite beams under negative bending: an experimental-
theoretical comparison 607
Finite element modelling of composite frame behaviour subjected to fire 611
Huang Z., Burgess I.W., Plank R.J.
Experimental tests on steel and composite frame with semi-rigid joints 615
Kozłowski A.
Energy absorption structural systems under random and unpredictable loads 619
The competitive spans of composite beams 623
Kravanja S., Šilih S.
Experimental models of end-plate beam-to-column composite connections 627
Simões R.D., Simões da Silva L.
Effects of the non-linear shear connection on the behaviour of steel and concrete
composite beams under service loads 631
Faella C., Nigro E.
SESSION – CODES
Some aspects regarding the evaluation of the actions in the design of the steel
Axinte E., Teleman C.
Comparison between Eurocode 8 and 1998 Turkish specifications in earthquake
regions with respect to their parts concerning steel buildings 641
Büyüktaskin H.A., Büyüktaskin M.I., Arda T.S.
From partial factors method to probabilistic concepts in structural steel design 645
Reliability assessment of structural steel members exposed to multicomponent
load effects 649
Krejsa M., Marek P.
The improvement of standard support of steel structures design for corrosion
resistance and life 653
375
Random properties of steel elements produced in Czech Republic 657

Structural steelwork Eurocodes – development of a trans-national approach (SSEDTA) 661
Armstrong S.
Background research for Eurocode ENV 1993-2 Recommendations on bridge cables 665
Raoof M.
Statistical study of column buckling curves 669
Melcher J., Kala Z.
Stability problems of steel bridges in the new Eurocode for bridges 673
Šertler H.
A proposal of standardisation of steel structures of roofs in ceramic tiles 677
Comparative analysis among specifications of design to steel beam-column 681
Carlos de Araújo E.
Limit states design of steel planar frames using advanced analysis 685
Giżejowski M.A., Parameswar H.C., Uzoegbo H.C.
Fatigue shear strength of slender web plates 689
Davies A.W.
Shear strength of steel plate girders to Eurocode 3 693
Load-carrying capacity of hybrid compressed steel elements 697
Juhás P.
Buckling of monosymmetric beams-conjured problem 701
Baláž I.
Eccentrically braced steel frame design in seismic regions using
Eurocode 3 and Eurocode 8 705
Čaušević M.
A design model for the contact joints of steel columns 709
Stefanescu B.
Authors Index 713

Subject Index 717
Conference Attendees 727
Software Exhibitors 731
376
Session
Bridges
377
378
EFFECT OF GIRDER DEPTH ON ULTIMATE BEHAVIOR AND

STRENGTH OF LONG-SPAN STEEL CABLE-STAYED BRIDGES
BASED ON ELASTO-PLASTIC FINITE DISPLACEMENT ANALYSIS
379
380
381
382
FATIGUE CRACK ARREST IN RIVETED BRIDGE GIRDERS USING

STOP-HOLES
383
384
385
386
INVESTIGATING THE FAILURE OF A PEDESTRIAN ARCH

BRIDGE
Yang-Cheng Wang, Department of Civil Engineering

Fu-Hai Hung, Department of Mathematics
Chinese Military Academy, 1 Hwang-Poo Road, Feng-Shan, 83000, Taiwan, ROC
Keywords: Failure, Pedestrian, Arch Bridge
Abstract: A single-span of steel arch pedestrian bridge, Chin-Hwa Bridge, was

designed in May 1996 and completed on October 8, 1997 but it failed on June 10,
1998. This bridge is across Mei-Lun River in the City of Haulien located in the east
coat of Taiwan. All the stayed cables broke when it failed. Based on the investigation,
there are three primary reasons of the bridge failure. First, it is the poor design of the
flange of the steel arch, which can’t withstand the vertical loads due to the stayed
cables transferred from the dead load of the bridge deck. Next, the connection of the
stayed cables is not proper to resist the tensional forces. Last, and the most important
reason, the designer underestimates the design loads. In another words, he
overestimates the strength of the materials.
1 INTRODUCTION
A pedestrian bridge, Chin-Hwa Bridge, failed after it served only for eight
months on June 10, 1998. This bridge is across Mei-Lun River in the City of Haulien
located in the east coat of Taiwan. It was designed to be strong and stable enough to
withstand typhoon and earthquake. The bridge is a single-span steel arch bridge
supported by twenty-two stayed cables in vertical direction. The stayed cables connect
the flange of the steel arch and the steel box girders. The bridge is symmetric in both
the longitudinal and the transverse directions; that is to say, the stayed cables are
parallel in two planes. Figure 1 represents the geometry of the bridge in the front view,
top view, and side view, respectively [1].
Figure 1. Geometry of the Pedestrian Bridge
The total length of the bridge is 70m; the width of the bridge deck is 9 m from the
girder to girder; but the width of the bridge deck is only 7m for pedestrians. All kinds
of mobiles are not allowed to passage on the bridge. Therefore, the dead load of the
bridge is the primary designed load.
Fortunately no one got hurt when the bridge failed because it happened in the
early morning around 2:30 AM on June 10, 1998. All the stayed cables broke; eleven
cables severed the bridge from the cable anchorage in the flange of the girder, and the
others severed the bridge from the cable anchorage in the flange of the arch. Figure 2
387
shows the photograph of the fallen bridge.

Two weeks before the bridge failed, the residences nearby Chin-Haw Bridge
heard a kind of sounds like metal breaking. No one paid attention to it because the
bridge was just completed in eight months. Although Haulien, the east cost of Taiwan,
is a typhoon and an earthquake area, based on the report from the National
Atmosphere Bureau of Taiwan, there was nothing happen during the period while the
bridge failed.
Figure 2 Photograph of the Failed Bridge
2 GEOMETRY OF THE BRIDGE

The bridge is composed of a steel arch, two main steel-box girders, 16 struts, and
a 7m-width bridge deck supported by twenty-two stayed cables in the vertical
direction. The steel arch is a composite box girder with lateral bracing. These two
main steel-box girders are parallel in the center of the transverse cross section. The
struts connect the two main girders to support the bridge deck. The roadway is a
concrete deck with two parapets in the two sides along the bridge deck. The stayed
cables are subjected to 5-ton pretension but the extremely out side cables are only
subjected to 3-ton pretension.
The cable anchorage where all the stayed cables broke is one of the most
important factors for bridge safety. The diameter of the stayed cable is 76mm. The
hollow joint section was braced by two PL1000×13(mm), which is 20cm apart, to
enhance the stiffness and to reduce the vertical deflection of the flange. The cable
anchorage connects the bottom flange of the main girder with braced plates.
3 FAILURE MODE
The failure mode of the bridge includes four primary parts: the torsional
deformation of the steel arch; the permanent deformation of the drilling holes along
the flange of the steel arch; the failure of the cable anchorage; and the deflection of
the main girders.
The failure mode of the steel arch is anti-symmetrically torsional due to the cable
unsymmetrical broken. Some of the hollow joint sections in the flange failed due to
the stress concentration. All the stayed cables broke almost simultaneously. Eleven of
the cables failed at the connections of the steel arch. The others failed at the
connections of the box girder, in which eight cables severed the flange from the
anchorage. The bridge deck and the bridge girders have a severe vertical deflection
after the cables failed; the maximum deformation occurred at the midspan of the
bridge deck is 67 cm. Six composite I-beams are temporarily used to support the
bridge girders to prevent the bridge deck getting worse.
All the stayed cables sever the bridge from the flange of either the arch or the
main girder. If the stayed cables sever the bridge from the flange of the arch, it can be
divided into two types. The first type of the failure mode separates the anchorage
itself. The second type of the failure mode separates the connection of the cable
tendon and the anchorage. Figure 3(A) and (B) represent the photographs of the first
388
and the second types of the failure mode of the connections, respectively.
Aside from the previous failure mode, the other stayed cables sever the bridge
from the flange of the main girder, which is similar to the second type of previous
mode–the cable tendon and the cable anchorage are separated.
(A) The First Type (B) The Second Type

Figure 3 Photograph of the Failure Modes of the Connections
4 INVESTIGATING
In order to investigate the reasons why the bridge failed, the global and local
investigations have been done by different analyses such as static analysis, dynamic
analysis, stability analysis, and the field tests. In this study, the finite element analysis
has been used to do the simulation. In order to verify the numerical results, a part of
the simulation results are compared to those of the filed tests. They have an excellent
agreement.
The numerical results obtained from static analysis are compared to those of the
field tests to verify the accuracy of finite element analysis. After the bridge failed
three days later, the maximum deflection occurs around the midspan and it is 76cm
obtained by the field survey. The maximum deflection obtained by the simulation is
77.6cm. They have an excellent agreement with only 2.1% difference. The finite
element model is used in the further analyses. Regarding the dynamic analysis, the
flutter and the seismic loads are the most concerns. The natural frequencies and the
corresponding mode shapes of both the original and the fallen bridges have been
found and listed in Table 1.
Table 1.
Description of the First Six Mode Shapes of the Original and Fallen Bridges
Bridge Mode Shapes
Mode 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Type
Original Flexure Torsion Flexure Flexure Torsion Torsion
Fallen Flexure Flexure Torsion Torsion Flexure Flexure
The lateral (out-of-plane) mode doesn’t appear. When the bridge failed, however,
neither earthquake nor strong wind happened according to the report from the
National Atmosphere Bureau of Taiwan. Based on the failure modes, the first six
mode shapes, and their corresponding natural frequencies, the failure of the bridge is
almost impossible caused by flutter or by seismic loads.
To most of engineers, investigating structural stability of any failed bridge is
necessary. A finite element model and a computer program based on eigen-solver
have been applied. Since this bridge is designed only for pedestrians, therefore, the
dead load is the primary designed load. All the connections are assumed to be rigid.
The fundamental critical load of the bridge is 25.5 times of its dead load (Dead Load
Multiplier, DLM). By inspection, the bridge doesn’t have local buckling or any other
lateral (out-of-plane) buckling except the arch is torsion after all the stayed cables
broke. Plaut et al. (1998) also indicated vertical arches can be efficient structure for
supporting loads in their plane. It is apparent that the failure of the bridge is not due to
buckling.
389
By inspection of the failure mode, it is a problem of the connection in the flange

and the cable anchorage. Three categories of structural analysis are considered: stress
distributions; the deformations of the hollow joint section of the flanges; and the
failure mode of the connection between the cable tendons and the cable anchorage.
First, for the stress distribution of the hollow joint section, the maximum Von Mises
stress occurs along the edge between the hollow joint section and the arch if the arch
is subjected to both the gravity load and the concentrated load transferred from the
vertical cable. Second, for the deformational characteristics of the connection, the
deformation is always associated with stress distribution. The maximum stress occurs
along the edge of the flange and the hollow joint section with the magnitude of
79.2Mpa that is less than the yield limit. Last, and the most important factors, the
connected problems such as the stress distribution of the stayed cables, the strength of
the anchorage, and the deformations of the drilling hole in the hollow joint section are
analyzed and discussed in the follows:
For the stress distribution of the stayed cables: The maximum stress of the cable
is greater than 220Mpa for the cables next to the extremely outside cables. If any
cable breaks, the carrying loads will be immediately transferred to the rest of stayed
cables in which the stress will increase at once. The stress of the stayed cables will be
beyond the ultimate and will cause the failure of the stayed cables.
For the strength of the anchorage: If the stress of the stayed cable increases, based on
the failure mode, the strength of the anchorage rapidly reduces due to the stress
concentration in the connection between the cable and the anchorage, and the
anchorage itself.
For the deformation of the drilling hole: The stress concentration and the
deformation are always interacted. Although the stress concentration reduces the
stiffness of the connection, it increases the deformation of the drilling hole in the
hollow joint section.
In conclusion, by inspection of the failure and the analyses, the reason that
mainly causes the failure of the bridge is the cable anchorage and the connection of
the flange. The fact is, quite simply, all the stayed cables were failed in the cable
anchorage. In addition, the analyses indicated that the stress concentration reduced the
stiffness of the flange and the stress of the stayed cables was beyond the ultimate.
Reasons abound to fail this bridge. The most compelling is the joint connections.
Design of a bridge has mainly to satisfy the serviceability and safety requirements. In
the global point of view, the bridge would be strength enough under several analyses
if all the connections were rigid. The fact is, quite simply, the designer didn’t specify
both the details and the type of the connection of the anchorage, and constructors
didn’t pay attention to, either.
References
[1] United Geotech. Inc., Engineering Drawing, UG Inc., 1996.
[2] Klaus-Jurgen Bathe, Finite Element Procedures in Engineering Analysis,
Prentics-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, 1982.
[3] P.K. Singh, Discussion of Cable-Stayed Bridges – Parametric Study, Journal of
Bridge Engineering, ASCE, Vol.3, No.3, 1998, pp.148-150.
[4] Raymond H. Plaut and Aili Hou, Deflections, Vibrations, and Stability of a Pair of
Leaning Arches, Journal Engineering Mechanics, Vol.124, No.7, 1998,
pp.748-753.
390
FREE VIBRATION OF A TWO-SPAN HIGHTWAY

CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE
Yang-Cheng Wang and Chia-Chih Tang

Department of Civil Engineering, Chinese Military Academy, 1 Hwang-Poo Road,
Feng-Shan, 83000, Taiwan, ROC
Keywords: Cable-Stayed Bridge, Free Vibration, Modal, Two-Span, and Highway,
Abstract: A unsymmetrical two-span cable-stayed bridge with the main span length
of 330m, which is the second longest span of one-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the
word at present is designed and constructed as a part of the second highway in south
of Taiwan. The cable-stayed bridge is designed to be a landmark of the area of
Pin-Tung County. Due to the use of high strength materials and computer technique,
cable-stayed bridges become more flexible and the dynamic behavior of this type of
bridges become more significant compared to that of continuous conventional bridges.
The analytical methods seem not convenient to solve this type of problem at present
but the numerical methods are feasible. A cable-stayed bridge with the geometry
similar to that of Kao-Pin Shi cable-stayed bridge has been studied. The natural
frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes have been found. The wind tunnel
test results and the numerical results have an excellent agreement.
1 INTRODUCTION
Cable-stayed bridges have more flexibility than conventional continuous bridges
do because cables instead of internal piers support cable-stayed bridges. Since cables
can only take care of tension axial forces, cable-stayed bridges don’t have enough
capacities to resist lateral loads or torsional loads especially when the span length
increases due to the use of high strength materials, digital computer technologies and
numerical schemes. Cable-stayed bridges become more flexible and the dynamic
behaviors become more significant when bridges are subjected to moving loads,
seismic loads or wind loads etc.
Because the span length of cable-stayed bridge increases and the geometry of
this type of bridges are getting more complex, analytical methods are difficult to solve
this type of structures at present, but numerical methods are feasible. Some
researchers analyzed the behavior of cable-stayed bridges using finite element
methods. Many types of modeling have been published in articles. John Wilson et al.
[1,2] used beam element to simulate the bridge deck and pylons, and used truss
element to simulate the stayed cables. Wang et al. [3] used three-dimensional shell,
beam, and truss elements to simulate a cable-stayed bridge. Agrawal [4] used beam
and truss elements to establish a two-dimensional finite element model of
cable-stayed bridges.
Although two-dimensional finite element models have been widely studied
[1,2,4], only flexural behaviors have been found in two-dimensional analyses. In
order to estimate the importance of the lateral and torsional modes as well as their
coupled modes for dynamic analysis, three-dimensional analysis should no longer be
ignored - especially for longer span of cable-stayed bridges.
In this paper, a cable-stayed bridge with the geometry similar to that of Kao-Pin
Hsi cable-stayed bridge [6] is considered. Based on the finite element model and a
finite element program with eigen-solver, the natural frequencies and their
391
corresponding mode shapes have been found. The numerical results and wind tunnel
test results have an excellent agreement.
2 GEOMETRY OF THE BRIDGE

Kao-Pin Hsi Cable-Stayed Bridge is a two-span unsymmetrical harp-type bridge;
the short span is a concrete box girder with the span length of 180m; and the long
span is a steel box girder with the span length of 330m. The pylon is A-type with
height of 183m. A strut connects the pylon at the level of bridge deck perpendicular to
the longitudinal direction and the strut also supports the bridge deck. Sixty stayed
cables connect the bridge-deck and the pylon. Thirty cables support each span by
fourteen intervals. Figure 1 represents the geometry and the horizontal dimensions of
the cable-stayed bridge.
Figure 1. The Geometry and Dimension of Kao-Pin Chi Cable-Stayed Bridge
Figure 2 Typical Cross Section of the Concrete Box Girder
Figure 3 Typical Cross Section of the Steel Box Girder
Figure 2 represents the typical cross section of the short span, which is a concrete
box girder with the width of 34.5m. The thickness of the box girder cell is various
from 25 cm to 40 cm. Figure 3 represents the typical cross section of the long span,
which is a steel box girder. The deep of the box girder is 3.2 m. The bridge has an
A-type concrete pylon with height of 183m. The first four stayed cables connect at the
location of 12.7 m from the top of the pylon to the abutment. The rest of cables are
3.8 m apart from the first cable along the pylon.
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

The three-dimensional finite element model of the bridge consists of three
different types of elements, which are shell, beam, and tension-only truss elements.
First, a four-node shell element models both of the concrete and steel box girders with
different material properties. Each node of the element consists of six degrees of
freedom. This type of element has both bending and membranes capacities. In both
spans, the equivalent thickness is the average along the cross section. Next, a beam
392
element models the pylon and the strut. Each node of the element has six degrees of
freedom. Then, a tension-only truss element models the stayed cables. Each cable is
modeled as an element. If the cable element is subjected to compressive forces, the
modulus of elasticity has been multiplied by 10 −10 in order to simulate the
tension-only characteristics.
Finite element models are always based on idealizations to simulate structures. In
this paper, the assumptions have been made in the follows: 1.Members are initially
straight and piecewise prismatic. 2.The materials behavior is linearly elastic. 3.The
effect of residual stresses is negligibly. 4. The modulus of elasticity of concrete is
30Gpa, Poison’s ratio is 0.25 and the density is 2320 Kg/m. 5. The modulus of
elasticity of steel is 210Gpa, Poison’s ratio is 0.3 and the density is 7860 Kg/m.
4 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Based on the finite element model, a numerical program has been used to do the
modal analysis. The fundamental frequency is 1.89Hz and the corresponding mode
shape is a lateral mode (out of plane). The natural frequency of the second mode is
2.20Hz and the corresponding mode shape is a flexural mode (vertical mode). The
natural frequency of the third mode is 3.80Hz and the corresponding mode shape is
the second flexural mode. The natural frequency of the fourth mode is 6.40 Hz and
the corresponding mode shape is a torsional mode. The comparison of the simulation
results and the wind tunnel test results of the first four modes are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. The comparison of the first four natural modes between

The numerical simulation results and the wind tunnel test results.
Mode Mode Shape Natural Frequency (Hz) Frequency
Number Simulation Wind Simulation Wind Difference(
Tunnel Tunnel %)
1 Lateral Lateral 1.89 1.86 1.6
2 Flexural Flexural 2.20 2.40 8.3
3 Lateral - 3.80 - -
4 Torsion Torsion 6.40 6.2 3.2
The simulation results and the wind tunnel test results (Chen et al. 1997) have an
excellent agreement. Based on Table 1, the mode shapes of the first two and the fourth
modes are the same as those of wind tunnel test. The smallest difference occurs at the
fundamental mode and it is only 1.6% although the simulation excludes both of
material damping and structural damping. The greatest difference between the
numerical simulation and the wind tunnel test results is 8.3%, which occurs in the
second mode in which the vertical bending that occurs along the long-span bridge
deck is more significant than that of the short span.
Top View Isolate View

Figure 4.The Top View and The Isolate View of the First Mode
393
Figure 4 represents the first mode in both of the top view and the isolate view.
The significantly horizontal movement occurs at the long span. The second mode is a
vertical bending mode. The third mode is a second lateral mode. The fourth mode is a
torsional mode along the long span.
The boundary condition is one of the most important factors of dynamic analysis
of this type of bridges because it is difficult to be exactly modeled. If the abutment is
considered as fixed in the finite element model, the first lateral mode is absent. The
structural dynamic behaviors may be different if the finite element model with
fixed-end is used in the further study.
Based on the previous works, the important conclusions can be drawn as the
follows:
1.Numerical methods are feasible to simulate complicated structures like
cables-stayed bridges. The virtue test (numerical simulation) does not only provide
a trend of structural dynamic behaviors but also save laboratory costs.
2.The simulation results and the wind tunnel test results of natural frequencies and
their corresponding mode shapes have an excellent agreement.
3.The dynamic effects of bridge design should no longer be ignored--especially for
long span bridges.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful thanks the financial support to this project from the National
Science Council (Taiwan) under the contract NSC 87-2211-E-145-001.
References
[1] John C. Wilson and Wayne Gravelle, “Modelling of A Cable-Stayed Bridge for
Dynamic Analysis”, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol.20,
pp.707-721, 1991.
[2] Chun-Ho Hua and Yang-Cheng Wang, ”Three-Dimensional Modelling of A
Cable-Stayed Bridge for Dynamic Analysis”, Proceedings of the 14th International
Modal Analysis Conference, Dearborn, MI., USA, SEM, pp.1565-1571, 1996.
[3] T.P. Agrawal, "Cable-Stayed Bridges-Parametric Study", Journal of Bridge
Engineering, Vol.2, No.2, pp.61-67, May 1997.
[4] Y.C. Wang, P.L. Chen and Hung-Shan Shu, “Three-dimensional Modeling of
Kao-Pin Chi Cable-Stayed Bridge for Dynamic Analysis”, Proceedings of the 4th
National Conference on Structural Engineering, Taipei, ROC, September 1998.
[5] S.C. Juang and C.J. Chen, The Report of Kao-Pin Hsi Wind Tunnel Tests, Chinese
Technology, Vol.35, pp.11-24, 1997 (in Chinese).
[6] Andreas S. Vlahinos and Yang-Cheng Wang, “Nonlinear Dynamic of
Cable-Stayed Bridges”, the Proceedings of the 12th International Modal Analysis
Conference, pp.1335, 1341, 1994.
394
DESIGN OF DIFFERENT SUSPENSION BRIDGES
Kulbach V.
395
396
397
398
CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-FREQUENCEY SOUND RADIATED

FROM BOTH STEEL AND CONCRETE GIRDER HIGHWAY BRIDGES
AND REDUCTION MEASURE AGAINST LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND
RADIATED FROM STEEL ONES
Toshiyuki Sugiyama
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Yamanashi University, Takeda 4-3-11,

Kofu, 400-8511, JAPAN
Keywords: Low-frequency sound, Bridge vibration, Sponson beam type bridge
Abstract: Low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and concrete girder highway bridges
that are located on Chuou Express Highway in Japan was measured. And these field-measured
data are compared with the numerically calculated values based on Finite Element Method. The
result shows that the numerically calculated values agree well with the field measured data. It
has been also concluded that significant difference has not been recognized between the
low-frequency sound radiated from steel bridges and that radiated from concrete bridges in case
that surface flatness at the ends of bridge girder is maintained. Furthermore, it has been revealed
that, as one of the countermeasures to reduce the low-frequency sound radiated from steel
girder, the sponson beam type bridge may be effective in case that the evenness on the surface at
the bridge ends is large and travelling velocity of the vehicle is high.
1 INTRODUCTION
As some residents living around one of the highway bridges located on Chuou
Express Highway which connects Tokyo and Nagoya felt uncomfortable, low-frequency
noise radiated from highway bridges became new types of environmental pollution problem
in the middle of 1970's. Taking this opportunity, a number of field measurements of
low-frequency noise were conducted and analysis of obtained data was executed. About the
same time, many theoretical approaches have been attempted in order to make clear the
occurrence mechanism of low-frequency noise and to take measure to reduce it. However,
the complete solution about the reduction of low-frequency noise has not been obtained yet.
Under these circumstances, the author's research group has concluded that the
unevenness on the surface at the bridge ends is one of the important factors that cause
low-frequency noise based on the results of theoretical analysis. However, the appropriateness
399
of its analytical method has not been proved. One of the purposes of this study is to prove the
appropriateness of the analytical method by comparing analytical values of low-frequency
sound with field measured ones.
In case that the appropriateness of analytical method adopted here may be proved, the
second purpose is to conduct numerical analysis of low frequency sound radiated from steel and
concrete girder highway bridges in order to investigate whether significant difference can be
recognized between these two types of bridges. The reason why this investigation is executed is
as follows. That is, although it has been said that the concrete girder bridge may be more
preferable than steel girder one from the point of view of noise problem caused by travelling
vehicles passing over bridge, no one has testified this fact quantitatively yet.
The third purpose of this study is to propose one of the reduction countermeasures against
low-frequency noise. Some kind of reduction countermeasures such as viscous damper,
reinforcement procedure at both girder ends, and so on, have already been proposed and
adopted in practice. However, the effectiveness of each countermeasure has not necessarily
been made clear. As one of the countermeasures to reduce the low-frequency sound radiated
from steel girder highway bridges, the adoption of sponson beam type bridge is proposed here.
The applicability of sponson beam is discussed here based on the numerical analysis, too.
2 FIELD MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATION PROCEDURE OF

LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND
Simply supported composite steel girder bridge with span length of 33.0 meters and
simply supported prestressed concrete girder bridge (this type of bridge is described “PC girder
bridge” hereafter) with 32.9 meter span length are selected as the subject of field measurement.
These two bridges are located on Chuou Express Highway. Low-frequency noise meters are set
up at five points, that is, under the center of bridge, under both copings, 20 meter apart from
coping and 40 meter apart from coping. Low-frequency sound is measured under the condition
that sampling interval is 0.001 second and sampling time is 10 seconds. This operation is
repeated ten times and peak value of sound pressure level corresponding to each frequency is
obtained from the field-measured data.
Calculation procedure of low-frequency sound is as follows; the superstructure is
modeled as one beam and the bridge deck is assumed to be one plate whose vibration mode is
the same as that of steel or concrete beam in theoretical analysis. In this theoretical analysis,
Finite Element Analysis method where numerical integral is executed based on Newmark’s β
method is applied. A vehicle model with two axles and four degrees of freedom is adopted.
Weight and travelling velocity of vehicle passing over bridge, span length of bridge and surface
flatness at both ends of bridge girder are changed parametrically. Sound pressure level is
400
calculated by summing up the sound pressure radiated from the surface of each finite element of
bridge deck. An interference phenomenon of sound can be considered in this calculation
procedure.
3 COMPARISON OF FIELD MEASURED VALUES WITH ANALYTICAL VALUES
Though not shown in figures or tables, the following facts have been obtained from the
field measurement.
1) Peak value of sound pressure level of low-frequency sound radiated from steel girder bridge
is about 4dB greater than that radiated from PC girder bridge. This fact means that sound
radiated from steel bridge is noisier than that from concrete one.
2) Peak value of sound pressure level of low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and PC
girder bridges at the point 20 m apart from coping is about 15 dB lower than that at the point
just under coping.
3) Peak value of sound pressure level of low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and PC
girder bridges at the point 40 m apart from coping is 3～5 dB less than that at the point 20 m
apart from coping and this value is too small to have people feel low-frequency noise
problem.
Next, from the comparison of field measured values with the analytical ones, it has been
found that the numerically calculated values agree well with the field measured data.
4 COMPARISON OF CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND

RADIATED FROM STEEL GIRDER BRIDGE WITH THOSE RADIATED FRON PC
GIRDER BRIDGE
As the appropriateness of analytical method adopted here has been proved, the numerical
analysis of low frequency sound radiated from steel and concrete highway bridges is conducted
in order to investigate whether significant difference can be recognized between these two
types of bridges.
Although the numerical calculation results are not shown in figures or tables here because
of the limitation of the length of abridged paper, the followings have been found.
1) Any significant difference has not been recognized between the low frequency sound
radiated from steel bridges and that radiated from concrete bridges in case that surface
flatness at the both ends of bridge girder is maintained.
2) In case that surface roughness exists at the ends of bridge girder, sound pressure level
radiated from steel bridges is higher than that radiated from concrete ones.
3) Sound pressure level radiated from both steel and PC girder bridges increases as the increase
401
of travelling velocity of vehicle passing over bridge. On the other hand, the weight of
vehicle does not have an influence on the increase of sound pressure level.
5 REDUCTION MEASURE AGAINST LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND RADIATED FROM

STEEL GIRDER BRIDGE
As one of the countermeasures to reduce the low-frequency sound radiated from steel
girder highway bridges, the adoption of sponson beam type bridge is proposed here. The
applicability of sponson beam has been discussed based on the numerical analysis, too. The
reason why the sponson beam type bridge is considered is to diminish the effect of the
unevenness on the surface at bridge ends on the increase of sound pressure level. The sponson
length is assumed to take the value of 1/50, 1/25, and 1/20 of main span length.
The result shows the following facts in this study.
1) If the unevenness on the surface at bridge ends does not exist, sound pressure level radiated
from sponson beam type bridge is approximately the same as that radiated from simply
supported girder bridge. On the other hand, in case that the unevenness exists, the former is
about 5 dB less than the latter.
2) The effectiveness of the adoption of sponson beam type bridge is recognized especially in
the case that the travelling velocity of vehicle passing over bridge is higher.
3) The weight of vehicle does not have an influence on the increase of sound pressure level
even if sponson beam type bridge is adopted.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The characteristics of low-frequency sound radiated from both steel and concrete girder
highway bridges have been investigated. One of the reduction measures against low-frequency
sound radiated from steel girder bridges has been also discussed. As a result, the following
conclusions have been obtained in this study.
1) The numerically calculated values of sound pressure level radiated from both steel and PC
girder bridges agree well with the field measured data.
2) Any significant difference has not been recognized between the low-frequency sound
radiated from steel bridges and that radiated concrete bridges in case that surface flatness at
the ends of bridge girder is maintained.
3) In case that surface roughness exists at the ends of bridge girder, sound pressure level
radiated from steel bridges is higher than that radiated from concrete ones.
4) The sponson beam type bridge may be effective in case that the unevenness on the surface at
bridge ends is large and travelling velocity of vehicle passing over bridge is higher.
402
APPLICATION OF THE SRBA METHOD IN CASE OF STEEL

STRUCTURE EXPOSED TO DYNAMIC LOAD EFFECTS
Pirner M., Marek P.
403
404
405
406
FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH SIMULATION IN ORTHOTROPIC

HIGHWAY BRIDGE DECKS
Kornél Kiss, László Dunai, István Szatmári
Department of Steel Structures, Technical University of Budapest, 1111 Budapest,

Műegyetem rkp. 3, Hungary.
Keywords: Steel Bridges, Orthotropic Deck, Fatigue Analysis, Plate/shell Models, Geometric
Stress Concentrations, Monte Carlo Simulation, Stress Intensity Factor, Crack Propagation.
Abstract: A computerized method for a fracture mechanics based fatigue crack growth simu-
lation is introduced for steel bridges: 1. Stress response of the uncracked structure to Euro-
code fatigue loading is obtained from a FE model. 2. Traffic is simulated by Monte-Carlo
simulation. 3. The range of the stress intensity factor ΔK at the crack tip is obtained from the
geometric stress at the location of the crack tip and current crack length. 4. Using experimen-
tal correlation between ΔK and crack growth rate, crack length is increased in each cycle. The
resulting crack growth curve may be used for fatigue performance analysis. As an illustration,
the FE analysis and crack growth simulation on an existing orthotropic highway bridge deck
is performed. The plate/shell model allows the study of the local stress concentrations due to
the geometry. Crack growth simulation is carried out using “fatigue load model 4” of EC.
1. INTRODUCTION
The fatigue assessment methods used in engineering practice are defined according to
the assumptions and simplifications they make. The two most widely used of these are the
following: Wöhler curves and Miner’s law (linear damage accumulation). Fatigue design me-
thods based on Wöhler curves and Miner’s law have many advantages; most importantly, they
are very convenient and simple to use, and they are recommended by most design codes.
However, they have some drawbacks also. Theoretically, a different empirical Wöhler curve
must be obtained for each individual detail geometry. These curves specify only the total fati-
gue life, so they cannot be used for calculation of remaining life. Miner’s law assumes linear
damage accumulation, but experiments show that fatigue damage accumulation is severely
nonlinear, especially in the low stress range regime.
An alternative method is explained in this paper that eliminates some of the handicaps
of the current methods: Stress concentrations due to local geometry are computed by a com-
plex FE model. Traffic is defined by the type and probability of different standard lorries in
the traffic flow and the number of lorries per year. These characteristics can be adjusted by
changing the Monte Carlo simulation parameters. Pre-existing crack-like discontinuities
around welds causing singularity in the elastic stress field (local plasticity) and fatigue crack
propagation are assumed a priori. Crack growth is computed in a cyclic algorithm based on
the stress intensity factor concept. The method may be used when designing new structures,
or to calculate remaining life of existing structures if the previous load histories are known or
existing cracks are measured. It could be a useful tool for damage tolerant design also. Para-
metric studies of the effect of initial and critical crack length, material properties, traffic, etc.
can be performed. Simulated Wöhler curves can be produced. Of course, it also has disadvan-
407
tages. Constructing a computational model for stress analysis takes some effort. The fracture
mechanics parameters (β factor and crack growth rate data) must be obtained from experi-
ments, handbooks, and/or special FE models. Running the cyclic Monte Carlo simulation re-
quires a strong hardware background.
2. THE FE MODEL OF THE BRIDGE DECK
An existing steel highway bridge over the river Tisza near Polgár was selected for illu-
stration. Actual fatigue cracking has been observed in some regions. As a first step, a
plate/shell finite element model of a section of the orthotropic deck was constructed, includ-
ing the deckplate, the longitudinal trapezoidal ribs, three crossbeams and the upper part of the
main girder webs, as shown on Fig.1. Element density is increased around a rib-to-crossbeam
connection, where a copehole is present. A fatigue crack has been discovered in this location
of the existing bridge, starting at point A and propagating in the indicated direction along the
weld, see Fig. 2.
Fig. 1 The global FE model of the bridge deck
Fig. 2 Mesh density around copehole, direction of crack propagation
408
3. THE LOAD MODEL
“Fatigue Load Model 4” of Eurocode is used here, which is a set of standard lorries
[1]. This load model consists of five standard lorries, and each standard lorry is defined by the
number of axles, axle spacing, equivalent axle load, the wheel contact areas and the transverse
distances between wheels. The percentage of each lorry in the traffic flow is given according
to the traffic type (long distance, medium distance or local traffic). The total number of ve-
hicles per year for a slow lane is specified for each traffic category. For the assessment of
local action effects, a statistical distribution of the transverse location of the vehicles is consi-
dered. (50% centered on the notional lane, 18% at 10 cm’s, 7% at 20 cm’s in either direction.)
4. CRACK GROWTH SIMULATION
4.1 Fracture mechanics background

The stress intensity factor K at the tip of an assumed crack can be obtained with a spe-
cial model of the crack configuration, or by utilizing semi-empirical formulae given by hand-
books [2]. This latter approach was practiced in the present study, and the formula for the
range of the stress intensity factor ΔK was taken from Eq. 1, and the geometric function β(a)
from Eq. 2 (“single edge notched plate”):
ΔK = β(a ) ⋅ Δσ(a ) πa (1)
( w ) + 10.55 ⋅ (a w ) − 21.72 ⋅ (a w ) + 30.39 ⋅ (a w )

β(a ) = 1.12 − 0.231 ⋅ a
2 3 4
(2)
The stress range Δσ is the stress near the crack tip, calculated from the uncracked
model, perpendicular to the future crack faces (mode 1 crack opening), a is the crack length,
and w is the width of the plate, (w=300mm), and N is the number of cycles. Experimental
correlation between ΔK and crack growth rate da/dN can be found in the literature. Most of
these expressions are in the form of the Paris formula [3], Eq. 3.
da = C ⋅ (ΔK ) m (3)
dN
The material properties C and m used in this paper were taken from [4]: C=5.01⋅10-12;
m=3.1.These values are valid when crack growth rate is between 10-9 and 5⋅10-6 m/cycle.
4.2 The cyclic algorithm in practice

A computer program was written to perform the simulation. Before the cyclic compu-
tation, stress response of the structure for the load model is obtained. The 3 types of wheels
(“A”, “B” and “C”) in 5 transverse locations are applied to the FE model, and stress results
are stored in separate files. The program combines this stress data with the vehicle data of the
5 standard lorries (wheel types, axle loads). Input data for the cyclic algorithm are: (a) Initial
crack length a0 and critical crack length acr; (b) The formula for geometric function β(a) (Eq.
2) and ΔK (Eq.3); (c) Material properties C and m, and the formula for crack growth rate (Eq.
3); (d) Statistical distribution of standard lorries pL,i and positions pp,j (probability of lorry i
and position j, ΣpL,i=1 and Σpp,j=1); (e) The stress values in the path of the future crack due to
the standard lorries in each transversal position, Δσi,j(a).
In each cycle, a vehicle i and a transverse location j is simulated by Monte-Carlo simu-
lation using the probability data. ΔK is computed according to Eq. 1 using current crack
409
length a and stress range data Δσi,j(a). (Stress values are stored in files at a=0,1,2...10 mm for
each of the k=1...n axles of the vehicle. Intermediate values are obtained by linear interpola-
tion.) Finally, a crack increment Δa is obtained by integrating Eq. 3, resulting in Eq. 4:
n
(4)
Δa = ∑ C ⋅ ( ΔK k ) m
k =1
If ΔKk is smaller than the threshold value ΔKth, then it will not produce a crack incre-
ment. At the end of each cycle, crack length a is increased by Δa and written to the output
file, and cycle counter N is increased by 1. Simulation is interrupted when crack length reach-
es the critical value acr. The result of an actual simulation is shown on Fig 3. The first graph
shows crack growth in the first 1 million cycles, with slow initial growth rate when the crack
is very short, followed by fast growth in the region of high stress concentration. The second
graph shows subsequent propagation, with a relatively lower rate outside the zone of high
stress concentration, then gradual acceleration caused by increasing crack length.
Fig.3 Simulated crack growth curve
5. CONCLUSIONS
A crack growth simulation method based on finite element analysis and fracture me-
chanics is introduced. The method is illustrated on an existing bridge with observed fatigue
cracking. The resulting crack growth curve (crack length a vs. number of cycles N) may be
used in the future for damage tolerant fatigue analysis.
Acknowledgement
This research is part of the Hungarian-Japanese Scientific and Technological Coopera-
tion; it was supported by project JAP/R-4/96 of OMFB, Hungary and STA, Japan; and OTKA
project T 023378.
References
[1] prENV 1991-3, Eurocode 1, Part 3: Traffic loads on bridges, 1993, pp. 42-49.
[2] Rooke, D.P. and Cartwright, D.J, Compendium of stress intensity factors, HMSO, Lon-
don, UK, 1976.
[3] Paris, P. and Erdogan, F., A critical analysis of crack propagation laws, Trans. Am Soc.
mech. Engrs, J. bas. Engng, pp.528-534, Vol.85, Series D, No.4., December 1963.
[4] Engineering Sciences Data Unit, Item #84003, Fatigue crack propagation rates and thre-
shold stress intensity factors in high alloy and corrosion resistant steel, London, 1984.
410
LABORATORY TESTS OF THE DECK PLATE WELD AT THE

INTERSECTION OF THE TROUGH AND THE CROSS BEAM OF
STEEL ORTHOTROPIC BRIDGE DECKS
Henk Kolstein, Jaap Wardenier

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1,
2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands.
Keywords: Steel Bridges, Orthotropic Decks, Fatigue
Abstract: The welded connection between the longitudinal trough stiffener web, cross beam
web and the deck plate of an orthotropic bridge deck resulted in fatigue cracks on existing
highway bridges in the Netherlands. To obtain information about the stress distribution and
fatigue strength of this welded detail, full-scale laboratory tests have been carried out. The
effect of different sizes of contact surfaces of the loaded area simulating realistic wheel tyres
has been investigated. Based on the obtained fatigue test results, the fatigue design strength of
this particular welded detail has been defined according to the fatigue design rules of
Eurocode 3.
1 INTRODUCTION
It is worldwide known that orthotropic steel bridge structures can suffer severe fatigue
damage. In most cases local cracks can be found easily and be repaired in an early stage
without direct effects on the safety of the whole bridge. However in summer 1997 several
cracks have been found in a 7 years old orthotropic steel deck plate of a heavy loaded Bascule
Bridge in The Netherlands.
The type of crack has not been observed in the past elsewhere in the world and has not
been discerned as a location sensitive to fatigue in e.g. the European design rules. The cracks
grow very fast and could cause a problem for the safety of the traffic. Site measurements on
the bridge as well as laboratory tests have been carried out to obtain information about stress
spectra, stress distributions and fatigue tests.
Based on the results and additional requirements by the government, in the summer of
1998 the orthotropic deck has been replaced completely by a new deck. This experience will
probably influence the design of these decks in Europe and there appears to be a need for
specific inspection equipment to be able to inspect the existing decks of other steel bridges.
2 DESCRIPTION OF THE OBSERVED CRACKS

The cracks initiated at the root of the weld connecting the continuous longitudinal
trough stiffener to the deck plate at the point where also the cross beam has been welded to
the deck plate (see Figure 1). The cracks propagated through the total deck plate and surfacing
and grow in longitudinal direction parallel to the stiffener to deck plate weld. Since the
initiation of the crack was inside the trough no inspection from underneath was possible and
they could also not be observed during regular visual inspection of the steel deck in the past.
Since long adjacent parallel cracks could cause a deep sag of the deck plate strip above
the longitudinal trough, preliminary repairs by grinding and filling the groove by a butt weld
had to be carried out directly.
3 NEED FOR RESEARCH

At that time it was clear that further investigations were urgently needed to obtain
more information about this type of crack and to avoid unacceptable frequent repairs of this
411
bridge. Further it had to be checked if this type of crack could occur or is already present in
other bridges.
Fig. 1 Crack location, initiation and propagation, trough-deck plate-cross beam location
Apart from a study of relevant literature [1], site measurements on the bridge as well
as laboratory tests have been carried out to obtain information about stress spectra, stress
distributions and fatigue strength of this specific detail. Finite element calculations were done
to verify the experimental observations. This paper will concentrate on the laboratory tests
carried out and the resulting design fatigue strength.
4 TEST SET-UP, TEST SPECIMENS AND TEST PROGRAMME

To obtain information about the fatigue strength of the trough stiffener-deck plate-
cross beam connection and the stress distribution of this detail at the top side of the deck
plate, static as well as dynamic laboratory tests have been carried out. The full-scale test
specimens used in this research, consists of a cross beam with eight longitudinal trough
stiffeners 6 mm thick. The plate thickness of the deck plate amounts 12 mm and of the cross
beam 10 mm.
The full scale experiments were needed, as realistic loading had to be applied on the
test specimen. As shown in Figure 2 the actuator load has been distributed over two loading
areas, simulating two wheel tyres on the test specimen. The load on each area has been
measured using calibrated load cells. In this way the behavior of four welded connections
could be studied at the same time.
Fig. 2 Test set-up, test specimen and local wheel loading
412
The static tests have been carried out using five different sizes of the loading area
simulating different wheel types a shown in Figure 2. The fatigue tests have been carried out
using the loading area with a width of 270 mm and a length of 320 mm representing a “super
single wheel tyre”. In all tests the centre line of the load has been positioned above the cross
beam respectively a longitudinal trough.
5 STATIC TEST RESULTS

The measured stress distributions at the trough-deck plate-cross beam connection are
shown in Figure 3a. The surface stress for Test-10, 12, 13 and 14 amounts 0,815 – 0.9
N/mm2. For Test 11 the surface stress amounts 0,755 N/mm2. In Figure 3b the surface stress
for all test has been normalized for 1.0 N/mm2. From both figures it can be seen that Test 11
with a relative short length of the loaded area (160 mm against 250 and/or 320 mm) results in
the lowest stresses.
The laboratory tests had to be integrated with site measurements on the Van
Brienenoord Bridge. Therefore a Stress Range Factor (SRF) has been calculated using the
measured stress distributions on the laboratory specimens. In the analysis the Stress Range
Factor has been defined as the quotient of the measured maximum stress and the measured
stress 25 mm from the weld root (see Figure 3a). The mean value of the SRF of 13 test results
amounts 3,26. The maximum value was 4.07 and the minimum value was 2.90.
Fig. 3 Stress distribution and typical fatigue crack of the welded detail
6 FATIGUE TEST RESULTS

With respect to the number of cycles, several stages in fatigue failure have been
considered as this type of crack initiates inside the connection and will grow for a while until
it will be discovered visually (see Figure 3c). Depending on the definition of the number of
cycles, the data has been grouped and regression analyses using a fixed slope of –3 have been
applied on the data.
The stress ranges in these analyses are comparable to the extrapolated stress at the
weld root using measured stresses at a distance of 0.4 times and 1.4 times the thickness of the
deck plate (see Figure 3a).
413
Table 2 shows the results of the regression analyses and the resulting fatigue
classifications based on the mean-line minus two times the standard deviation (Si-2sd) at 2
million cycles. As the number of test results is small the fatigue design classifications are also
given for the mean-line divided by a factor 1.45 (Si/1.45) which is the scatter band if enough
reliable data is available.
Table 2 Fatigue classifications according to Eurocode 3 [3]

FAILURE REGRESSION DETAIL CATEGORIE )Φc
MODE ANALYSIS*) Si Si-2sd Si/1.45
STRAIN FALL OF 10% Si=21630Ni-0.33
180 130 124
(7 results) Si-2sd=15595Ni-0.33
STRAIN FALL OF 25% Si=25663Ni-0.33

214 181 148
FIRST VISUAL CRACK Si=26661NI-0.33

222 172 153
Si=28634NI-0.33
CRACK LENGTH ~50mm
239 171 165
(3 results)
Si-2sd=20518Ni-0.33
*) Si = extrapolated stress range (0.4mm and 1.4 mm times plate thickness from weld root)
sd = standard deviation
7 CONCLUSIONS
With respect to number of test results, the type of crack and their repair possibilities a
fatigue design classification of EC 124 is advisable. The stress to be used is the extrapolated
stress at the weld root using the measured or calculated stresses at a distance of 0.4 times and
1.4 times the thickness of the deck plate.
The number of test results for a statistical analysis is relative small. Additional tests to
obtain more data points are recommended.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank the Civil Engineering Division of the Ministry of Transport
and Public Works and Water management for their permission to publish this paper.
References
[1] Kolstein, M.H., Wardenier, J., Van der Weijde, H.: A New Type of Fatigue Failures in
Steel Orthotropic Bridge Decks, In Proc Fifth Pacific Structural Steel Conference, Seoul,
Korea, October 13-16, 1998, p.483-488, ISBN 89-950031-6-2.
[2] Kolstein, M.H.: Laboratory Tests Orthotropic Deck Bascule bridge Van Brienenoord,
Stevin Report 6-98-15, Stevin II Laboratory, Section SH, Faculty of Civil Engineering and
Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 1999.
[3] Draft prEN 1993-1-9 : 2000, Eurocode 3 : Design of steel structures, Part 1.9 : Fatigue
strength of steel structures, European Committee for Standardisation, Brussels, February
1999.
414
MODELLING OF BRIDGE DECKS INCLUDING CROSS SECTION

DISTORSION USING SIMPLIFIED SPATIAL BEAM METHODS
Unterweger H.
415
416
417
418
RESULTS OF A PARAMETRIC STUDY OF STEEL BEAMS UNDER

AXIAL COMPRESSION AND BIAXIAL BENDING – COMPARISONS
WITH CODE REGULATIONS
Ofner R.
419
420
421
422
EFFECT OF INSPECTION ON THE EXISTING STEEL BRIDGE

RELIABILITY
423
424
425
426
STUDY ON CHARACTERISTICS OF SEISMIC-ISOLATED DEVICES AND DAMPERS IN

PIERS FOR BRIDGES
Takayuki Nishido, Kenji Tanaka

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. 19-10, Mohri 1-chome, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Keywords : Bridge, Dynamic Non-liner Analysis, Damper, Seismic Isolated-device
Abstract : The effect of seismic-isolated devices at supports and dampers in piers are verified by
non-liner dynamic analysis. Dampers are always effective and reduce response values about 20% in any
structural types. LRB are effective for high piers if design conditions is satisfied.
1 INTRODUCTION
It is widely known seismic-isolation devices at supports in bridges are effective for earthquakes.
The devices make bridge's period long by isolators and girder displacements reduced by absorbing its
energy. When piers are high, the devices may not be effective because the stiffness of the piers is
relatively small. A bridge has no supports and is connected with piers directly to reduce damages by
earthquakes recently. The authors have proposed dampers in piers that are consist of four steel tubes tied
by braces with dampers. The high piers with the dampers are effective for earthquakes, but low piers
may not be effective because of their large stiffness.
Therefore, there is limitation for the seismic-isolated devices and the dampers. The effect of
seismic-isolated devices at supports and dampers in piers are verified by non-liner dynamic analysis
with some parameters, e.g. the heights of piers.
2 ANALYTICAL CONDITIONS
The model bridges are shown in Fig.1. Piers are two types, same heights (Type S) and different
heights (Type D). The ratio between high and low piers is about 0.7 at Type D. A pier consists of four
steel tubes that are tied by horizontal and diagonal members. Steel tubes have the characteristics of
non-liner (bi-liner) in Fig.2. Spread foundations with three-direction springs, Kh=0.5x108N/m,
Kv=2.0x108N/m, Krot=8.0x108Nm/rad are considered. Table 1 shows the properties of members. The
ground is Type II that is diluvial or alluvial soil layer [1]. Non-liner dynamic Analysis is used for the
two-dimensional models. A seismic wave in Fig.3 that was measured at Hanshin earthquake is used.
3 EFFECT OF DAMPER
The authors consider high-damper rubber that absorbs energy according to shear deformation.
Diagonal and horizontal members have two channel steels and the rubber is put between them as
dampers. The damping constant of the rubber is assumed 0.3 because it is almost same irrespective of
amplitudes and frequencies [2]. Deciding where the dampers are placed, the effect is checked by four
models on Type S and pier height 30m with one span as follows: (1) No damper model (C0), (2)
Dampers are set the upper half number of diagonal members (C1). (3) The under half number of
diagonal members (C2). (4) All diagonal members (C3). (5) All horizontal and diagonal members (C4).
427
l=50m
h=10,20,30m
S Type
l=50m
2.5
2.5 h1 h2
1.8
h1=7.5,15,20m
h2=10,20,30m
D Type
Fig.1 Model bridges for parametric analysis
Mm 800
600
acceleration (gal)
400
My 200
0
-200 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
-400 (sec)
-600
φy φy0 φm -800
Fig.3 Seismic wave
Fig.2 Bi-linear model for steel tubes
Table 1 Properties of Members

Area (m2) Inertia (m4) Self weight (N/m) Damping factors
Girder 0.205 0.332 717 0.05
Tube 0.1006 0.01256 79.0 0.05
Horizontal members 0.050 0.000131 19.4 No damper 0.05
Diagonal members 0.029 0 11.4 No damper 0.05
Footing 1x104 1x104 17778 0.20
Fig.4 and 5 shows the reduction rate of the displacement at the girders and the moment at the foot
of the steel tubes on the left piers of each model. The reduction rate is maximum when the dampers are
set in all diagonal and horizontal members, but the effect is not much in compare with the number of the
dampers. Therefore the suitable type of the dampers is C3 because it is reasonable both effect and cost.
4 PROPERTIES OF SEISMIC-ISOLATED DEVICES

Laminated rubber bearings having lead plugs within them (LRB) are used as seismic-isolated
devices here. The properties of LRB sensitively change the thickness of rubber and the area of the lead.
The frequencies of structures with them become half of no LRB structures if they are used [1].
428
1.05 1.05
1.00 1.00
Displacement
0.95 0.95
Moment
0.90 0.90
0.85 0.85
0.80 0.80
0.75 0.75
C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C0 C1 C2 C3 C4
Fig.4 Reduction rate of displacement Fig.5 Reduction rate of moment
The LRB are modeled as bi-linear as shown in Fig.6 and the damper constants are changed
according to the rate between the areas of rubber and lead. Table 2 shows the frequencies of Type S
both no LRB models and LRB models. The spring constants K1 and K2 in the middle piers at 2LS and
3LS are shown in the table. The symbol “3LS20” is 3 piers, LRB and same pier height 20m. The
frequencies of LS models do no change irrespective of the rubber thickness.
Table 2 Properties of LRB
K2 Frequency K1 K2
F1
No LRB (Hz) LRB (Hz) ratio (N/m) (N/m)
1LS10 3.026 1.133 0.374 105110 16170
u 1LS20 2.833 1.181 0.417 328450 50530
K1 1LS30 2.789 1.212 0.434 288000 44310
2LS10 1.964 0.942 0.480 84080 12940
2LS20 1.767 0.886 0.502 226520 34850
2LS30 1.714 0.857 0.500 169410 26060
3LS10 1.228 0.742 0.605 52550 8090
Fig.6 Bi-linear model for LRB 3LS20 1.099 0.682 0.620 164230 25270
3LS30 1.069 0.694 0.650 144000 22150
5 RESULTS AND OBSERVATION

The parametric analysis has done for the structures of Fig.1. The results for three continuous span
models are shown in Fig.7 and 8. The subjects are the left piers at the one span models, the middle piers
at the two span models, and the second from the left piers at three span models in Fig.1. The symbol
“Original” has no dampers and LRB. The reduction rates on displacements, accelerations and moments
are almost 0.8 in any conditions as shown when the dampers are used. Therefore, the dampers have
stable effect for earthquake. The symbol “3DD30” is 3 piers, dampers and different pier height 30m.
The rates of the displacements on 3LS10 and 3LD10 are especially large, but the values are small
– 3cm at tops and 16cm at girders. The maximum displacement at the girder is 52cm at 3LS30. As the
allowable shear strain is 250%, there are no problems to use the LRB for high piers. The reduction rates
of the accelerations on the LRB are smaller than the dampers except 3LS10 and 3LD10.
The LRB are effective except the moment on 3LS10. If frequencies can be less than half of
original models’ ones and the displacements of the girder can be within allowable values, the LRB have
no limitations for high piers.
429
10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m

1.25 1.25 1.50
1.00 1.00 1.25
1.00
0.75 0.75 0.75
0.50 0.50 0.50
0.25 0.25 0.25
0.00 0.00 0.00
Original Damper LRB Original Damper LRB Original Damp er LRB
Displacement Top of pier Acceleration Top of p ier M oment Foot of steel tube
10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m

8.00 1.25
6.00 1.00
0.75
4.00 0.50
2.00 0.25
0.00 0.00
Original Damper LRB Original Damp er LRB
Disp lacement Girder Acceleration Girder
Fig.7 Reduction rate on same height piers 3DS and 3LS models
10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m

1.25 1.25
2.00 1.00
1.50 1.00
0.75 0.75
1.00 0.50 0.50
0.50 0.25 0.25
0.00 0.00 0.00
Original Damper LRB Original Damper LRB
Original Damp er LRB
Moment Foot of steel tube
Displacement Top of girder Acceleration Top of pier
10m 20m 30m 10m 20m 30m

10.00 1.25
7.50 1.00
0.75
5.00 0.50
2.50 0.25
0.00 0.00
Original Damper LRB Original Damper LRB
Displacement Girder Acceleration Girder
Fig.8 Reduction rate on deferent piers 3DD and 3LD models
6 CONCLUSION
(1) Putting dampers in all diagonal members is suitable.
(2) The dampers are always effective and reduce response values about 20% in any structural types.
(3) The LRB can reduce accelerations more than the dampers
(4) If design conditions are satisfied, the LRB are effective for high piers
References
[1] Specifications for Highway Bridges, Part Ⅴ: Seismic Design, 1996.
[2] Y.Nakamura, Y.Kitada, S.Mase : Dynamic Loading Tests and Hysteric Modeling of Damper with
High-damping Rubber, Steel Construction Engineering, Vol.5 No.20, pp27-34, Dec., 1998.
430
LOAD DEFLECTION AND DYNAMIC NUMERICAL-EXPERIMENTAL

ANALYSIS OF THE REPAIRED STEEL RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE
RIVER SAVA BY BRCKO IN SERBIAN REPUBLIC IN BOSNA
431
432
433
434
TEMPORARY REPAIR OF THE DAMAGED RAILWAY BRIDGE

ACROSS THE RIVER SAVA AND DESIGNING A NEW ONE
ACCORDING TO THE PRENORM EUROCODE
435
436
437
438
BRIDGE FOR PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS ACROSS THE RIVER

DRAVA AT PTUJ
439
440
441
442
AN OLD STEEL BRIDGE BACK TO SERVICE (THE NEW TISZA

BRIDGE AT CIGÁND)
István Szatmári
Department of Steel Structures, TU Budapest, H-1521. Budapest, POB. 91, Hungary
Keywords: Steel bridge, refurbishment, erection
Abstract: This article discusses an old bridge's replacement, transportation to a new location,
refurbishment and its entering into new service life. Problems connected to the bridge's on-
water transportation and employed solutions are highlighted.
1 INTRODUCTION
In 1992 authorities decided to have a new bridge built over the river Tisza outside
Cigánd village to improve the road traffic of North Hungary.
Based on hydrologic requirements the new bridge was to have at least 2x100m free
gap over the bed and the flood construction that of 300 m altogether.
Polgár town is situated approximately 100 kilometres from the above mentioned area
downstream the river Tisza . Being unable to comply with requests of the increased traffic the
Tisza bridge at Polgár built in 1941 was replaced by a new construction in 1989. As the gap
proportion of the above bridge (2 x 106.00 m) met the specifications of the bridge of Cigánd
and is expected to fulfil the future traffic needs for a long time, the idea of using the old
Polgár bridge out of function but still in good technical condition for bed construction of the
new bridge to build in the new area emerged.
The feasibility study of the idea above was made by the Steel Construction Department of the
Technical University of Budapest.
The most important statements of the study are as follows:
- after some reinforcement and building new reinforced concrete deck the steel
construction will be able to fulfil the functional requirements,
- the re-usage of the construction can be economic only if transported to the new site
in very large pieces, taken to maximum 2-4 units,
- the only proper conveyance by water meeting the requirements is impeded by two
serious obstacles: the Tszalök barrage as well as the inadequate height under the
bridges near Tokaj, therefore the success of planned conveyance depends on the
solution of the above issues.
Based on the study the planning and construction work started on the site in May 1993
and finished on 25 November 1994 when inaugurating the bridge.
Details of the above work are described in the article below.
2. BED STRUCTURE OF THE OLD TISZA BRIDGE IN POLGÁR

The bridge consists of two main girders, they are warren truss with parallel flange
without a column, having a two-span continuous truss of 2 x 106.00 m. The rigidity of the
construction was supported by firm frames formed along the diagonal web members and
adjacent rhomboid wind bracing at the top. The steel construction is riveted. The main
girders have a height of 10.38 m, the axial distance of the two girders is 7.95 m. The total
weight of the iron construction is 815 tons.
443
After a three-year service the bridge was blown up in autumn 1944.

In 1948-49 it was re-built on the basis of the original plans. The construction was
given new reinforced concrete road with a concrete layer without asphalt.
In 1989 the bridge was put out of use after a 40-year service. Due to serious damages
in reinforced concrete traffic had to be limited to one lane which caused traffic jam.
The possibility to close the bridge was given as, in addition to the existing one, a new
superstructure could be built on the underframe originally made to support two bridges at a
considerably low price. After inaugurating the new bridge in 1989 the old one became
unnecessary, although it needed proper maintenance until its demolition, therefore urgent
decision on its future had to be made.
3. PREPARATIONS FOR RE-USAGE
After the idea of re-usage had emerged, the steel construction becoming unnecessary
due to inauguration of the new Tisza bridge in Polgár was examined by the Department of
Steel Structures of Technical University Budapest in 1991.
The expert survey included the examination of steel construction and reinforced
concrete deck as well as all belongings (expansion, bearings and railings). The most
important conclusions of the examination were as follows:
- the steel constructions are in better condition than expected, no serious corrosion
damage effecting loading capacity can be found;
- the cast steel bearings and railings are in good condition, but the old expansion
devices cannot be used any longer;
- due to diameter decrease caused by salting and resulting changes on the road surface
the reinforced concrete deck is useless and is to be demolished.
The re-usage plan was made on a preliminary examination basis. The most important
principles were the following:
- after demolishing the reinforced concrete deck the steel construction has to be pulled
down in two parts of approximately the same size;
- the 106 m long, 9.0 m wide, 10.5 m high and 410 tons bridge pieces have to be
removed as a whole and shipped to their new place by water and erected
there;
- after mating them new reinforced concrete deck suitable for to the common work is
to built.
To carry out the work detailed above four plan packages which could be realised
separately were made:
- demolishing plan,
- plan to build the new structure,
- disassembling and assembling plan,
- shipping plan.
4. CONSTRUCTION WORK IN POLGÁR

Due to the relatively short implementation time some of the work needed to achieve
the final stage of construction had to be carried out on the spot of the old construction in
Polgár in advance. Therefore in autumn 1993, as soon as the work had started, stiffening of
steel constructions (such as web members, top wind bracings and brake supports) was
completed.
It was a special task to disassemble the bridge construction into two pieces.
Considering shipping and assembling aspects we decided to separate the construction
into two symmetrical parts by cutting it above the middle support. However, the joint above
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bearing could not be cut exactly along the symmetrical axis, owing to the very complicated
structure of splicing and cross-beam joint. Therefore the whole joint and cross-beam
remained on the right bank construction and the left bank was given new temporary cross-
beam, so as to protect the construction with temporary support at the same time.
Having implemented the temporary cross-beam the statical state required for the
beam with double support was provided by lifting up one end of the bridge with 350 mm, in
this position the middle top chord could be cut first, then - using hydraulic press - after setting
in the calculated effect expected on temporary support the lower chord , and finally the
diagonal were cut.
5. LIFTING THE CONSTRUCTION OFF

The equipment is fixed on two barks of 800 tons each, the total load-carrying capacity
is 800 tons and the maximum lifting height is approximately 13 meters. Lifting is performed
on 8 special columns with the help of 4 pairs of lifting beams. The beams consist of two
parts: an outer and an internal beam, each moved by two hydraulic jacks of 1000 kN capacity
with 200 mm stroke. The beams can be moved up- and downwards with the help of studs
inserted in the holes on guide columns at every 175 mm distance.
The 4 guide columns and their bracings on one bark themselves represent load-
carrying rigid stand, however, round the longitudinal axis of the bark a flexible hinge with
rigidity that can be calculated precisely.
During lifting process the 4 hydraulic jacks together form a hinge, in this way the
whole system may become unstable. To avoid the above it was necessary to tie up the two
barks with properly calibrated tie-beams. These tie-beams were calibrated in accordance with
the permissible error occuring in setting the reaction force (approximately 10 %), which is
only a little part of the theoretically possible error. The computerised control system allowed
to follow all the important stresses in any arbitrary combinations and to make corrections in
due time when needed.
In the middle of March 1994 the left-bank structure was removed, sunk and placed on
a 1600 tons bark to be shipped. The right-bank structure was removed in the middle of May
at a considerably higher water-level than previously expected. It had a fairly preferable
consequence for us: due to wider water surface the bridge structure had to be moved only one
nod distance in longitudinal direction in order to get the floating unit in the position planned
for lifting the bridge structure off.
6. TRANSPORTING THE STRUCTURE (SHIPPING)

Transportation by water meant an approximately 100 km shipping upstream and two
obstacles which were difficult to surmount. The first difficulty was the transshipment through
Tiszalök barrage, the second one was navigation under the highway and railway bridges in
Tokaj.
The bridge structure was situated above the 1600 tons bark deck at a height to have 3
metres between the lower edge of the structure and the water surface. Consequently, in case
of maximum 2.5 m water-level difference between the river trail can sail in the sluice with the
bridge structure lap over the closed sluice gate.
In case of both transshipments the river Tisza had enough water discharge and the
actual water level difference in both cases was approximately 2.00 metres.
As a result of the above both bridge parts were parking in Tiszalök by the end of May
1994.
At Tiszalök the shipment was reloaded onto an other floating unit, so that the transit
under the Tokaj bridges could be ensured. At that point the clearance height is much smaller
(approx. 9.00 m) than the height of the shipment (which is approx. 11.00 m).
445
The solution of solving this problem was to ship the bridge structure partly sunk in
water, because the height difference between the highest point of river bed and the lower edge
of highway bridge is 14 m that is surely enough.
For sinking the bridge structure into water a special swimming unit was planned and
constructed, where the front of the bridge is embedded by 2 pieces of 800 tons bark situated
on the sides, the rear is encased by two self-propelled river trails of 411 tons each, and the
bridge is suspended on a bent cross beam-between these ships.
Shipping of the bridge structure was usually done by shipping construction emerged
out of water, it was sunk into water approx. 2.0 - 2.2 m deep right before approaching the
Tokaj railway bridge, and after leaving the highway bridge it was emerged above the water
surface again.
The loading was shipped to Cigánd in this way.
7. ERECTING THE BRIDGE STRUCTURE IN CIGÁND

Owing to the river bed conditions in Cigánd the right-bank piece had to be erected
first. The mainstream of mean water level is in the left-bank bay, and the width of water
surface is close to the length of bay (similar to the situation in Polgár).
However, in case of mean water level the water surface in the right bay is only 35-40
meters, which needed longitudinal movement when erecting the right-bank piece. To make
that longitudinal movement possible a temporary support with 12 m rolling track was built.
Luckily enough the narrow water surface was accompanied by sufficient depth,
therefore the 40 m width could be utilised. In the best interest of fairly simple work - after
repeated calculations - it was decided to decrease the original 20 m distance between the 2
lifting equipments down to 10 m, so the construction consisting of two ships could go into the
right-bank bay. The length of console outstanding in the direction of the bank increased 4 nod
distances up to 42.4 m. This change was worrying first of all not because of horizontal
bending moment, but due to the increased effect of force of inertia originating from horizontal
movement of the floating unit put more stress on lifting equipment. With the help of lifting
equipment the bridge piece was put on the bed pillar and temporary support in the way that
two nod-distance longitudinal movement was necessary to achieve the final position.
8. ASSEMBLING THE BRIDGE

When erecting the left-bank piece the two parts of the bridge could be joined with the
help of slight movements of the floating units, so that enough bolts and pins could be applied.
Following that the lifting equipment released the left bank piece. To mate the two halves of
the bridge HS strap joint was planned.
In the interest of simple assembling the members to mate were given new V-type joint,
in which non-frictional HS bolted joints were applied.
446
LAUNCHING STEEL BRIDGES ON THE PERIPHERAL MOTORWAY

AROUND ANKARA IN TURKEY
Vadim Seliverstov, Oleg Tchemerynski,

Giprotransmost J.S.Co, Pavla Kortchagina str. 2, 129278 Moscow, Russian Federation
Vyacheslav Klimov,
Mostostroy, Sadovaya-Spasskaya 21, Moscow 107217, Russian Federation
Keywords: Steel Superstructures, Launching, Bridges, Design Codes, Locking, Jacking System,
Sliding Device
Abstract: The three new steel bridges with orthotropic deck have recently been constructed on the
Peripheral Motorway around the Ankara city in Turkey. Two bridges cross the Cubuk and Bayindir
reservoirs with a main span of 147 m and one bridge crosses the Karatas valley with a main span of
105 m. The bridges provide four traffic lanes in each direction. This paper describes the erection of
the Cubuk, Bayindir and Karatas bridges which are 300, 400 and 600 m long respectively. These
bridges were erected by the method of incremental launching. Specific features of the Russian
launching practice are presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Cubuk and Bayindir water reservoirs, and Karatas valley had to be bridged. The
AASHTO standard was accepted as a basis for the entire motorway project. Considering this unique
bridge project, as well as usage of Russian steel profiles and plates produced at the rolling mills, the
design of superstructure was based on the use of Russian codes and standards, whilst the substruc-
ture was designed in accordance with the AASHTO. To tie in design requirements for these
bridges, design criteria were elaborated.
The traffic loading is to the AASHTO standard as amended by the Client’s special loading
criteria. The design wind speed was 45 m/s. The thermal range to be accommodated is from –10 to
+40°C. Seismic loading is in accordance with AASHTO-SDHB recommendations with modifica-
tions for local conditions. The bridges have to resist seismic forces corresponding to a ground acce-
leration of 0.12g. More details on design of these bridges including the selection of structural forms
are provided in [1].
To meet the tight construction schedule, the design of steel superstructures was tied as much
as possible to the existing technology of steel highway superstructure construction in Russia, which
is based on modularization of orthotropic deck panels and superstructure main girder segments. The
web panels are normally fabricated in 21 m long segments. Deck plates and bottom plates are pro-
duced in 10.5 m lengths.
Of particular interest is the erection of superstructures. For the Cubuk and Bayindir bridges
the completed sections were launched from each side of the reservoirs and locked in the middle of
the central span. For the Karatas bridge the superstructure was launched from one side using a nose.
No temporary piers were used for superstructure erection.
2 LAUNCHING TECHNIQUE FEATURES

Steel structures were fabricated at specialised shops in Russia and Ukraine and transported
by rail and sea to one of the Turkish ports. These fabricated elements were then delivered to the
construction sites by heavy trucks of up to 30 t capacity.
447
The steel superstructure is preassembled with shop fabricated elements on special jig sup-
ports in the area behind the abutments in line of the bridge. Gantry cranes were used for the assem-
bly works. After assembling the segments sequentially the structure is launched out into the spans.
In the Russian construction practice the generally accepted method of launching a bridge
deck over piers utilises temporary sliding and pushing devices. Sliding devices are placed on top of
temporary and permanent piers and consist of a welded beam positioned on a hinged bearing, elas-
tomeric bearings, polished or chromed stainless steel sheet. Plywood pads sheathed with an antifric-
tion material are inserted between the sliding device and the bottom flange of superstructure. De-
pending on the magnitude of support reactions no hinged bearing may be needed for the sliding de-
vice.
The main components of pushing device are jacks and clamps. Each clamp comprises a set
of steel plates connected by a cross member and gripping the bottom flange outstand. The jacks for
clamping the flange outstand and clamp release are installed on the outer side of these clamps.
3 ERECTION DESIGN PRACTICE

The current design criteria for temporary works in bridge construction is set forth in the
Guidelines BCH 136-78 [2]. These guidelines have a status of departmental building norms and
were developed mainly in addition to the Bridge code [3] and also some other codes related to
bridge construction. The BCH 136-78 specifies load and overload coefficients, working condition
factors to be used in the design. Meanwhile the overload coefficients and working conditions fac-
tors have a lower value compared to that of permanent structures.
The launching process is analysed according to the in-house developed computer program.
The program, which combined the start geometry with the deflections calculated, provides a suc-
cessive static computation of the superstructure continuous girder for each launching stage. A multi
step, stage by stage superstructure erection was considered in the design and stress history was
checked at critical construction stages.
When site splice kinks pass over the sliding devices, a non-uniform transmission of pressure
on webs occurs. The interaction between superstructure and sliding device is analysed by computer
program.
When superstructure is launched from two banks, the closure joint in the centre of the span
is required. To determine the contour displacements at the levels of the top and bottom flanges of
the superstructure, a special analysis is conducted. A value of profile adjustment in the superstruc-
ture, longitudinal displacements of the diaphragms at the piers and other points of the contour, in-
fluence of solar radiation on the stresses in the sections and on the superstructure profile may be
obtained from this program.
4 THE CUBUK BRIDGE

The Cubuk bridge is a continuous three-span structure. The side spans are each 73.0 m and
the main span 147 m. The superstructure comprises twin steel box girders permanent in depth, be-
ing 3.66 m, and 3.55 m wide. Cross bracings between the boxes provide a transverse stiffness of the
superstructure. For overpier and abutment sections, diaphragms inside the boxes and twin plane of
cross bracings between the boxes are provided.
A half length superstructure was assembled at each side of the reservoir. Launching was
conducted from two sides (Fig. 1). To eliminate deflection at the moment of reaching the interme-
diate pier, the end of superstructure was jacked down. A counterweight of 170 t was placed over the
superstructure ends. For the purpose of locking in the central span, special temporary elements were
attached to the superstructure front section.
The differential temperature between top and bottom flanges was an important considera-
tion. Temperature measurements were made at various superstructure points during few days. The
difference in temperature of 26°C was obtained from these measurements. Based on observations of
448
design and actual data it was found appropriate to lock the superstructure at differential temperature
of 8°C within the steel contour.
By superstructure position adjustment economies in the design were achieved. The deck was
jacked up about 2-3 m at both abutments after launching. This resulted in a redistribution of the
bending moments. The locking operation was started with marking of a cutting line for oversize of
the bottom plates. To combine superstructure contours, temperature fixtures were installed in the
lock. A special sequence of welding for the elements in the lock was elaborated. When welding
works were completed, the counterweight was removed from the superstructure ends. Then the su-
perstructure was jacked down at the abutments. The sliding devices at intermediate piers were dis-
mantled, and the superstructure turned to a 2% crossfall by small increments.
Fig. 1 Launching of Cubuk bridge
5 THE BAYINDIR BRIDGE

The Bayindir bridge is a continuous five-span structure with a span arrangement of
52.5х73.5х147х73.5х52.5 m. The superstructure cross section is similar to that previously de-
scribed for the Cubuk bridge. The superstructure was launched from two sides of the reservoir.
Erection procedure was similar to that of the Cubuk bridge except for locking operations which
were more complicated. Two temporary joints were arranged in the superstructure at a distance of
3.15 m from intermediate piers adjacent to south and north abutments. These temporary joints allow
for superstructure position adjustment.
To adjust superstructure position at temporary joints location, special devices were devel-
oped. This device included two jacks, manometers and rulers. When the superstructure halves were
launched into their final position, the temporary joints were disconnected. Based on observations of
temperature measurements it was found appropriate to lock the central span when temperature dif-
ference between top and bottom flanges was 4°C. In principle the sequence of locking operations in
the central span was similar to those of the Cubuk bridge.
449
6 THE KARATAS BRIDGE

A span arrangement for the Karatas bridge is 84х(4х105)х84 m. The superstructure configu-
ration differs from the other two bridges. It comprises twin narrow steel box girders of the same
depth but 1.98 m wide.
Launching of the superstructure was implemented from one side. A 21 m launching nose
was adopted (Fig 2). Also to reduce stresses in the superstructure during erection, some orthotropic
deck plates were not installed. A special attention was paid for erection sequence of the last
orthotropic deck deck plates at launching completion. When superstructure reached its final posi-
tion, a counterweight of 20 t was placed over the nose. Then orthotropic deck sections were in-
stalled.
7 CONCLUSION
The erection of the Cubuk, Bayindir and Karatas bridges was completed in 1996, 1997,
1998 respectively. The bridges were opened to traffic along with the relevant sections of the mo-
torway. A thorough review of each erection stage in the design, evaluation of influence of erection
method on the permanent structures ensured safety of construction and reliable structural behaviour
of bridge elements.
Fig. 2 Launching using a nose
References
[1] Popov O.A., V.A. Seliverstov, “Steel Bridges on Ankara’s Peripheral Motorway”, Structural
Engineering International, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1998, pp. 205-210.
[2] BCH 136-78 (Departmental Building Norms) “Guidelines to design of temporary structures and
devices for construction of bridges, Mintransstroy, Moscow, 1978, amended 1984, 300 pp (in Rus-
sian)
[3] CНиП 2.05.03-84* (Building Norms and Regulations), “Bridges and Culverts”, Minstroy of
Russia, 1996, 214 pp (in Russian).
450
DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURAL FORMS AND ANALYSIS OF STEEL

BOX GIRDERS WITH INCLINED WEBS FOR OPERATION AND
ERECTION CONDITIONS.
Vladimir Surovtsev, Serge Pimenov, Vadim Seliverstov, Serge Iourkine

Giprotransmost J.S.Co, Pavla Kortchagina str. 2, 129278 Moscow, Russian Federation
Keywords: Steel Superstructures, Launching, Bridges, Launching Nose, Finite Elements, Strength
Analysis, Stability Analysis
Abstract: This paper deals with the Russian practice of bridge construction of steel box superstruc-
tures with inclined webs. The new steel bridge in a tight area of the Moscow City has recently been
built. To assess the behaviour of superstructure with non-symmetric cross section for erection and
service conditions, finite element analysis has been performed. The results of this analysis are dis-
cussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the typical Russian practice technology of steel highway bridge construction is based on
the use of segments prefabricated in a shop. The existing designs of steel superstructures with
orthotropic deck are normally based on the use of vertical webs for the box girders. These designs
cover a typical span range of 42 – 147 m. Construction of bridges in the tight urban areas of Mos-
cow have required the development of structural forms for the steel bridges.
The long term development plan for road infrastructure in Moscow evolves construction of
the internal ring road. This road is named as the Third Ring road. In this connection the need for
new bridges and overbridges has arisen. One of the first steps towards implementation of the pro-
gramme is the construction of Berezhkovsky bridge over the Moskva river [1].
Based on the results of feasibility study, architectural requirements and specifics of tight urban
spaces, a continuous steel superstructure for the Berezhkovsky bridge has been chosen. A span ar-
rangement is 110+144.5+110 m (Fig 1). The bridge cross section had to accommodate dual car-
riageway, single pedestrian footway and carry service cables. This resulted in elaboration of asym-
metric superstructure cross sections that are similar: 7.98m wide at the bottom for both carriage-
ways, and 20.7m and 17.6 m at the top for left and right carriageways respectively. The bridge pro-
vides four traffic lanes in each direction. The traffic loading is to specified A14 class of highway
live loading. Specifics of superstructure configuration are inclined webs, relatively large transverse
span
Fig. 1 General view of Berezhkovsky bridge
451
of top deck, asymmetric cantilevers of deck (Fig. 2). Specifics of erection procedure are incre-
mental launching of superstructure having inclined webs and asymmetric cross section, and a nose
designed with inclined webs. The launching of superstructure with inclined webs and asymmetric
contour is implemented in Russia for the first time. The Berezhkovsky bridge was opened to traffic
in October 1998.
Fig. 2 Superstructure cross section
2 METHODOLOGY AND SOFTWARE

A strength and general stability of bridge structure at erection and service stage were deter-
mined in accordance with the current standards [2] by traditional methods using 2D beam schemes
which allow to perform the specified checks for reliability of structure behaviour under force and
deformation factors. Numerical analyses were performed using in-house developed programs
(analysis of incremental launching and service conditions). Development of rational structural
forms, justification of space behaviour of the superstructure box section and nose were conducted
using finite element method based on detailed modelling of bridge elements [3].
3 STRENGTH AND STABILITY OF SUPERSTRUCTURE ELEMENTS AT ERECTION AND

SERVICE CONDITIONS
At first, based on 2D beam design schemes, calculations of strength and stability of bridge
structure, bearing reactions, camber were made. When calculating stability of inclined webs at
overpier sections, an angle of web inclination and irregularity of distribution of bearing reactions
were considered.
Secondly, based on criteria of strength, stability and value of bearing reactions, the most un-
favourable cases of superstructure behaviour were chosen. For these cases a detailed numerical
analysis of space behaviour using 3D design schemes was performed. A fragment of design scheme
at erection stage (the moment of reaching the temporary pier – 103 + 110 m) is given in Fig 3.
Fig 3 Fragment of finite element model of superstructure
452
Based on the obtained numerical analysis results, a material distribution at the superstruc-
ture and spacing of cross beams were justified. The results of superstructure space behaviour at the
stage of erection (deflections, bearing reactions, level of stresses) were compared to experimental
data obtained from monitoring of superstructure behaviour during launching [4]. The level of
stresses at erection stage did not exceed 310 MPa.
4 JUSTIFICATION OF REDUCTION COEFFICIENTS TO BE USED IN ERECTION DESIGN

In the design reduction coefficients were obtained by various methods. In one case they
were calculated using simplified design schemes in accordance with [2]. In the second – by a spe-
cial computer program based on a design scheme of plate supported with beam elements (this prob-
lem is solved using trigonometric series). In the third case space design schemes were adopted us-
ing finite element method, which allows to assess the influence of skew bending and torsion in the
structure on a value of reduction coefficients.
A typical distribution of normal stresses σх along the width of top orthotropic deck, obtained
by numerical analysis (finite element method) and by monitoring is given in Fig 4.
400
num erical analysis data
Normal stresses, (Mpa)
350
300 m onitoring data
250
200
150
100
50
0
11
13
15
17
19
21
1
Deck
Fig 4 Distribution of normal stresses σх at top orthotropic deck
5 ANALYSIS OF SUPERSTRUCTURE NOSE BEHAVIOUR

Because of non-traditional structural details of the superstructure and nose with inclined
webs, a three dimensional analysis of superstructure during launching was required. The following
cases were analysed (orthotropic deck plates at cantilevers were not installed along a 57 m length
from the superstructure 'head'):
A. Design scheme 7.55+144.5+110.2+25.75 m, bearing is at 7.55 m from the nose edge.
B. Design scheme 19.24+144.5+110.2+25.75 m, bearing is at 1.76 m from the superstruc-
ture 'head'.
C. The same as design scheme A but with adjustment of the superstructure position at pier
for 0.05 m.
D. The same as design scheme B but with adjustment of the superstructure position at pier
for 0.05 m.
E. Design scheme 103+110.2+25.75 m, moment when the nose reaches the temporary pier.
In the design the aspects of rational material distribution in the top plate of nose
(nose/superstructure connection) were reviewed. A fragment of design scheme of nose and super-
structure with solid diaphragm at the end is shown in Fig 5.
Main results of three-dimensional analysis are given in Table 1.
453
Fig. 5 Fragment of design scheme of superstructure nose
Table 1
Loading Stresses at the nose, MPa Reactions, t Displacements, m
cases plate truss Vertical Hori- Vertical.
σy σy σy zontal. hori-
right left flange diagonal right left right left zontal
A -207 -256 -197 -62 165 197 10 - - -
B -56 -743 -175 -91 202 271 7 - - -
C -276 -309 -203 -102 120 243 9 - - -
D -65 -105 -230 -196 120 353 6 - - -
E - - - - 680 820 102 2.72 2.74 0.081
6 CONCLUSION
The standards that are currently in use do not cover all structural forms of town bridge struc-
tures, configuration of which is mostly dependent on architectural and housing requirements in a
city. Additional numerical analyses of space behaviour of structures allowed justifying peculiarities
of box superstructure behaviour with inclined webs and non-symmetrical cross section during the
erection and service conditions and improve reliability of design. A numerical prediction of super-
structure behaviour was confirmed by the results of field experimental monitoring.
References
[1] Gapontsev E.G, Kornoukhov G.P. “Berezhkovsky bridge in Moscow under design”, Transport
construction, No. 9, 1997, p. 15. (in Russian)
[2] CНиП 2.05.03-84* (Building Norms and Regulations), “Bridges and Culverts”, Minstroy of
Russia, 1996, 214 pp (in Russian).
[3] COSMOS/M. Structural Research and Analysis Corporation.
[4] Monitoring of superstructure box girder launching of the Berezhkovsky bridge. Technical report
No. 149. Moscow Institute of Railway Engineering, 1998. (in Russian)
454
STEEL STRUCTURES OF TECHNOLOGICAL AND FOOT-

BRIDGES
Zoltán Agócs, Ján Brodniansky
Department of Steel and Timber Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering STU Bratislava,
Radlinského 11, 813 68 Bratislava
Keywords: Conceptual design, Conveyer bridges, Corrosion aggression, Footbridges, Pre-

stressed system, Hybrid structures.
Abstract: The paper is devoted to development, design and reconstruction of bridge type
technological structures. Disadvantages of classical truss bridge with built-up members,
mainly in corrosive environment, are described. Analysis of life – span of classical types and
design of new systems by using roofing with plastic materials.
A conceptual design is presented using pre-stressed beam systems in combination with cable
systems for horizontal hybrid structures of footbridges with span up to 150 m.
Several types of realised structures are presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
The analyses of the technical conditions of classic type of frame steel conveyer
bridges attacked by corrosion confirmed the unsuitability of this types of bridges in
environment with high corrosion aggression and the necessity of replacing them by
constructions plate main girders covered by laminate. Four conveyer bridges of a similar
construction at Parcel Post were proposed to improve the technological stream and to increase
the efficiency by handling the outcoming post parcels.
Speaking about the branch system, this system belongs to new – concerning the shape
and the principle of the hangers branching – plane or space stayed system. By replacing the
cable structural elements with rigid parts (pipes or flat bars) made of atmospheric corrosion
resisting steel (Corten, Atmofix), some disadvantages of the cable systems could be
suppressed, the lifetime prolonged, the stiffness of the hanged structure and the reliability of
the bearing system risen, the costs for maintenance decreased. In the article the process of
inclined hangers branching, and an example realised by reconstruction of the pedestrian
bridge is described.
2 RECONSTRUCTION OF CONVEYER BRIDGES AT A CHEMICAL PLANT

The original steel truss structures of conveyer bridges NKP were in full exploitation in
the middle of the chemical plant with a maximal degree of corrosion aggression [1]. The
results of inspection and control measurement of material thickness led to an inevitable
reconstruction of the steel conveyer bridges structures. As an appropriate solution for the
given conditions a three-chord truss structure can be considered (Fig. 1a). The truss hollow –
section girder can be arranged also with a rectangular cross – section (Fig. 1b). For conveyer
belt roofing a translucent laminate roof can be used, which replaces the windows at the same
time. Steel side wall (Fig. 1a) (with an adequate surface protection) could be replaced after its
corrosion deterioration. A conveyer bridge according to Fig. 1c was also proposed, where the
load – bearing structure create two plate main girders interconnected by cross – beams.
455
Fig 1. Designs: a) truss three – chord hollow – section girder

b) rectangular main hollow – section girder
c) plate main girders
The bridge set–up had to fully respect the existing state and, considering the
connection to technological equipment, also the seating of new bridges on the original
structures. In this case an optimal solution of conveyer bridge structures was looked for to
enable permanent operation in a very corrosive environment. The design uses a combination
of materials – plate steel main girders, pipe bracings and supports, timber decking and
laminate roofing to ensure operational reliability, to prolong the life – span and lower
maintenance cost.
3 CONVEYER LINE BRIDGES OF PARCEL POST

For the conveyer line four conveyer bridges were designed (Fig. 2). The overall length
of the bridges is 52.4 m. In the transversal direction half – frames are created from two main
girders and a cross – beam, which ensure stability of the compressed chords. The roofing is
made from polycarbonate cell sheets. Columns are designed as space bar structures in the
shape of a branch system. The upper space bars converge in the centre of gravity of their plan
triangle to a single bar, which considerably simplified the foundations. These lower pipes are
for reasons of fire protection filled with concrete [2].
Fig. 2 Scheme of the conveyer bridges with supporting system
4 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE BY BRANCH SYSTEM

According to the branching method (Fig. 3) is the inclined hanger’s direction
unambiguously determined, but the position of the knots could be freely chosen. This gives
the opportunity for various possibilities for choosing the system shape.
The original cable – suspension structure with spans 13,0 + 60,4 + 5,34 m of the pedestrian
bridge over the river Váh was built in the year 1955 [3]. After its service life it was replaced
by a new branch structure. The foundations, pylons and anchoring equipment were left
original (Fig. 4).
456
a) b)
Fig. 3 Branch system as a) a support bar system b) a bar stayed system
Fig. 4 Scheme of the branch system Stankovany
5 FOOT – BRIDGE OVER THE KUCHAJDA LAKE

The client’s requirement was to design a foot-bridge without interfering with the
contaminated bottom of the lake, i.e. without intermediate supports. Because of economic
efficiency, favourable aesthetic effect and possibility of harmonic integration into the natural
setting, suspension as well as cable – stayed systems were considered [4]. Because of a
demanding location of the foot – bridge on the link between a railway station and a new
shopping centre, three systems were proposed: a branch system, a cable – stayed system
combined with a middle prop and a suspension structure with diagonal hangers (Fig. 5a, b, c).
a)
b)
Fig. 5 a) branch system b) cable – stayed system
457
Fig. 5 c) suspension system
For realisation the branch system was preliminarily selected, where the inclined
hangers are assumed to be made from flat bars like in the case of chain bridges.
6 CONCLUSIONS
By technical state analysis of the conveyer bridges steel structures attacked by strong
corrosion it was demonstrated, that the classical types of conveyer bridge truss structures are
unsuitable in areas with a high degree of corrosion aggression of the environment. Unsuitable
are mainly built – up cross – sections of diagonals and verticals of the main girders and
bracings. These built – up sections with the gap between angles 10 mm are inaccessible for
thorough making and renewing of the paint coating. Plate main girders with a laminate cover
appear the most suitable. In the case of branch cable – stayed systems rigid bars (pipe or flat
plates) can be used instead of cables. Using atmospheric corrosion resistant steels minimises
the expenses for hanger maintenance.
Reference
[1]Agócs, Z. – Lapos, J. – Baláž, I. – Brodniansky, J.: Reconstruction of conveyer bridges
NPK – Duslo Šaľa (in Slovak). Inžinierske stavby, Bratislava, ALFA 11/1991, pp. 380 – 383.
[2]Brodniansky, J. – Recký, J.: Conveyer line bridges parcel post Bratislava. Steel Structures
and Bridges ´97. Proceedings. Brno, May 1997, pp. 29 – 34.
[3]Agócs, Z. – Brodniansky, J.: Branch System as a New Suspension System. Steel Structures
and Bridges ´94. Proceedings. Bratislava, September 7 – 9 1994, pp. II 51 – 60.
[4]Agócs, Z. – Chladná, M.: Foot – bridge across the Kuchajda Lake – preliminary design. (In
Slovak). KKDK SvF STU Bratislava, September 1998.
458
CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE ACROSS THE VISTULA RIVER IN PLOCK
Nikola Hajdin, Bratislav Stipanic

Civil Engineering Faculty, Univ. of Belgrade, Bul. Revolucije 73, 11000 Belgrade,
Yugoslavia
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Structural Design, Cable-Stayed Bridges, Steel Structures,

Composite Structures, Box Girders
Abstract: The paper presents the roadway bridge across the Vistula River in Plock (Poland),
designed by the paper authors as being the winners of international competition for design
organized by the Polish association of the bridge engineers. Total length of the bridge is 1.200
m; 615 m is the length of main bridge part over the Vistula riverbed, and 585 m is the length
of access bridge part over river inundation. Total width of the bridge is 27,5 m. Main bridge
structure is the cable-stayed bridge consisting of: continuous bridge girder (main span of 375
m and side spans of 2x60 m), cable stays in the single plane and two column-type pylons.
1 INTRODUCTION
The international competition for design of the Roadway Bridge across the Vistula
River in Plock was organized by Polish society of bridge engineers. This competition was
carried out in two parts. The first round, finished by the end of 1996, was an open anonymous
competition for conceptual design. The three awarded design teams were invited to take part
in the second - final round, where the next design stage with the appropriate technical-
economical analysis, was required. The final choice of the bridge design was made at the end
of 1997, when the authors of this paper were promoted as the winners of this international
competition. According to the rules of the competition, the winning design solution is
proceeded to the client for the realization. After this design solution has been verified by the
client experts, the design authors were invited to prepare the final bridge design. It is
predicted that the building works at site will start in autumn 1999.
2 GENERAL DATA OF THE BRIDGE

The new roadway bridge across the Vistula River (at Vistula km 629,55) in Plock
(Poland) has to be built on the main route connecting Poland to northeast. The bridge has the
remarkable dimensions, conditioned by the nature of the obstacle (Vistula River) that has to
be overpassed. The whole bridge, having total length of 1.200 m, consists of two parts:
- Main bridge part over the Vistula riverbed, length of 615 m (from abutment no. 1 to pier no.
6): cable-stayed bridge, having central span of 375 m and side spans of 2 x 60 m each (Fig. 1).
- Access bridge part over the inundation of the left bank, total length of 585 m (from pier no.
6 to abutment no. 16): two bridge structures, having structural system of continuous girder,
spanning 5 x 58,5 m each.
The bridge alignment is in straight line, i.e. there are no vertical neither horizontal
curves. The vertical alignment of the bridge is influenced mainly by the constant longitudinal
slope of 0,5% from the hilly landscape of the right bank to the plain ground of the left bank. .
The total width of the bridge is 27,5 m consisting of:
- two separated carriageway areas (two traffic lanes of 3,5 m) of total width 8,8 m each,
- two side footways (or cycle tracks) of width 2,5 m each,
- the central reservation of clear width 2,5 m,
- the rest occupied by the safety barriers, kerbs, parapets and edge ornament masks.
459
Fig. 1 View of the main bridge part over the Vistula riverbed
460
Fig. 2 Cross-section of the main bridge girder
3 CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE STRUCTURE

The main bridge structure is conceived as cable-stayed bridge in the form of
symmetrical steel structure, consisting of: continuous bridge girder (with the spans: 2x60 +
375 + 2x60 m), cable stays and two pylons. The main span of 375 m belongs to the largest
ones for the cable-stayed bridges with the cables in single plane, and it is the largest span
applied for the type of cable-stayed bridge with the column-type pylons fixed to the girder.
Over the main flow of Vistula River, the bridge girder is suspended in the main span
by 14 cable stays. Seven pairs of cable stays are coming from each pylon.. Cable stays are
positioned in a single central plane. The longitudinal layout of the multi-stay cable system
may be classified as modified harp-type. The spacing of the cable anchorages in the main
span is 22,5 m. The back stays are anchored to bridge girder over the side supports and in the
quarters of side spans. Each cable stay consists of 2 individual cables. The lengths of the
cables: from 39 m to 135 m (in side spans) and from 48 m to 187 m (in central span).
Dimensioning of the stay cables was carried out with respect to the following criteria: cable
resistance to maximal tensile force, cable resistance to fatigue, flexibility of bridge girder,
flexibility and stability of pylons and possibility of the appropriate erection.
The steel girder of cable-stayed bridge has three-cell box-type section, depth of 3,5 m,
top flange width of 27,5 m (16,5 m – box flange, 5,5 m – cantilevers) and bottom flange width
of 13,0 m (Fig. 2). The outer webs of the box are the inclined plates in the slope of 2:1. The
inner webs of the box (at the distance of 2,25 m), together with the parts of top and bottom
flanges, form the central cell reserved for the pylon fixings and the cable anchoring blocks.
The top flange belongs to orthotropic deck, having longitudinal ribs of trough-type
section in the carriageway areas, and flat ribs for the footways and the central reservation
area. The transverse stiffeners of the orthotropic deck, bottom plate and webs, as well as the
footway brackets are spaced on 3,75 m. The diaphragms are placed at the supports and at the
cable anchorage points.
The in situ joints of the bridge girder will be carried out by the preloaded high-
strength bolts and welding. The erection units of the bridge girder have the maximal length of
22,5 m. The erection of the bridge girder in the side spans will be carried out on the temporary
piers, placed in the thirds of the side spans. The bridge girder in the main span will be erected
by cantilever erection, mounting successively new erection units and the pairs of cable stays.
The steel pylon of column–type, having total height of 68,75 m (measured from the
roadway), is fixed to the bridge girder. The shape of pylon is similar to an obelisk, having the
variable box cross section from 3,72 x 2,25 m to 3,12 x 1,88 m (at the top). The cable
anchorage points are spaced on 6,25 m, starting from pylon system level of 25,0 m. T-shaped
longitudinal stiffeners and T-shaped transverse stiffeners (spaced on 3,5 m) are applied. In the
461
cable anchorage zones the pylon is stiffened by diaphragms with the openings for revision.
The erection units, having the lengths about 10,0 m each, will be welded at the site.
The required stiffness of the cable-stayed bridge structure is governed by the limiting
displacement conditions: maximal girder deflection due to traffic load (1.200 mm < L/300),
maximal horizontal deflection of the pylon due to traffic load (1.250 mm < H/300) and
maximal twist rotation of the girder due to non-symmetrical traffic load (0.018 rad. < 2 %).
The bridge girder is verified for flutter in the appropriate dynamic analysis.
The relevant environment conditions concerning: climate, metereology, topography,
geology, hidraulics, hydrology, navigation regime etc. are taken into account in bridge design.
4 BEARINGS AND EXPANSION JOINTS

The spherical-type bearings are predicted for the bearings below the pylons: fixed at
the pier no. 3 and unidirectional (longitudinal) movable at the pier no. 4. These central pylon
bearings are dimensioned for the vertical support force of 110 MN. The special-type of uplift-
load-bearings is applied as the side bearings over the pylon piers no. 3 and 4. The special steel
plated-elements (ties) are used to transfer the negative support reactions over the piers: no. 1,
no. 6 (both-sided ties) and no. 2, no. 5 (central tie). All edge supports of the main bridge
girder are movable in the horizontal plane. The main bridge girder is horizontally supported
over the pier no.: 1, 3, 4, and 6 in the central bridge axis.
The expansion joints shall be capable to ensure the continuity of the roadway with the
following expansion capacities: at the abutment no. 1 (+-125 mm), at the pier no. 6 (+-375
mm), at the pier no. 11 (+-150 mm) and at the abutment no. 16 (+-175 mm). The swivel-joist
expansion joints are used over the abutment no. 1 and at the pier no. 6. The girder grid
expansion joints are used at the pier no. 11 and the abutment no. 16.
5 PIERS AND FOUNDATIONS

The piers are made from concrete B30 (PN norms) with the rounded forms and with the
distinguished head, main part and base part. The piers of the main bridge part are formed as
massive-type piers, with the main part thickness of 3,0 m, and with the upper edge of the
lower part 1,0 m higher than the middle water level. The piers of the access bridge part are
lightened, having the main part formed by two columns.
The foundations are conditioned by the given geological profile of the site. The pylon
piers are founded by the set of bored piles of diameter 1,5 m. The all other piers are founded
on the set of the bored (cast in situ) piles, having the diameter of 1,2 m (with the widening
bases). The lengths of the piles are 13-21 m. The foundation pads are formed over the piles, of
the height 3,0 m (main bridge part) or 2,0 m (access bridge part).
6 AESTHETIC ASSESMENTS OF THE BRIDGE

Because it is the bridge in the beautiful scenery of the large river located in the town
and it is used for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, the aesthetics played significant role in
design. The cable stays are made of two cables in the group placed in the middle plane of the
bridge, and consequently the view from the cable-stayed bridge, either from roadway either
from footways, is free without obstacles. The bridge has multi-stay cable system, and the
cable stays are in aesthetically most favorable harp-layout. The pylons are column-type in
obelisk form. Main span of the cable-stayed bridge, side spans and pylon height, as the
rhythm of cable stays (spacing and inclination) are in suitable relations, from the aesthetic and
structural point of view. The piers are formed to be aesthetically favorable ones - the shapes
are rounded and three pier parts (main part, head and base) are clearly distinguished. The
whole designed bridge is very well incorporated in the surrounding landscape, hilly terrain on
the right bank and plain on the left bank, featuring Vistula River and the town Plock.
462
Session
Connections
463
464
STRENGTH OF JOINTS SUBJECTED TO COMBINED ACTION OF

BENDING MOMENTS AND AXIAL FORCES
Jean-Pierre Jaspart*, Marc Braham** and Frédéric Cerfontaine*

*MSM Department, University of Liège, 6 Quai Banning, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
**ASTRON Building Systems, Ettelbruck str., P.O. Box 152, L-9202 Diekirch, Luxembourg
Keywords: Structural joints, component method, combined axial and bending forces,
mechanical model, simplified calculation procedure.
Abstract: In Eurocode 3 Revised Annex J on « Joints in Building Frames » [1], design rules
are provided for the evaluation of the structural properties of beam-to-column joints and beam
splices subject to bending moments and shear forces. Amongst these properties, the most
important ones are the moment design resistance, the rotational stiffness and the rotation
capacity. The application of these rules is limited to cases where the axial force in the beam
transferred through the joint does not exceed a limit value which has been arbitrary defined.
The objective of the present paper is to reflect recent research works which could allow to
extend the scope of Revised Annex J to joints subject to significant axial forces in addition to
bending moments and shear forces.
1 INTRODUCTION
Very close contacts exist since some years between the University of Liège, MSM
Department, and the ASTRON company with the objective to develop calculation rules for
joints between built-up profiles in pitched-roof portal frames. These ones differ from the
joints between hot-rolled profiles covered by Eurocode 3 Revised Annex J by the following
features:
• the significant slenderness of the plates used for the fabrication of the connected members;
• the significant influence of the axial forces in the joints because of the inclination of the
beams.
The higher slenderness of the built-up profiles leads to instability phenomena which may
strongly decrease the carrying capacity of the joint. This aspect of the problem is briefly
addressed in Chapter 3 while the influence of the axial forces on the structural properties of
the joints is discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.
Some different students ([2], [3], [4], [5] and [6]) have already been working in Liège
or Diekirch on this topic in the context of their diploma work. Their contribution, as well as
the personal contribution of Jaspart are summarised in [7]. A sophisticated computer program
called ASCon has also been developed, which takes into account the features of these joints.
It is described in Chapter 4. In addition, a certain amount of laboratory tests should be
performed in the very near future, in order to improve the knowledge on this type of joints,
and ascertain some assumptions. Finally, simple calculation procedures orientated towards
practitioners have been developed, allowing to take into account the combined effect of axial
and bending forces on the joint resistance.
2 THE ANNEX J OF EUROCODE 3 AND THE CONCEPT OF COMPONENTS

The new rules which are provided by Eurocode 3 Revised Annex J for the verification
of joints in steel building construction are based on the concept of “components” in which a
465
joint is systematically considered as an assembly of elementary components. Each of these

components has its own behaviour, i.e. its own resistance, stiffness and deformation capacity
in tension, in compression or in shear, depending on how the component is loaded in the joint
being considered.
In order to evaluate the structural properties of a joint, the three following steps must
be successively achieved :
• Identification of the active components in the joints;
• Evaluation of the stiffness and resistance characteristics of these components;
• “Assembly” of the active components with the aim to derive the stiffness and resistance
properties of the whole joint.
Revised Annex J of Eurocode 3 provides the user with stiffness and resistance calculation
rules for all the components required to cover usual joint configurations (double-sided and
single-sided beam-to-column joints, beam splices) and connection types (with endplates,
flange cleats and welds). An assembly procedure of these components is also provided. Its
scope is however limited to joints mainly subjected to bending moments and shear forces in
which the applied axial compression or tension force NSd in the connected beam(s) does not
exceed 10% of the capacity Nb.Rd of the beam cross-section in compression or tension:
NSd / Nb.Rd ≤ 0.1

(1)
In this range, the influence of the axial force on the bending moment design resistance of the
joint is disregarded.
In Chapters 4 and 5, indications are given on how this limitation may be overcome
respectively in a numerical way and in a more practical way. More details about these
developments are provided in the full-length CD ROM paper.
3 SPECIFIC COMPONENTS FOR SLENDER WELDED PROFILES

In Revised Annex J of Eurocode 3 a library of components is made available to the
users. Through the combination of these ones a wide range of connection types may be
covered. However some of the rules provided for the evaluation of the stiffness and resistance
properties of the components possess a limited scope of validity which, for instance, prevents
their application to joints between slender built-up profiles where the significant slenderness
of the plates used for the fabrication of the beams (or the columns) leads to premature
instability phenomena in the “column web panel in shear” and “beam flange and web in
compression” components. For these two components, numerical as well as theoretical studies
aimed at extending the scope of application of Revised Annex J have been carried out in
Liège and Diekirch and experimental investigations are planned at the end of 1999. The
interested readers will find more details about these research works in [8] and [9].
4 NUMERICAL APPLICATION OF THE COMPONENT METHOD TO JOINTS

SUBJECT TO BENDING AND AXIAL FORCES
In order to apply the component method to joints simultaneously subject to a bending
moment and an axial force, a distribution of the internal forces acting into bolt-rows has to be
selected; this distribution on which the assembly procedure is based must at least satisfy the
following conditions:
• to be in equilibrium with the loads applied to the joint;
• to be such that the resistance capacity of the components is not exceeded;
• to be such that the deformation capacity of the components is not exceeded.
466
Preliminary studies ([2], [10]) have shown how difficult it is to determine such a
distribution of internal forces through an analytical procedure. Taking advantage of the
preliminary studies of Finet [3], Jaspart and Cerfontaine developed a numerical approach
aimed at analysing the joint behaviour from the first loading steps up to collapse. As this
approach respects also the compatibility of deformations between the constitutive joint
components, it represents a sort of “actual” simulation of the joint behaviour.
In this approach the joint is idealised by a mechanical model constituted of extensional
springs (Fig. 1), each spring representing a component of the joint and exhibiting a non linear
force-displacement behaviour.
M
M ϕ N
N γ
z
Fig. 1 Joint and its mechanical model
A computer program based on this numerical approach has been written; it is called
ASCon. All the component properties are determined by means of the Revised Annex J. The
possible interactions between the bolt-rows - which occurs in the case where so-called group
effects develop between adjacent bolt-rows - are considered, as well as all the stress
interactions between the components. The ASCon computer program allows for plastic
redistribution of the internal forces between the successive bolt-rows.
Another main feature of the program is its ability to consider the particularities of the
joints used in lightweight steel industrial building construction; for example, the slender
components mentioned in Chapter 3, but also specific stiffening and strengthening joint
elements not covered by Eurocode 3.
Further developments of the program are planned, such as the extension to non-
proportional joint loading and the simulation of the elastic unloading of the components.
5 PRACTICAL CALCULATION PROCEDURE FOR JOINTS SUBJECT TO BENDING

AND AXIAL FORCES
The ASCon software appears as a sophisticated research tool involving iterative
calculations at each loading step. Its practical interest is therefore rather limited and this
explains why its development has been prolonged by the following actions:
• use of the ASCon software as a reference tool in parametric studies in order to point out
the influence of the geometry and of the loading ratio NSd/MSd on the global response, on
the resistance and on the collapse mode of beam-to-column joints and beam splices (NSd
and MSd being respectively the axial force and the bending moment acting on the joint);
• development of practical rules for joint assembly under NSd and MSd forces allowing a hand
calculation and validated by means of comparisons with results provided ASCon.
The interested reader will find details about the parametric studies in [5] and [6] while
the full-length paper on CD ROM contains background information about the simplified joint
assembly procedure. This one is compared to the ASCon software in Fig. 2 for a beam splice
with five bolt-rows. The full MSd-NSd interaction diagram for design resistance is reported; it
is seen to be constituted of a set of straight lines which intersect each other. Each straight line
is representative of a specific plastic collapse mode; this means that two different collapse
467
modes develop simultaneously in each intersection point. In the range of low NSd values, the
plastic re-
1500 ASCon with plastic redistribution
NRd (kN)
1200
900
600
300
ASCON
0
BFC
-300 -250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
-300
MRd (kNm)
-600
-900
Simplified assembly procedure ASCon without limited plastic redistribution

-1200
-1500
Fig. 2 Example of MSd/NSd interaction diagram for joint resistance
distribution of internal forces within the joint is limited in Fig. 2 by the possible lack of
deformation capacity of the “beam flange and web in compression” component and a reduced
resistance of the joint has to be considered. The originality of the simplified assembly
procedure is its ability to detect situations where the plastic redistribution of the internal
forces within a joint is limited by the lack of ductility of a component and to evaluate the
carrying capacity of the joint accordingly.
As a preliminary conclusion in the present short-length paper, the unsafe character of
the “0,1 criterion” given by Formula (1) may be pointed out from Fig. 2.
References
[1] Eurocode 3 Revised annex J. Joints in building frames, Edited approved draft. January 1997,
CEN/TC250/SC3.
[2] Hoffmann J.P.: Eurocode 3. Calcul d'assemblages de portiques rigides faits de profilés reconstitués
soudés. Diploma work, CUST, Clermont-Ferrand, France, July 1993.
[3] Finet L.: Influence de l'effort normal sur le calcul des assemblages semi-rigides. Diploma work,
CUST, Clermont-Ferrand, France, July 1994.
[4] Cerfontaine F.: Dimensionnement et conception économique des assemblages entre profilés
métalliques reconstitués par soudage. Diploma work, Département MSM, University of Liege,
Belgium, 1996.
[5] Paquet R.: Les assemblages soumis à flexion : analyse des modèles traditionnels simples à la
lumière de l’Annexe J de l’Eurocode 3. Diploma work, Institut Gramme, Liege, Belgium, July 1996.
[6] Hermann J.: Méthodes simplifiées de calcul des assemblages en acier entre profilés reconstitués par
soudage. Diploma work, Département MSM, University of Liege, Belgium, 1997..
[7] Jaspart J.-P.: Contributions to recent advances in the field of steel joints. Column bases and further
configurations for beam-to-columns joints and beam splices. Professorship Thesis, University of
Liege, Belgium, 1997.
[8] Braham M., Cerfontaine F. and Jaspart J.P.: Wirtschaftliche Ausführung von Verbindungen
geschweisster Vollwandträger nach Eurocode 3. Festschrift Joachim Lindner, March 1998, pp. 77-86.
[9] Braham M., Cerfontaine F. and Jaspart J.P.: Calcul et conception économique des assemblages de
profilés reconstitués soudés. Construction Métallique, N° 1, 1999, pp. 5-24.
[10] Steenhuis M., Dol C. and Van Gorp L.: Computerized calculation of force distributions in bolted
end-plate connections according to Eurocode 3. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, vol. 31, n°1,
1994, pp. 135-144.
468
ULTIMATE BEHAVIOUR OF BOLTED T-STUBS: EXPERIMENTAL

ANALYSIS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION
469
470
471
472
BOLTED SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS IN THE COLUMN’S MINOR

AXIS
L. R. O. de Lima1, S. A. L. de Andrade2 and P. C. G. da S. Vellasco3

1
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO
2
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO and Structural Engineering Department, UERJ
3
Structural Engineering Department, UERJ
Keywords: Steel Structures, Bolted Connections, Column’s Minor Axis, Semi-Rigid,

Moment, Rotation, Experimental Analysis.
Abstract: The technical literature of semi-rigid connections has appointed as one of the most
fundamental tools of design, the moment versus rotation curve. With the aid of this curve, it is
possible to make a steel frame design more rational, thus reducing the structure global cost. A
search on current literature has presented little information on bolted semi-rigid connections
using angles to connect the bottom flange and the beam’s web to the column. When the cases
of connections in minor axis inertia of the column are considered, the results are even of little
significance. This work propose a experimental analysis of these connections in column minor
axis, where the ultimate resistance is limited by formation of the plastic hinges in the web of
the column. These tests were concerned with the influence of parameters such as: the
thickness of the column’s web, the angle’s thickness, the thickness of the beam’s web.
1. INTRODUCTION
The structural connection play a fundamental part in the steel structures global
behaviour. The real structural behaviour of a connection have been investigated through
several experimental tests. These tests have, as their main objective, to obtain a precise
evaluation of the physical and geometric parameters that influence in the connections
structural behaviour.
Nowadays, most of the connections in the minor column axis of braced frames are
designed as flexible. Additional problems happen when this bracing is not possible and rigid
connections are used. In this case, the warranty that this connection will be a rigid in the
minor axis, it is something at least questionable. All these facts conducted to the use of semi-
rigid connections because they have a structural behaviour close to reality and their use
reduces the structures’ final cost.
The main objective of this paper consisted of evaluating the structural behaviour of a
bolted semi-rigid connection in the column minor axis. These connections uses double web
angles and a bottom angle were adopted due to their fabrication ease and associated assembly
speed. Experimental tests realised by Carvalho [2] at Structures’ Laboratory at the Catholic
University of Rio de Janeiro proved the efficiency of this kind of connection in major inertia
axis following a model proposed by Chen e Kishi [3].In spite of all these advantages, no
investigation, theoretical or experimental, of this connections in the column minor axis could
be found in literature.
2. THE EXPERIMENTAL TESTS DESCRIPTION
473
The experimental investigation developed in this paper comprehended a study of the

connections structural behaviour in the column minor axis [5]. Three experimental tests were
performed in steel structures using a cantilever loading beam. The beams and angles were
composed of laminate steel sections and the column was a welded steel section due to
economy reasons.
The connection detail of the second executed test is illustrated in Figure 1. In the
second and third tests, the bottom angle was substituted by an stiffener and the double web
angle was adopted with unequal legs (127 x 76 x 9.5 mm) to facilitate the assembly. In the
third test, it was used a stiffener in the column web close to the top flange of the beam.
96 8 96 Column CVS 300 x 56.5 12.5 275 12.5
Beam I 10" x 37.7

10.5
118
5
12.5
32
184
120
229
254
12.5
32
75 52 70 32 44 44 32 70
34.5
9.5
52 38 Double Web Angle 115 70 115

(127 x 76 x 9.5)
Seat Stiffener
(270 x 90 x 9.5)
Figure 1 – Detail of the second connection tested
3. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1. First Experimental Test
In this test, due to the web plate flexibility, large deformations occurred and the
maximum applied load was reached at a level of 25.34 kN when the load cell was expelled
due to the large rotation in the cantilever beam end. The web angle reached the yield
deformation for a load of approximately 20.00 kN indicating the beginning of a yield line
formation.
3.2. Second Experimental Test
The maximum applied load was of 24.98 kN when the test was interrupted for the
same reason of the first test. With the aid of Figure 2 it is possible to conclude that the final
residual deformations in the double web angle were smaller than the first test. This fact was
due to the stiffening provided by the bottom stiffener.
Figure 2 –Double web angle deformation and bottom stiffener residual deformation, second test
The bottom stiffener reached the yield deformation when the applied load was 23.22
kN. When the load was 20.0 kN, the eight strain gages indicated that the whole column web
474
had already reached the yield deformation, fact that didn't happen in the first test. If the two
curves are compared one can notice that the bottom stiffener only began to be strained when
the whole column web was yielded.
3.3. Third Experimental Test
The maximum load reached was of 34.72 kN when the tested was finished due to
excessive displacements. A substantially greater deformation was noticed in the web angle
due to the column web panel larger resistance provided by the superior stiffener.
3.4. Summary
Figure 3 presents the connection’s classification systems proposed by the Eurocode [4]
and Bjorhovde [1].
1.0 1.0
Rigid
0.9 0.9
0.8 0.8
Rigid
0.7 0.7
0.6 0.6
Semi-rigid
Mp
Mp
M
0.5 0.5
03 03
0.4 0.4
02 Semi-rigid
0.3 0.3
02
0.2 0.2
01
0.1 0.1
Flexible 01 Flexible
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6
(θ r . E . Ib ) / (Mp . Lb) (θr . E . Ib ) / (Mp . 5 . d)
Figure 3 – Non-sway Eurocode and Bjorhovde connection classification system
Only the connection in the third test can be classified as semi-rigid. The other tests
clearly behaved as flexible connections due to the great column web deformation. The
moment x rotation curves of the three tested connections are presented in Figure 4. An initial
evaluation of the bending moment for the connections is also present in this graph. The
resistance gain of the second test in relation to the first was of 34.6% while from the third to
the second, the gain was of 68.4%. The third test presented a behaviour substantially more
rigid than the others. This increment in resistance is mainly due to the top stiffener welded to
the column web near the beam’s top flange in the opposite side of the connection.
60
03
50
Bending Moment (kN.m)
43.50
40
02 01
M = 18.22 kN.m
30 M = 10.82 kN.m
20
10
M = 8.04 kN.m
12.81
0
0 50 100 150 200
Rotation (1/1000 rad)
Figure 4 – Experimental moment versus rotation curve

4. CONCLUSIONS
475
The use of semi-rigid connections has been significantly increased over the last few
years. In the attempt of representing the connections true behaviour, many models were
proposed, mainly for the major axis. When the minor axis is considered, the knowledge is still
very limited. Few research works were found in this area and these involved, in the great
majority of cases, end plate connections. As far as the authors knows, there is no work
involving web and support angles connections subjected to bending on the column minor axis.
The layout and assembly of connections in the minor axis demand a special attention
in respect to the bolts location and arrangement. The difficulty of bolts tightening inside the
internal area of the column web should be considered.
In the first test, the bottom angle yielded at a 16.0 kN load level corresponding to a
24.0 kN.m bending moment. The double web angle plastification induced the formation of
two plastic hinges and, consequently, a collapse mechanism. Yield lines were also formed in
the column’s web.
Having in mind that these connections are present in the two column’s directions
(major axis and minor axis), the bottom angle was substituted by an stiffener of same
thickness. An increase in resistance and initial stiffness was verified. Economy was also
achieved eliminating minus two bolts when compared with the previous test. Despite these
modifications, the column web continued to control the structural behaviour due to their
associated high deformations, leading to an excessive connection rotation. In this test, the
bottom angle didn't reach the yield deformation.
With the objective of stiffening the column web, a plate was welded in the opposite
side of this column’s web, near to the beam’s top flange. This procedure intended to decrease
the web panel increasing it buckling capacity. This measure increased the bending capacity by
68 % when compared with the second test. A considerable increase in stiffness also occurred.
The double web angle and the bottom stiffener were the connector elements responsible for
most of the deformation observed in the test. This yield happened in an area near to the
stiffener due to the presence of high shear stress. The double web angles and the bottom
stiffener also reached the yield confirming the stiffening increase of the third test.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
[1] Bjorhovde, R., Colson, A. and Brozzetti, J., “Classification System for Beam-To-
Column Connections”, Journal of Struct. Division, ASCE, 1990, 116, ST11, 3059-3076.
[2] Carvalho, L. C. V. de, “Avaliação de Ligações Semi-Rígidas Aparafusadas”, MSc.
Dissetation, Civil Engineering Department, PUC-Rio, 1997 (in Portuguese)
[3] Chen, W. F.,Lorens R. F., Kato B. – “Semi-Rigid Connections in Steel Frames”, Mc
Graw Hill, Inc., 1993.
[4] European Committee for Standardisation (1992), Eurocode 3: Design os Steel
Structures, Brussels.
[5] Lima, L. R. O. de, “Avaliação de Ligações Viga-Coluna em Estruturas de Aço
Submetidas a Flexão no Eixo de Menor Inércia”, MSc. Dissertation, Civil Engineering
Department, PUC-Rio, 1999 (in Portuguese).
476
COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF BOLTED END-PLATE BEAM SPLICES
Stankiewicz B.
477
478
SHEAR BEHAVIOUR OF ROSETTE-JOINTS – TESTS AND FINITE

ELEMENT ANALYSIS
479
480
481
482
INFLUENCE OF RANDOM MATERIAL VARIABILITY ON THE

MOMENT CAPACITY OF BEAM-TO-COLUMN JOINTS
483
484
485
486
INVESTIGATIONS ON ECCENTRICALLY LOADED BOLTED

CONNECTIONS
487
488
489
490
EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF FEM

MODELS FOR STEEL T-STUB JOINTS
G. De Matteis1, F.M. Mazzolani1, A. Mandara2

1
Department of Structural Analysis and Design, University of Naples Federico II, P.le V. Tecchio
80, I-80125 Naples, ITALY
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Second University of Naples, Real Casa dell’Annunziata, Via
Roma 29, I-81031 Aversa (CE), ITALY
Keywords: Joints, Numerical simulation, Finite elements, Experimental tests
Abstract: A numerical simulation analysis is presented in this paper, aiming at assessing the
applicability of FEM procedures for a deeper understanding of the T-stub joint behaviour. Both
three- and bi-dimensional finite element models are considered, calibrated on the basis of existing
experimental results. The comparison with experimental results show the aptitude of the proposed
models to interpret the joint behaviour with a satisfying degree of accuracy, even when simplified
2D models are used instead of more accurate 3D models. The results obtained also confirm the
possibility to apply such models to different materials, such as aluminium alloy joints, for which no
experimental data are presently available in literature.
1 INTRODUCTION
The behaviour of the T-stub joint has been widely investigated by many researchers, the
main aspects having been studied by means of both experimental and theoretical approaches [2-6].
All these studies are strictly related to the great importance of T-stub simple components, regarded
both as stand-alone units and as parts of more complex joint configurations. In bolted joints the T-
stub component is, in fact, used to account for the strength and deformation contribution of main
components in bending, such as column flanges, end plates and angles. With regard to the present
knowledge on steel structural joints, the behaviour of this kind of connections is thoroughly known
both in elastic and plastic range and suitable design rules have been assessed in EC3-Annex J for
the prediction of joint response up to failure. Nevertheless, there are some fields, e.g. that of
aluminium alloy connections, where the research is still in an initial stage and no definitive
conclusion has been reached yet, neither with regard to the structural behaviour, nor with regard to
codification. This is mainly a consequence of the particular mechanical features of aluminium
alloys, namely strain hardening effect and relatively low ductility, as well as of the higher number
of variables involved in the joint response [1].
In order to assess the applicability of numerical procedures for investigating a wider range
of T-stub behavioural aspects, including those strictly related to aluminium alloy structures, a non
linear FEM analysis is presented in this paper. The procedure has been set up on the basis of some
existing experimental results available for similar steel joints [6,9]. Both three- and bi-dimensional
finite element models have been considered. The comparison with experimental results confirms the
possibility to use the proposed models to interpret the main aspects of the joint component
behaviour with an acceptable degree of accuracy, even when more simplified bi-dimensional
models are used instead of more sophisticated and time consuming three-dimensional idealisations.
491
2 MODEL DESCRIPTION
The numerical study is concerned with the evaluation of the monotonic behaviour of a T-
stub joint subjected to a tensile force, according to the experimental test referred to in [6]. The
simulation analysis has been carried out by means of the non linear FEM code ABAQUS [7]. The
considered discretised FEM model is twofold (Figure 1), both three-dimensional (solid element)
and bi-dimensional (shell element) meshes having been assumed. Due to symmetry, a quarter of the
actual model has been analysed, by considering the boundary conditions accordingly.
The 3D model (Figure 1a) consists of a total number of 3025 nodes and 1771 elements, with
a number of degrees of freedom equal to 7535. Solid 8-node elements have been chosen as the most
appropriate compromise between accuracy of results and time consuming. They have been used in
modelling both T-stub flange and bolts, as shown in Figure 1a. In particular for the bolt an unique
body 22 mm in diameter and 10mm in depth, modelling both nut and washer has been considered.
In order to account for the unilateral interaction between different bodies, special contact elements
with isotropic Coulomb model have been adopted in the analysis. A rigid surface with zero friction
underneath the t-stub flange has been considered in order to represent the specimen symmetrical
arrangement. On the contrary, a friction coefficient μ=0.30 has been used between the bolt head and
the upper flange surface. The type of solid element has been selected on the basis of a sensitivity
analysis presented in [8] and calibrated on experimental results, referring to a steel specimen with
8.8 grade bolt (fy=893 N/mm2, fu=974 N/mm2) and Fe 510 steel for T-stub flange (fy=431 N/mm2,
fu=595 N/mm2) [6]. Based on the analysis carried out in [8], the best results are attained with first
order reduced integration elements (C3D8R). When a regular shaped, fine mesh is adopted as well
as when bending or large distortions occur, these elements reduce the running time and give more
accurate results than both the fully integrated elements (C3D8) and incompatible mode elements
(C3D8I) [7].
In order to assess the possibility to use a simplified 2D shell-element based FEM

idealisation, the model depicted in Figure 1b has been also considered. The number of nodes and
elements are 633 and 596 respectively, corresponding to a total number of degrees of freedom equal
to 2655. The model makes use of ABAQUS first order reduced integration shell elements (S4R)
with 5 degrees of freedom at each node. As compared to the previous model, a simplified
modellisation of both bolt and flange contact problems has been set up. The bolt has been
represented by means of a system of mutually independent springs, whose behaviour has been
modelled on the basis of the actual bolt features. An elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour has been
assumed for such springs. In order to keep into account the effect of the bolt nut, the circular flange
portion surrounding the bolt area has been modelled by means of infinitely rigid elements. In such a
way the delicate representation of contact between bolt head and flange surface has been avoided.
At the same time, the stiffening effect of the bolt head has been also been accounted for. For the
sake of simplicity, no rigid surface has been considered, the unilateral contact between joined
flanges being represented by means of suitable spring elements with asymmetrical rigid-non rigid
behaviour. The 2D model keeps into account the round connection between flange and web by
means of variable thickness elements. A special allowance for the influence of the web thickness on
the flange behaviour has been made by considering an indefinitely elastic element at the flange-to-
web attachment having the same width as the web thickness.
Since large deformations are involved in the analysis, in both models “true” stress σtrue and
“true” strain εtrue have been considered as a function of the corresponding nominal values, according
to the conversion formulas:
σtrue = σnom (1 + εnom); εtrue = ln(1 + εnom) (1)
492
This led to assume the stress as the force per current area and the strain defined as logarithmic
strain: ε = ∫ dA / A = ln (A / A 0 ) .The ABAQUS Newton-Raphson procedure has been followed for the
evaluation of the non-linear joint response, by imposing a displacement to the top of the T-stub web
up to failure. The effect of geometrical non-linearity has also been accounted for.
a) b)
Figure 1: 3D and 2D FEM meshes adopted for modelling the T-stub component
3 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS AND CONCLUSIVE REMARKS
A wider simulation analysis is presented in the full length paper referred to in the
Conference Proceedings. The study has been extended by considering the experimental tests carried
out at the Material and Structure Laboratory of the Salerno University on specimens consisting of
double T-stub elements obtained from hot rolled profiles of HEA and HEB series [9]. Several joint
geometries have been considered. The preliminary results of this wider analysis are shown in this
abridged paper, with regard to the experimental data referred to in [6], only.
200
Load [kN]
180
160
140
120
100
80 EXPERIMENTAL
60 3D MODEL
40 2D MODEL
20 Δ [mm]
0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
Figure 2: Comparison of numerical with experimental results.
The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 2, where the numerically simulated force-
displacement curves have been plotted versus the experimental response. From the comparison it is
possible to observe the very satisfying agreement of both numerical models with the experimental
data. In particular, in spite of the far lower number of degrees of freedom, the 2D shell-element
based model, is able to get a quite accurate prediction of the global joint response, as also shown in
493
Figure 3, depicting the ultimate limit state configuration for both models. With regard to the 2D
model, in order to obtain the best results both in terms of initial stiffness and overall load bearing
capacity, a suitable choice of the effective length of the T-stub flange is needed, owing to the strong
influence of the web plate thickness on the location of the plastic hinges at collapse. In the same
way, the assumption of flange variable thickness at the web attachment has proven to be rather
influencing on the global joint performance. In conclusion the analysis has shown a quite satisfying
degree of accuracy in the prediction of joint behaviour, even with the coarser 2D mesh. This
represents a profitable indication for the development of further numerical analyses of those cases,
namely aluminium alloy joints, where the prediction of the structural response can be even more
difficult and, at the same time, poor or even no experimental data are available.
a) b)
Figure 2: The deformed FEM models at the ultimate limit state.
References
[1] Mazzolani, F.M., “Aluminium Alloy Structures”, E & FN SPON, London, 1995.
[2] Nemati, N., Le Houedec, D., “A Survey on Finite Element Modelling of Steel End-Plate
Connections”, in “Proceedings of IABSE Colloquium on Semi-rigid Structural Connections”,
269-78, Istanbul, 1996.
[3] Faella, C., Piluso, V., Rizzano, G., “Stiffness of Hanger-type Connections: Experimental
Analysis of Bolt Preloading Influence”, in “Proceeding of XVI Congresso C.T.A., Giornate
Italiane delle Costruzioni in Acciaio”, 328-39, Ancona, Italy, 1997.
[4] Faella, C., Piluso, V., Rizzano, G., “Plastic Deformation Capacity of Bolted T-Stubs”, in
“Proceeding of Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas”, Mazzolani, F.M., Akiyama, H.,
(Editors), 572-81, Kyoto, Japan, 1997.
[5] Mistakidis, E.S., Baniotopoulos, C.C., Bisbos, C.D., Panagiotopoulos, P., D., “Steel T-Stub
Connections Under Static Loading. An Effective 2 - D Numerical Model, Journal of Constr.
Steel Research, Vol. 44, No. 1-2, 51-67, 1997.
[6] Bursi, O. Jaspart, J.P., “Calibration of a Finite Element Model for isolated Bolted End-plate
Steel Connections”, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 44, No. 3, 225-262, 1997.
[7] ABAQUS, “User Manual”, “Theory Manual”, Version 5.7, Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen Inc.,
1997.
[8] De Matteis G., Mandara A., Mazzolani F.M.: "Numerical Analysis of Aluminium T-stubs",
Proc. of the Second CST Conference, Edinburgh, August 1998.
[9] Faella C., Piluso V., Rizzano, G.: "Ultimate Behaviour of Bolted T-Stubs: Experimental
Analysis and Numerical Prediction", Proc. of the 2nd European Conference on Steel Structures,
Prague, Czech Republic, May 1999.
494
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF COLUMN-BASES UNDER

CYCLIC LOADING
495
496
497
498
COLUMN BASE FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
499
500
501
502
Finite Element Modelling of Cold-formed Steel Bolted Connections
K.F. Chung and K.H. Ip

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hong Kong, China
Keywords: Cold-formed steel, bolted connections, finite element modelling, bearing

resistance, design rules.
Abstract : A finite element model with three-dimensional solid elements is established[1] to

investigate the bearing failure of cold-formed steel bolted connections under shear. Non-
linear material, geometrical and contact analysis is performed to predict the bearing
resistance of the connection. An extensive parametric study on a wide range of connection
configurations is performed. Comparison with the results of the finite element modelling
shows that the existing design rules in both BS5950: Part 5[2] and Eurocode 3: Part 1.3[3]
tend to give unconservative bearing resistances when thick steel and large bolt diameters are
used. Furthermore, the existing design rules are found to over-estimate the bearing resistance
of bolted connections for cold-formed steel with high strength and low ductility by 30%
when compared with the results of the finite element modelling.
1 INTRODUCTION
Due to recent advances in material technology, cold-formed steel strips with high
yield strength up to 550 N/mm2 become widely available for building products. However,
with reduced ductility, there is concern about the structural adequacy of such materials in
building application in term of deformation capacity, especially at connections where highly
localized deformations are expected. Furthermore, it is expected that the existing design
rules may not be adequate for high strength low ductility steels since they are originally
developed upon test data with low strength high ductility steels.
This paper presents some preliminary findings of a research project[1] on finite
element modelling of cold-formed steel bolted connections. An extensive parametric study
on a wide range of connection configurations is performed and comparison on the predicted
bearing resistance of the bolted connections between the finite element modelling and the
existing design rules in BS5950: Part 5 and Eurocode 3: Part 1.3 is also presented.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

In the present project, the finite element package ANSYS (Version 5.3)[4] is used to
predict the structural performance of the bolted connections between cold-formed steel strips
and hot rolled steel plates under shear. Three dimensional eight-node iso-parametric solid
elements SOLID45 are employed to model all the components, namely, the cold-formed steel
strips, the hot rolled steel plates, the bolt and also the washers, in order to capture yielding
propagation throughout the material thickness. Such elements are especially suitable for the
plasticity type problem since they allow discontinuous strain fields in simulating shear bands.
Furthermore, the normal stresses acting on the cold-formed steel strips due to the clamping
forces in bolt shanks and also the tangential stresses due to frictional forces between contact
interfaces may also be incorporated. Contact interfaces between the cold-formed steel strips
and the bolt, the washer and the hot rolled steel plates are modelled[5,6] by contact elements
CONTAC49 so that intuitive assumption on the position and the size of contact area are not
required.
503
Based on the results of the coupon tests, a true stress-strain curve[7] with reduced
strength at large strain after yielding, i.e. strength degradation, is proposed. Figure 1
illustrates the true stress-strain curves of two different steel materials, namely, G300 (t =
1.46 mm, yield strength py = 320 N/mm2 & tensile strength Us = 454 N/mm2 ) and G550 (t =
1.56 mm, py = 621 N/mm2 & Us = 638 N/mm2) based on coupon tests. As the finite element
model incorporates material, geometrical and contact non-linearity, non-linear analysis is
required. Figure 2 illustrates the predicted load-extension curves for both G300 and G550.
The measured load-extension curves from standard lap shear tests are also plotted in Figure 2
for direct comparison. It is shown that the finite element model is effective in predicting both
the initial slope and also the maximum value of the load-extension curves for both materials.
Figures 3 and 4 show the geometry and the deflected shape of the model respectively while
Figure 5 shows the yield zones of the connections.
3 PARAMETRIC STUDY AND COMPARISON WITH DESIGN RULES

After calibrating against test data, an extensive parametric study using the finite
element model was performed to a range of steel thicknesses, bolt diameters, and also steel
grades; the results are presented in Table 1. In order to compare with the design rules given
in both BS5950: Part 5 and Eurocode 3: Part 1.3, the design bearing resistances were
evaluated using the tensile strength rather than the yield strength of the steel materials; the
predicted bearing resistances of the bolted connections are also presented in Table 1 for easy
comparison.
4 CONCLUSIONS
It is shown that for steels with design strengths equal to 280 N/mm2 and 350 N/mm2,
the existing design rules give conservative bearing resistance of bolted connections with thin
cold-formed steel strips, t < 2.0 mm, and small bolt diameters, i.e. d < 16 mm, where t and d
are the thickness of cold-formed steel strips and the bolt diameter respectively. However, for
bolted connections with thick steel strips and large bolt diameters, the existing design rules
give unconservative bearing resistances, especially, for high strength low ductility steels, i.e.
steels with design strengths equal to 450 N/mm2 and 550 N/mm2. Based on the results of the
parametric study, strength over-estimation up to 30% is found.
Consequently, it is recommended that the existing design rules for the bearing
resistance should not be used for cold-formed steel strips of high strength and low ductility.
Design rules for cold-formed steel with high strength and low ductility should be developed
to ensure safe application of such materials.
References
[1] Chung, K.F. and Ip, K.H.: Finite element modeling of bolted connections between cold-formed
steel strips and hot rolled steel plates under shear, Engineering Structures (to be published).
[2] BS5950: Structural use of steelwork in buildings: Part 5 Code of practice for the design of cold-
formed sections, British Standards Institution, London 1987.
[3] Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures: Part 1.3: General rules - Supplementary rules for cold-
formed thin gauge members and sheeting, ENV 1993-1-3, European Committee for
Standardisation.
[4] User Manual of ANSYS for Revision 5.0 - Procedures Volume I, Swanson Analysis Systems,
Inc., USA, 1994.
[5] Bursi, S., Leonelli, L. A finite element model for the rotational behaviour of end plate steel
connections. Proceedings of SSRC Annual Technical Session, Chicago, 1994, pp163-175.
[6] Fan L., Rondal J., Cescotto S. Finite element modeling of single lap screw connections in steel
sheeting under static shear. Thin-Walled Structures 1997; 27(2): pp165-185.
[7] Bathe, K.J. Finite element procedures, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1996.
504
Table 1 Bearing resistances of bolted CFS strips at 3mm
Material specification Pbf Model factor

t d py Us BS5950 EC3 FEA FEA FEA
(mm) (mm) (N/mm2) (N/mm2) (kN) (kN) (kN) BS5950 EC3
B111 1.2 12 280 390 12.30 14.04 17.30 1.41 1.23
B112 1.2 12 350 450 14.19 16.20 19.48 1.37 1.20
B121 1.2 16 280 390 16.40 18.72 19.82 1.21 1.06
B122 1.2 16 350 450 18.92 21.60 22.12 1.17 1.02
B211 1.6 12 280 390 17.75 18.72 22.78 1.28 1.22

B212 1.6 12 350 450 20.48 21.60 25.62 1.25 1.19
B213 1.6 12 450 550 25.03 26.40 29.06 1.16 1.10
B214 1.6 12 550 600 27.30 28.80 29.52 1.08 1.03
B221 1.6 16 280 390 23.66 24.96 25.84 1.09 1.04
B222 1.6 16 350 450 27.30 28.80 29.18 1.07 1.01
B223 1.6 16 450 550 33.37 35.20 33.28 1.00 0.95
B224 1.6 16 550 600 36.40 38.40 34.52 0.95 0.90
B312 2 12 350 450 27.54 27.00 31.8 1.15 1.18

B313 2 12 450 550 33.66 33.00 35.94 1.07 1.09
B314 2 12 550 600 36.72 36.00 36.62 1.00 1.02
B322 2 16 350 450 36.72 36.00 35.96 0.98 1.00
B323 2 16 450 550 44.88 44.00 40.98 0.91 0.93
B324 2 16 550 600 48.96 48.00 42.54 0.87 0.89
B412 2.5 12 350 450 37.46 33.75 39.34 1.05 1.17

B413 2.5 12 450 550 45.79 41.25 44.06 0.96 1.07
B414 2.5 12 550 600 49.95 45.00 45.7 0.91 1.02
B422 2.5 16 350 450 49.95 45.00 44.08 0.88 0.98
B423 2.5 16 450 550 61.05 55.00 49.98 0.82 0.91
B424 2.5 16 550 600 66.60 60.00 52.08 0.78 0.87
800
G550
600
True Stress (MPa)
G300
400
200
0
-60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 -200 0 10 20
-400
-600
-800
True Strain (%)
Figure 1 Proposed stress-strain curves for G550 and G300 cold-formed steel strips
30
25
Load (kN)
20
15
10
G550
5
G300
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Extension (mm)
Figure 2 Load-deflection curves for G550 and G300 steel strips
505
Applied force
Figure 3 Finite element model of bolted connection
Figure 4 Deformed mesh of G550 steel strip at 3mm
Stress MPa
(a)
Stress MPa
(b)
Figure 5 Von Mises stress distribution of bolted connections with (a) G550 and (b) G300 steel strips
506
REEVALUATION OF SEISMIC CAPACITY AND DEMAND ON

BEAM-COLUMN CONNECTIONS OF JAPANESE MOMENT FRAMES – ACTION
AFTER THE 1995 HYOGOKEN-NANBU (KOBE) EARTHQUAKE
Masayoshi Nakashima
Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto Univ., Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
Keywords: Kobe Earthquake, Steel, Connections, Fractures, Ductility Capacity and Demand
Abstract: This paper presents a few aspects of the post-Kobe steel research on
beam-to-column connections. The topics included are: the overview of damage to steel
buildings observed in the Kobe Earthquake, a comprehensive experimental project in which
86 full-scale beam-column subassemblies were tested, similarities and differences in damage
nature as well as in the post-earthquake research action between the U.S. and Japan, and a
study toward quantification of ductility demanded of steel beams and connections, with
emphasis on design of strong-column weak-beam frames.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) Earthquake, many modern steel buildings
sustained serious damage [1-3]. This damage and the damage to modern steel buildings
revealed in the 1994 U.S. Northridge Earthquake [4] had refuted the popular myth that steel
buildings are immune to strong earthquakes. Among various types of damage, damage to
welded beam-to-column connections of steel moment frames posed one of the most serious
concerns for the engineering community both in Japan and U.S., and accordingly extensive
research is underway in both countries regarding the reevaluation and improvement (if
needed) of ductility and energy dissipation capacity of these connections. Quantification and
control of ductility demanded of the connections is also a subject of extensive research. This
paper presents a few aspects of the post-Kobe steel research undertaken in Japan. First, the
overview of steel damage revealed in the Kobe Earthquake is described. Second, a
comprehensive experimental project conducted by a seven-university consortium is
introduced, in which a total of 86 full-scale beam-column subassemblies were tested, with the
type of steel, type of connections, connection details, loading rate, and temperature as major
test variables. Third, similarities and differences in the damage nature as well as in the
post-earthquake research between the U.S. and Japanese beam-to-column connections are
examined, and a recent coordinated research effort between the two countries regarding the
assessment of ductility capacity of post-earthquake connections is introduced. Fourth, a
study associated with the design of “strong-column weak-beam” frames is described, with
particular emphasis on the distribution of ductility and energy dissipation demanded of beams
along the stories.
2 DAMAGE IN KOBE EARTHQUAKE

The Kobe area is one of the earliest urban developments and contained a large stock of
relatively old steel buildings more than 35 years old, built before the major economic growth
of the post-war era. Many of those old buildings were significantly lacking in earthquake
resistance because of the then premature seismic design and construction technologies.
According to a preliminary estimate, over 70% of the damaged steel buildings were of this
construction type. The Steel Committee of the Kinki Branch of the Architectural Institute
of Japan (AIJ) conducted a detailed survey into the damage to modern steel buildings (not
including old buildings stated above) and located 988 steel buildings damage [2, 5]. Among
those buildings, 90 were rated as collapsed 332 as severely damaged, 266 as moderately
damaged, and 300 with minor damage. Figure 1(a) shows the number of buildings with
respect to the damage level and the number of stories, indicating that most of the collapsed
buildings were two to five stories tall and no building with seven stories or more collapsed.
Damage occurred in various locations, including columns, beams, braces, column bases, and
beam-to-column connections. The damage can be classified into three types in accordance
with the previous awareness and the difficulty of providing solutions: (I) damage that was
507
predictable because of the structural weakness; (II) damage that we had not been aware of
prior to the earthquake but the reason of which was identified upon seeing the damage; and
(III) damage whose causes were difficult to identify and solutions difficult to provide.
Damage to old steel buildings was a typical example of Type (I). Quality-oriented problems
such as poor workmanship in welding were commonly related to Type (II). An example of
Type (III) was the brittle fractures of welded beam-column connections, observed particularly
in recent construciton. Figure 1(b) shows a type of connection, named the
through-diaphragm connection, most commonly used in Japan. In this connection, a long
square-tube is cut into three pieces; one used for the column of the lower story, one for the
connection's panel zone, and one for the column of the upper story. Two diaphragm plates
are inserted between the three separated pieces and shop-welded all around. Then, the entire
piece is transported to the site and connected with the mid-portion of the bream by
high-tension bolts. In the Kobe earthquake, fractures were observed in this type of
connections. The vast majority of the fractures occurred in the beam-to-diaphragm joint, the
specific locations of which included the weld metal, fusion line, heat affected zone, and base
metal (in this case cracks were initiated from the toe of the weld access hole). Reevaluation
of ductility capacity of the types of welded beam-to-column connections damaged in the
earthquake, identification of causes of brittle fractures in those connections, and development
of design and fabrication procedures for more reliable, robust connections, have been the
subjects of extensive research after the earthquake.
Fig.1 Damage of steel buildings in Kobe Earthquake; (a) Damage level with respect to
number of stories based on survey of 988 damaged steel buildings: (b)
Through-diaphragm connection commonly used in Japan
3 TEST OF FULL-SCALE BEAM-TO-COLUMN SUBASSEMBLIES

To comply with the urgent need for the connection research, the Steel Committee of
the Kinki Branch of the AIJ formed a seven-university joint venture and conducted tests of 86
full-scale beam-column subassemblies [6, 7]. In the tests, the type of steel (two difference
strengths), type of connections (web-welded and web-bolted), shape and size of weld access
holes (conventional holes and two modified holes), type of run-off tabs (steel tabs and
ceramic tabs), rate of loading (quasi-static and dynamic loading), and temperature (ambient
and cooled) were adopted as major test variables. Multiple (at least two) specimens were
fabricated and tested for each set of the parameters to enhance reliability of the results.
Figure 2 shows a summary of results for 40 specimens having the type of through-diaphragm
connection [Fig.1(b)] in terms of the cumulative rotation (η, normalized by the yield rotation).
Notable findings are as follows. (1) Specimens with one-pass per layer welding (by weaving)
consistently were lower in ductility capacity, exhibiting very early fractures from the weld
metal. (2) Modified connection details (designated as modified-A and -B), in which the size
of the weld access holes was reduced to avoid stress and strain concentration and resulting
earlier crack initiation at the toe of the hole, exhibited larger ductility capacity. The degree
of increase, however, was lower than what had been expected prior to the test, partly because
the type of run-off tabs, another test variable, controlled the ductility capacity in many
instances. (4) Contrary to earlier speculation, in which dynamic loading had been thought to
508
reduce the ductility capacity because of large strain rates that tend to enhance the
embrittlement, specimens subjected to dynamic loading consistently showed larger ductility
than the corresponding specimens loaded quasi-statically [8, 9]. (5) The mode of failure was
more ductile for specimens loaded dynamically. (6) Significant temperature rise during the
dynamic loading, occurring as a result of heat energy transferred from hysteresis, was found
to be a strong candidate for larger ductility capacity and more ductile mode of fractures
observed in dynamically loaded specimens.
Fig.2 Summary of cumulative plastic rotations obtained for 40 full-scale beam-column

subassemblies
4 COMPARISON BETWEEN US AND JAPAN

Both the Northridge and Kobe Earthquakes revealed significant damage to welded
beam-to-column connections. A few years have passed since the earthquakes, numerous
studies have been conducted on this issue, and by now various new recommendations and
guidelines have been proposed in both countries for more reliable, robust beam-to-column
connections. Although the aim remains the same, the recommended solutions, i.e., modified
or new beam-to-column connections, appear to be significantly different between the two
countries [10, 11]. For example, the connection in which beam strength is reduced by
trimming the beam flanges, named the RBS connection, is one of the recommended
connections in the U.S., whereas in Japan the connection in which weld access holes are
absent, named the no-hole connection, is recommended. To examine the background of
differences in recommended connections and assess the relative merits and drawbacks of
respective connections, a coordinate research study is underway between the two countries as
part of the US-Japan Cooperative Research on Urban Disaster Mitigation. An example of
this study is shown in Fig.3, in which the ductility performance of the two types of
connections is compared [12].
M m /M p M m /M p
1.0 1.0
-0.04 0.04 -0.04 0.04

θ m (rad) θ m (rad)
-1.0 -1.0
NOHOLE1 RBS1
Fig.3 Moment versus rotation relationships of beam-column subassemblies: (a) No-hole

connection; (b) RBS connection
509
5 QUANTIFICATION AND CONTROL OF DUCTILITY DEMAND

Quantification of ductility and energy dissipation demanded of structural members and
connections receives much attention lately, particularly in connection with the development of
the performance-based engineering. How much ductility is to be demanded of the welded
connections and how to control the ductility demand are the questions to be made clear along
this line. An example of such efforts is a study on the design of “strong-column
weak-beam” frames, with the focus on the column overstrength that can ensure beam-hinging
behavior [13]. It was found that the column overstrength requited to ensure such behavior
does not have an upper bound but has to increase with the increase of the ground motion
amplitude. Such increase was identified to be characteristic of dynamic responses in which
the higher (second) mode response increases almost linearly despite that many plastic hinges
are formed in the frame and therefore the behavior is highly nonlinear. Approximate
procedures to estimate the plastic rotation demanded of individual beam members from the
responses of equivalent SDOF systems were also developed.
References
[1] “English Edition of Preliminary Reconnaissance Report of the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu
Earthquake,” Edited by Nakashima, M. and Bruneau, M., The Architectural Institute of
Japan, 1995, 215pp.
[2] “Reconnaissance Report on Damage to Steel Building Structures Observed from the
1995 Hyogoken Nanbu Earthquake,” The Steel Committee of the Kinki Branch of the
Architectural Institute of Japan, 1995, 167pp (in Japanese, attached with Abridged
English Version Edited by Nakashima, M.).
[3] “Report on the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster: Structural Damage to Steel
Buildings,” Edited by Nakashima, M. and Kuwamura, H., The Architectural Institute of
Japan, Building Series Volume 3, 1997, 410pp (in Japanese).
[4] Bertero, V. V., Anderson, J. C., and Krawinkler, H., “Performance of steel building
structures during the Northridge Earthquake,” Report No.UCB/EERC-94-09, University
of California at Berkeley, The Earthquake Engineering Research Center, 1995.
[5] Nakashima, M., Inoue, K., and Tada, M., “Classification of Damage to Steel Buildings
Observed in the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake”, Journal of Engineering Structures,
Vol.20, No.4-6, 1998, pp.271-281.
[6] “Full-Scale Test on Plastic Rotation Capacity of Steel Wide-Flange Beams Connected
with Square Tube Steel Columns,” The Steel Committee of the Kinki Branch of the
Architectural Institute of Japan, 1997, 261pp (in Japanese).
[7] Nakashima, M., et al., “Full-Scale Test on Beam-Column Subasemblages Having
Connection Details of Shop-Welding Type,” Proceedings of the Structural Engineers
World Conference, San Francisco, 1998, Paper#:T158-7.
[8] Nakashima, M., et al., “Tests of Welded Beam-Column Subassemblies I: Global
Behavior,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol.124, No.11, 1998,
pp.1236-1244.
[9] Suita, K., Nakashima, M., Morisako, K., “Tests of Welded Beam-to-Column
Subassemblies II: Detailed Behavior,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE,
Vol.124, No.11, 1998, pp.1245-1252.
[10] Nakashima, M., “Post-Kobe Research in Japan on Steel Moment Frames and Their
Beam-to-Column Connections,” Proceedings of U.S.-Japan Seminar on Mitigation of
Near-Field Earthquake Damage in Urban Areas, 1998, Hawaii, pp.37-39.
[11] Nakashima, M., “Comparisons of Steel Damage and Post-Earthquake Research in the
US and Japan,” Proceedings of the SAC Meetings of Project Participants, LA, 1998,
pp.48-53.
[12] Suita, K., Nakashima, M., Engelhardt, M. D., Tamura, T., and Morita, S., “Comparison
in Ductility Capacity Between No-Hole and RBS Connections,” Proceedings of the
Annual Convention of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo, 1999 (in press).
[13] Nakashima, M. and Sawaizumi S., “Column Overstrength Required to Ensure
Beam-Hinging Behavior in Earthquake Responses of Steel Moment Frames,” submitted
for possible publication in Journal of Steel Construction Engineering, Japan Society of
Steel Construction, 1999 (in Japanese).
510
EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL FATIGUE TESTS ON FLANGE

PLATE CONNECTIONS
511
512
513
514
RELIABILITY OF MOMENT RESISTANT CONNECTIONS OF STEEL

BUILDING FRAMES IN SEISMIC AREAS:
THE FIRST YEAR OF ACTIVITY OF THE RECOS PROJECT
Federico M. Mazzolani
Department of Structural Analysis and Design, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio,
80, Napoli (I), Italy
Keywords: European Project, Seismic Design, Steel Joints, Composite Joints, Experimental
Tests, q-factor, Steel Buildings.
Abstract: The RECOS project has been sponsored by the European Commission in June
1997 within the INCO-Copernicus joint research project. It involves 8 European Countries
and 13 Academic Institutions. In the middle of the allocated period it seems useful to give an
intermediate information about the results of the first year of activity. The present report
refers on the main developments of the research in progress, by emphasising the achieved
results, both theoretically and experimentally, and the program for the second part which will
lead to the conclusion of the project.
INTRODUCTION
An unexpected brittle failure of connections and, in same cases, of members occurred
during the last earthquakes of Northridge and Kobe. This behaviour was not foreseen in the
current engineering practice [1] and the bad performance of steel joints and members
seriously compromised the image of steel structures, which before was considered the most
suitable material for seismic resistant structures [2].
For this reason, the international scientific community and, in particular, the
earthquake prone Countries of the Mediterranean area and of the Eastern Europe were aware
of the urgent need to investigate new topics (such as the influence of the strain rate on the
cyclic behaviour of beam-to-column joints) and to improve the current seismic provisions
consequently. In addition, the whole background of the modern seismic codes deserves to be
completely reviewed in order to grasp the design rules which failed during the last terrible
seismic events. This revision is aimed at the up-dating of seismic codes and in particular at the
improvement of Eurocode 8, whose application will be widespread in the next years during
the so-called conversion phase.
In this perspective the European research project dealing with the "Reliability of
moment resistant connections of steel building frames in seismic areas" (RECOS) has
been recently sponsored by European Community within the INCO-Copernicus joint research
projects of the 4th Framework Program. The aim of this project is to examine the influence of
joints on the seismic behaviour of steel frames, bringing together knowledge and experience
of different specialists from several Countries. It has been developed through the co-operation
of the following partners coming from eight different European Countries.
Italy: University of Naples (Prof. Federico M. Mazzolani, convenor)

University of Catania (Prof. A. Ghersi)
University of Chieti (Prof. R. Landolfo)
University of Salerno (Prof. V. Piluso)
515
Romania: Polytechnic University of Timisoara (Prof. D. Dubina)

INCERC, Timisoara (Prof. V. Gioncu)
Romanian Academy (Prof. D. Mateescu)
Greece: National Technical University of Athens (Prof. I. Vayas)
Portugal: Instituto Superior Tecnico of Lisbon (Prof. L Calado)
France: Institut National de Science Appliqué of Rennes (Prof. J.M. Aribert)
Belgium: University of Liège (Prof. A. Plumier)
Slovenia: University of Ljubljana (Proff. P. Fajfar & D. Beg)
Bulgaria: University of Sofia (Prof. P. Sotirov)
The aim of the joint research program is to provide an answer to the above questions.
This goal will be accomplished through the following objectives:
a) analysis and synthesis of research results, including code provisions, in relation with the
evidence of the Northridge and Kobe earthquakes;
b) identification and evaluation by experimental tests of the structural performance of beam-
to-column connections under cyclic loading;
c) setting up of sophisticated model for interpreting the connection response;
d) numerical study of the connection influence on the seismic response of steel buildings;
e) assessment of new criteria for selecting the behaviour factor for different structural
schemes and definition of the corresponding range of validity in relation to the connection
typologies.
The working program has been subdivided through the following tasks:
TASK 1 “Analysis of design criteria and seismic hazard”

TASK 2 “Evaluation of the material behaviour in extreme conditions”
TASK 3 “Ductility of members and connections”
TASK 4 “Reliable models for the cyclic behaviour of beam-to-column connections”
TASK 5 “Evaluation of global seismic performance”
TASK 6 “Failure mode and ductility demand ”
TASK 7 “Evaluation of the q-factor”
TASK 8 “Preparation of an Application Document”
The activity started in June 1997 and will finish in November 1999. The paper is focused
on the first year of activity.
References
[1] Mazzolani F. M.: "Some simple considerations arising from the Japanese presentation
of damages caused by the Hanshin earthquake", Int. Colloquium on "Stability of Steel
Structures", Budapest, September 1995.
[2] Mazzolani F. M.: "Design of steel structures in seismic regions: the paramount
influence of connections", COST C1 Int. Conference on "Control of the semi-rigid
behaviour of civil engineering structural connections", Liège, September 1998.
516
[3] Faella C., Piluso V., Rizzano G.: "Plastic deformation capacity of bolted T-stubs",
Proceedings of the STESSA 97 Conference on "Behaviour of Steel Structures in
Seismic Areas" (eds. F. M. Mazzolani & H. Akiyama, 10/17 Salerno), Kyoto, August
1997.
[4] Gioncu V.: "Ductility demands" (General Report) Proceedings of the STESSA 97
Conference on "Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas", (eds. F. M. Mazzolani
& H. Akiyama, 10/17 Salerno), Kyoto, August 1997.
[5] European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (ECCS): "Recommended Testing

Procedure for Assessing the Behaviour of Structural Steel Elements under Cyclic
Loads", (ECCS) Doc. n. 45, 1986
[6] European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (ECCS): "Design of Steel Structures
in Seismic Zones - ECCS Manual", ECCS doc. n. 76, 1994
[7] Aribert J. M., Grecea D.: "A new method to evaluate the q-factor from elastic-plastic
dynamic analysis and its application to steel frames", Proceedings of the STESSA 97
Conference on "Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas" (eds. F. M. Mazzolani
& H. Akiyama, 10/17 Salerno), Kyoto, August 1997.
[8] Mazzolani F. M., Piluso V.: "Theory and Design of Seismic Resistant Steel Frames", E
& FN SPON, an imprint of Chapman & Hall, London 1996.
[9] De Matteis G., Landolfo R., Mazzolani F. M.: "Cyclic models for shear diaphragms
with different connecting system", COST C1 Int. Conference on "Control of the semi-
rigid behaviour of civil engineering structural connections", Liège, September 1998.
[10] Mazzolani F. M., Piluso V.: "The influence of the design configuration the seismic
response of moment-resisting frames", Proceedings of the STESSA 97 Conference on
"Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas" (eds. F. M. Mazzolani & H. Akiyama,
10/17 Salerno), Kyoto, August 1997.
[11] Fajfar P., Gaspersic P., Drobnic D.: "A simplified nonlinear method for seismic damage
analysis of structures", Proceedings of the Int. Workshop on "Seismic design
methodologies for the next generation of codes", (eds. P. Fajfar & H. Kranvinkler,
Balkema), Bled, June 1997.
[12] Mazzolani F. M., Piluso V.: "A simple approach for evaluating performance levels of
moment resisting steel frames", Proceedings of the Int. Workshop on "Seismic design
methodologies for the next generation of codes", (eds. P. Fajfar & H. Kranvinkler,
Balkema), Bled, June 1997.
517
518
THE PERFORMANCE OF FRAME CONNECTIONS IN FIRE
K.S. Al-Jabri1, I.W. Burgess1, T. Lennon3 and R.J. Plank2

1
Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK
2
School of Architectural Studies, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
3
Building Research Establishment Ltd, Garston, Watford WD2 7JR, UK
Keywords: Full-Scale Frame Tests, Isolated Connections, Fire, Failure Modes, End-plates,
Bolts, Local Buckling
Abstract: The importance of isolated member tests is obvious in providing raw material for
modelling using numerical techniques, and to designers in developing design methods, due
their simplicity and time saving. However, they do not represent accurately the true
behaviour of buildings under normal or fire conditions. This paper compares the behaviour
observed in the Cardington full-scale frame fire tests with observations from elevated-
temperature connection tests conducted on similar beams and columns connected using the
same details. The similarities and differences in behaviour between the two are briefly
explained.
1 INTRODUCTION
Despite the beneficial value of isolated member tests in providing raw data for
modelling and verification of numerical techniques, they do not truly reflect the behaviour of
complete buildings under either normal or fire conditions. Many aspects of behaviour occur
when steel members are connected together which cannot be predicted or explained by
isolated member tests. Global and local failure of buildings, the restraint to thermal
expansion in fire caused by the adjacent structure and the force redistribution capability of
highly redundant structural systems are some of the features occurring when steel members
interact with each other which cannot be represented by isolated element testing.
In order to study this, the Building Research Establishment and British Steel
conducted a series of fire tests on a full-scale building structure at Cardington, UK.
Separately, studies have been in progress to examine the effect of connection rigidity on
structural performance. The behaviour of the connections in the Cardington frame and
observations from isolated connection tests under fire conditions have been compared.
2 THE CARDINGTON FULL-SCALE FRAME

The Cardington full-scale eight-storey steel framed test building was constructed by
the Building Research Establishment in 1994-95 in its Large Building Test Facility, which
enables this scale of experiment to be conducted indoors. The structure was designed to be a
composite building typical of contemporary medium-rise commercial buildings in the United
Kingdom, with roof-mounted services. The plan dimensions are 45 x 21m, which provides a
footprint area of 945 m2. The general arrangement is shown in Fig. 1. In total 6 fire tests
were conducted during 1995-96 by the Building Research Establishment and British Steel on
the composite frame. These involved creating fire compartments to include structure as
follows:
• a single secondary restrained beam,
• a primary plane frame across the depth of the building on one level,
• two separate corner bays,
• a large compartment covering 40% of the floor area on one level,
• a demonstration "office" using typical office contents as the majority of the fire load.
519
A B C D E F
9000 9000 9000 9000 9000
356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50)
1
6000
356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50)
- DO - - DO - - DO - - DO - - DO -
2
356x171x51UB(50)
- DO - - DO - - DO - - DO -
610x229x101UB(50) 610x229x101UB(50)
9000
- DO - - DO - - DO - - DO -
_
356x171x51UB(50)
- DO - 356x171x51UB(50) - DO - - DO -
3 356x171x51UB(50) 305x165x40UB(43)
305x165x40UB(43) - DO - - DO - - DO - - DO -
6000 356x171x51UB(50) 356x171x51UB(50)
356x171x51UB(50)
4
NOTES: Columns A1, A4 and E4 254x254x89UC(50)
All other columns 305x305x137UC(50)
PMF CF70 (0.9mm) to be used with 1 layer A142 mesh-top face
130mm thick slab - Lightweight concrete Grade 35
Fig. 1. General beam framing arrangement of the Cardington test frame.
3 ELEVATED-TEMPERATURE CONNECTION TESTS

Five series of cruciform connection tests have been carried out as part of a
collaborative programme between The University of Sheffield and The Building Research
Establishment to investigate the degradation of steel and composite connection characteristics
at elevated temperatures. These tests were carried out in a portable connection furnace at the
Building Research Establishment, Garston. The first series used small end-plate connections,
while the others have tested some of the joint details used on the Cardington full-scale test
frame. Details of the connections tested are shown in Fig. 2.
4. COMPARISON BETWEEN FAILURE MODES OBSERVED IN THE

CARDINGTON FRAME AND CONNECTION TESTS
A number of different local failure modes were observed in the Cardington tests, of
which some have and some have not occurred in the isolated connection tests. These can be
summarised as follows:
• End-plate failure
• Punching shear and mesh continuity failure
• Local buckling
• Compartmentation failure
4.1 End-plate failure

In the Cardington frame tests, partial end-plate fracture occurred in the Restrained
Beam test, the Plane Frame test, the Large Compartment test and the Demonstration test. In
these tests there was a complete fracture of an end-plate along its full depth, and in some
cases this was also accompanied by shear failure of some bolts. This failure mode almost
certainly occurred as a result of the high tensile forces developed during the cooling phase.
However, in the isolated member connection tests, although the dominant observed
failure mechanism for the bare and composite flexible connections was fracture of the end-
520
plate, this failure was not due to the contraction of steel members during the cooling phase,
but because of the large rotations associated with flexible end-plate connections.
254x254x89UC(50) 254x254x89UC(50)
375x190x10 152 x152 x23UC(43) 260x150x8
Grade 43A 265 x130 x8 Grade 43A
Grade 43A
M20 Bolts M20 Bolts 25
Grade 8.8 Grade 8.8
60 M16 Bolts 55 40
Grade8.8
356x171UB51 50
Grade 50 60
50 356x171UB51
254x102UB22 Grade 50
50
Grade 43 60
6mm FW 6mm FW to
all round 100 beam web 60
4mm FW
150 all round
40
71
90 76 90
190 130 150
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

LW concrete A142 steel 305x305x137UC(50) 100x19(Dia) shear
Grade 35 mesh stud 300 c/c 2/beam
254x254x89UC(50) 130
LW concrete A142 steel 100x19(Dia) shear COMFLOR
Grade 35 mesh studs 300mm c/c C70 Deck 70
2/beam COMFLOR 50
C70 Deck
500x200x10 40
130
Grade 43A
70 70
M20 Bolts
25 Grade 8.8
260x150x8
70
Grade 43A 40
M20 Bolts 610x229UB101
60 70
Grade 8.8 Grade 43
60 70
356x171UB 51
Grade 50
60 70
6mm FW to
beam web 40 6mm FW to 70
beam web
71 40
52
90
140
150
200
Group 4 Group 5
Fig. 2. Isolated connection test specimens.
4.2 Mesh continuity failure and composite slab cracking
There was some similarity in this failure mode between the Cardington frame and the
isolated connection tests. In the Cardington frame, there was a distortion of the metal decking
in almost all the tests, and a few bars of the reinforcing mesh appeared to have fractured. In
some cases the metal decking lost its connection with the concrete, with some accompanying
spalling of the lower face of the slab.
However, in the isolated connection tests the composite slab failure mode was
different from that observed in the Cardington frame tests. In the concrete slab a large crack
was observed, propagating from the face of the column flange parallel to the primary beam,
resulting in fracture of some bars in the steel mesh and the exposure of shear studs. Two
major secondary cracks were observed perpendicular to and continuous over the connections
on both sides of the slab.
4.3 Local Buckling

One of the main failure mechanisms, which is very likely to occur in full-scale tests
but is less likely in isolated tests, is local buckling of the beams and other members. Local
buckling of structural members was very clearly present in most of the Cardington frame tests
521
due to their structural continuity and the restraint to thermal expansion provided by the
adjacent cool structure. Local buckling was observed in the lower beam flange and web,
usually adjacent to the connection. This suggests that the partial end-plates are incapable of
transmitting the high internal forces generated in the beams to the adjacent columns. This
contrasts with what was suggested previously regarding the behaviour of connections in fire.
In some tests there were both a significant distortion of the portion of the beam lying within
the furnace and local distortion of the column flange. Local buckling has also been observed
in full-scale frame tests at ambient temperature, in which the cause was high hogging moment
in composite beams caused by unbalanced loading. This behaviour has been absent in some
isolated ambient-temperature connection tests whilst it has been more pronounced in others.
This variation in the behaviour is probably due to the types of the end-plate used and the test
arrangements. However in the current isolated elevated-temperature connection tests, there
was local distortion. This distortion affected the column flange and web for small-sized flush
end-plate connections only in Group 1 tests, which were characterised by small member sizes
and relatively stiff connection details. There was no local buckling observed of either the
beams or columns in the other test groups because of their larger member sizes and better
balanced connection details. The absence of any superimposed axial thrust in these tests is
probably the key difference from the full-scale frame tests.
4.4 Other observed mechanisms

Other failure modes were observed in the Cardington frame tests which did not happen
in the isolated connection tests. These are listed below:
• Lateral-torsional buckling of some beams due to a lack of lateral restraint. In the isolated
connection tests lateral restraint was provided to the beams to prevent any lateral movement.
Also, columns were permitted to expand vertically to allow for thermal expansion.
• Squash failure of short heated portions of two internal columns in the plane primary frame
test.
• Significant displacement of some secondary beams, and lateral and downwards movement
and fracture of some others.
• Shear fracture of bolts in some connections. In the isolated connection tests there was no
evidence of fracture of bolts but there was slippage of the top bolts in the case of large flush
end-plate specimens (Group 2).
• In the isolated connection tests significant rotation angles were achieved by the end-plates,
which are unlikely to occur in full-scale frames due to boundary restraint and continuity.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Comparisons have been made between the behaviour observed in the Cardington
frame fire tests, and the observations from isolated furnace tests conducted on typical
connections used in the Cardington frame. The interaction of structural members and the
presence of the restraint conditions clearly have a significant effect on the overall behaviour
of the frame which is different from the behaviour of the connections when tested in isolation.
Although there are similarities between the two systems in some of the failure modes, these
are not necessarily for the same reasons.
It is clear that isolated tests are cheaper than full-scale fire tests. If it is necessary to
have connection characteristics for modelling the response of framed structures to fire, then
these will have to be based on isolated tests or on modelling. It should be recognised when
using the results of such tests that the restraint provided by structural continuity may change
the behaviour considerably in the context of a complete framed building.
522
Q-FACTOR EVALUATION OF MOMENT RESISTING STEEL

FRAMES WITH SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS BY APPLYING
DIFFERENT APPROACHES
Gianfranco De Matteis1, Federico M. Mazzolani1, Raffaele Landolfo2, Jordan Milev3

1
University of Naples Federico II, Dept. of Structural Analysis and Design, P.le Tecchio, 80, (I)
80125, Naples, Italy
2
University of Chieti G. D'Annunzio, DSSAR, Viale Pindaro, 42, (I) 65127, Pescara, Italy
3
University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy,1 Chr. Smirnenski Blvd., Sofia 1421,
Bulgaria
Keywords: q-Factor, Energy Method, Semi-Rigid Connections, Moment Resisting Frames
Abstract: The effect of semi-rigid connections on the seismic performance of buildings is

focused on this paper. In particular, with reference to moment resisting frames, the influence
of connection strength, rigidity and ductility on the behavior factor is analysed through a wide
parametric study. Three different methods based on different criteria and approaches (local
ductility, interstory drift and energy) are applied for the behavior factor evaluation. Besides,
in order to account for the influence of seismic input typology, three recorded acceleration
time histories from different world regions (United States, Japan and Europe) are considered.
1 INTRODUCTION
In seismic design, it is not efficient that buildings will not be damaged during any
earthquake in high seismic risk areas. As a consequence, the design philosophy adopted by
current seismic codes, including Eurocode 8, is based on the behaviour factor concept. In
order to evaluate the behavior factor of frame structures, criteria for defining the yielding state
and collapse state have to be preventively established. In both cases, several approaches,
based upon both local and global criteria, may be defined. Besides, it is to be considered that
the structural performance of moment resisting steel frames may be strongly influenced by the
adopted beam-to-column joint typology. Therefore, aiming at assessing the influence of the
main connection behavioural parameters in the current study, with reference to a typical
structural configuration, three different q-factor evaluation approaches are considered and
corresponding results duly compared.
2 STUDIED FRAME
The 3bay x 3bay, 5-storey steel building, which have been previously designed by
Mazzolani and Piluso [1] and then analysed by Fulop [2], is used as a case study. The
analysed frame and corresponding member sizes, which have been obtained from a design
procedure carried out according to Eurocode 8 (1994) and Eurocode 3 (1990), are presented in
Fig. 1. Several solutions in terms of beam-to-column joint behaviour have been considered.
The structure with rigid joints is refereed as “RIG”. The structure with semi-rigid connections
located only in the middle bay of the frame is refereed as “Smn”, where m is a key number
for the connection stiffness and n is a key number for the connection strength. The case with
pinned connections in the middle bay is called “PIN”. The structure with semi-rigid
connections in all beam-to-column joints is refereed as “Tmn”. In particular, in all analysed
cases, according to Eurocode 3 (1994) classification system, m=1 is referred to a rigid joint,
while m=3 represents a semi-rigid joint with k = 0.8 . Similarly, n=2 is referred to a
connection whose strength is equal to the one of the connected member ( M = 1 ), while n=4
523
corresponds to a partial strength connection

with M = 0.6 . Twenty six cases of structural
typologies were studied through a parametric
analysis in [2]. Only six cases are selected for
further investigation in the present paper.
However, the extension made herein is that the
rotation capacity of connections is chosen as a
parameter and its influence on the global and
local structural behaviour is accounted for. Five
different cases based on connection plastic
rotation capacity (0.015; 0.030; 0.045; 0.060;
0.075) are therefore studied for frames S14,
Fig.1 Structure layout S32, T14 and T32. Frames S14 and T14 are
with partial strength rigid connections, while
frames S32 and T32 are with full strength semi rigid connections.
DRAIN-2DX software is used as an analysis tool. Beams and columns are modelled by
means of plastic hinge beam-column element 02, while simple connection element 04 with
elastic perfectly plastic behaviour is employed for connection modelling (see [3]). Parameters
of element 04 are varied for the frames S14, S32, T14 and T32 depending on assumed
connection strength and rigidity levels.
Three earthquake records were selected for this study – El Centro NS 1940, Kobe JMA,
and Tolmezzo.
Forty nonlinear time history response analyses are carried out for each structural typology
and for each accelerogram. The earthquake record under consideration is scaled by
multiplying the acceleration values by the factor α, by assuming for each time history analysis
the peak ground acceleration value as follows:
PGA = αg (1)
where α is the acceleration record multiplier and g is gravity acceleration.
Coefficient α is varied from 0.05 up to 2.0 with step increment equal to 0.05. The
integration step was chosen less than 0.01 sec. In this case force, moment and energy
unbalances were in a reasonable limit.
For each structural typology and for each earthquake record the multipliers αy
(corresponding to the yielding state) and αu (corresponding to the collapse) are defined. Then,
the behaviour factor q based on the local ductility criteria as well as on the drift criteria may
be evaluated through the ratio:
αu
q= (2)
αy
3 LOCAL DUCTILITY METHOD

The yielding state is defined when the first plastic hinge in the structure is formed. The
ultimate or collapse state is assumed when the cumulated rotation in the most stressed beam-
column element or connection, in positive or negative direction, reaches its monotonic
rotation capacity θst. The monotonic rotation capacity of beam and columns θst is calculated
as an average of the values obtained with the theoretical method of Mazzolani-Piluso (see [4])
and the empirical method of Mitani-Makino (see [4]). The monotonic capacity of connections
θst is assumed as a parameter varying from 0.015 to 0.075.
524
4 DRIFT METHOD
The assumption made in this study is that the yield limit values Δyi as well as the ultimate
limit values Δyi of the interstory drifts are calculated by means of a non-linear static “push-
over” analysis. The vertical force distribution is fixed on the basis of story shears obtained by
elastic multi-modal analysis of the structure. Interstory drift corresponding to the yielding
state is defined when the first yield hinge is formed in the considered story, while the
interstory drift at the ultimate state is considered when the mechanism is formed. P-Δ effects
are considered in the analysis.
5 MODIFIED KATO-AKIYAMA ENERGY METHOD

Original Akiyama-Kato method does not require any nonlinear analysis (see [5]).
However the evaluation of each story capacity needs several assumption concerning the
simplified expression of inelastic strain energy adsorbed by the entire structure and the
optimum distribution among the stories. A modification of the original Kato-Akiyama method
has been already proposed in [6], the most important revisions being as follows:
- Static “push-over” analysis with vertical force distribution determined on the basis of
story shears obtained by elastic multi-modal analysis is preventively performed in order
to obtain story yield forces and story stiffness;
- Dynamic time history analysis is carried out to obtain the story hysteretic energy. As
criterion for evaluating the ultimate state of the structure, the limit value of story
cumulated ductility ratio η, which is supposed to be equal to monotonic rotation capacity
of beams, is assumed (see [7]).
6 ANALYSIS RESULTS
The average values of q-factors, which are calculated for all the analysed frames, by
assuming a connection rotation capacity θst=0.045 and by applying the three above different
q-factor methods are shown on Fig. 2a. Obtained results, which have been synthesised as the
average for the three records, are slightly scattered, being in the reasonable limit of 10-20%.
In general, the energy method gives the most conservative values for the behavior factor and
the smallest scatter for different earthquake records. Nevertheless, it is important to observe
that higher behavior factor values for the S14 and T14 frame typologies do not mean a higher
structural seismic performance. The Fig. 2b shows that their capacities in terms of ultimate
withstanding PGA for all earthquake records are much lower respect to the ones of other
frame typologies.
12 1
Energy Average (Ultimate)
Drift 0.9
10
Local 0.8 Average (Yield)
8 0.7 Tolmezo (Ultimate)
q-factor
Multiplier
0.6
6 Kobe (Ultimate)
0.5
0.4 El Centro (Ultimate)
4
0.3 Tolmezo(Yield)
2 0.2
Kobe(Yield)
0.1
0 El Centro(Yield)
0
R S32 T32 S14 T14 P
R S32 T32 S14 T14 P
Structural typology Structural typology
a) q-factor values b) accelerogram multiplier

Fig. 2 Comparison among different approaches (connection capacity θst = 0.045)
The influence of connection ductility on the q-factors for frames S14 and T14 is
presented in Fig. 3. The scatter between energy and local ductility methods is again
reasonable, even if it is more pronounced in case of frames presenting partial strength
525
connections.
S14 T32
14 14
Local Local
12 Energy 12 Energy
10 10
q-factor
q-factor
8 8
6 6
4 4
2 2
0 0
0.015 0.03 0.045 0.06 0.075 0.015 0.03 0.045 0.06 0.075
Connection's rotation capacity Connection's rotation capacity
Fig. 3 Connection ductility influence on behavior factor
7 CONCLUSIONS
The study performed herein allowed the following conclusions to be drawn:
- the scatter of the behavior factor values, obtained by the three different methods (local
ductility, interstory drift and energy) for three different earthquake records (El Centro,
Kobe and Tolmezzo), is in the reasonable limit for all the analysed frame typologies,
where several connection strength, rigidity and ductility levels have been considered;
- the energy method gives the smallest scatter of the behavior factor for different
acceleration histories. Moreover, it seems to be the most conservative one;
- the connection ductility plays an important role on the behavior factor values when the
failure is ruled by connections. Evidently, the influence of connection ductility is in wider
range for the case of partial strength connections than for full strength semi-rigid
connections. Besides, such an influence is more remarkable in case the local ductility
approach is used for q-factor evaluation rather than the one based on energy method.
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared within a co-operation between University of Naples Federico II and
University Sofia. The research is granted by the RECOS European Copernicus Project. This
support is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] Mazzolani, F.M. and Piluso, V., "The influence of the design configuration on the seismic response of
moment-resisting frames", Proc. of Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas (STESSA’97), Kyoto, Japan,
1997, 444-453.
[2] Fulop, L., “Seismic Performance of Moment-Resisting Frames with Semirigid Joints”, Diploma Project,
University of Naples Federico II, Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara, Supervisors: Prof. F. M. Mazzolani, Prof.
D. Dubina; Co-ordinator: Dr. G. De Matteis, 1998.
[3] Powell, G. H. and Campbell, S., “DRAIN-2DX. Element Description and User Guide for Element Type01,
Type02, Type04, Type06 and Type15”, Report No UCB/SEMM/94/08,1994.
[4] Mazzolani, F.M. and Piluso, V., “Theory and Design of Seismic Resistant Steel Frames”, E&FN SPON,
1996.
[5] Akiyama, H., “Earthquake Resistant Limit-State Design for Buildings”, University of Tokyo Press, 1985
[6] Milev, J., “Modelling of Shear Walls for Seismic Analysis of Frame-Wall Structures”, PhD Thesis, 1996 (in
Bulgarian).
[7] Akiyama, H. and Yamada S., “Seismic Input and Damage of Steel Moment Frames”, General Report of
STESSA’97, Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas, Kyoto, 1997, 789-800.
526
STIFFENED END PLATES IN STRUCTURAL STEEL CONNECTIONS
527
528
529
530
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN GUIDE FOR RIGID

CONNECTION WITH H-BEAM ELEMENTS BASED ON
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
531
532
533
534
CLASSIFICATION OF JOINTS
Fernando C. T. Gomes
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3049 Coimbra, Portugal
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Structural Connections, Joints, Classification, Codes
Abstract: The Eurocode 3 proposes a classification of beam-to-column joints by strength and

stiffness. The classification boundaries are discussed and some improvements are suggested.
1 INTRODUCTION. THE EUROCODE 3 CLASSIFICATION

The Eurocode 3 [1] defines three classes to classify joints with respect to its design
moment resistance, Fig. 1(a). While the boundary between full-strength and partial-strength
is well defined by the design plastic moment resistance of the connected beam Mpl. Rd , the
boundary between partial-strength and pinned, 0.25M pl.Rd , is polemical (see section 2).
(a) (b)
Fig. 1 - The Eurocode 3 classification (a) by strength (b) by stiffness
With respect to the rotational stiffness, the Eurocode 3 recommends a classification of

beam to column joints as rigid, semi-rigid or pinned. The classification boundaries depend on
the rigidity of the connected beam and on the type of frame (braced or unbraced). The revised
Annex J [1] recommends the values shown in Fig. 2, which should be compared to the initial
stiffness S j.ini of the joints, while in the previous version they should be compared to the
secant stiffness S j . The boundary between rigid and semi-rigid, bilinear in the previous
version (see Fig. 1b), is simplified in the revised Annex J to a straight line.
(a) Joints in braced frames (b) Joints in unbraced frames

Fig. 2 - Classification by stiffness according to the Eurocode 3 - Annex J (revised)
535
For unbraced frames, the boundary between rigid and semi-rigid is defined only if every
storey satisfies the condition:
Kb K c > 0.1 (1)
In which Kb is the mean value of Ib Lb for all the beams at the top of that storey
and Kc is the mean value of Ic Lc for all the columns in that storey
where Ib is the second moment of area of a beam
Ic is the second moment of area of a column
Lb is the span of a beam
Lc is the storey height for a column.
2 PINNED JOINTS
In contrast to the Eurocode 3 recommendations, it is not necessary to evaluate the
stiffness or the resistance of a joint to classify it as pinned. This is illustrated by the example
shown in Fig. 3 where the assumed moment diagram, statically admissible, do not depends on
the stiffness or the resistance of the joints. Only the rotation capacity, necessary to develop all
plastic hinges under the design loads, should be checked. A joint may be classified as
nominally pinned even when its initial stiffness is large, Fig. 3a. Besides, it is not necessary
to define a lower-bound stiffness value to classify a joint as semi-rigid.
If a joint can develop significant moments which might adversely affect members of
the structure, the joint should not be classified as pinned. Its stiffness and/or resistance should
be taken into account for the structural analysis.
Fig. 3 - (a) Nominally pinned joint with large initial stiffness (b) Structure with nominally
pinned joints (c) Statically admissible moment diagram
3 RIGID JOINTS IN UNBRACED FRAMES

A joint may be classified as rigid if its deformation has no significant influence on the
distribution of internal forces and moments in the structure, nor on its overall deformation.
The inter-storey drift of an unbraced frame, Fig. 4(a), is influenced by the stiffness of
the joints. For the general sub-frame of Fig. 4(b), the inter-storey drift is given by:
(a) (b)
Fig. 4 - (a) Unbraced frame (b) Sub-frame
536
⎛ ⎞
⎜ ρ ⎟ ρ
1 + 2 + 2β + 3β
⎜⎜ 1+
6 EI b ⎟
1+
6 EIb
HL3c ⎝ Sj Lb ⎠ S j Lb
δ= (2)
12EI c ⎛ ⎞
⎜ ρ ⎟ ρ
1+ β + 6β
⎜⎜ 1+
6 EI b ⎟
1+
6 EI b
⎝ S j Lb ⎠ Sj Lb
where β and ρ are the ratios of rigidity defined in Fig. 4 and S j is the secant joint stiffness.
From (2) an upper bound for the increase of inter-storey drift due to the flexibility of
nominally rigid joints is derived:
⎛
⎜ δ ⎞⎟ =1 +
6 EIb
(3)
⎝ δ ∞ ⎠ upper bound S j Lb
where δ ∞ is the inter-storey drift if the joints are assumed perfectly rigid ( δ ∞ = lim δ ).
Sj → ∞
The elastic critical load is affected by the deformations of rigid joints. An upper bound
for this effect is
⎛
⎜ α cr.∞ ⎞⎟ = 1+
6 EIb
(4)
⎝ α cr ⎠ upper bound S j Lb
where αcr is the elastic critical load multiplier for the frame with semi-rigid joints
α cr.∞ is the elastic critical load multiplier for the frame with perfectly rigid joints.
For S j = 25EI b Lb (Eurocode 3 boundary) we obtain the following relation:
αcr ≥ αcr. ∞ / 1.24 (5)
which gives an upper bound for the second-order effects. If the elastic critical multiplier is
more than 4, the second-order effects may be evaluated by the amplified sway moment
method [1], in which the sway moments found by a first-order elastic analysis should be
increased by multiplying them by the ratio
1
1 (6)
1−
α cr
which is 1.33 if α cr.∞ = 4 and 1.45 if α cr = 4 /1.24 , see (5). We may conclude that, if
α cr .∞ ≥ 4 , the maximum error in the evaluation of the amplified sway moments is less than
9% (1.45/1.33=1.09). The Eurocode 3 boundary S j = 25EI b Lb leads to an acceptable
accuracy for the evaluation of horizontal deflections and second-order effects.
However, this conclusion is no more valid if α cr .∞ < 4 . In this case the deformation of
joints classified as rigid can lead to a significant influence on the overall behaviour of
unbraced frames.
The upper bounds derived for the sub-frame of Fig. 4(b) are also valid for multi-bay
multi-storey plane frames with beams connecting each column at each storey level, Fig. 4(a).
The column bases can be rigid, semi-rigid or pinned.
We notice that it is not necessary to satisfy the condition (1). The classification
boundary 25 EIb Lb should be compared to the secant stiffness of the joints.
537
4 RIGID JOINTS IN BRACED FRAMES

The buckling length of a column in a braced frame is commonly determined by using
sub-frames as represented in Fig. 5. The deformation of joints implies an increase of the
buckling length, i.e., a decrease of the critical load, and thus a decrease of the resistance. In
Fig. 5 the critical load ratio Ncr / Ncr .∞ is plotted against the joint stiffness, for the ratio
Kb K c = 1 (the most unfavourable). For S j = 8EIb Lb (Eurocode boundary) the reduction of
critical load is about 13%, and the reduction of resistance can be of the same order of
magnitude if the column is slender. This reduction is not compatible with the criterion given
in the Eurocode 3, clause 6.4.2.2 (2): "The deformation of rigid joints should be such that
they do not reduce the resistance of the structure by more than 5%". Therefore, for braced
frames, the Eurocode 3 boundary is not satisfactory. The boundary value 25 EIb Lb is
proposed, leading to a maximum reduction of critical load of about 5%, see Fig. 5.
Ncr /Ncr.∞
1
Ncr.∞ = elastic critical load if the joints are perfectly rigid
Kc
Kb Kb
0.9
Sj Kc
0.87
Kb Kb
0.8
Kc
EC3 Proposal
0 5 10 15 20 25 EIb /L b
joint stiffness Sj
Fig. 5 - Braced frame. Critical load versus joint stiffness
5 CONCLUSIONS
The following improvements of the Eurocode 3 classification of beam-to-column
joints are suggested:
- In order to classify a joint as pinned it is not necessary to define upper limits for the
stiffness or the resistance of joints. Only the rotation capacity should be checked. Thus the
classification system may be simplified, by eliminating the corresponding boundaries.
- The Eurocode 3 boundary for rigid joints in unbraced frames is acceptable if the
elastic critical load multiplier is more than 4. It is not necessary to impose the condition (1).
The required stiffness 25 EIb Lb should be compared to the secant stiffness of the joint.
- The Eurocode 3 boundary for rigid joints in braced frames is unsafe. The proposed
required stiffness 25 EIb Lb is valid for the values of the elastic critical load multiplier
α cr > 1. The required stiffness should be compared to the secant stiffness of the joint.
References
[1] Eurocode 3 - "Design of steel structures. Part 1.1: General rules and rules for buildings",
CEN, Brussels, 1992. Including revised Annex J - "Joints in Building Frames", CEN
document N 419E, Brussels, September 1994.
[2] Gomes, F.C.T. - Chapter 5: "Classification of joints", in Recent advances in the field of
structural steel joints and their representation in the building frame analysis and design
process, COST C1 publication, ed. J. P. Jaspart, European Commission, Brussels, 1999.
538
BACKGROUND OF RUSSIAN DESIGN TOOLS FOR BOLTED

CONNECTIONS
Vladimir Kalenov, Konstantin Loukianov, Andrei Pavlov,

Research and Design Institute Promstalkonstruktsiya, 13 Sadovaya Samotechnaya,
103473, Moscow, Russian Federation
Keywords: Limit State, Deformation Criteria, Ultimate Capacity, Total Serviceability, Servi-
ceability for Normal Operation, Bearing, Friction and Friction-Bearing Bolted Connections.
Abstract: The well-known design methods of bearing and friction-bearing types of connec-
tions in most cases don’t take into account criterion of deformation, which determines corre-
spondence of the chosen type of connection to real behaviour of the structure and values of
the connection ultimate capacity. Now the combination of force and deformation criteria is
the background of Russian Design Tools for bolted connections. The Paper explains the Limit
State Method distinctions (and specially its deformation criteria) for design bearing, friction-
bearing and friction bolted connections. All design methods are based on the experimental
investigations. Some results of these researches are also presented in the Paper.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Limit State Method for steel structure design is applied in Russia since 1955. This
method is being developed in Russia constantly. Its development allows a concept of service
capacity to be introduced, which includes, as particular cases, the concepts of ultimate capaci-
ty, total serviceability and serviceability for normal operation.
The loss of ultimate capacity (Limit State of group IA) implies an attainment of max-
imum by the load-deformation curve, i.e. in practice the loss of ultimate capacity means a
failure of the structure or of its part. The total serviceability loss (Limit State of group IB) im-
plies a necessity of cessation of the structural operation due to the changes by force effects.
These changes hinder the operation of the structure, but it does not mean the structural failure.
The loss of the serviceability for normal operation is referred to the Limit State of group II.
The normal operation presents a stationary process, governed by average statistical loads ac-
cording to the operation conditions. When group II reaches its Limit State the structure con-
serves its ultimate capacity and its operation may continue at greater deformations and loads.
However normal operation may be difficult. The statistical ensuring level of the group IA
limit state must be maximum one, group IB — smaller one, group II — minimum one.
The Limit States criteria are force ones for group IA, deformation or force ones for
group IB and usually deformation and rarely force ones for group II. The force criteria reflect
well-defined qualitative phenomena: failure, initiation of yielding, emergence of cracks, etc.
The deformation criteria are set as limit of only quantitative variation of deformations, dis-
placements and crack displacements. The deformation criteria are less clear and less defined
than the force ones. However, the well-founded substitution of the force criterion by higher
deformation one may be quite justified and profitable. Strength design of steel structures us-
ing the criterion of limited plastic strains (within range from 0.001 to 0.004) wide spread in
Russia. In recent years the deformation criteria have found a wide use for designing bolted
connections, and in particular, for bearing and friction-bearing type connections.
In recent years the deformation criteria has found a wide use for designing bolted con-
nections, and in particular, for bearing and friction-bearing type connections. It’s more cor-
rect, because the deformations are limit of total serviceability and its loss occurs before the
539
loss carrying capacity. The practical realization of this approach became possible after carry-
ing out the wide complex of the experimental and theoretical researches.
The combination of force and deformation criteria is the background of Russian De-
sign Tools for bolted connections.
The main ideas of Eurocode 3 are the similar to those ones of Limit State Design in
Russia. But Eurocode 3 takes into consideration only the concepts of Ultimate Limit States
(Limit States of group IA) and Serviceability Limit States, which is the analogue of Russian
Serviceability for normal operation (Limit States of group II).
2 DESIGN OF BEARING AND FRICTION-BEARING CONNECTIONS

The application of a deformation criterion for the design of bearing and friction-
bearing connections has turned out to be the most efficient. Practised until recently the bear-
ing analysis of connected elements based on the use of bearing stress — N dt , where N —
load transmitted by the fastener, d – nominal bolt diameter, t — plate thickness, was not more
than “a survival” of the conventional allowable stress design and did not mean any concrete
Limit State. It’s naturally that “bearing stress” being checked by this analysis did not corre-
spond to the actual bearing stress at all, and it could never be measured by anyone. The con-
ventional allowable bearing stress was simply converted into respective design resistance.
At present, a clear deformation criterion of the Limit State, i.e. the ultimate shear dis-
placement in the bolted connection, has been introduced. This displacement mainly consists
of three components: displacement due to the difference in diameters of holes and bolts; prac-
tically, elastic shear and bending displacements of the bolt body; elastic-plastic bearing dis-
placements of the connected elements.
The ultimate shear displacements have been set first of all on the basis of the analysis
of the ultimate displacements of structure or its part corresponding to total loss of the struc-
tural total serviceability. For example, ultimate residual deflection of the spliced girder or
truss subjected to bending. Besides, the plastic strain intensity is limited by the conditions of
preventing the excessive strain hardening of steel around the holes resulting in decrease of the
brittle strength and deterioration of the other steel properties. For the end holes the ultimate
bearing displacements are limited by the conditions of preventing the plate from splitting out.
The Tools on design of bearing and friction-bearing bolted connection specify the dif-
ferences in nominal diameters of bolt holes equal to 1 — 3 mm. According to these Tools the
ultimate bearing displacements of each connected member should be set in conformity with
Table 1.
Table 1
Ultimate bearing displacements of each connected
Conditions of structural connections member (mm) at distance
operations e≥3d; b≥3,5d 2d≤e<3d; 1,5d≤e<2d;
2,5d≤b<3,5d 2d≤b<2,5d
In heavy-duty structures or in structures
subjected to direct actions of alternat- 1,0 1,0 1,0
ing, dynamic, vibration loads
In structures subjected to static loads 3,0 3,0 1,75
In auxiliary structures (braces, frame-
3,5 3,0 1,75
work members, various platforms, etc.)
Symbols: e — end distance; b — distance between the hole centres; d — diameter of the bolt
hole.
540
A program of theoretical and experimental studies of bearing and friction-bearing

connections behaviour has been realised in Institute Promstalkonstruktsiya. The experimental
researches have been carried out on single and multi-bolt full-scale specimens under static and
cyclic loading (ρ=0,1 — 0,6). These specimens had the following characteristics: designed
tensile strength of connected plates — Run=370 — 610 MPa; plate thickness — t= 4 — 20
mm; preloaded and non-preloaded bolts M16, M20, M24 of grade 5.8, 8.8, 10.9 and 11.9;
d-db=0,3 — 4,0 mm (db – nominal diameter of the bolt body); e (e’)=(1,5 — 5,0 )d, where: e
— end distance, e’ — edge distance. Design of experiments and data processing of tests were
fulfilled by means of the mathematical statistic methods. More than 500 specimens have been
tested.
The bolt shear tests have shown that the ultimate shear and bending displacements of
the bodies of bolts of grade 5.8, 8.8 and high-strength ones are equal to 1,0 mm; 0,6 mm;
0,4 mm, respectively, at loads not exceeding the design shear forces of the bolts.
Based on the experimental results, some empirical equations have been obtained by
regression analysis methods which allow to determine shear forces N (kN) that can be taken
up by the connection, depending on the bearing displacements Δ (mm), of each connected
elements:
N = f (Δ) ⋅ γ b1 ⋅ γ b 2 ⋅ Run ⋅ d b ⋅ γ t + B ⋅ Rbh ⋅ Abn ⋅ γ n ⋅ μ ⋅ ns γ h ; (1)
Where: f (Δ) factor taking account of the bearing displacements of the connected
members, which is determined as follows:
⎧0,108Δ at 0 < Δ ≤ 0,8 mm

f (Δ) = ⎨ ; (2)
⎩0,057 + 0,04Δ − 0,0016Δ at 0,8 < Δ ≤ 3,5 mm
2
γ b1 — factor taking account of the non-simultaneity of coming into bearing the con-
nection bolts, equal to 0,9;
γ b 2 — factor taking account of the end distances and distances between the hole cen-
tres which is determined as follows:
⎧ e
⎪0,25 + 0,5 at 1,5d ≤ e < 3d , 2d ≤ b < 3,5d
γ b2 =⎨ d ; (3)
⎪⎩1,25 at e ≥ 3d , b ≥ 3,5d ;
γ t — factor taking account the thickness of connected elements which is determined

as follows:
⎧t at t ≤ 2,0 cm
⎪
γ t = ⎨− 0,5t 2 + 3t − 2 at 2,0 ≤ t < 3,0 cm ; (4)
⎪2,5 at t ≤ 3,0 cm;
⎩
B — factor taking account of the bolt pretension variation with the increase of the
bearing displacements, which is determined as follows:
B = 0,085 − 0,0024Δ; (5)
Rbh — design tensile strength of the bolt (MPa);
541
Abn — net area of the bolt section (cm);

γ n — coefficient depending on the number of bolts — n and varies from 0,8 at n=1÷4
to 1,0 at n≥10;
μ — friction coefficient;
ns — amount of friction planes;
γ h — reliability index which reflects confidence level and depends on methods of sur-
face preparation and treatment and tightening procedure.
For bearing connections, the second term of formula (1) is equal to 0.
Expressions (2) — (5) correspond to the lower limit of the confidence intervals with
the confidence level equal to 95%.
The comparison between values of the design bearing forces calculated by traditional
methods and by the method considering the deformation criterion shows that the second val-
ues are considerably higher then the first ones to 1,54 times.
In case if friction-bearing connections are used instead of bearing ones the ultimate
force, which can be transferred by the connection is increased 1,3 — 1,5 times at the bearing
stress displacements Δ = 3 mm .
Strength analysis of bolts subjected to shear in bearing and friction-bearing connec-
tions use force criterion — overall failure of bolts (Limit State IA). Correspondingly, an addi-
tional safety factor γ u = 1,3 is used here.
3 DESIGN OF FRICTION CONNECTIONS

Friction connections are designed using the force criterion of the Limit State. Accord-
ing to this criterion Limit State of friction connection is a moment when the frictional resis-
tance of connection is exceeded.
In many documents, tools and scientific papers frictional resistance has been erro-
neously called “carrying capacity”, though the shear in the friction connection has nothing in
common with the loss of the ultimate capacity in the modern sense of this term.
At present, it is evident that in the Limit State of the friction connection there is an in-
teresting combination of force and deformation criteria because all after-effects of friction
connection Limit State for operation depend on slip value after overcoming of the frictional
resistance, i.e. on the difference in diameters of the hole and the bolt — δ. According to Rus-
sian Design Tools , if δ ≥ 3 mm at dynamic loading or δ ≥ 5 mm at static loading, the Limit
State refers to group IB. If δ < 3 mm at dynamic loading or δ < 5 mm at static loading, it re-
fers to refers to group II. The reliability index of Limit State has 99% confidence level and
one of group II has 95% confidence level. So the forces transferred by each bolt of friction
connection of Limit State group II are more than those of group IB and the necessary number
of bolts can be decreased.
Expression (1) serves for design of friction connections. The first term of this formula
is equal to 0; factor B=1 and the reliability index varies from 1,2 to 1,7 for group IB Limit
State and from 1,02 to 1,3 for group II Limit State design.
The application of friction-bearing connections at the bearing displacements Δ = 1 mm
instead of friction one allows the shear force taken up by the connection to be increased 1,5
— 2,0 times.
4 CONCLUSION
Wide use of deformation criteria of strength Limit State in design of bolted connec-
tions subjected to shear allows to reduce considerably number of bolts in the connections and
to decrease labor content and cost of their manufacture and erection.
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PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF AXIALLY LOADED SHS GAP K-JOINTS

BY MEANS OF 3D F.E. MODELS
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EXPERT SYSTEM FOR THE DESIGN OF STEEL CONNECTIONS
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549
550
TEST RESULTS ON BEAM-TO COLUMN WELDED CONNECTIONS
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Session
Composite Structures
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SHEAR FORCE DISTRIBUTION OF HEADED STUDS OF COMPOSITE

SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAMS SUBJECTED TO TEMPERATURE
DIFFERENCE
Szabó B.
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INFLUENCE OF THE DUCTILITY OF REINFORCEMENT ON THE NON-LINEAR

BEHAVIOUR OF CONTINUOUS COMPOSITE BEAMS
Giovanni Fabbrocino, Gaetano Manfredi, Edoardo Cosenza

Dipartimento di Analisi e Progettazione Strutturale - Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Steel and Concrete Structures, Ductility, Numerical

Modelling, Continuous Beams.
Abstract: Continuous steel-concrete composite beams are widely used in building and bridge
constructions. Recent codes concerning composite structures provide design procedures that
allow using the redistribution of bending moment. The distribution of bending moment
depends on the rotation capacity of flexural members; the latter is dependent on many
complex mechanical phenomena. In the present paper, the results of a numerical analysis
aimed to evaluate the influence of ductility of reinforcement on the rotation capacity of
continuous are discussed. The structural model is based on a monodimensional approach and
takes into account partial interaction between the slab and the profile and bond between steel
bars and concrete.
The results confirm that at failure the allowable level of redistribution depends largely on the
ductility of reinforcement.
1 INTRODUCTION
Continuity at the internal supports introduced in composite beams lead to structural
and economical advantages, since an optimisation of design can be obtained. However the
evaluation of the internal forces at the ultimate limit state in continuous beams requires
specific methods, able to take account of the actual redistribution capacity of composite
beams, which is however strictly related to a reliable assessment of rotation capacity.
Eurocode 4 [1] allows to perform an elastic analysis with a limited degree of
redistribution, which depends on the type of analysis (cracked or uncracked) and on the
classification of steel profile, but does not provide specific suggestions concerning steel
reinforcement and allowable plastic rotations.
The latter depend on the specific phenomena of interaction characterising the
mechanical behaviour of composite beams and therefore the design criteria and the properties
of materials largely influence the structural response. Furthermore, it is worth noting that
recent experimental results [2] on composite structural systems show clearly that failure of
composite members under negative bending is often due to the fracture of reinforcing bars.
In the present paper a refined behavioural model of composite beams [3,4] is used to
analyse the reliability of design criteria provided by Eurocode 4 in the field of continuous
beams. A sample continuous beam designed according to Eurocode 4 Part 1.1 is analysed
numerically and the influence of the reinforcement ductility is examined, since two numerical
tests have been performed varying the mechanical properties of reinforcement according to
the Eurocode 2 classification [5]. The results of such an analysis show the influence of the
properties of reinforcement on the overall ductility of beams and thus on the capacity of
redistribution of the system.
2 THE SAMPLE BEAMS

The structural scheme is a two equal span continuous composite beam assumed as a
floor beam in a building [6]. The span of the beam is equal to 12.0 m, and three beams per
561
meter are provided.

The variable loads are assumed equal to 4.65 kN/m2 and the load for structure
finishing equal to 1.00 kN/m2. The beams are propped under construction and consist of a
solid slab with rolled steel beams and headed studs shear connectors. A single layer of
reinforcement is provided in the concrete slab. The structural scheme, the loading pattern and
further details about the cross section of the beam are provided in Figure 1.
5 bar 12 mm per meter headed studs - diam. 19 mm

slab thickness 120 mm h=100 mm - spacing 210 mm
IPE 450
Fe 360
3.33 m
12 m 12 m
Fig. 1 The cross section of the beam and the loading pattern.
The design of the beam has been carried out according to Eurocode 4 provisions. The
distribution of internal loads has been evaluated by a linear uncracked analysis and the
maximum degree of redistribution, δ=40%, has been applied, since the steel cross section is
compact (Class 1 according to Eurocode 4). In Table 1 the bending moment evaluated by an
elastic uncracked analysis, MEL, and the design value MD, calculated according to the
mentioned degree of redistribution are reported both for sagging and hogging moment zones.
Table 1. Design data of the sample beam.
Dead Variable MEL MD
QD
Load loads (kMm) (kNm)
(kN/m) (kN/m) (kN/m) Sagging Hogging Sagging Hogging
14.13 15.48 42.3 428 761 551 457
Table 2. Materials.
Sample beam #1 Sample beam #2
Structural steel N.D. Reinforcement H.D. Reinforcement
Concrete fy ft fy fy
εu εu ft/fy εu ft/fy
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
C30/37 235 >20% 360 420 2.5% 1.05 420 5% 1.08
The shear connection is designed according to Eurocode provisions and a full

connection (N/Nf=1) has been provided by headed studs connectors with a diameter equal to
19 mm and height 100 mm; a uniform spacing equal to 210 mm has been used.
Two sample cases have been considered. As shown in Table 2, the only parameter
changing between beam #1 and beam #2 is the class of reinforcement according to ductility.
In fact, Normal Ductility steel and High Ductility steel according to Eurocode 2 are used for
beam #1 and beam #2 respectively; the yielding steel is given and is equal to 420 MPa, but
562
the ultimate strain and strain hardening ratio are varied in compliance with EC2 provisions.
3 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Some results of the numerical analysis are briefly discussed in the present section. In
particular, a comparison between the two sample beams is carried out with reference to the
ultimate condition. The plots arranged in Figure 2 give the deflections and bending moments
(b) at failure for both the steel classes. A relevant increase of deflections is observed moving
from N.D. to H.D. steel, together with an increase of load capacity of the beam. In both cases,
failure is due to fracture of reinforcement, as shown in Figure 3, where the distribution of
strains of reinforcing steel in the hogging bending zone are plotted.
z (m)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -600 Bending
0 moment
-400
20 (kNm)
-200
40 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
60 N.D. Steel 0
80 z (m)
200
100
400 N.D. Steel
120
140 Deflection 600
H.D. Steel
(mm) H.D. Steel
160 800
Fig. 2.a. Deflections at failure. Fig. 2.b. Bending moments at failure.

0.06
H.D. steel Rebar strain
0.05
N.D. steel
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
z (m)
0
10.5 11 11.5 12
Fig. 3. Strain of reinforcement in the hogging moment zone at failure.

Table 3. Some results of the numerical analysis.
QU MEL,HOG MU,HOG δ
(kN/m) (kNm) (kNm) (kNm)
Design values 42.3 761 457 0.40
Calculated N.D. 42.3 761 471 0.38
Values H.D. 50.9 916 491 0.46
The main results of the numerical analysis are summarised in Table 3, where the design data
are compared with calculated ones in terms of the ultimate load; the elastic hogging bending
moment; the ultimate hogging moment at the support and the degree of redistribution, δ.
It is worth noting that when Normal Ductility reinforcing steel is used, the ultimate load of the
beam is coincident with the design load (42.3 kN/m); conversely when H.D. steel is used a
higher level of load (50.9 kN /m) can be reached. As a result the increase of calculated
ultimate load is about 20 %.
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-2.00E-04
Curvature H.D. steel
(1/mm)
-1.50E-04 N.D. steel
-1.00E-04
-5.00E-05
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
0.00E+00
z (m)
5.00E-05
Fig. 4 The distribution of curvature at failure.

The analysis of the results allows pointing out two basic aspects. Firstly, the
difference between design and calculated bending moments, which are dependent upon the
strain hardening ratio. Then the capacity of redistribution is influenced by the ductility of
reinforcement, as clearly shown by the calculated degree of redistribution given in Table 3.
This parameter point out that beam #1 cannot reach the design level of redistribution
(40%), while for beam #2 with H.D. bars this limit can be exceeded.
Another interesting behavioural aspect is shown in Figure 4, where the distribution of
curvature at failure is plotted. It is clear that use of H.D. steel allows an increase of the yielded
zone under positive bending and a at the support region allows a wider spreading of yielding
in the sagging moment zones, as shown in Figure 4, where the distribution of curvature at
failure is plotted.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A refined behavioural model of continuous composite beams has been used to check
the reliability of design procedures provided by Eurocode 4 concerning the redistribution of
internal forces in continuous structural schemes. In the present analysis, only the dependenc
on the ductility of reinforcement has been considered and its influence on the redistribution
capacity has been examined. The results confirm that mechanical properties of reinforcement
can reduce the overall ductility of the beam and influence the load capacity and redistribution
as well. The design procedure is absolutely satisfactory for H.D. steel, but further analyses are
required to assess the combined effect of low ductility reinforcement and other parameters
such as level of interaction and arrangement of mechanical devices for shear connection.
Basic references
[1] Eurocode 4, Common Unified Rules for Composite Steel and Concrete Structures, ENV
1994-1-1, 1992.
[2] Bode H., Kronenberger H.J., Michaeli W., Composite Joints – Further Experimental
Results – Proceedings of the International Conference Composite Construction, Conventional
and Innovative, IABSE Innsbruck, pp. 433-438, 1997.
[3] Fabbrocino G., Manfredi G., Cosenza E., Non-Linear Analysis of Composite Beams
under Positive Bending – Computers & Structures – Vol. 70, pp. 77-89, 1999.
[4] Manfredi G., Fabbrocino G., Cosenza E., Modelling of composite beams under negative
bending, ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 125, n° 6, June, 1999.
[5] Eurocode 2, Common Unified Rules for Concrete Structures, ENV 1992-1-1, 1991.
[6] ECCS Composite Beams and Columns to Eurocode 4, n° 72. Technical Commitee 11,
Composite Structures, 1993.
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NAILED SHEAR CONNECTION IN COMPOSITE TUBE COLUMNS
Hermann Beck
Hilti Corp., Direct Fastening Development, FL 9494-Schaan, Principality of Liechtenstein
Keywords: Composite Steel and Concrete Structures, Structural Connections
Abstract: The paper describes an alternative method for providing the shear connection in
composite tube columns. Powder Actuated Fasteners (PAFs) are driven from the outside
through the tube walls. The fasteners completely penetrate into the column tube providing a
mechanical shear connection with their protruding tips. The paper summarises the results of
30 pushout tests with pipe specimens. Influences of pipe geometry, concrete strength and
type of fastener on the load-deflection characteristics were investigated. The load-deflection
behaviour exhibits excellent ductility combined with high load-bearing capacity per fastener.
Based on these findings the nailed shear connection was introduced into practice with the
Millennium-Tower in Vienna, a fifty storey high rise building completed in 1999. It has
proven to be a reliable and cost effective connection method as no welding work is required.
1 INTRODUCTION
It is necessary for the composite behaviour of concrete filled tube columns that
shear transfer be provided between the steel tube and concrete core at locations where loads
are transferred into the column. To maximise the economy of composite construction, it is
advantageous for the tube, which acts as a form in addition to its load carrying function, to be
continuous over several floors. Using powder actuated nails as shear connectors between the
tube and the concrete is a simple, innovative and low-cost method meeting these
requirements.
2 METHOD
High strength nails with smooth shanks are driven through the tube wall from the
outside using a powder-actuated tool. The front sections of these nails protrude into the inside
of the hollow tube. After the tube has been filled with concrete, the nail shank acts as a shear
connector between the concrete core and the hollow tube. The nails must carry the
proportional forces assigned to the concrete which are transferred from the floor into the
composite column.
Embedment Depth
Fig. 1: Principle of nailed shear connection
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3 PUSHOUT TESTS AND TEST PROGRAM

The paper describes the results of a series of actual pushout tests. Table 1
provides an overview of the parameters of the test programme and Fig. 2 shows an example
of the test setup for the pushout tests.
Series Pipe Con- Hilti PAF Ultimate Load5)

crete [kN]
Diameter fy Cube Designation Dia- Embed- total per
and wall [N/mm²] Strength meter ment powder
thickness fcc150 [mm] Depth4) actuated
[mm] [N/mm²] [mm] fastener
A 508/8,8 301 57,9 DS32 P10 4,5 23,2 1003,3 41,8
B 508/8,8 301 30,9 DS32 P10 4,5 23,2 733,3 30,6
1)
C 508/8,8 301 60,0 X-DSH32 P10 4,5 23,2 895,0 37,3
D 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 X-DSH32 P10 4,5 25,7 583,3 24,3
E 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 DS27 P10 4,5 20,7 553,3 23,1
F 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 X-CR29 P8 3,7 22,7 390,0 16,3
G 323,9/6,3 365 60,0 X-CR29 P8 3,7 22,7 490,0 20,4
2)
H 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 X-DSH32 P10 4,5 25,7 713,3 29,7
I 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 no nail - - 16,7 -
3)
Q 323,9/6,3 365 30,9 X-DSH32 P10 4,5 25,7 518,3 21,6
1)
Series C: Maximum aggregate size: 8 mm, all other series: 16 mm
2)
Series H: Support of specimens by four welded web-plates to simulate concentrated load
introduction
3)
Series Q: Nail installation into cured concrete
4)
Embedment Depth: Definition according to Fig. 1
5)
Mean Value of three tests per series
Table 1: Pushout Tests: Test programme and achieved ultimate capacities
The specimens consisted of steel pipes filled with concrete. In general, the nails
were installed prior to concrete placement. For each specimen 24 nails were set in 2 rows at
equal distances along the circumference of the pipe. The vertical distance between the rows
was selected to be 100 mm for pipes with a diameter of 508,8 mm and 50 mm for pipes with a
diameter of 323,9 mm. The piston of a servo-hydraulic testing machine pushed the concrete
core of the specimen, which generally is uniformly supported through the rim of the steel
pipe. The slip in the interface was measured by displacement gauges at four locations.
The objective of the tests was to investigate the sole effectiveness of the nails.
Therefore, to keep the possible effects of adhesion and friction small, the inside steel surface
was lubricated prior to concrete placement.
566
508
Pipe, (d=508, s=8,8)
350
Concrete
600
100
150
2 x 12 Hilti Powder
Actuated Fasteners
133
4 deflection gauges
Fig. 2: Pushout test setup
In this test programme all pushout tests were conducted with pipe sections. For
test results with rectangular hollow sections the reader is referred to [1] and [2]. The
following parameters were investigated:
Diameter, wall thickness and strength of the steel pipe
Concrete strength
Diameter, material and strength of the powder actuated fasteners
→ X-DSH32 P10: Ls = 32 mm, Hardness: 58 Rockwell C, zinc coated
→ DS32 P10, DS27 P10: Ls = 32 mm or 27 mm, Hardness: 54 Rockwell C, zinc coated
→ X-CR29 P8: Ls = 29 mm, Hardness: 52 Rockwell C, stainless
Embedment depth of the nail into the concrete core (Fig. 1)
Load introduction into the tube (series H)
Installation of the nails after concrete placement (series Q)
4 LOAD-DEFLECTION BEHAVIOUR
Examples of typical load-deflection curves are given in Fig. 2. The behaviour is
characterised as follows:
A high load-bearing capacity per fastener is attainable. Due to the confinement effect of
the steel pipe, the concrete is able to develop high local compression stresses. The
calculated capacity of the nail increases with the concrete strength reaching a maximum in
the case of series A.
In every single test the calculated capacity per fastener was equal to or greater than the
pure shear capacity of the nail. Fig. 2 allows for a comparison as the level of the shear
capacity of all 24 fastener shanks is drawn considering a nominal shear capacity of 20 kN
per fastener (for the stainless fasteners of series F and G the nominal shear capacity
amounts to 11,5 kN). The comparison with the control test proves that this beneficial
effect is not caused by adhesion in the interface between the concrete and the pipe. Due to
the bending of the nails it seems that additional local friction effects can be developed.
The tests prove the excellent ductile behaviour of the nailed shear connections. The high
local compression around the fastener shank causes local plastic deformation of the
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concrete. Consequently the fasteners undergo flexural deformations without brittle shear
failure as would be the case in pure shear.
Test Load [kN]

1000
900 Series A,
Spec. 2
800
Series B,
700 Spec. 1
600 Control
Level of pure shear capacity
tests
500
400
300
200
100 Control test, no fasteners
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Slip in the interface [mm]
Fig. 2: Examples of selected load-deflection curves
5 PILOT PROJECT: MILLENNIUM-TOWER VIENNA

The nailed shear connection of concrete filled tubes with Hilti powder actuated
fasteners was successfully introduced into practice for the deck-column detail of the
Millennium-Tower in Vienna, a fifty storey high rise building completed in early 1999.
The column section additionally incorporated a solid circular steel core in its
centre. This core was also connected with the filled concrete by means of Hilti powder
actuated fasteners. Fasteners typically used for metal deck attachments were installed into the
circular cores. The shear transfer between the concrete and the core was provided through the
conical heads (diameter from 4,5 to 7,5 mm) of the fasteners which extended out into the
concrete. The load-deflection behaviour of the nailed core connection exhibits similar
characteristics as the described nailed tube connection, namely high load-bearing capacity per
fastener combined with excellent ductility.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The nailed shear connection provides shear transfer in composite tube columns in
those regions where vertical loads are introduced into the column. In comparison with
conventional solutions like welded in through-bolts, fin plates or headed studs the nailed shear
connection is very cost effective as no welding is required, which leads to a reduction in
fabrication effort and time. The nailed shear connection exhibits high load-bearing capacities
greater than the pure shear capacity of the fasteners. The ductility of the connection is
excellent, as the high strength fasteners are able to achieve considerable plastic deformations
in bending.
References
[1] Larcher, T.Z.: Versuche zur Krafteinleitung der Trägerauflagerkräfte bei
Hohlprofilverbundstützen mit Setznägeln, Diploma-work, Institute for Steel and Timber
Structures, University of Innsbruck, 1997
[2] Shakir-Khalil, H.: Resistance of concrete-filled steel tubes to pushout forces, The
Structural Engineer, Vol.71/No13/6 July 1993
568
COMPOSITE SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS FOR EDGE AND CORNER

COLUMNS
L.T.S. Ferreira1, S. A. L. de Andrade2 and P. C. G. da S. Vellasco3

1
Structural Engineering Department, Federal University of Roraima, UFRR, Brazil.
2
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO and Structural Engineering Department, UERJ.
3
Structural Engineering Department, UERJ.
Keywords: Composite steel connections, “T-rib” connector, Perfobond rib shear connector
Abstract: Although the use of composite action is becoming more frequent in the semi-rigid
connection design, its application to negative moment regions in portal frame edge and corner
columns is still not very exploited. This work proposes a new design and construction system
that enables an efficient use of this highly valuable potential. The proposed process uses a
shear connector so-called “Perfobond Rib” and a connection element, denominated "T" rib for
composite action. The “T-rib” connection element was developed with the aim of transferring
the forces from the reinforcement bars present in negative moment regions to edge and corner
column flanges.
1 INTRODUCTION
The composite action was introduced in the steel portal frame connection design in the
sixties as an alternative to the rigid steel connection design. This strategy conducted to design
solutions with high reinforcement ratios and complex details. In the eighties a new design
trend incorporated the composite action in steel connections using the semi-rigid design
concept. This method lead to design solutions with reasonable reinforcement ratios and easy
execution details.
On the other hand, the composite action used in negative moment regions, of edge and
corner columns, it is still not very exploited by most of the current structural systems. This
was the main motivation for the development a new structural system for composite
construction. A shear connector called “perfobond rib” is proposed for intermediate column
connections while a new connecting element [1], called “T-rib” is suggested for external
column connections.
2 SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS SOLUTIONS FOR INTERMEDIATE COLUMNS

The solutions for composite semi-rigid connections subjected to negative moment
action are based on two conditions. The first is that the negative reinforcement, present in the
slab’s effective width, should have the necessary anchorage length in the positive moment
regions. The second condition stresses the need of a minimum number of shear connectors to
be used in the negative moment region. These connectors are necessary, despite the concrete
action not being effective due to cracks. The shear connectors can transfer the loading action
from the reinforcement bars to the steel beam in a more gradual way. This gradual load
transfer would not occur happen if made only trough the reinforcement bar’s anchorage
length. The usual composite solution employs stud shear connectors and the negative
reinforcement bars properly anchored in the positive moment regions.
This work proposes the use of the “perfobond rib” shear connector for composite
semi-rigid connection in internal columns. This shear connector can increase the erection
569
speed, and consequently, reduce the structural costs. Its use also allows a better anchorage of
the negative reinforcement bars to be executed.
Ferreira et al [1] carried-out two experimental push-out tests, called PB05 and PB08
with the purpose of accessing the shear strength. From these tests it was possible to observe
the concrete dowels and the reinforcement bars’ (located in connector’s holes) contribution to
the connector resistance. The extra friction effect between the connector’s surface and the
surrounding concrete was not considered in this analysis but surely contributes to the
connector’s final resistance. This was validated through those prototypes specially designed
not to have the front slab’s contribution located below the shear connector.
3 SEMI-RIGID CONNECTIONS SOLUTIONS FOR USE IN EXTERNAL COLUMNS

The usual design solutions for external columns use reinforcement bars enlacing the
column. This structural detail is not very well accepted by Brazilian architects. This is due to
the extra difficulty of adapting the architectural design solutions for the building facades. The
need for enlacing the columns with reinforcement necessarily produce the elongation of the
floor slab creating an overhang. This execution detail present an extra difficulty in the
concrete slab construction and makes difficult the use of vertically continuous window panel.
The proposed solution for external columns composite semi-rigid connections located
at, edge or corner, Figure 1 [1], introduces a new connection element, called “T-rib”
connector. This connector has the aim of transferring the reinforcing bar forces, located in the
negative moment region, directly to the column flange. This executive detail overcomes the
problems in architectural facades design, avoiding all the inconveniences already mentioned.
Figure 1: A composite semi-rigid connection detail for use in external columns
3.1 THE “T-RIB” CONNECTOR

The “T-rib” connector detail should be as simple as possible. This condition
conducted to a proposal that minimises the prying action effect. Otherwise, a premature loss
of stiffness in the whole connection can be expected to happen. The “T-rib” connector design
encompasses the following steps: calculation of the flange and web thicknesses of the “T-rib”
connector, as well as its height; the determination of the web holes diameter and the bolt
diameter. This calculation starts with the information on the column and beam dimensions,
and the concrete slab thickness.
The column and the beam used in the prototypes are, respectively, a WWF 300x66 and
a S250x38 profiles having a specified stress fy equal to 250 Mpa. These values were
previously set in order to be the same of a portal frame being designed and tested in full scale
[2].
The used connector’s had the dimensions and thickness are depicted in Figure 2.a. the
“T-rib” connectors are easily made of leftover rolled sections. This fact induced the “T-rib”
connector to be fabricated from the beam or column universal sections, Figure 2.b. This
570
strategy avoided an extra welding work and reduced the costs by using leftovers sections
that would be generally discarded.
3.2 THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME

An experimental programme comprehending six pull-out tests was executed in order
to evaluate the “T-rib” connector’s and the column’s flange structural behaviour. The “T-rib”
connectors were made from S250x38 steel section.
Figure 2.a: The “T”rib connector’s Figure 2.b: The “T-rib”connector

dimensions
After positioning the prototype in the support steel beam the loading platform was
erected. This loading platform was composed of two universal channel beams welded to the
prototype’s reinforcement bars. The “U” beams were designed to receive two hydraulic jacks
forces and transmit these forces to the reinforcement bars, Figure 3.
Figure 3: Pull-out test assembly
3.3-THE PULL-OUT TEST RESULTS

This section presents the results of the six pull-out test program. The first four were
conceived to evaluate the structural behaviour of the “T-rib” connector and the column
flange. Another objective was the determination of the connector’s possible failure modes.
The last two specimens were designed to fail by concrete’s crushing.
The TE 01 prototype failed by tension in the first hole’s net cross section area (close to
the T-rib connector’s flange, Figure 4.a) of the connector’s web. The failure load reached
109.5 kN confirming the design model’s assumptions. The prototype TE 02 also had a similar
structural behaviour to the TE 01 prototype , reaching a failure load of 111.8 kN.
571
In the first two tests (TE 01 and TE 02), the connector-beam arrangement was not
influenced by the prying action effect. This was due to the fact that the connector was made
of rolled beams that presents a thicker flange. Bevelled washers were also used in the “T-rib”
column flange interface creating an arrangement more rigid than the initially designed[1].
Figure 4.a: TE01-connector’s Figure 4.b: TE05- concrete’s Figure 4.c: TE05 –concrete’s
failure. failure side 1 failure side 2
Despite having an increase of the web’s cross section net area and the steel’s ultimate
stress TE 03 and TE 04 connector’s still failed by tension. The tension failures mechanism of
specimens TE 03 and TE 04 were located near the web’s first hole in the flange side. Their
maximum nominal resistance corresponded to 136.8 kN and 140,9 kN respectively. The bolt’s
predicted nominal tensile resistance was equal to 157.3 kN being higher than the connector
net area tension limit state described previously.
The prototypes TE 05 and TE 06 were made with special “T” connectors where the web
net area was substantially increased in order to induce the concrete’s failure mechanism,
Figures 4.b and 4.c. Despite this fact the ultimate limit state of these prototypes was
associated with the bolt tension capacity. The failure loads for the TE 05 and TE 06
prototypes were 194,4 kN and 192,5 kN, respectively.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The structural solution proposed in this work enables to the engineers and architects
the use of composite semi-rigid connections in external columns in a very effective and
aesthetical way. The simple “T-rib” connector presents low fabrication costs and improves the
structure assembly process reducing the structure’s final cost.
The test series confirmed the ultimate limits states of the “T-rib” connector. The tension
failure in the cross section’s net area of the connector web, the bolt tension failure and the
concrete’s crushing failure.
These results confirmed the design model’s assumptions that the prying action effect
had a minimum influence in the global behaviour of the column-beam-connector
arrangement. These results allowed the implementation of the third stage of this research
project [2], that consisted on a full-scale composite portal frame, [2].
References
[1] Chapter 6 CONNECTIONS - A Design Model for Bolted Composite Semi-Rigid

Connections, Ferreira, L. T. S., Andrade, S. A. L. de; Vellasco, P. C. G. da S.; Stability
and Ductility of Steel Structures, Tsutomu Usami & Yoshito Itoh editors, 1998, pp. 293 –
306, ISBN 0-08-0433 20-0.
[2] Avaliação de Ligações Semi-rígidas Mistas Aparafusadas, L.T.S. Ferreira, Ph.D. Thesis,
Civil Engineering Department, PUC-RIO, (in portuguese), 1999.
572
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF COMPOSITE STEEL BEAMS
573
574
575
576
PARTIAL CONNECTION OF STEEL AND CONCRETE COMPOSITE

BEAMS WITH HVB SHEAR CONNECTORS
Karel Peleška
Department of Steel Structures, CTU, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Keywords: Composite Steel and Concrete Structures, Partial Connection, HVB HILTI Shear
Connectors, Deflection
Abstract: Behaviour of simply supported composite steel-concrete beams with partial

connection by HVB connectors is studied. Twelve push-out tests were carried out as the first
part of this research. The second part of the research has been test of three steel-concrete
beams with 6 m span. Next part of the research has been a numerical analysis. The numerical
analysis was carried out as non-linear by program ANSYS. The connection of the concrete
slab to the top flange of steel beam was made by a special element which, to model as
truthfully as possible the action of the connection. Properties of this element were derived
from the deformation characteristic curve of the connectors. Results of numerical analysis
have been parametrical study of deflection of composite beams and recommendation for
calculation.
1 INTRODUCTION
HVB connectors (Fig. 1) represent a new type of connection in the steel-concrete
composite structures. They have one big advantage: independence of electricity power source.
Design of HVB connectors is similar as design of headed stud. Theory of plasticity is often
used for ultimate limit states and also is possible design of partial connection. For
serviceability limit states is used theory of elasticity. But calculation of deflection of beam
with partial connection of ductile connectors according to theory of elasticity is difficult and
for common calculations is improper. Simplification of calculation is possible by using
formulas for second moment of area I (e.g. according to AISC, (1)) or directly for deflection δ
(e.g. according to EC4, (2)) [1].
I = I a + (I f − I a ) (N / N f ) (1)
δ = δ f + 0.5(δ a − δ f )(1 − N / N f ) (2)
But both formulas were assigned for welded headed studs and not for fastened HVB
connectors. Behaviour of partial connection of composite beams with HVB connectors is
being verified by experimental and numerical analysis at CTU Prague.
Fig. 1 Shear connector HVB 95 and nail ENPH3-21L15
577
2 EXPERIMENAL ANALYSIS
Push-out tests
Twelve push-out tests in four series were carried out according to EC4. The
specimens for standard (with solid concrete slab) and specific (with profiled steel sheeting)
are shown in the Fig.2. Results from push-out tests were characteristic resistance, slip
capacity and load-slip curve of connectors (stiffness of connectors).
Fig. 2 Specimens for standard and specific push-out test
Beam tests
Experimental research continued by three tests of beams. The beams were simply
supported and span was six-meter (Fig. 3). First beam (N01) had full connection, second
(N02) and third (N03) partial connection with degree 67% and 64%.
BEARING
Fig. 3 Specimen for beam test
Results from beam tests were deflections in the middle of beam, slips between
concrete slab and steel beam in the ends and strains, which were measured in the 7 points of
midspan cross-section.
3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Computer model
The composite beam was modelled using FEM program ANSYS. The structure was
modelled by beam elements (steel beam, concrete slab) and connection of the concrete slab to
the top flange of steel beam was made by a special spar element which, to model as truthfully
as possible the action of the connection (Fig. 4). Properties of this element were derived from
the load-slip curve of the connectors (Fig. 5).
578
Fig. 4 Model of composite beam
45
40
35
30
load F [kN]
25
20
15 F = 8.2828 ln(δ) + 27.05
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
slip δ [mm]
Fig. 5 Load-slip curve of connectors from push-out tests
Comparison of tests and calculations

The comparison of deflections of the experimental results with ANSYS results is
given in the Fig. 6. This chart shows absolutely good agreement in elastic part of behaviour of
beam and good agreement in elastic-plastic part of behaviour, in plastic part of behaviour of
beam are differences between values from tests and from calculation, but this part was out of
interest of research.
80 test N01
70
calculation
60 N01
load F [kN]
50 test N02
40
30 calculation
N02
20
test N03
10
0 calculation
0 10 20 30 40 50 N03
deflection [mm]
Fig. 6 Comparison of deflections
579
Parametrical study
Parametrical study was made after verification of computer model. Purpose of
parametrical study was retrieval of dependence between degree of connection and deflection
of composite beam. In all 165 non-linear calculations were made in parametrical study with
profiles IPE 160, 180, 200 for span of beams from 5 to 10 m and degree of connection
from 0 to 1. Result of parametrical study was formula for calculation of second moment of
area of composite beam with partial connection:
I = I a + [I f (0,05L + 0,4 ) − I a ] N / N f (3)
where: Ia is second moment of area of steel beam,
If is second moment of area of composite beam with full connection (without slip),
N/Nf is degree of connection,
L is span of beam in meter (valid for L ≤ 12 m).
The comparison of deflections calculated with formula (3), which is span-dependent

and formula (1) according to AISC and formula (2) according to EC4 and ANSYS results for
six-meter long beam is given in the Fig. 7.
5
Peleška (3)
4
Ansys 5.3
deflection δ ⁄ δf
EC4 (2)
3
AISC (1)
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
degree of connection N/Nf
Fig. 7 Calculation of deflection of beam with partial connection
CONCLUSIONS
• Deflection of composite beam with partial connection by ductile HVB connectors is
possible to calculate by standard elastic theory with using second moment of area I
according to (3).
• Second moment of area I according to (3) is span-dependent. Ductility of connectors
brings on that for L< 12 m and for full connection N/Nf =1 is I < If.
Acknowledgement
The research was carried out with financial support of the CTU projects No. 1022, 3096325
and 1015. This help is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] Fastening Technology Manual, Product Information (DX), 77 p., Hilti Corporation,
FL 9494 Schaan, 1996.
[2] Peleška K.: Spřažení ocelobetonových konstrukcí kotvami HVB, Doktorandská
disertační práce, 119 s., Praha, 1998.
580
COMPOSITE STEEL-CONCRETE CONNECTORS SUBJECTED TO DYNAMIC

LOADS OF SEISMIC TYPE
Vasile Pacurar, Maria Litan, Ioan Petran, Roxana Balc, Cristina Campian
Technical University of Cluj, Civil Engineering Faculty,3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Keywords: Composite Steel-Concrete Structures
Abstract: The paper presents experimental testing results achieved on 30 steel-concrete

composite section elements, the connectors being done from U and L profiles.
The elements were tested monoton and cyclic.
The paper is a part from a larger research programm concerning rigid and ductile connectors
behaviour subjected to dynamic loads.
Obtained results have shown for dynamic loads of seismic type case, connectors bearing
capacity is reducing with about 20%-30% comparing with their bearing capacity for static
loads case.
1.INTRODUCTION
Steel-concrete composite structure have became in the last time a real alternative for
traditional structures (reinforced concrete, steel) because of high strength weight ratio, and on
the other hand for speed and easy way for make up.
Taking into account that Romania is situated in a seismic area, correct using of steel-
concrete composite beams, impose their behavior knowing to dynamic loads of seismic type.
In European standards (EC4) is specified that relationships for connection calculus at
steel-concrete composite beams are valid in static loads assumption.
For other types of loading will be adopted these relationships based on studies or
experimental testings.
By achieved experimental programm followed:
-effect determination of cyclic and dynamic of seismic type loads on the bearing
capacity of connectors made up from U and L profiles;
-slippage evaluation at steel-concrete contact interface subjected to cyclic and
dynamic of seismic type loads;
-experimental results comparison with theoretical results.
2.MANNER OF TESTING
In the frame of rigid connectors behavior knowing subjected to cyclic and dynamic of
seismic type loads were achieved 30 experimental elements.
At 15 elements, the connection achieved with connectors made up from U profile, and
other 15 elements with connectors made up from L profile.
For every group of 15 elements, 3 elements were tested at static loads (A and C types -
fig.1-b), and 12 elements were tested at cyclic loads (B and D elements - fig.1-a).
581
12x200-850
I26
16*120-850
U 8-80(L 80x80x8-80)
Ø 8-250 U 8-80(L80x80x8-80)
a b
Figure 1 :Testing elements types
From those 12 elements subjected to pulsant cyclic loads and the other 6 elements
were subjected to alternative cyclic loads.
Elements testing subjected to static loads had the following steps:
-force applying in 100 kN steps till 400 kN (that value represents about 40% from
computed fracture force);
-20 loading-unloading cycles applying between 50 kN and 400 kN;
-growing up monotonous force applying in steps of 50 kN till element fracture.
The elements subjected to pulsant cyclic loads were divided in two categories depends
on the loading action manner.For B I and D I elements the force was applied from profile
outside, and for B II and D II elements, the force was applied from profile inside.
Testing had the following steps (fig.2):
-cyclic load applying in steps of 50 kN till 200 kN;
-20 loading-unloading cycles applying between 50 kN and 200 kN;
-a pulsant cyclic load applying in steps of 50 kN till rupture.
For the elements subjected to alternative cyclic loads (B III and D III elements) testing
had the folowing steps:
-the force applied cyclic alternative in 50 kN steps till ±200 kN with two cycles for the
same load level;
-20 loading-unloading cycles between ±200 kN;
-cyclic alternative force applying in steps of 50 kN till rupture.
P BIII(DIII)
P BI(DI)
450
450 400
400 350
350 300
300 250
250 200
200 150
150 100
100 50
50 0
0 50 number of
number of cycles 100 cycles
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
P
Figure2 : Applying manner of cyclic loads
582
3.EXPERIMENTAL ELEMENTS DESCRIPTION

Samples geometric characteristics are shown in fig. 1.Achieved connectors from U or
L profile have 80 mm length.
Reinforced concrete slab has φ10/15 cm double horse taking measures to eliminate
steel-concrete adherence.To hinder concrete slab separation the connectors had steel
anchorage.
4.EXPERIMENTAL TESTING RESULTS
For the elements subjected to static loads, experimental testing put into evidence the
following things:
-fracture force in testing is greater than computed bearing capacity obtained by EC4,
safety factor being 1.25;
-displacements at steel-concrete interface (before concrete cracking) were small (about
1 mm);
-at failure, because of concrete cracking and crushing, displacements has grown at 4.7-
5.9 mm values, stress-strain diagrams being shown in fig.3;
-at normal loads level, slippages are small (about 0.2 mm).
900
force(kN)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00
displacem ents(m m )
Figure 3 : Stress-strain diagrams at static tested elements
Elements testing subjected to cyclic loads put into evidence following things:
-obtained experimental rupture force is less than static loads case with 5-10 % in
pulsant cyclic loads case, and 20-25 % in alternative cyclic loads case, minimum safety
coeficient given by EC 4 is not assured;
-alternative cyclic loads test experiments put into evidence a better behavior of
semirigid connectors made up from L profile than rigid connectors made up from U profile;
-before concrete cracking, steel-concrete contact interface displacements were aprox.
equal with those measured displacements in static loads case;
-at failure, maximum displacements were less than static loads case
displacements;stress-strain diagram is showm in fig.4;
-dispozition manner of connectors concerning force direction does not influence
connectors bearing capacity.
583
5. CONCLUSIONS
Described experimental testing in this paper, put into evidence some aspects linked
rigid connectors behavior subjected to cyclic loads, being emphazed this type of loads has
negative influence on conectors bearing capacity.
Having experimental results is recomended for buildings situated in seismic areas,
connectors bearing capacity computed with EC4 relationships to be reduced about 30 %, for
U profile connectors and 20% for L profile connectors.
force (kN)
forc e(kN)
500 500
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.0 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.0
0 0
dis plac em ents (m m ) dis placem ents(m m )

force(kN)
500 500
force(kN)
400 400
300 300
200
200
100
100
0
0
-100
-100
-200
-200 -300
-300 -400
-400 -5.00 0.00 5.00 10.00
-5.00 0.00 5.00 10.00
displacements(mm) displacements(mm)
Figure4: Stress-strain diagrams at cyclic tested elements
References
[1] ”Recommended testing procedure for assessing of structural steel elements under cyclic
loads” , European Convention for Constructional Steel Work 1984
[2] “EUROCODE 4”Composite steel-concrete structures.
584
EFFECTIVE SIZE OF COMPOSITE BEAMS FOR CAPACITY DESIGN
585
586
587
588
PERFORATED SHEAR CONNECTOR FOR STEEL AND CONCRETE

STRUCTURES
Jiří Studnička, Josef Macháček, Aleš Krpata, Marcela Svitáková

Department of Steel Structures, CTU (Czech Technical University in Prague), Thákurova 7,
Keywords: Composite Steel and Concrete Structures, Perforated Shear Connector, Push Test,
Shear Strength, Transverse Reinforcement
Abstract: Results of push tests with new types of perforated shear connector are presented.
Shear resistance of the 50/10 [mm] shear connector with 32 mm inside holes, described in [1],
is taken as a basis. The modifications cover a higher 100/10 [mm] shear connector with 32
mm holes suitable for concrete deck plates with precast concrete slab used as a shuttering,
parallel arrangement of two 50/10 [mm] connectors and 100/12 [mm] „bridge“ shear
connector with 60 mm inside holes. Recommendations on obtaining of load capacity of the
described shear connectors are given.
1 INTRODUCTION
Perforated shear connector has often been used for steel and concrete composite beams
since the end of eighties. The original idea was published in [2]. High load capacity of the
connector (see also [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]) predetermines applicability of these connectors
mainly for large spans and in bridge engineering. The connector is welded by fillet welds
(continuous or intermittent) to an upper girder flange. Concrete „dowels“ going through the
perforation, together with a transverse steel reinforcement, provide resistance to shear and
uplift forces.
Perforated connector 50/10 [mm] with 32 mm diameter holes (Fig.1) proposed by
Authors in 1994 has been investigated in CTU Prague. Based on a statistical evaluation
(accordingly to Annex Z of ENV 1993-1-1) of large series of push tests (carried out in
accordance with ENV 1994-1-1) the characteristic (PRk) and design (PRd) shear resistance
depending on concrete strength and amount of transverse reinforcement was found:
PRk = -68 + 12.4fck + 797Ast [N/mm], (1)
PRd = - 49 + 8.8fck + 568Ast [N/mm], (2)
where fck [MPa] is characteristic (cylindrical) concrete strength (fck ≈ 0.8fc,cube ),
2
Ast [mm /mm] area of transverse reinforcement (steel with at least fsk = 410 MPa)
inserted into holes of the connector (both open and closed holes may
be used).
Partial safety factor:
γv = 1.40 (3)
The results were verified experimentally on three composite girders of reasonable size
(span 6 m) with full or partial shear connection [8]. The results confirmed the proposed shear
resistance formulas and showed significant plastic redistribution of shear forces along the
girder. Nevertheless, in accordance with ENV 1994-1-1, elastic theory for design of shear
connection was recommended, because ductility of the connector with its characteristic slip
δuk < 6 mm is not sufficient.
589
2 MODIFICATION OF THE CONNECTOR AND NEW RESULTS

Recently modified perforated connectors were proposed for specific use in Czech
Republic, Fig. 1. The first modified version, connector 100/10 [mm] with 32 mm diameter
holes is to be used together with concrete precast deck as shuttering. The second modification,
connector 100/12 [mm] with 60 mm diameter holes is supposed to be used for bridge girders.
Shear connector : 50/10 Shear connector : 100/10 Shear connector : 100/12

25 45 45 45 10 25 45 45 45 10 45 90 90 90 12
60
25 15 10
15 10
10
10
20 30 30 20
25
25
50
50
R R
32 32
100
100
75
R
50
60
P 10
P 10 P 12
Fig. 1 Basic and two modified perforated connectors of CTU
New series of push tests with 32 mm diameter holes covered:

- basic 50/10 [mm] connector in double (parallel) arrangement, Fig. 2;
- high connector 100/10 [mm] with holes in upper part.
Fig. 2 Steel parts of push specimens (single and double arrangement)
The shear resistance of the modified connectors is supposed to be described by simple

coefficient (expressing a percentage difference) in respect to the basic 50/10 [mm] connector.
Therefore, each series included also a comparative push test with basic single 50/10 [mm]
connector. Results of tests with two different amounts of transverse reinforcement Ast are
given in Table 1.
In the table the following designation is used:
A high connector; 1 weak reinforcement; a basic comparative specimen;
B double connector; 2 medium reinforcement; b modified specimen.
Calculated shear strength follows the formulas:
I) Shear strength from previous test results based on regression analysis [8]:
r = -87.374 + 12.669 fc,cube + 1020.471 Ast [N/mm] (4)
II) The Oguejiofor & Hosain shear resistance formula according to [5]:
q n = 0.590 Acc f c ,cyl + 1.233 Atr f y + 2.871 n D 2 f c ,cyl [N] (5)
where
Acc shear area of concrete per connector [mm2];
Atr area of transverse reinforcement [mm2];
590
fy yield strength of reinforcement, above denoted as f sk [MPa];

n number of rib holes;
D diameter of the inside holes [mm].
Table 1 Push test results for connectors with 32 mm holes

Reinforcement Strength Ratio of shear
Specimen Connector (fsk = 490 MPa) of Collapse shear strength
strength of
Arrangement concrete modified and
Ast fck Pexp P(I) = r P(II) = qn basic connector
accord. (4) accord. (5)
- - [mm2/mm] [MPa] [N/mm] [N/mm] [N/mm] -
1a 50/10 single 0.160 37.63 568 643 940 1
A1b 100/10 single 0.160 37.63 700 742 1.23
2a 50/10 single 0.349 32.54 784 719 1049 1
A2b 100/10 single 0.349 32.54 898 864 1.15
1a 50/10 single 0.160 32.44 593 560 893 1
B1b 50/10 double 0.160 32.44 983 1.66
2a 50/10 single 0.349 32.54 784 719 1049 1
B2b 50/10 double 0.349 32.54 1314 1.68
Results of push tests with connectors having 60 mm diameter holes and various
transverse reinforcement Ast are presented in Table 2.
Table 2 Push test results for connectors with 60 mm holes

Strength of Collapse Experimental Resistance
Reinforcement
Type of shear concrete load char. resistance according to (6)
Specimen
2 connector
A st [mm /mm] f ck [MPa] P exp [N/mm] P Rk ,exp [N/mm] P Rk ,theor [N/mm]
A1/1 0,249 100/12 23,13 1579
A1/2 0,249 100/12 23,13 1587 1421 1398
A1/3 0,249 100/12 23,13 1651
A2/1 0,498 100/12 37,98 2095
A2/2 0,498 100/12 37,98 2143 1857 1730
A2/3 0,498 100/12 37,98 2063
A3/1 0,000 100/12 30,13 1508
1357 1368
A3/2 0,000 100/12 30,13 1508
A4/1 1,276 100/12 22,64 2079
1871 1913
A4/2 1,276 100/12 22,64 2222
The testing procedure and evaluation followed the requirements of ENV 1994-1-1.
Typical load-slip diagram is shown in Fig. 3.
P u s h te s t A 1 /1 P R k , e xp
896 kN
1200
1000
Load (kN)
800
600
400
200
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
S lip (m m ) C h a r. s lip ( δ uk )
11 m m
Fig. 3 Load-slip diagram for connector with 60 mm inside holes
591
3 CONCLUSION
The following preliminary conclusions may be done from the presented results:
1) Resistance of double 50/10 [mm] connector in parallel arrangement in accordance with
Fig. 2 (100 mm distance) may be considered as:
Pdouble = kd Pbasic (6)
where
kd = 1.6
Pbasic is given by (1), (2).
Note: This first estimate of kd covers safely test results for both tested amounts of
transverse reinforcement.
2) Resistance of high 100/10 [mm] connector with 32 mm holes in upper part may be
considered as:
Phigh = kh Pbasic (7)
where
kh = 1.1
Pbasic is given by (1), (2).
Note: This first estimate of kh covers safely test results for both tested amounts of
transverse reinforcement.
3) Resistance of 100/12 [mm] connector with 60 mm holes may be considered as:
PRk = 300 + 4.35 fck + 160 Ast [N/mm] (8)
where fck and Ast are the same parameters as in (1) and (2).
Note: Equation (8) roughly approximates test results, see Table 2. However, more
tests are needed for better understanding of the behaviour and collapse load of this connector
with different amount of transverse reinforcement.
Authors also wish to announce continuing research focused on double arrangement of
50/10 [mm] connectors with another mutual distance, use of perforated connectors in light-
weight concrete and on fatigue push tests with 100/12 [mm] connectors.
Acknowledgement: This work was carried out in the Department of Steel Structures and
Structural Laboratories of CTU in Prague. Financial support of Grant Agency GAČR under
No. 103/99/0003 is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] Macháček, J. - Studnička, J: Strength of perforated shear connector. Proc. Modern
Building Materials, Structures and Techniques, Vilnius, 1997, pp. 226-231
[2] Leonhardt, F. - Andrä, W. - Andrä, H.P. - Harre, W.: Neues, vorteilhaftes Verbundmittel
für Stahlverbund-Tragwerke mit höher Dauerfestigkeit. Beton und Stahlbetonbau, No. 12,
1987, pp. 325-331
[3] Andrä, H.P.: Economical shear connectors with high fatigue strength, IABSE Brussels,
1990, pp. 167-172
[4] Kraus,D. - Wurzer,O.: Bearing capacity of Concrete Dowels, IABSE Innsbruck 1997,
pp.133-138
[5]Oguejiofor, E.C. - Hosain, M.U.: A parametric study of perfobond rib shear connectors,
Canadian J.of Civil Eng., 1994, pp. 614-625
[6] Ferreira, L.T.S. - de Andrade, S.A.L. - da S.Vellasco, P.C.G.: A design model for bolted
composite semi-rigid connections. Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures, ed. by T. Usami
nd Y. Itoh, Elsevier, 1998, pp. 293-306
[7] Naď, L. – Rovňák, M. – Ďuricová, A. : Porovnanie spriahnutia pomocou trňov,
perforovaného a hrebeňového pásu. Proc. FIP 1998, Amsterdam - Bratislava, pp. 162-167
[8] Macháček,J., Studnička,J.: Stahlbetonverbundträger mit Perfobond-Leiste, Stahlbau No.1,
1999, pp. 9-14
592
EFFECTIVE ANCHOR CONNECTOR FOR COMPOSITE BEAMS OF

DESK STRUCTURES
Eduard Airumyan, Evgueni Markov,

Research and Design Institute Promstalkonstruktsiya, 13 Sadovaya Samotechnaya,
103473, Moscow, Russian Federation
Keywords: Composite Deck, Steel Beam, Concrete Slab, Anchor Connector, Tests.
Abstract: The paper describes principles of selection and tests of anchor connectors for
composite steel and concrete beams of deck structures of the Trade-Recreation Center at the
Manezh Square in Moscow.
1 INTRODUCTION
The desks of total area near 6000 m2 on two level marks of Trade-Recreation Center
“Manezh” in Moscow consist of steel welds beams with H-section of height from 700 m to
1,0 m and concrete slab with thickness of 150 mm on steel profiled sheeting as permanent
Shuttering. For selection of effective type of anchor connectors, providing with composite
behavior of the slab and beams, different know modes of anchors were carried out with
comparison:
Traditional headed stud SB fixing with resistance welding;
Cold-formed steel angles of thickness of 4 mm, fixing with nails to steel beams;
The system STA consisted of the stud, welded to steel plate, fixing to beams with two
nails (Fig. 1a);
Parts of rolled angles or cold Z-formed section, fixing with nails or spot welding (Fig.
1b).
The system STA and Z-formed anchors were tested, and test results will be described
below.
1 ANALYSIS
Anchor connectors were analyzed with according of Eurocode 4, tacking service
design load on decks from 5,0 to 10,0 kN per m2.
Analysis showed shear resistance of an anchor must be not less then 5 kN if anchors
will by placed in each corrugation of profiled sheeting.
1. TESTS
The special tensioning device with hand winch, force dynamometer and deflectometer
was used for testing of the STA anchor system and Z-formed anchors on place (Fig. 2a).
16 samples of Z-formed connectors were tested on the design position for
determination of their load capacity. Shear resistance of tested connectors was equal from 4,0
to 6,0 kN per a unit (Fig. 2b).
2 CONCLUSION
Anchor STA and Z-connectors were more effective for execution. Strength, cost and
working safety then well-known types of connectors.
Z-connectors were used for deck slab area of at the Manezh Square in Moscow.
593
594
FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF COMPOSITE BEAMS WITH A STEEL-

CONCRETE COMPOSITE SANDWICH SLAB
595
596
597
598
NONLINEAR THERMAL ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE FRAMES
599
600
601
602
EVALUATION OF COMPOSITE BEHAVIOUR IN SLIMFLOOR

STRUCTURES
Leskelä M.V.
603
604
605
606
NON LINEAR BEHAVIOUR OF COMPOSITE BEAMS UNDER NEGATIVE

BENDING: AN EXPERIMENTAL-THEORETICAL COMPARISON
Giovanni Fabbrocino, Gaetano Manfredi, Edoardo Cosenza

Dipartimento di Analisi e Progettazione Strutturale - Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy
Marisa Pecce
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università di Lecce, Italy
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Steel and Concrete Structures, Composite Beams, Ductility,
Numerical Modelling.
Abstract: A refined non-linear analysis of composite beams under negative bending is

presented. It is based on a specific monodimensional model of the composite cross section
and takes account of the main interaction phenomena affecting the behaviour of such beams.
In particular, bond between reinforcement and concrete in tension and shear connection
between concrete slab and steel profile are introduced in the analysis.
In the present paper, the attention is focussed on the reliability of the model; therefore the
numerical results are compared with the results of tests performed on simply supported beams
subjected to negative bending. Numerical and experimental data show a very good agreement,
so that the model is able to reproduce the mechanical phenomena governing the behaviour.
1 INTRODUCTION
Composite beams are characterised by three main components: structural steel,
reinforced concrete slab and mechanical devices needed to develop the composite action [1].
Mechanical devices used in composite structures (studs, channels, angles, etc.) allow a
discontinuous connection between the two parts of the section and generally are not
completely rigid.
Therefore, theories of incomplete interaction in composite beams have been
developed [2] in order to take into account the slip at the slab-profile interface, influencing the
deflection of such beams. The aim of such theories is basically to simulate the behaviour of
composite beams under positive bending, which are characterised by compressive stresses in
the concrete slab [3].
The use of continuous and semi-continuous beams introduces a different structural
response at the internal supports, due to tensile stresses on the concrete slab and the
consequent cracking. Therefore, another complex interaction between steel reinforcement and
concrete should be considered in the modelling of such beams.
On the analogy with concrete structures a reliable theoretical analysis of the problem
can be worked out considering the bond interaction, since the bearing capacity and the
ductility of negative bending areas are strongly influenced.
A monodimensional model of composite beams under negative bending, taking into
account the mentioned phenomena, has been previously developed and described in [4].
It allows a reliable and detailed estimation of the influence of cracking of the slab and
of steel reinforcement on the plastic rotation capacity, considering the tension stiffening effect
by an explicit introduction of the bond-slip relationship.
Furthermore, recent numerical [5] and experimental [6] analyses have shown that
shear connection (types and distribution of mechanical devices) can have a relevant role in the
development of the rotation capacity of composite beams. In this field, a series of
607
experimental tests on composite beams under negative bending are in progress in order to
assess the influence of geometrical and mechanical properties of shear connection on the
structural behaviour.
Three beams, characterised by the same cross section, but different arrangement of
shear connectors have been already tested [7, 8].
The tests have been carried out on simply supported beams in order to simulate the
region of a continuous beam under hogging bending moment. Different arrangements of shear
connectors have been provided, obtaining both full and partial shear connection.
In the present paper, experimental data are compared with numerical results to check
the reliability of the proposed theoretical model and assess the model effectiveness and the
main behavioural aspects of composite beams under negative bending.
2 THEORETICAL MODEL
The monodimensional model developed takes into account both partial interaction
between the two components and tension stiffening affecting steel rebars in the slab subjected
to tensile forces.
In Figure 1 the kinematic model is shown. It is assumed that the two parts of the cross
section have the same curvature, rotation and displacement, but the steel profile can slip with
respect to the concrete slab and the reinforcing bars can slip as well respect to the surrounding
concrete.
The concrete slab is characterised by cracks placed at a given distance depending
basically on mechanical and geometrical properties of reinforcement [9].
A generalised moment-curvature relationship has been introduced [3, 5] in order to
fully describe the flexural behaviour of the cross-section and it is used to solve the structural
problem by a specific numerical procedure.
This procedure is based on the application of a curvature history at the section
affected by maximum internal forces and the consequent evaluation of the applied load. Thus
tests under displacement control can be fitted.
(b)
displacements strains
Fig. 1 The structural model of the composite section under negative bending.
800 mm
120 mm Beam Type C
180 mm HEB 180 8 shear studs - spacing 515 mm

4 Φ 14 mm
Theoretical span 361 cm
Cross section of beam Type C
Fig. 2 The test specimen considered in the theoretical-experimental comparison.
608
3 EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
Experimental tests on composite beams under negative bending have been performed
in order to assess the influence of the arrangement of shear connectors on the global
(deflections and rotations) and local (strains, curvature, slips) response of the specimens.
In Figure 2 the main geometric data of one of the tested beams are summarised. In
particular the drawings refer to beam Type C, characterised by partial shear connection; the
headed studs used, diameter 16 mm, are uniformly spaced along the beam.
Specific tests on materials were carried out in order to define the stress-strain
relationship for structural steel and reinforcement and the load-slip curve for shear connectors.
Concrete strength was evaluated as well by tests on cubic specimens. The experimental
constitutive laws for all the components were used in the numerical analysis.
The load was applied using an electro-hydraulic actuator in displacement-control-
mode; hence the tests provided data on the softening behaviour of the specimens.
Applied load was measured using a load cell, while inductive transducers were used
to measure the midspan deflection, rotations at the support, and relative displacements
between the steel profile and the concrete slab. Furthermore, strains in the steel profile, and
crack width in the concrete slab were measured as well.
300 Load (kN)
250
200
150
100 Proposed
Curva model
teorica
Experimental
Curva data
sperimentale
50
Deflection (mm)
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Fig. 3 Theoretical-Experimental comparison in terms of load-deflection curve.
0.04 Strain Flange in Left 350 Load (kN) Right
tension support 300 support
0.02
250
Load (kN) 200
0
150 Proposed model
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-0.02 100 Experimental data
50 End slip (mm)
-0.04
d Flange in 0
-0.06 d=14.00 cm compression -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
(a) (b)
Fig. 4 Theoretical-experimental comparison in terms of strain in structural steel (a) and slip at
the support (b).
609
4 THEORETICAL-EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON
The main results of theoretical analysis are briefly summarised. Calculated values are
compared with the corresponding experimental data. Both local and global parameters are
considered. In fact, the numerical procedure allow evaluating strains in the steel profile,
curvature, slip at the slab-profile interface, slip at the rebar-concrete interface, crack width as
well as rotations and deflections along the beam.
In Figure 3, the experimental load-deflection curve is compared with calculated one.
The collapse of the beam, due to the failure of shear connection, is pointed out by a sudden
loss of load capacity. The theoretical curve shows a very good agreement with experimental
one both in the elastic and post-elastic field.
In Figure 4.a and Figure 4.b strains in the steel profile and slip between slab and steel
profile at the support are shown. The comparison points out the reliability of the model to fit
well also the local behavioural aspects.
5 FINAL REMARKS
A reliable behavioural model of composite beams under negative bending has been
summarised; it takes into account the two relevant aspects (shear connection and tension
stiffening) allowing a detailed numerical analysis of the structural behaviour.
The numerical procedure used is well conditioned and gives stable solutions up to
failure; it gives both global (rotations and displacements) and local results (strains, curvature,
slips).
A theoretical-experimental comparison shows the reliability of the model.
Therefore the proposed model seems to be very suitable to evaluate the influence of
each component of the composite beam on the rotation capacity in the negative bending
regions, as the influence of reinforcing steel properties and shear connectors arrangement.
Basic references
[1] Cosenza E., Zandonini R.: Composite Construction – Handbook of Structural
Engineering, W.F. Chen Ed., Purdue University, CRC Press LLC, 1997.
[2] Leon R.T., Viest I.M.: Theories of Incomplete Interaction in Composite Beams –
Proceedings of Engineering Foundation, Composite Construction in Steel and Concrete III,
ASCE, pp. 858-870, 1996.
[3] Fabbrocino G., Manfredi G., Cosenza E.: Non-Linear Analysis of Composite Beams
under Positive Bending – Computers & Structures – Vol. 70, pp. 77-89 (1999).
[4] Fabbrocino G., Manfredi G., Cosenza E.: Rotation Capacity of Steel Concrete Composite
Beams: Influence of the Properties of Reinforcing Steel, Costruzioni Metalliche, 6, 1998 (in
italian).
[5] Manfredi G., Fabbrocino G., Cosenza E., Modelling of composite beams under negative
bending, ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 125, n° 6, June, 1999.
[6] Bode H., Kronenberger H.J., Michaeli W.: Composite Joints – Further Experimental
Results – Proceedings of the International Conference Composite Construction, Conventional
and Innovative, IABSE Innsbruck, pp. 433-438, 1997.
[7] Fabbrocino G., Pecce M.: Non-Linear Behaviour of Composite Beams under Negative
Bending: Experimental Results – Italian Workshop on Composite Structures III, Ancona
(Italy), 1998 (in Italian).
[8] Fabbrocino G., Modelling and Experimental Behaviour of Continuous Steel-Concrete
Composite Beams, Ph.D. Thesis in Structural Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 1998
(in Italian).
[9] CEB, Bulletin d’Information n° 213/214, Model Code 90, 1993.
610
FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF COMPOSITE FRAME

BEHAVIOUR SUBJECTED TO FIRE
Zhaohui Huang a , Ian W. Burgess a , Roger J. Plank b

a
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1
3JD, UK
b
School of Architectural Studies, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
Key words: Finite Element Method, Structural Fire Behaviour, Composite Steel and
Concrete Structure
Abstract: A computer program VULCAN has been developed in recent years at the
University of Sheffield for three-dimensional structural modelling of composite building
behaviour in fire. In this program the structure is modelled as an assembly of finite beam-
column, spring, slab, and shear-connector elements. A modified layered orthotropic slab
element based on Mindlin/Reissner theory and an effective stiffness concept is used to model
the composite slabs, including their ribbed lower part. In this paper the main features of the
program are outlined and two full-scale fire tests at Cardington are modelled using VULCAN.
More intensive parametric studies are carried out in order to further understanding of the
influence of the concrete slab and reinforcement, and partial interaction, on the performance
of such structures in fire.
1 INTRODUCTION
In 1995-96 six large-scale fire tests were carried out on a full-scale composite building
at the BRE Fire Research Laboratory at Cardington UK. The test results confirmed that steel
members in real multi-storey buildings have significantly greater fire resistance than isolated
members in the standard fire test. It was found that the concrete slab appears to play an
important part in preventing structural collapse. The cost of these tests, and of fire tests in
general, is very high. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to have analytical
methods that can predict the behaviour of structures when subjected to fire conditions. A
computer program VULCAN [1,2,3] has been developed in recent years at the University of
Sheffield, for three-dimensional analysis of the structural behaviour of composite and steel-
framed buildings in fire. In this paper a modified layered orthotropic slab element based on
Mindlin/Reissner theory and an effective stiffness concept is used to model the composite
slabs, including their ribbed lower part. Two full-scale fire tests at Cardington have been
modelled using this approach, in order to validate its accuracy. More intensive parametric
studies are carried out in order to further understanding of the influence of the concrete slab
on the performance of such structures in fire.
2 THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE PROGRAM

VULCAN is based on a 3-D non-linear finite element procedure in which the
composite steel-framed building is modelled as an assembly of finite beam-column, spring,
shear connector and slab elements. It is assumed that the nodes of these different types of
element are defined in a common reference plane, as shown in Fig.1. The reference plane is
assumed to coincide with the mid-surface of the concrete slab element. Its location is fixed
throughout the analysis.
611
The beam-columns are represented by 2-noded line elements. The cross-section of

each element is divided into a number of segments to allow consideration of distributions of
temperature, stress and strain through the cross-section. For modelling the characteristics of
steelwork connections a 2-noded spring element of zero length, with the same nodal degrees
of freedom as a beam-column element, is used. The details of the formulations of these
elements and the constitutive modelling of steel at elevated temperatures have been presented
previously [1, 2].
Slab elements
Reference plane
z
y
x
Concrete layers
Slab node
Distributed steel layers
Beam elements
Connector element Beam node
Fig. 1 Division of composite structure into beam, slab and shear connector elements
In order to model the composite slabs including their ribbed lower part a modified
layered orthotropic slab element has recently been developed. This element is based on a
previously developed procedure [3] in which the slab elements were modelled using a layered
flat shell element based on Mindlin/Reissner theory. Each layer can have a different
temperature and material properties. An effective stiffness model has been incorporated to
account for the orthotropic properties of composite slabs. A maximum-strain failure criterion
has been adopted in this model. Cracking or crushing is indicated when the principal strains
at any Gauss point exceed the maximum tensile or compressive strains. A smeared crack
model has been used to represent the cracking at any Gauss point. After crushing concrete is
assumed to lose all stiffness. The uniaxial properties of concrete and reinforcing steel at
elevated temperatures specified in EC4 [5] have been adopted in this model. The details of
this modified layered procedure can be found in [6].
For modelling the interaction of the steel beam and concrete slab in composite
buildings a shear connector element has been developed. This is demonstrated in Fig. 1. The
shear connector element has zero length and each node of the element has three translational
and two rotational degrees of freedom. It is assumed that there is no relative vertical
movement or rotation between the steel beam and concrete slabs. The details of the
formulation are given in [7].
3 MODELLING OF BRITISH STEEL CORNER FIRE TEST

A full-scale composite test building was constructed by BRE at its Cardington
Laboratory in 1994 as a typical medium-rise office building. In July 1995 a fire test was
carried out by British Steel plc on a corner bay of the structure 9.98m wide by 7.57m deep
[8]. Previous research [6] indicates that the influence of the ribs of the decking slabs is very
612
significant and should be accounted for. Therefore in the following studies the ribs of the
decking slabs are included using the effective stiffness layered approach referred to above.
In the following comparisons between the computer modelling and test results the
vertical deflections at the mid-span of secondary beam, B1/2, (D11) are used. Fig. 5 shows
the comparisons of the three cases with test results. In this analysis the steel-to-steel
connections were assumed to be pinned. The steel reinforcement mesh used in the concrete
slabs at Cardington was A142. To demonstrate the effect of reinforcement on the structural
behaviour two reinforcement meshes, of half and double this area, were considered. The
predictions and test results for the vertical deflections at the mid-span of secondary beam,
B1/2, (D11) are shown in Fig. 8, in which full composite action and pinned connections were
assumed.
-100
Deflection (mm)
-200 Test results
Predicted with full

-300 interaction
Predicted with
partial interaction
-400 Predicted with
zero interaction
-500
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 5 Comparison of predicted deflections with different degrees of interaction

against measurements for British Steel Corner Fire Test
-100
Deflection (mm)
-200 Test results
-300 Predicted with actual

A142 mesh
-400 Predicted with half
area of A142 mesh
-500
Predicted with double
area of A142 mesh
-600
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 8 Comparison of predicted deflections with different degrees of reinforcement

and measurements for British Steel Corner Fire Test
4 MODELLING OF BRE LARGE COMPARTMENT FIRE TEST

In April 1996 BRE carried out their second fire test [10] on the Cardington Test
Frame, in a large compartment between the second and third floors. In order to demonstrate
the influence of the ribs across the bottom of the concrete slabs, three cases were analysed.
The analyses included the modelling of the top continuous portion of the slabs, the 130mm
613
nominal thickness, treated as solid, using a normal layered procedure [3], and 130mm
nominal thickness of orthotropic concrete slabs, including the ribs, using the effective
stiffness approach [6]. In these analyses full composite action and pinned secondary beam
connections were assumed. The comparisons between the predicted and test results for
vertical deflections taken at the position D39 are plotted in Fig. 11 for the three different
models.
-100
Deflection (mm)
Test results
-200
Normal layered model [3]
-300 (ignoring the ribs)
Normal layered model [3]
(as solid slabs)
-400
Effective stiffness model [6]
-500
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 11 Comparison of predicted deflections with different slab modelling and

measurements at position D39 for BRE Large Compartment Fire Test.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The basic features of the purpose-written computer program VULCAN, developed at
the University of Sheffield, have been outlined in this paper. The program has been used to
model the structural behaviour of two full-scale fire tests carried out by British Steel and BRE
on the Cardington Test Frame. More extensive parametric studies, concerning the influences
of composite action, reinforcement levels and different slab modelling, have been conducted
demonstrating the following:
• VULCAN can predict the structural behaviour of composite steel-framed buildings
subjected to fire with reasonable accuracy if temperatures of structural members and the
properties of concrete slabs such as thickness, reinforcement, and strength, are known.
• At steel beam temperatures less than 300-400 °C the concrete slab has little the influence
on structural behaviour of composite buildings, but for temperatures higher than 500 °C
the slab dominates the structural behaviour. For composite floors the influence of the ribs
is significant and should be accounted for.
• Shear studs have a certain degree of influence on the structural behaviour of composite
structures depending on the load ratio and restraint conditions. If there is no failure of
shear connectors the assumption of full composite action is justified.
• From the modelling of the two full-scale fire tests it can be concluded that most of the
concrete floor is subject to cracking failure. Therefore the influence of reinforcement is
important, especially in the high-temperature range, when the structure is subject to large
deflection.
Acknowledgement
This research was financially supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council of Great Britain under grant number GR/K 81072.
614
EXPERIMENTAL TESTS ON STEEL AND COMPOSITE

FRAME WITH SEMI-RIGID JOINTS
Aleksander Kozłowski
Chair of Building Structures, Rzeszów University of Technology, W.Pola 2, 35-959 Rzeszów
Poland
Keywords: Steel and Composite Frames, Semi-Rigid Connections, Experimental Tests.
Abstract: One bay two storey steel frame with semi-rigid bolted flush end-plate connections
has been tested in the natural scale in the field. This frame is the part of new building of Civil
Engineering Department Laboratory in Rzeszów University of Technology. The same frame
was investigated again after concreting the first floor to create composite beam. Joints were
reinforced by few bars to obtain composite semi-rigid joint. Test results as bending moments
in frame elements, deflections and lateral drift for vertical and horizontal loading were
reported. These test results can be used to verification of existing programs for global analysis
of frames with semi-rigid connections. Some comparison with results obtained by computer
program is also presented. Influence of beam-to-column stiffness as well as column bases is
highlighted.
1. INTRODUCTION
Global analysis with account of semi-rigid joints is troublesome because of non-linear
joint characteristics. For plane building frames main joints characteristic is moment-rotation
relationship (M - φ curve). Analytical modelling of these curves are based on experimental
tests conducted mainly on isolated joints models, consisted of short column and beam
elements connected by joint [1], [2], [3]. These models, as well as these obtained using
“component method” included in Annex J of EC 3 [4], are used in global frame analysis. Only
one objective way for verification joints models is experimental test of frames in natural scale
[5], [6], [7]. Because of high cost of such tests, they are made very seldom. The paper deals
with steel and composite, sway frame test conducted in natural scale at side.
615
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE TESTED STRUCTURE

Tested frame is the part of the new built Laboratory for Building Department of
Rzeszów University of Technology. It is two-storey one bay building of dimensions: 8,1 x
18,0 m and height of 7,2 m. Main structure of building consists of steel frames spacing 6,0 m
with composite steel-concrete floors (fig. 1).
W3 W1
Ti – strains measuring points
ui – deflection measuring points
wi – lateral drift measuring points
W4 W2
Fig. 1 Scheme of the tested frame
Columns were designed as HEB 200, beams IPE 300, beam-to-column connections were
bolted flush end plate with 4 M 20 10.9 bolts and 15 mm end-plate. Column bases were
designed with 2 M 20 anchor bolts. During steel frame tests only steel structure was
assembled with bracing bars preventing frames stability. Tests were repeated after concreting
first floor.
3. SOME TEST RESULTS

Bending moments and vertical deflections of beam in steel frame for vertical loading P
= 50 kN are presented in table 1.
616
Table 1. Moments M [kNm] and deflections f [mm] for vertical loading P = 50 kN
Stage I Stage II Stage III

P test Robot test Robot test Robot
M f M f M f M f M f M f
1 10,28 12,85 9,78 12,79 8,64 11,21
2 -34,67 -33,17 -34,58 -31,96 -29,14 -28,24
3 29,34 24,63 28,38 23,74 25,88 20,86
4 -64,21 -57,81 -63,16 -55,70 -55,21 -49,09
5 71,79 27,4 74,68 25,08 73,14 27,7 76,82 26,01 79,80 30,0 82,23 28,6
6 -60,08 -53,93 -58,12 -52,86 -51,89 -45,98
7 27,94 24,1 26,87 23,61 24,53 20,61
8 -31,52 -29,82 -31,12 -29,25 -27,24 -25,37
9 9,99 11,44 10,98 10,82 10,54 9,46
Moments in frame with composite first floor were collected in table 2.
Table 2. Moments [kNm] for frame with composite floor
P P20/H0 P40/H0 P60/H0 P80/H0 P100/H0 P100/H10

test Robot test Robot test Robot test Robot test Robot test Robot
1 1,54 2,15 2,92 3,98 4,89 6,25 6,47 8,39 8,33 10,65 16,04 19,08
2 -5,46 -5,86 -9,91 -10,88 -14,77 -17,04 -19,91 -22,8 -25,06 -28,9 -34,02 -37,45
3 3,69 4,51 6,81 8,37 10,9 13,11 14,67 17,57 19,22 22,31 18,91 21,9
4 -9,15 -10,37 -16,72 -19,25 -25,67 -30,18 -34,54 -40,47 -44,28 -51,3 -52,31 -59,35
5 45,44 44,2 84,56 81,9 132,9 128,5 178,8 172,1 225,29 218,5 225,37 218,4
6 -8,77 -10,15 -16,03 -18,8 -25,13 -29,5 -32,16 -39,5 -43,64 -50,17 -38,42 -44,48
7 3,45 4,42 6,23 8,18 10,52 12,84 13,81 17,22 18,94 21,85 19,52 22,15
8 -5,32 -5,73 -9,8 -10,6 -14,61 -16,63 -18,35 -22,28 -24,7 -28,25 -18,08 -20,02
9 1,74 2,29 3,27 4,26 5,37 6,67 7,08 8,94 8,92 11,36 2,12 3,04
4. CONCLUSIONS
Results of full-scale tests on steel frame with flush end-plate joints with different bolts
preloading as well as results from test on the same frame with composite first floor have been
617
reported. The results show the effect of bolt preloading on the joint stiffness and frame
behaviour.
Stiffness of column bases, made with the use of only two bolts and traditionally
considered as pinned, is rather high and strongly influence on frame behaviour.
Stiffness of composite joint, obtained by adding 0,7 % of reinforcement in the upper
part of concrete slab, is 3,8 times higher than for bare flush end-plate joint.
Higher stiffness of composite beam makes that deflections of beam are lower and
moments in joints are smaller than in steel frame, even for bigger loading. It confirms that
frames with composite floors are very effective and reasonable kind of structure.
Presented test results may be used for verification of computer programs for global
frame analysis.
Preliminary comparison of test results with results from computer analysis, conducted
with account of linear joints behaviour, show quite good agreement.
References:
[1] Nethercot D.A.: Steel Beam-to Column Connections – A Review of Test Data and Their
Applicability to the Evaluation of the Joint Behaviour of the Performance of Steel Frames.
CIRIA Project 338. London, 1985.
[2] Steel Beam-to-Column Building Connections. Ed. by W.F. Chen. Elsevier Science
Publishers. London & New York, 1988.
[3] Bródka J., Kozłowski A.: Stiffness and Strength of Flexible Joints. Rzeszów University Of
Technology Publishers. Rzeszów-Białystok, 1996.
[4] ENV 1993-1-1. Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures. Part 1.1. General Rules and Rules
for Buildings. CEN, 1992.
[5] Benussi F., Nethercot D.A., Zandonini R.: Experimental Behaviour of Semi-Rigid
Connections in Frames. Connections in Steel Structures III: Behaviour, Strength and
Design. Ed. by R. Bjorhovde, A. Colson, R. Zandonini. Elsevier Science Publishers, 1996.
[6] Shanmugam N.E., Yu C.H., Liew R.: Large-Scale Testing of Steel Sway Frames.
Structural Stability and Design. Ed. by S. Kitipornchai, G.J. Hancock, M.A. Bradford.
Balkema. Rotterdam, 1995.
[7] Ivanyi M., Hegedus L., Ivanyi M. Jr., Varga D.: Failure Tests of Two-Storey Steel
Frames. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 1998, 46: 1-3.
618
ENERGY ABSORPTION STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS UNDER RANDOM

AND UNPREDICTABLE LOADS
619
620
621
622
THE COMPETITIVE SPANS OF COMPOSITE BEAMS
Stojan Kravanja and Simon Šilih

University of Maribor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Keywords: Composite Beam, Reinforced Concrete Ribbed Slab, Structural Analysis, Self-
manufacturing Costs
Abstract: The paper presents the competitive spans of composite beams compared with the
spans of reinforced concrete ribbed slabs. The comparison was made for simply supported
and continuous beams, subjected to self-weight and the variable imposed load. Calculations
were performed for different spans, different loads and different concrete and
reinforcing/structural steel materials. Self-manufacturing costs were calculated for all possible
design alternatives. We could conclude that competitive spans of composite beams, designed
from concrete C 25/30, reinforcing steel S 400 and structural steel Fe 360, subjected to the
variable uniformly distributed imposed load of 5 kN/m2 are spans greater than 33 metres. The
analysis was performed in accordance with Eurocode 2 for ribbed slabs and Eurocode 4 with
Eurocode 3 for composite beams.
1 INTRODUCTION
This paper gives an account of the competitive spans of composite beams, designed to
be connected together from reinforced concrete and structural steel sections. The competitive
spans were determined on the basis of an economical comparison between composite beams
and reinforced concrete ribbed slabs.
The comparison was made for simply supported and continuous beams subjected to
self-weight and the variable imposed load. Calculations were performed for different spans,
different loads and different concrete and steel materials that led to a very high number of
possible design alternatives. The analyses for ribbed slab and composite beam alternatives
were made separately. The self-manufacturing (material and labour) costs were calculated for
each obtained design. Optimal design solutions were obtained by means of discrete exhausted
optimization where all possible combinations between different discrete dimensions of
concrete/steel cross-sections were taken into consideration. Computer programs RIBSLAB
and COMBEAM were developed for the analysis of ribbed slabs and composite beams. The
analysis was performed in accordance with Eurocode 2 for ribbed slabs and Eurocode 4
together with Eurocode 3 for composite beams. For the comparison, described in the paper,
we considered materials most common used in the engineering practice such as concrete
C 25/30, reinforcing steel S 400 and structural steel Fe 360.
We determined the common span length at which equal self-manufacturing costs were
calculated for reinforced concrete ribbed slabs and composite beams. The composite beams
are optimal and cheaper than ribbed slabs for all larger span lengths. All these spans can be
treated as the competitive spans of composite beams.
2 SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAMS
In the beginning, the comparison between concrete ribbed slabs and composite beams
was made for simply supported beam systems, which were subjected to a permanent uniform
load (self-weight) and the variable uniformly distributed imposed load of 5 kN/m2. Alternate
623
spans of concrete slab carry the design variable and permanent load, while other spans are
loaded only by the design permanent load.
The slabs and ribs (see Figure 1) were verified at the ultimate limit state for the
resistance to the bending moment and shear force and at the serviceability limit state for
checking the vertical deflections as well as the shrinkage and creep of the concrete. A high
number of different design alternatives of ribbed slabs with different cross-sections had to be
analysed for each defined span length and for each variable uniform imposed load.
hf
h
bw
e
Fig. 1 Vertical cross-section of reinforced concrete ribbed slab
Composite beams (see Figure 2) have been checked for conditions at the ultimate limit and
the serviceability limit states. When the ultimate limit state was considered, the effects of the
bending moment, shear force, shear buckling and the interaction between bending and shear
were taken into acount. In the case of the serviceability limit state we calculated deflections
by using the elastic method. Creep and shrinkage of the concrete were also taken into account.
The optimal design of composite beams was found on the basis of various design alternatives,
calculated for any combination of different spans and load.
d
tf
tw
h
tf b
e
Fig. 2 Vertical cross-section of composite beam
The self-manufacturing costs were caculated for each design solution. The material
and labour costs for ribbed slabs and composite beams considered are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Material and labour costs
Material costs for concrete C 25/30 85.00 EUR/m3

Material costs for steel S 400 0.70 EUR/kg
Material costs for steel Fe 360 0.50 EUR/kg
Sheet-iron cutting costs 2.00 EUR/m1
Welding costs 3.00 EURm1
Anti corrosion resistant painting 7.50 EUR/m2
Cylindrical stud 1.20 EUR
Panneling costs (ribbed slabs) 10.50 EUR/m2
624
Panneling costs (composite beams) 12.00 EUR/m2
The optimal designs for simply supported composite beams and reinforced concrete
ribbed slabs were calculated for spans over 10 to 40 metres and different variable imposed
loads. Figure 3 shows the movements of the optimal self-manufacturing costs for composite
beams and concrete ribbed slabs, subjected to the uniformly distributed imposed load of
5 kN/m2. The intersection of the costs functions of both structures lies aproximately at the
span of 33 m. All greater spans are defined as the competitive spans of composite beams.
10000
9000
8000
7000
costs (EUR/m)
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
composite beam concrete ribbed slab span (m)
Fig. 3 Comparison of the self-manufacturing costs per 1m for two different structure systems
300
250
weight (t/m)
200
150
100
50
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Fig. 4 Comparison of the obtained mass per 1m for two different structure systems
Figure 4 shows that concrete ribbed slabs are essentially heavier (10 t/m) than
composite beams beyond the span of 25 m.
3 CONTINUOUS BEAMS
Afterwards, the comparison between concrete ribbed slabs and composite beams was
made for continuous beam systems. The continuous beams were like the simply supported
beams verified for different spans and loads for many different cross-section alternatives at
625
the ultimate limit and serviceability states. In the analisys, considered positive and negative
bending moments, shear forces, interactions between moment and shear, shear buckling,
lateral-torsional buckling, the constant beam stiffness EI, shear connections, vertical
deflections, creep, shrinkage, elastic or plastic resistances of cross-sections from Class 1 to
Class 4 made the problem highly comprehensive.
5000
4500
4000
3500
costs (EUR/m)
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Fig. 5 Comparison of the self-manufacturing costs per 1m for two different structure systems
160
140
120
weight (t/m)
100
80
60
40
20
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Fig. 6 Comparison of the obtained mass per 1m for two different structure systems
The competitive spans of continuous composite beams are spans greater than 33 m.
Concrete ribbed slabs are essentially heavier than composite beams beyond the span of 17 m.
4 CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that competitive spans of composite beams for simply supported and
continuous beam systems, designed from concrete C 25/30, reinforcing steel S 400 and
structural steel Fe 360 and subjected to the variable uniformly distributed imposed load of
5 kN/m2, are spans greater than 33 metres.
626
EXPERIMENTAL MODELS OF END-PLATE BEAM-TO-COLUMN

COMPOSITE CONNECTIONS
Rui D. Simões, L. Simões da Silva,

Civil Engineering Department, University of Coimbra, 3049 Coimbra Codex, Portugal
Paulo J. S. Cruz
Civil Engineering Department, University of Minho, Azurém, 4800 Guimarães, Portugal
Keywords: Structural Connections, Composite Steel and Concrete Structures
Abstract: An experimental research program on end-plate beam-to-column composite

connections is presented. The major focus relates to the identification of the contribution of
the concrete confinement in composite columns to the behaviour of the connection, coupled
with the evaluation of the response under symmetric and asymmetric loading on internal
nodes and external nodes under hogging and sagging moments. The connecting members are
both composite.
1 INTRODUCTION
Recent extensive research has widened the scope of the component method from bare
steel joints to steel-concrete composite joints [1]. Current pre-normative specifications in
preparation [2] already cover end-plate configurations under hogging moment subject to
predominantly static loading where shear buckling of the column web is not a design
criterion. However, until now, external nodes, asymmetric loading conditions where the
moments can even have opposite signs from one side of the column to the other and joints
with composite columns still remain quite unexplored in the literature, a thorough review of
research on composite joints being presented in [3]. Thus, it is the objective of this paper to
present a series of experimental test results which will be used to widen and validate current
methodologies for the analysis of steel and composite connections. More specifically, special
attention will be given to the effect of column confinement on the behaviour of the
connection.
2 EXPERIMENTAL TEST PROGRAM

The test program performed at the Civil Engineering Department of the University of
Coimbra included 8 prototypes, being 4 in internal nodes and 4 in external nodes. The
description of each model includes the geometric definition, the material properties and the
testing and instrumentation procedures. The prototypes, covering internal and external nodes,
were defined such that they could reproduce the connections in a common framed structure,
with spans of about 7m, 4m spacing between frames, live loads up to 4 kN/m2 and a high
energy dissipation capacity and a good fire resistance. According to the objectives of this
study, the steel connection is the same in all prototypes, corresponding to a beam connected to
the column by one end plate, welded to the beam and bolted to the column.
In all cases, the beams consist of an IPE 270, rigidly connected to a reinforced
concrete slab (full interaction) by 8 shear connectors. The slab, 900 mm wide and 120 mm
thick, is reinforced with 10φ12 longitudinal bars and 10φ8 transversal bars per meter, with 20
mm cover. The steel connection consists of a 12 mm thick end plate, welded to the beam and
bolted to the column flange through 6 M20 bolts (class 8.8). The end-plate is flushed at the
top and extended at the bottom, in order to achieve similar behaviour under positive and
627
1
negative moments. The steel column is the same in all the tests (HEA 220), being envolved
by concrete (300 × 300 mm) in tests E3 and E4, with longitudinal reinforcement of 4φ12, with
one bar in each corner of the section and stirrups consisting of φ6 bars 0.08 m apart. The
following materials were chosen: S235 in the steel components, steel class 8.8 in the bolts,
steel A400 NR in the reinforcing bars.
Fig. 1 Internal node, bare steel column
4 tests were performed in internal nodes, tests E1 and E2 corresponding to the

prototype arrangement between composite beams and a steel column shown in Fig. 1 and tests
E3 and E4 between composite beams and a composite column. The loads were applied to the
beams 1.40 m from the steel column face with two dynamic actuators with a capacity of 200
kN and 600 kN, and maximum displacement of 20 cm and 10 cm, respectively. In tests E1
and E3, loading is symmetric (both loads downward) while in tests E2 and E4 loading is
asymmetric (one load upward and the other downward).
As for the internal nodes, four tests were performed in external nodes, tests E5 and E6
corresponding to a steel column, and tests E7 and E8 corresponding to a composite column
and illustrated in Fig. 2. Loading is applied similarly to the internal node tests. In tests E5 and
E7 the load is applied downward, while in tests E6 and E8 it acts upward.
628
2
Fig. 2 External node, composite column
3 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Comparative results for the tests on internal columns (E1, E2 and E7, E8) and on external
columns (E3 to E6) are briefly presented. The resulting moment-rotation curves are illustrated
in Fig. 3 and 4. All tests were performed about 16 days after the slab was cast. Initially
(elastic behaviour) loading was increased at 5 kN increments; close to the plastic resistance of
the connection (plastic behaviour) displacement control was imposed (at the load application
locations), with 3 mm increments. During the elastic response, the connection was unloaded
to 5 kN, loading proceeding subsequently until collapse. Failure ocurred by different reasons,
varying from failure of the horizontal shear of the column web, yielding of the steel
reinforcement closer to the column with concrete cracking mostly at the tension zone,
instability of the column web to yielding of the lower part of the beam web and lower beam
flange. At failure, for several of the tests, the dominant component of rotation was
deformation induced by horizontal shear on the column web panel.
629
3
Momento Flector (kNm)

160
120
80
40
0
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30
-40
-80
-120 Ensaio 1
Ensaio 2
-160
Ensaio 7
-200 Ensaio 8
-240
Rotação da Ligação (mrad)
Fig. 3 Measured Moment-Rotation response for tests E1, E2 and E7, E8

200
Momento Flector (kNm)
150
100
50
0
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
-50
-100
Ensaio 3
-150 Ensaio 4
Ensaio 5
-200
Ensaio 6
-250
Rotação da Ligação (mrad)
Fig. 4 Measured Moment-Rotation response for tests E3 to E6
Aknowledgement
Finantial support from “Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia” - PRAXIS XXI research project
PRAXIS/P/ECM/13153/1998 and PRODEP is acknowledged.
References
[1] Anderson D.: Steel-concrete composite connections, in Jan Breckelmans and Ton Toma
(eds.) Proceedings of International Conference on Steel and Composite Structures, Delft,
The Nederlands, pp 5.1-5.10, 1999.
[2] Annex J Eurocode 4 - Design of Composite steel and concrete structures, ENV 1994-1-1,
1994.
[3] Silva L.S, Simões R., Cruz P.: Behaviour of end-plate beam-to-column composite
connections under monotonic loading, Journal of Structural Steel Research (submitted for
publication), 1999.
630
4
EFFECTS OF THE NON-LINEAR SHEAR CONNECTION ON THE

BEHAVIOUR OF STEEL AND CONCRETE COMPOSITE BEAMS
UNDER SERVICE LOADS
Faella C., Nigro E.
631
632
633
634
Session
Codes
635
636
SOME ASPECTS REGARDING THE EVALUATION OF THE ACTIONS IN

THE DESIGN OF THE STEEL INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
Carmen Teleman, Elena Axinte Department of Civil and Industrial Constructions, Steel
Structures, Faculty of Construction and Architecture, UTI, Prof. D. Mangeron nr. 43, 6600 Iasi,
Romania
Keywords : Steel industrial buildings, Cranes, Structural Design, Limit States Design, Codes.
Abstract : The design of certain kinds of industrial buildings involves some particular aspects and
that is why the national codes and the EUROCODES also do not include all the implications on
the matter. The paper refers to the design of a steel industrial building with cranes, from the point
of view of the EUROCODES 3 and 8 in parallel with the Romanian standards STAS 10101/0-78,
STAS 10101/2-90, STAS 10101/1-92, STAS 10108/0-80 and P100-92 notifying the various
aspects derived from either the differences in the evaluation of the actions, or the lack of some of
them.
1. INTRODUCTION
Many of the industrial buildings that were designed up to now in Romania and for the
present, still considered as an usual solution, are equipped with travelling cranes as a response to
the functional necessities (fig 1). These structures may be designed according to
EUROCODES 1, 3 and 8, but considering the specifications from the Romanian codes, there are
some particular aspects that have to be taken into account. In order that for the future, the
EUROCODES to be part of the national codes of all the European countries, there has to be a
general agreement in the evaluation of the action for design.
a) b)
Fig 1 Industrial steel building equipped with travelling crane : a) - sketch of the transversal frame; b) - loading
scheme for permanent, quasi - permanent, variable and exceptional actions.
2 PARRALEL EVALUATION OF THE INTENSITY OF THE ACTIONS ACCORDING

TO ROMANIAN CODES AND THE EUROCODES
A Characteristic Values of Actions
A1 Permanent Actions
i) The Romanian Codes Specifications They refer as to nominal values,Pi, which are considered
to act continuously, their intensity being practically constant in the life time of the structure. The
637
actions taken into account are: weight of the horizontal structural and non structural elements of
the transversal frame, gnk; weight of the external walls, gn;weight of the crane girder, gnCR.
ii) The EUROCODES Specifications This category includes the weight of the structure,
fittings and fixed equipment represented by their characteristic values, generally the nominal, Gk,i
calculated on the basis of the nominal dimensions and mean unit masses (acc. to Pr. ENV 1991-
2:1993).
A2 Quasi-Permanent Actions
i) Romanian Codes Specifications In this category there are the loads that act with a constant
intensity for longer periods of time or frequently during the service life of the structure. The
annotation Cj is used in standard. For an industrial building the following quasi-permanent actions
are considered:weight of the building services suspended from the bottom chord of the roof truss
or from the horizontal girder, and the weight of the building services and/or the equipment tied up
to the structural elements in a fixed position,gnie; weight of the industrial dust deposit on the roof,
gnpi.; live load due to materials deposits and personnel transferred to the structure, qn.
ii) The EUROCODES Specifications The quasi-permanent action is not mentioned in this
expression but in ENV 1991-1: 1993 (and in EC 3) both the variable and the accidental actions
may have a quasi-permanent value, represented by the product ψ2⋅Qk and so its value is
determined statistically considering the total time of exceedence being an important part of the
chosen period, or is most commonly taken with its time averaged value
A3 Variable Actions
i) Romanian Codes Specifications The variable actions, Vi, are characterized by an intensity
that varies widely during the lifetime of the building. These actions are: imposed loads due to the
cranes, building services, devices and equipment that are linked with the structure, snow and wind
loads.
-snow load, according to STAS 10101/21-92, is determined considering the following
terms: czi- shape coefficient of the snow deposit on the surface of the structure exposed to snow;
ce - coefficient that takes into account the exposure conditions of the construction; gnz-the
reference weight of the snow deposit.
-wind load according to the provisions in STAS 10101/20-90 depends on: β - gust factor,
considering the classification of the structure from the aerodynamic point of view; cni-
aerodynamic factor on the surface exposed to wind; ch(z)i- coefficient of variation of the design
dynamic pressure with respect to the height above the ground; gv - design wind dynamic pressure
at the height of 10 m above the ground.
-movable imposed loads, which come from the combined vertical and horizontal reactions
(R, respectively Pl, Pt) due to the action of the cranes acting on the crane girder along the bay
(considering also the displacement of the crab on the crane).
ii) The EUROCODES Specifications For variable actions the characteristic value Qk
corresponds to either: an upper value with an intended probability of not being exceeded or a
lower value with an intended probability of not falling below during some reference period or a
nominal value which may be specified in cases where a probability distribution is not known.
The representative values of the variable actions vary due to the importance given in a
certain combination of loads in the different limit state design stages, e. g. it might be the
combination value or the frequent value.
A4 Exceptional Actions
i) Romanian Codes Specifications The exceptional actions, E are due to very rare situations
that interfere with the building in its lifetime. They act with an important intensity and for
638
Romania the most significant one is earthquake. The provisions for the anti-seismic design are
assessed with P100-92. According to this code for practice, the seismic action acts horizontal
upon the transversal frame of the structure. Its evaluation is made considering : ci- the global
seismic coefficient of the basic shear force, depending on other five coefficients tabulated in P100
–92 (they are determined considering the class of importance of the structure, the seismic zone,
the seismic spectrum of the structure, the damping and ductility, a.o.) and G -the resultant of the
gravitational loads.
ii) The EUROCODES Specifications The seismic action is considered in a different manner, as
mentioned above. It may be either a variable action, as a part of the combination of actions in the
accidental design situation, Ad, or a seismic action, as a part of the seismic design situation, γ1⋅AEd
Up to now, the accidental situations were not considered as a relevant design situation for
an industrial building although the special group of actions according to STAS 10101/0-78
identify the exceptional actions the settlement of the foundations and the floods. Explosions are
not considered at all and as their effect is little known in Romania, attention must be paid for that.
B The Design Values of Actions
i) Romanian Codes Provisions They are the result of the representative values amplified (or
diminished) with coefficients ni. The values of these coefficients depend upon the type of the
action (permanent, quasi-permanent or variable) and on the particular limit state we are referring
to. In the same time they separate themselves into partial safety factors and combination factors.
In the present, according to the provisions of STAS 10101/0-78, the coefficients used in
the limit state design are: limit state of strength and stability under the fundamental group of
actions are nI; ultimate limit state under the special group of actions, the simultaneous variable
actions are considered to act with their lower intensity, during a longer period of time, so the
coefficients are nd.
Meanwhile the codes for snow and for wind adopted already the partial safety factors γi.
The factors γi are differentiated, the criteria being: limit state considered along with the “group of
actions”, geographic zone, class of importance of the building, a. o.
ii) The EUROCODES Provisions The design values of the actions according to EC 3 are
obtained by multiplying the representative values with the partial safety coefficients of the
permanent actions,γGsup for the unfavorable situation and γGinf for the favorable situation
corresponding to their upper or lower values, these being consequently taken. The variable actions
are also affected by the partial safety factors, γQ which differ from case to case (A, B, C) and
situations (persistent, transient or accidental). The accidental actions are considered in the same
manner with the variable actions, their coefficient being γA.
C Combinations of Loads
i) Romanian Codes Provisions For the design of the steel structures and their components in
different limit states the most unfavorable combinations are taken into account, in a realistic
manner (see tab. 4). The limits states in which the combinations are considered identify
themselves as in EC 3, as the ultimate limit states or the serviceability limit state. The
combination of actions in the fundamental group may be observed in tabel 4. The variable actions
may be one or they may act simultaneous as two, three or more, their sum being affected with a
simultaneity coefficient, ng, whose value is 1 for a single variable, 0.9 for two or three variables,
0.8 for more than three variables. The vertical (Pi) and the horizontal forces (Pt, Pl) coming from
the cranes engender one distinct variable action.
639
In the special group generally is considered but one single exceptional action E to act
simultaneously. The wind action is not taken into account together with the seismic action and
also the crane braking effects are not considered in this situation.
Tabel 4. Combinations of actions according to the Romanian standards and codes for practice.
Group of Actions
Limit State Fundamental Group Special
Ultimate ΣniPi+ΣniCi+ngΣniVI (5)
Limit States Strength •on the roof : 1.1Gk+1.2Ci+γF pnz ΣPi+ΣCi+ΣnidVi+E(8)
•on the transversal frame: •on the transversal
and Stability I. 1.1Gk+1.2Ci+0.9(γFpnz+γFpnv) frame:
II.1.1Gk+1.2Ci+0.9(γFpnz+γFpnv+nsniRP)
Gk+Ci+γ1pnz+RP+S
III.1.1Gk+1.2Ci+0.9[γFpnz+γFpnv+ns(niRP+nRF)]
•crane girder:1.1GR+niPi
Fatigue ΣPi+ΣCi+ΣnidVi+Vobmax,min (6) Imposed by
•on the crane girder: GCR+Pi the specific codes
ΣPi+ΣCi+ngΣVI (7) for design
Serviceability Exploitation •on the roof : Gk+Ci+γ0pnz
Limit States Conditions •on the crane girder: GCR+Pi
’
Note: Vi are variable actions that do not cause fatigue;Vob are variable actions that cause fatigue; ns is a
simultaneity coefficient, considering that in the limit state of strength and stability at least two cranes are considered;
Rp, RF are the reactions coming from the unloaded cranes and from the crab, respectively.
ii) The EUROCODE Provisions The combinations in the permanent and transient design
situations include the permanent actions, Gk, one dominant variable action and one or more other
variable actions. All these actions are affected with the corespondent partial safety factors (γG, γQ1,
γQi) and the variables that are not considered dominant are diminished in addition with the ψ
factor.
The accidental combinations are obtained from permanent actions, one or more variable
action and one accidental action, Ak (which may be seismic action also, Ad). In this design
situation the partial safety factors are γG,A for the permanent actions and γA for the
accidental action. The variable actions are not affected by the partial safety factors but the
dominant action is diminished with ψ1,1, while the others are diminished with ψ2,I .
The combination of actions in the serviceability limit state is governed by the effect of
these actions upon the structure: irreversible, reversible or long term. They are three:
characteristic (rare) combination, frequent combination, quasi-permanent combination.
3 CONCLUSIONS
In the present, both the EUROCODES and the Romanian codes use the concept of limit
state design for structures and their components. In the course of evaluation of the actions both
the European codes and the Romanian ones use specific and different nominal and design or
representative values for actions and, the most important thing is that the partial safety factors γ
and the ψ factors which show the weight of a certain action in the a design combination leads to
different final values for design. As long as for the variable actions like snow, wind, earthquake
there are major differences between the required design working lifetimes according to the
EUROCODES and the Romanian codes, the nominal and the characteristic values will differ and
they will influence directly upon the designing concept of the structure.
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COMPARISON BETWEEN EUROCODE 8 AND

1998 TURKISH SPECIFICATIONS IN EARTHQUAKE REGIONS
WITH RESPECT TO THEIR PARTS CONCERNING
STEEL BUILDINGS
H. Almıla BÜYÜKTAŞKIN *, M. Ilgaz BÜYÜKTAŞKIN **, T. Seno ARDA ***

* : Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Taşkışla, 80191 Taksim, Istanbul
** : Prokon Engineering Const.& Trade Lim., Inönü Cad. 77/7, Kozyatağı, Istanbul
***: Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering, 80626 Maslak, Istanbul,
Türkiye
Keywords: Earthquake, Civil Engineering, Structural, Steel Structures, Codes, Eurocode 8,

1998 Turkish Specifications, Comparison.
Abstract: This paper deals with a comparison between the Eurocode 8 and the Turkish
Specifications for Buildings in Earthquake Regions which was recently published in 1998 as
far as the design of steel structures is concerned. A brief introduction about the importance of
those two codes from Turkish Engineers’ point of view is made. Subsequently, general
descriptions such as structural system types, behaviour factor concept, prevention of local
buckling and connection design are explained. Next, detailing rules are given comparatively
and finally a conclusion is made to cover the study.
1 INTRODUCTION
1998 Turkish Specifications for Buildings in Earthquake Regions and Eurocode 8 will
be compared hereinafter, with respect to their parts concerning steel buildings, in regard to the
classification of the structural types, behaviour factors, cross sectional rules to prevent local
buckling, connections and design criteria and detailing rules.
2 REFERENCE CODES
Turkish Specifications refer to TS 498 for the loads, TS 648 and TS 3357 for the
elastic design and TS 4561 for the plastic design of buildings. Eurocode 8, refers to
Eurocodes 3, 1 and 4.
3 DESIGN CONCEPTS AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE STRUCTURAL TYPES

3.1. In Turkish Specification
Turkish Specifications divide the structural types into two main categories: Structures
with high ductility and those with ordinary ductility.
a) High ductile structures: Moment resisting frames whose members satisfy the limits for
flange width / thickness and web depth / thickness ratios given in TS 4561 (plastic design)
and in which columns are stronger than girders with some exceptions. b) Ordinary ductile
structures: Structures using eccentric braced frames for the horizontal actions with the
following conditions: -The eccentricity should be between 1/5 and 1/10 of the total girder
span, special attention being paid to prevent the torsion, -The Eulerian slenderness of the
compressed bracing members should be less than 100, -Connection of the bracings to the
column web is not allowed. c) The combination of the two systems as mentioned above. All
the other structural types are considered as structures with ordinary ductility.
3.2. In Eurocode 8
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In Eurocode 8, earthquake resistant steel buildings shall be designed according to one

of the following concepts: Dissipative structural behaviour concept and non-dissipative
structural behaviour concept. This is more and less similar to the ductility classification of the
Turkish Specifications. On the other hand, Eurocode 8 has the following classification for the
steel buildings: a) Moment resisting frames. b) Concentric braced frames: -Active tension
diagonal bracings, -V bracings, -K bracings. c) Eccentric braced frames. d) Cantilever
structures or inverted pendulum structures. e) Dual structures. f) Mixed structures.
4 BEHAVIOUR FACTORS
Behaviour factors which are taken into account in the compared codes do not divide
the same horizontal design seismic action, but the ratios of their values can be a good basis for
a comparison.
5 CROSS SECTIONAL RULES ENSURING LOCAL DUCTILITY OF MEMBERS

5.1. In Turkish Specifications
Turkish Specifications refer to TS 4561 standard for plastic design in which flange
width / thickness and web depth / thickness ratios are severe.
5.2. In Eurocode 8
Eurocode 8 refers to the cross sections classes of the Eurocode 3 with the dependence
to behaviour factors.
6. CONNECTIONS IN DISSIPATIVE ZONES

a) By column and girder connections of frames, the columns will be continuous. When girder
is connected to the top of the column, the column has to be reinforced with stiffener-plates in
height of top of the girder. b) In earthquake zones 1 and 2, in connections and splices with
bending moment transfer only high strength bolts will be used. High strength bolt should be
in quality of 8.8 or 10.9. c) Column splices will be minimum ¼ of floor height from column-
girder connection. In case of butt-welded splice, only deep penetration weld will be used. d)
The load transfer capacity of column-girder connections with fillet welds or regular bolts
must not be less than 1.2 times of the connected members carrying capacity. In all other type
column-girder connections, the load transfer capacity of connection should never less than the
capacity of connecting members. e) In all earthquake zones the allowable weld strength and
ultimate strength will be reduced by 25 %. In the 1st and 2nd earthquake zones, the
connections and splices will be handled by certified welders. f) The girder splices will be a
girder height away from the column-girder connection. g) Connection and splice design
calculations have to be shown in project structural design calculation report.
6.2. Eurocode 8
a) In bolted connections high strength bolts in category 8.8 or 10.9 should be used in order to
comply with the needs of capacity design. Bolts of category 12.9 are only allowed in shear
connections. b) Connections in dissipative zones should have sufficient overstrength to allow
for yielding of the connected parts should be made. c) Connections of dissipative parts made
by means of butt welds or full penetration welds are deemed to satisfy the overstrength
criterion. d) For fillet welds connections or bolted connections the following requirement
should be met:
Rd ≥ 1.20 Rfy (1)
Where Rd is the resistance of the connection according to clause 6 of Part 1-1 of Eurocode 3
and Rfy is the plastic resistance of the connected part. e) The overstrength condition for
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connections need not apply if the connections are designed in a manner enabling them to
contribute significantly to the energy dissipation capability inherent to the chosen q-factor.
f) The effectiveness of such connection devices and their strength under cyclic loading should
be established by tests. g) For bolted shear connections bearing failure precede shear failure.
The bolts should be tightened as prescribed in clause 6.5.3 of part 1-1 of Eurocode 3 for
Connections of Category B or C to prevent loosing of the nuts. h) The connections of the
beams to the columns should be designed for the required degree of overstrength taking into
account the moment resistance MPl,Rd and the shear force ( VG,Sd + VM,Sd).
7 DETAILING RULES FOR MOMENT RESISTING FRAMES

a) For high ductility structures, in moment resisting frame type structures or braced frame
structures, in earthquake direction, on each column-girder connections, the total plastic
moment on columns will be larger than the total plastic moment of the girders. This rule
applies in each direction of earthquake to yield the most unfavourable result. b) By
calculating the plastic moment of the column section, only the axial forces, which produce the
minimum moments will be considered. In one storey building and in top storey of multistorey
buildings there will be no investigation to satisfy the rule a).
7.2. In Eurocode 8
1) Specific Criteria: a) Moment resisting frames shall be designed so that plastic hinges form
in the beams and not in the columns. This requirement is waived at the base of the frame, at
the top of multistorey buildings and for one-storey buildings. b) The beam to column joints
shall have adequate overstrength to allow plastic hinges to be formed in the beams.
2) Beams: a) Beams should be verified as having sufficient safety against lateral or lateral
torsional buckling failure according to clause 5.5.2 of Eurocode 3,assuming the formation of a
plastic moment at one end of the beam. b) For plastic hinges in the beams it should be verified
that the full plastic moment resistance and rotation capacity is not decreased by compression
and shear forces. To this end, the following inequalities should be verified at the location
where the formation of hinges is expected:
(MSd / MPl,Rd) ≤ 1 (NSd / NPl,Rd) ≤ 0.15 ( (VG,Sd + VM,Sd) / (VPl,Rd)) ≤ 0.5 (2)
3) Columns: a) For the verifications of the columns the most unfavourable combination of the
axial force N and the bending moments Mx and My shall be assumed. b) The sum of the
design values for the bending moments in the adjacent cross sections of the columns shall not
be less than the sum of the resisting moments MRd of the beams connected to the column as
determined in 2)b). c) The transfer of the forces from the beams to the columns should
comply with the design rules given in clause 6 of part 1-1 of Eurocode 3. d) The resistance
verification of the columns should be made according to clause 5 of part1-1 of Eurocode 3.
e) At the base of the frame the design bending moments for the connection of the columns to
the foundation should be taken as;
MSd = MSd,G + 1.2 MSd,E (3)
f) The column shear force:
VSd / VPl,Rd ≤ 0.5 (4)
g) In framed web panels of beam/column connections the following assessment is permitted:
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Vwp,Sd / Vwp,Rd ≤ 1 (5)
8 DETAILING RULES FOR ECCENTRIC BRACED FRAMES

a) In the cross-braced diagrams where the bracing is connected to the column, the connection
should be made to the flange of the column. Connection to web is not allowed. b) By
compression bracing slenderness should be not more than 100. c) In bracing connections,
regular bolts are used. Allowable strength of bolts should be reduced by 33 %.
8.2. In Eurocode 8
1) Specific Criteria: a) Eccentric braced frames shall be designed so that beams are able to
dissipate energy by the formation of plastic bending and/or plastic shear mechanisms. b) The
rules given hereafter are intended to ensure that yielding in the plastic hinges or shear panels
of the beams will take place prior to any yielding or failure elsewhere.
2) Beams: a) For beams which dissipate energy by plastic hinges, the rules defined in beams
of moment resisting frames should be observed. b) For beams which dissipate energy by a
plastic shear mechanism in a framed web panel the following rules should be met:
(MSd / MPl,Rd) ≤ 0.7 (NSd / NPl,Rd) ≤ 0.15 VSd / Vwp,Rd ≤ 1 (6)
3) Columns and Diagonal Members: a) The columns and diagonal members should be
verified in compression considering the most unfavourable combination of the axial force and
bending moments.
9 DETAILING RULES FOR CONCENTRIC BRACED FRAMES

a) When the diagonals working only for tension, the slenderness ratio should be not more than
100. b) In bracing connections, regular bolts are used; allowable strength of bolts should be
reduced by 33 %.
9.2. In Eurocode 8
1) Specific Criteria: a) They shall be designed, so that yielding of the diagonals in tension will
take place before yielding or buckling of the beams or columns and before failure of the
connections. b) The diagonal elements of bracings should be placed such a way that the
structure exhibits similar load deflection characteristic at each floor and in every braced
direction under load reversals.
2) Diagonal Members: a) Non-dimensional slenderness ratio λ should be limited to λ ≤ [1.5]
in order to prevent elastic buckling. b) The tension force NSd should be limited to the yield
resistance NPl,Rd of the gross-section. c) In V bracings the compression diagonals should be
designed for the compression resistance according to clause 5 of part 1-1 of Eurocode 3.
d) The connections of the diagonals to any member should fulfil the overstrength condition.
3) Beams and Columns: a) Beams and columns with axial forces should met the following
minimum resistance requirement. b) In V Bracings the beam should be designed to resist all
non-seismic actions without considering the intermediate support given by diagonals. c) The
connection of the frames to the foundations should fulfil the overstrength condition.
10 CONCLUSION
It is seen that two codes are same in the esprit, but show some differences in details.
References
[1] 1998 Turkish Specifications in Earthquake Regions,
[2] Eurocode 8.
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FROM PARTIAL FACTORS METHOD TO PROBABILISTIC

CONCEPTS IN STRUCTURAL STEEL DESIGN
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RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF STRUCTURAL STEEL MEMBERS

EXPOSED TO MULTICOMPONENT LOAD EFFECTS
Ing. Martin Krejsa1 and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Pavel Marek, Ph.D.1, 2

1
Department of Structural Engineering, School of Civil Engineering,
VŠB – Technical University Ostrava,
17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava - Poruba, Czech Republic
2
Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics - Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic
Prosecká 76, 190 00 Prague 9, Czech Republic
Keywords: Reliability, Probability, Simulation, Monte Carlo, Assessment, Resistance, Multi-

component Load Effect, Carrying Capacity, Steel Structures, Limit States, Failure
Abstract: Dramatic development of computer technology allows for considering a transition

from deterministic and semi-probabilistic structural reliability assessment methods to fully
probabilistic concepts based on simulation technique. Such transition would require re-
engineering of the entire design procedure, re-arrangement of standards, development of
databases and more. The paper reviews briefly one of the proposed probabilistic assessment
concepts (Simulation-based Reliability Assessment, SBRA, documented in textbook Marek et
al. 1996). The potential of the proposed concept and of the corresponding software is
emphasized. The new edition of the Czech specification for structural design, ČSN 73 1401 –
1998, already contains provisions allowing for application of probabilistic concept, using
criterion Pf < Pd , where Pf is the probability of failure and Pd is the target probability defined
in specifications.
1. INTRODUCTION
The advanced computer technology allows for application of structural reliability
assessment concepts based on simulation, such as SBRA method (Simulation-based
Reliability Assessment) documented in the textbook by Marek et al. 1996. Using the SBRA
concept, all input variable quantities, such as loading, mechanical properties of the material
and imperfections, are expressed by bounded histograms, the reliability function is analyzed
by Monte Carlo simulation and the resulting reliability is expressed by comparing the
probability of failure Pf and the target probability Pd given in specifications (see, for example,
ČSN 73 1401-1998). Such approach would require reengineering of the entire design and
reliability assessment procedures as well as corresponding education of designers leading
from deterministic to fully probabilistic „way of thinking“. Such transition will need time and
educational effort, see Anagnos et al. 1995.
Referring to hundreds of examples discussed in textbooks by Marek et al. 1996 and
1998, following example demonstrates the application of the SBRA concept. In case of
assessment of a steel frame the assessment procedures according to the Partial Factors
Method (see Eurocode 1993) and SBRA are compared. Considering identical assignment for
both approaches, the procedures according to PFD and SBRA will be discussed. However,
due to completely different substance of the two mentioned methods, only the resulting
dimensions of the designed structural member can be directly compared.
2. ASSIGNMENT
In Figure 1 is shown a scheme of a statically indeterminate planar frame exposed to
mutually independent variable horizontal and vertical forces. The column (member 1) is
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exposed to uniformly distributed wind load q and girder 2 is loaded by a short-lasting force
S and a long lasting force L. The frame is fixed into the foundation in point a and pin-
supported in point b. The stiffness of the column and of the girder differs. The critical cross-
sections I, II and III are indicated in Figure 1.
Fig. 1 Geometry, loading and supports of the planar frame
All load effects, expressed by axial force L, S and q, and all other variables are
considered to be statistically independent. The buckling, torsional buckling and effect of shear
forces are not considered.
The dimensioning and reliability assessment are first performed according to Eurocode
1993, and next according to SBRA method.
3. CALCULATION OF INTERNAL FORCES USING FORCE METHOD

Application of the obtained displacements and displacement conditions leads to two
equations for X1 an X2 :
δ1f δ 2 f
−
δ 11 δ 21 5.J 1 .L.L22 + J 2 .L1 .(6.L.L2 − L12 .q )
X2 = =
δ δ 4.L2 .(4.J 1 .L2 + 3.J 2 .L1 )
− 12 + 22
δ 11 δ 21
X1 =
(−δ1 f −δ12.X2 ) = (− δ22.X2 − δ2 f ) =
δ11 δ21
J 1 .L2 .[9.L.L2 + 4.L1 .(3.L1 .q + 8.S )] + 12.J 2 .L12 .(L1 .q + 2.S )
=
8.L1 .(4.J 1 .L2 + 3.J 2 .L1 )
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Fig. 2 Diagrams: M – bending moment, T – shear force, N – normal force
The quantity X1 expresses the magnitude of the reaction Vb, the quantity X2
corresponds to the reaction Hb. Resulting bending moment, shear force and normal force
diagrams are shown in Figure 2.
4. PARTIAL FACTORS METHOD: DESIGN ACCORDING TO EUROCODE 4

Each load effect combination is obtained considering design values of individual
loadings and load effect combination rules given in specifications. The reliability is assessed
using the interaction formula.
N Sd M y , Sd
+ ≤1
N pl , Rd M pl , y , Rd
Steel rolled shapes IPE 270 (bar 1) and IPE 300 (bar 2) satisfy the criterion. The
interaction formula values, considering the decisive two-component load effect combination,
are 0,86 (cross section 1) considering load effect combination –q + 0,6 . (L+S) and 0,83 (in
the cross-section 3) considering load effect combination L + 0,6 . (S-q).
5. SIMULATION BASED DESIGN: SBRA METHOD

The reliability assessment according to SBRA is based on the analysis of the
Reliability Function RF = (R – S) where R is the resistance (in this expressed by the
magnitude of the yield stress) and S is a variable two-component load effect expressed by
stress. The analysis is performed using Monte Carlo simulation technique and corresponding
computer program AntHill™ (see Marek and Guštar 1990-1996). The reliability criterium is
expressed by Pf < Pd, where Pf is the probability of failure and Pd is the target probability (Pd =
0,000060 for common structures, see ČSN 73 1401 - 1998).
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Fig. 3 Output (Anthill™ program):

a) Cross-section 1 (IPE270) fiber 1 : Pf = 0.000010 < Pd = 0.000070 ,
b) Cross-section 1 (IPE270) fiber 2 : Pf << Pd = 0.000070 ,
c) Cross-section 2 (IPE300) fiber 1 : Pf << Pd = 0.000070,
d) Cross-section 2 (IPE300) fiber 2 : Pf << Pd = 0.000070,
e) Cross-section 3 (IPE300) fiber 1 : Pf = 0.000010 < Pd = 0.000070 ,
f) Cross-section 3 (IPE300) fiber 2 : Pf << Pd = 0.000070
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Partial Factors Design remains silent regarding the combination of two- and more
component load effects. In case of a frame assessment (as discussed in the full version of the
paper) cross sections are exposed to a combination of three component load effects (bending
moment, normal force and shear force) corresponding to several loadings from different
sources. Using the interaction formula in order to check the safety, the designer cannot find
clear instructions in specifications how to determine the critical load effect combination. The
SBRA method allows for calculating the combination of multi-component load effects and to
assess the reliability of investigated cross-sections of the frame. For details see the full
version of the paper.
Acknowledgement
Funding and support of research have been provided partly by the GACR (103/99/0215),
ITAM CAS CZ, and VŠB – Technical University Ostrava, Czech Republic).
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THE IMPROVEMENT OF STANDARD SUPPORT OF STEEL

STRUCTURES DESIGN FOR CORROSION RESISTANCE AND LIFE
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RANDOM PROPERTIES OF STEEL ELEMENTS PRODUCED IN

CZECH REPUBLIC
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STRUCTURAL STEELWORK EUROCODES - DEVELOPMENT OF A

TRANS-NATIONAL APPROACH (SSEDTA)
Susan Armstrong
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, University of
Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD
Keywords: Steelwork, Eurocodes, Training, Trans-national
Abstract:
This paper describes the development of a training programme for practising engineers
for Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures. The main aim of this project is to encourage a
trans-european interpretation of the Code by the development and distribution of training
material in text and electronic formats. An explanation is given as to how this is being
achieved and how the results of the project are being disseminated to maximum effect.
1. INTRODUCTION
Since 1988 and the launch of the European Steel Design Education Programme
(ESDEP), the European Community has been supporting initiatives in training for steelwork
design. In 1996 the Leonardo Da Vinci vocational training programme provided an
opportunity to bid for funds to develop vocational training on a European basis.
The Leonardo programme covers a wide range of objectives and goals with the
primary aim of promoting trans-national co-operation in the provision of vocational training
with the largest possible number of beneficiaries, to assist the free movement of individuals
and companies in the European market. The funding body is particularly interested in
projects, which innovatively provide this training. The philosophy of the promotion of trans-
national working matches particularly well the aims of the Eurocodes.
We were successful in a bid for funding to develop training modules for Eurocode 3:
Design of Steel Structures. In December 1996, a European partnership began this 3-year
project.
2. CONCEPT
Within the next few years all Civil and Structural Engineers in Europe will be required
to design steelwork in buildings to Eurocode 3. As with all new standards, there is a
reluctance to fully embrace the new Eurocode and a tendency to adhere to existing national
Codes. The reasons are evident:-
a) The Eurocodes incorporate new notation, terminology and formulae, and may be
viewed by some as complicated in comparison to their national Codes.
b) There is concern about the non-productive man-hours required to learn a new Code
and the subsequent effect on productivity.
c) Historically new Codes have been found to incorporate errors, which are identified
only when they are in common, usage. Designers often defer use of a new Code until
such errors have been eliminated.
If not addressed, this resistance will have the effect of slowing the full implementation of the
new Code and encouraging interpretations of it along national guidelines.
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In reality, EC3 affords good opportunities for economy of design, a sharing of good
practice and the development of new methods of analysis and design on a trans-national basis.
Within this project, we aim to promote a positive image for EC3, highlighting the
opportunities for exchange of ideas and methods. Specifically we aim to:
i) Produce high quality training modules encompassing a trans-national approach, for the
use of teachers throughout Europe.
ii) Prepare an electronic version of the training modules for CD and web-based delivery
to allow individuals to self-train.
iii) Provide an awareness of different methods of analysis and design adopted in other
countries and highlight opportunities for new approaches.
iv) Provide feedback to the checking groups responsible for the relevant parts of EC3 to
influence the quality of the final version.
2 BACKGROUND MATERIAL
Throughout Europe, many courses and much training material already exists for EC3.
Our aim was not to duplicate this material but to effect a trans-European approach to Code
interpretation. We initially carried out a background search to identify this wealth of material
on training courses and published documents on EC3. We considered much of this material
when establishing the precise format of our programme and used some of it as a basis for
parts of our project.
The material was based on established national practices with respect to methods of
analysis and detailed member and connection design, making frequent reference to the
National Application Documents (NADs)
In a project which aims to promote a common approach to the use of the Eurocodes
and to encourage sharing of good practise, we decided that such reliance on isolated national
guidelines was inappropriate and that this package should include and explain all relevant
national practices.
We believe that our approach has allowed us to develop a unique course, which
highlights and explains cultural differences in analysis and design in each country, and
therefore provides an excellent opportunity for the sharing of design methods and the
promotion of new techniques.
3. SCOPE AND CONTENT

As the resulting training is aimed at practising engineers, it was essential to canvass
their opinion of the proposed scope and presentation mode of the material. Following this
survey of the views of external organisations, and intensive discussions within the
partnership, we decided on a specific content and number of modules. These include
introductory chapters on EC1 and modules for Design Strategies, Frame Analysis, Design of
Members, Structural Joints and Fire Engineering.
In our discussions with industrial organisations, the importance of good, thorough,
realistic worked examples were stressed. It is particularly within the worked examples that
different analysis and design approaches are discussed. Full design examples have been
produced for a Simple Braced Frame, a Sway Frame and a Portal Frame.
We spent time optimising a format for the presentation of the material, which would
maximise the number of individuals, and organisations that would benefit from it. We decided
that the training product should be available in two formats. One to allow self-learning by
individual engineers and secondly a pack available to all those involved in the provision of
training to groups. We hope to influence, throughout Europe, those responsible for the
teaching of the Codes.
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The final version of the training material will therefore include: Notes for trainers
outlining a summary of the content of the module, Pre-requisites for those attending it,
Lecture notes enhanced by PowerPoint presentation of overheads (see figure 1) and Student
notes, both fully referenced to the Code, Design exercises, Design examples. There will be a
CD-ROM version of the package for individual use and an Internet web page presentation.
This electronic format will be based on the software developed as part of the Leonardo Da
Vinci project known as the Wider Vocational Initiative for Structural Steelwork (WIVISS).
Consider an I-beam …..

Perfectly elastic, initially M M
straight, loaded by equal and L
opposite end moments about Elevation Section
its major axis.
Unrestrained along its length.

Plan
End Supports …
z
– Twisting and lateral x
deflection prevented. u
– Free to rotate both in the
y
plane of the web and on
plan.
Figure 1. A typical Powerpoint slide for the module on Unrestrained Beams
4. THE PARTNERS
The partners in this project were selected for their extensive experience in the design
of structural steelwork and in the presentation of vocational training courses. In addition,
many have been involved in the drafting stages of EC3. They are:-
The Academy of Steel Construction,University of Sheffield (UK)
Department MSM, University of Liege (BEL)
E.U.I.T INDUSTRIAL, University of Oviedo (ES)
Centre Technique Industriel de la Construction Metallique (CTICM) (France)
Technical Chamber of Greece
Steel Construction Institute (UK)
SIG Ltd (UK)
Department of Steel Structures - Technical University of Budapest (associate partner)
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5. FUTURE
Currently most of the modules have been completed and the authors are in the process
of producing the PowerPoint presentations. As a main target for this product are those people
responsible for training the structural designers of Europe, we will be hosting a workshop in
July in London to test the package on a group of trainers. Following their feedback, we will
produce the final text version and the electronic format. The project is due for completion in
December 1999.
It is a condition of the funding that the product be distributed widely throughout
Europe and it is one of the main criteria by which its success will be judged. The pack will be
available via ESDEP and other established networks to trainers and organisations throughout
Europe in addition to dissemination via the SSEDTA web page. To further widen the
influence of the project the pack will be translated into Spanish, French, Greek and
Hungarian.
We have recently submitted a bid for further funds to develop similar material for EC4
(Design of Composite Design of Steel and Concrete).
6. CONCLUSION
There are, and will continue to be, many excellent courses and training materials
produced in countries all over Europe. We believe that the uniqueness of this project is its
promotion of a truly trans-national approach and in the trans-national exchanges regarding
methods of analysis and design.
In encouraging a European approach to design of buildings, it is not our intention to
discourage innovation. On the contrary, we are keen to expose designers across Europe to
diverse methods of analysis and design and to promote a sharing of best practice.
It is also an important part of the partners’ strategy to inform engineers of relevant
material in their research areas, which may shape future design techniques and methods. This
sharing of new material and best practice has been a most rewarding aspect of the project,
highlighting opportunities, which would not have been identified without such trans-national
co-operation.
Acknowledgement.
We are grateful for the support received by the European Leonardo da Vinci
Programme and also for the dedicated efforts of the partnership over the last two and a half
years, without which this project would not have been so successful.
References.
[1] “European Steel Education Programme”, SCI, London, 1994
[2] Plank R,J., “Wider Vocational Initiative for Structural Steelwork”, J. Construct. Steel
Research, 46, (1998), pp2278-279, ISBN 0-08-042997-1.
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BACKGROUND RESEARCH FOR EUROCODE ENV 1993-2

RECOMMENDATIONS ON BRIDGE CABLES
Raoof M.
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STATISTICAL STUDY OF COLUMN BUCKLING CURVES
Jindřich Melcher, Zdeněk Kala

Institute of Metal and Timber Structures / Institute of Structural Mechanics
VUT - Technical University of Brno, Veveří St. 95, 662 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Keywords : Compression Member, Probability-based Analysis, Imperfection Random

Variables, Column Strength, Column Buckling Curve, Random Load Capacity.
Abstract : The object of this study is the determination of the column reduction factors for
the selected set of compression members with IPE-section using the statistical approach. The
results are compared to the specification ENV 1993-1-1 : 1992 (Eurocode 3). The input
parameters (initial imperfections) include their random nature.
1 INTRODUCTION
According to the ENV 1991-1 : 1994 (Eurocode 1) the design resistance of
a column corresponds to the 0.1 % fractile of the resulting statistical set considering
the buckling strength as the random variable influenced by input random parameters.
Subsequently the relevant column reduction factor can be derived from the design strength
using the partial safety factor γM .The resulted values can be used for the verification of
values of the reduction factors introduced by ENV 1993-1-1 : 1992 [1].
2 INPUT STATISTICAL PARAMETERS

For the determination of the real buckling strength of compression member the
geometrical and structural initial imperfections should be considered.
a) b) c)
e0
L
Fig. 1 Parameters of the initial member imperfections
The initial out-of-straightness is important imperfection for columns. According

to [2] the initial deflection amplitude of L/1000 for compression member has been considered.
In fact the initial column deflection (Fig. 1 a) is a random variable. For this parameter the
normal distribution has been introduced with the mean value of mX = 0 . When the 95%
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of values of the initial member amplitude fall under the interval of < 0 ; L/1000 > the
corresponding standard deviation is of sX = L/500 .
Further the second type of the geometrical imperfections has been introduced,
namely the tolerances of the cross-section dimensions (Fig. 1 b). Again the normal
distribution has been assumed with the nominal parameters taken as the mean value. The
standard deviations have been introduced according to the specification [3] giving the
tolerance limits for the dimensions of the hot-rolled sections. We assumed that the values of
95 % of cross-section dimensions fall into the tolerance limits.
The residual stresses are the third type of initial imperfections we have
considered. The relevant stress distribution according to Fig. 1 c) has been accepted in the
same way as in [4]. Through the mean value of mX = 74 MPa and standard deviation of
sX = 37 MPa the residual stress influence as the random variable has been taken into
account. Thus the interval of < 0 ; 148 MPa > includes 95 % of values of this random
parameter.
For the yield strength of the S 235 material class the normal distribution with the
mean value of mσy = 295.69 MPa and with the standard deviation of sσy = 26.76 MPa has
been expected. These values are based on the test results [5]. The material imperfections have
been considered also through the random variable value of modulus of elasticity E with the
mean value of mE = 210 GPa and relevant standard deviation of sE = 12.6 GPa. The
strain-hardening modulus of elasticity was presumed by the value of Eh = 0.1 E .
For each step of the Monte Carlo simulation method the strength for the main
stiffer plane of buckling has been determined considering the random buckling parameters
and using the geometrical and physical nonlinear analysis based on FEM - see also [4]. The
column was modelled by 16 member elements.
3 BUCKLING STRENGTH AS THE OUTPUT STATISTICAL PARAMETER

According to [6] the reliable design buckling strength can determined as the
0.1 % fractile of the set of valid strength observations (Fig. 2). Using the partial safety
factor (column reliability factor) γM = 1.1 , nominal value of yield strength
fy = 235 MPa and nominal value of the cross-section area A together with the design
strength N derived from statistical calculations then the corresponding column reduction
factor χ is given by
N ⋅γ M
χ = (1)
fy ⋅ A
In Table 1 the results of the statistical study are summarised. The resulting
column reduction factors χ compared to the corresponding values given by the specification
EC 3 [1] are presented . The numerical studies have been elaborated for three values of the
relative slenderness ratio λ .
Table 1 Column reduction factors χ
λ = 1.0 λ = 1.5 λ = 2.5

IPE 140 0.65 0.32 0.12
IPE 360 0.68 0.34 0.13
IPE 500 0.63 0.31 0.12
EC 3 0.67 0.37 0.15
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Fig. 2 Random load capacity * Cross-section IPE 360 * λ = 2.5
Fig 3 Histogram of the random load capacity * Cross-section IPE 360 * λ = 2.5
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4 CONCLUDIG REMARKS
The results presented in Table 1 show that just for the only case (cross-section
IPE 360 , λ = 1.0) the column reduction factor χ given by EC 3 is on the design safe
side. For all the remaining cases our results give lower values of χ comparing to the EC 3,
i.e. lower values of the random load capacity N and consequently the specified buckling
strength according to the EC 3 is on the unsafe side.
Also according to our previous study [7] dealing with the column HEA
cross-sections the differences in specified and statistical buckling strength can be of 5% to
11% on the unsafe side. We have proved that the more precise assessment of residual stresses
upon the cross-section size could improve the multiple column curve adjustment.
Some other applications of stochastic approaches directed to the verification of
the imperfection influence upon the analysis of steel frames considering the geometrical and
physical nonlinearity are presented in [4], for example.
Acknowledgement
This study has been elaborated under projects of GAČR Reg.No. 103/99/P023 and
CEZ:J22/98:261100007 .
References
[1] ENV 1993-1-1 Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures - Part 1.1: General rules and rules
for buildings, CEN, Brussels, 1992.
[2] ENV 1090-1 Execution of steel structures - Part 1: General rules and rules for buildings,
CEN, Brussels, 1996.
[3] ČSN 42 5553 Tyče průřezu IPE z konstrukčních ocelí třídy 11 válcované za tepla
(Members of hot-rolled IPE-section made of class 11 structural steels), Vydavatelství
úřadu pro normalizaci a měření, Praha, 1985.
[4] Kala, Z.: Nonlinear response of steel frames to the static loading, PhD Theses, Technical
University of Brno , 1998.
[5] Rozlívka ,L. - Dvořáček, P. - Fajkus, M.: Rozměrové úchylky ocelových svařovaných
nosníků a jejich vliv na návrhovou pevnost konstrukčních ocelí (The tolerances of
dimensions of steel welded beams and their influence upon the design strength of
structural steels), Journal of Stavební obzor , No. 3, 1999.
[6] ENV 1991-1 Eurocode 1: Basis of design and actions on structures - Part 1: Basis of
design, CEN, Brussels, 1994.
[7] Melcher,J. - Sádovský,Z. - Kala,Z - Nádaský,P. : Ultimate strength and design limit state
of compression members in the structural system, In: Proc. of Annual Technical
Session and Conference in Atlanta , SSRC - Lehigh University, Bethlehem, 1998,
(in print).
672
STABILITY PROBLEMS OF STEEL BRIDGES IN THE NEW EUROCOD FOR

BRIDGES
Hynek Šertler
Department of Transport Infrastructure, University of Pardubice,
Studentská 95, 53210 Pardubice, Czech Republic
Keywords: Steel Bridges, Stability, half–through Bridge, monoaxial bending and axial
compression
Abstract: Discussion of the access of the new draft of Eurocod ENV 1993 – Steel bridges to
the stability problems. Presentation of the design using overall imperfection factor.
Application of this assessment for the lateral stability of half-through bridges and monoaxial
bending and axial compression. Discussion of imperfection influence. Comparison with the
Czech codes approach. Examples of the solutions.
1. INTRODUCTION
The main goal of this presented research work has been to verify and accurate the
Eurocode 3-:Design of steel structures-Part 2:Steel bridges for Buckling resistance of
members. The Eurocod access to this problem is led by the effort to unify the design
procedures of all kinds of compression member systems. The uniform compression model
was accepted. The supporting influence is expressed by the critical force state and by the
relative slenderness ratio.
2. LATERAL STABILITY OF HALF- THROUGH BRIDGES

The lateral stability of half-through bridges check according to Eurocod [1] has been
verified on the real structure. The existing bridge structure with truss main girder (Fig. 1) has
been tested. The code approach has been verified by the linear and non-linear second order
theory using FEM Program ANSYS 5.OA. The new Eurocode 3 presents the break in the
steel structure design. The well known Engesser model based on the compression member
supported on the continuous elastic springs has been generally used for design codes [2].
Using this theory, the check of the compression chord is safe enough if the spring resistance
of U –frames is greater than the lateral force of buckled compression force.
Eurocode approach simplifies this procedure. The compression continuous beam on the
elastic springs as the calculation model is accepted too. But the safety verification is
performed in the same way as for the uniform members. The buckling mode and the critical
buckling load may be determined from the eigenvalue analysis. For the case of constant
compression force the expressions for critical force Ncrit are given. The aim of this section is
to estimate the influence of the cross section variation and compression force variation over
the length of the chord and to compare the safety verification using the reduction factor
concept and the second order theory.
Eigenvalue problem solution
The structure has been analysed using:
a) Computer program ANSYS 5 OA. Non linear and linear version of the analysis has been
applied. From the figure follows, that the buckling mode is sinusoidal with buckling length
approximately L/3 (The zero point is in x= 0,322L). Ncrit= 12,294MN for non-linear analysis
and 12,598 for linear analysis.
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2 3 4
8 x 5200 = 41600
Fig.1 The verified structure
b) Eigenvalue problem solution by Galerkin method.

The main assumptions of the solutions are as follows:
• The buckling mode is sinusoidal
v( x) = v0 . sin( nπx / L) , where n is determined by minimising of the critical force
• The chord has been modelled as the continuous compression member on elastic
foundation with variation of cross-section properties and compression forces. The chord is
symmetrical to the vertical axis in the middle of the chord.
The eigenvalue problem of is expressed by the differential equation as follows.
L(x) = (E I(x)v(x)″)″ + (N(x)v(x))″+ c(x)⋅v(x) = 0 (1)
where v (x ) is the deflexion, L(x) is the differential operator, c is the foundation stiffness.
. Using linear regression with high correlation factor r2 = 0,98 the following approach has
been derived which is the modification of [1] recommendation:
N crit = mN E (2)
π EI max
2
where NE = 2
(3)
L
For N and I constant γ (4)
m = m* = 2 k = 2
π2
= cL γ 4
(5)
EI
If N and I are variables, assessment of m may be carried out using equation (6)
m = m ∗ ⋅ f ( I 1 / I max ) ⋅ f ( N 1 / N max ) (6)
where f(I1/Imax) = 0,19 ⋅ I1/Imax+0,81

f (N1/Nmax)=-0,68 N1/NImax+1,68
The difference between the simplified and accurate solution has been 0,53 %
Safety verification
Member imperfections are taken into account using
a) second order theory
b) resistance formulae using reduction factor
For the second order theory solution the ANSYS program has been used. The shape of the
imperfection as the elastic buckling mode (see fig.2) has been used. The maximum amplitude
of imperfection has been taken by [1], section 5.2.4.3.(d)
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From the figure is seen that the shape of the additional deflection is similar to the shape of the
consist of initial deflection. The difference is in the successive wavelengths and in the
magnitude of theirs deflections
v (mm)
30 Grapf: 1 initial deflection 28,40
Grapf: 2 additional deflection
20
15,70
10
0
-2,607
-10
-20
-30 23 426
Fig.2 Initial and additional lateral deflections
Alternatively the safety verification has been carried out using the reduction factor. To
compare the results with the results of second order analysis, it is necessary to the related
N Sd , i
slenderness expression (13) as follows: λ =
N crit
The maximum difference between the second order theory assessment and assessment using
reduction factor has been 0,5%. The safety verification of the most strained member using the
second order theory is as follows
σ max = 201,33MPa ≤ ( f y / γ M 1 = 235 / 1,1 = 213,64MPa) (7)

( f y / γ M 1 ) / σ max = 213,64 / 201,33 = 1,06
Safety verification by Czech design standard [2] based on the Engesser theory has
been carried out. The main result is as follows
C/Cmin=1,28
where Cmin is the minimum elastic spring stiffness needed for the stability assurance.
Verification of the EC 3 assessment of lateral supporting spring force has been carried
out using non-linear FEM method analysis.
From FEM method using non-linear version of ANSYS program the lateral force is 23,60 kN
Using [1], section 5.5.2.4(4) we obtain lateral force 42,04 kN has been obtained.
From these results is seen that Eurocode approach is conservative.
Comparing this result with Eurocode approach from equation (7) the Engesser procedure is
less safe.
3. COMBINATION OF MONOAXIAL BENDING AND AXIAL COMPRESSION

For the safety verification of the combined action of design values of monoaxial
bending moments and axial compression the interaction formulae are generally used. In [1]
the new access to solving this problem is chosen. The related slenderness can be calculated
from
λLT = γ U γ (8)
crit
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where γ u is the multiplier for the design loads to reach the characteristic resistance of the
member with no out of plane deflections taken into account and γcrit is the multiplier for the
design loads to reach the critical elastic resistance of the member. The solution of γcrit was
carried out as the coupled bifurcation problem with lateral and torsion buckling mode. The
solution was effected in the linear region. The eigenvalue problem is expressed by the set of
two homogenous differential equations, which presents the equilibre conditions.
The Galerkin method has been used. The solution was effected for various boundary
conditions and various modes of bending moment My and for axial force N. Relatively
complicated solution was simplified after numerous parametric studies. The following
approach for λ LT determination for homogenous boundary conditions as the result of this
analysis is proposed:
= (k ⋅ k M ) γ u c
2 2
λ LT = k LT2 λ z
2
where 2
k LT
k 2 = 0,89 + (0,27a 2 + 0,76a )b where λW , e M y , c = N /N
a= b= = Sd pl
λZ i p Ni p
λz is slenderness for the lateral buckling and λw is slenderness for torsion buckling,
kM depends on the load type. For uniformly distributed load q and vertical force F subjected in
the middle of the span and in centre of gravity of symmetrical cross section the values of kM
could be taken from the following table:
kM2 depending on the b and loading
Interval b
q F
>5 0,947 0,874
<5 0,993-0,01b 0,986-0,023b
γu my be estimate using [4] from
LT
kz
⎛ N Sd γ u ⎞
⎜ ⎟ + M Sd γ u = 1
⎜ N ⎟ MC
⎝ pl ⎠
For the elastic analysis
(k ⋅ k M ) 2 j
2
k LT = where κ = i , ( j is the core abscissa , ip is the polar radius of gyration)
1+ b p
κ
Acknowledgement
This research has been supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic under grant
No.103/97/0139
References
[1] ENV (1993)-2 Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures –Part 2:Steel bridges ,CEN Brussels
[2] ČSN 736205:Design of steel bridges(in Czech) ÚNM, Praha 1986.
[3] Šertler,H(1997):The buckling problems of steel bridges members ( in Czech ). Inženierske
stavby,roč.45:9-10,31.
[4]ČSN 731401:Design of steel structures (in Czech),ÚNM Praha,1998.
676
A PROPOSAL OF STANDARDISATION OF STEEL STRUCTURES OF

ROOFS IN CERAMIC TILES
677
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679
680
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AMONG SPECIFICATIONS OF DESIGN TO

STEEL BEAM-COLUMN
ERNANI CARLOS DE ARAÚJO

Escola de Minas - Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto - MG Campus do Morro do Cruzeiro
35.400 000 Ouro Preto - MG Brazil
KEY-WORDS: Standard, steel, beam-column
ABSTRACT: In this paper, comparative analyses of the specifications of designs of the steel
structures supplied by the Brazilian Standards (NBR 8800/86), American ones (AISC -
LRFD/86), and the Recommendations of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwok
(ECCS/81) have been made. To the design the beam-column had been chosen because they have
admitted more comprehensive concepts during the structural verifications. The Brazilian
Standard to the Project and the Execution of Steel Structures of Buildings was approved in 1986.
This Standard was made having like fundaments the American and Europeans Specifications.
Since this date, it has been continued the same one and didn’t suffer any revisions. Besides to
supply the bases to the Brazilian Standard, The American and European ones were used in this
paper to the comparisons because these ones were in use in the same period of time when the
evidenced specification was approved. Together with this, it is evidenced the introduction by
these specifications of the important probabilistic concepts of safety and the use of load factors
for the analyses of the structural resistance and stability (Method of Limit State) instead of the
traditional method of the allowable stresses
INTRODUCTION
The behaviour of the majority of the beam-column has constituted a problem of stability, once
the interaction between the axial load and the flexion provoke deformations that has grown fastly
with the applications of the loads. The deformations has go on, increasing themselves until the
limit when these ones have stopped, what characterise the collapse. This phenomenon happens
due the fact of that, when they deform the axis of bar by action of the transversal charges, or by
the secondary bending moments proportional to the displacements and to the intensities of the
applied loads. This provokes that the answer of the beam-column members don’t be linear in the
elastic phase.
The beam-column members might be subjected to the following limit-states: yielding of one
determined transversal section, flexural buckling by, torsional buckling, torsional-flexural
buckling, and local buckling of individual plates.
In a similar way to the what happens with other structural members, it’s difficult, in general, to
know, previously, what will be the way of the failure of a beam-column member submitted to
known solicitations, once might be necessary the determination of various loads of destruction,
being that the small of them, will correspond to the real capacity of load of structural member.
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Various analytical tecniques and experimental verifications had become possible to get the
solution to the relationed problems with the beam-column members. When the flexion and the
compression have acted in the same time in an elastic range, the moment-curvature relationship
is linear and the solutions of the equations of analytical way are perfectly treatable. But, if those
effects occur in an inelastic range, the moment-curvature relationship becomes non-linear and,
so, the use of formal mathematics to resolve the differential equations that rule the problem
become very complex and the resources of the numerical methods are inevitable.
EQUATIONS OF INTERACTIONS
The equations of interactions become possible to make verifications in structural elements

submitted to combined solicitations in a simple way but approximated. Through analytical or
experimental analyses the strength of the elements to simple stress (compression, flexion, etc.) is
determined , and then are used those equations. These equations can be represented by
interactions surfaces. The ways of these surfaces depend on some parameters like: slenderness,
yield stress, distribution of residual stresses, ways of transversal sections, geometrical
imperfections, procedures of loads and distribution of the bending moments. The surfaces of
interactions become possible the comparison of results from numerical and experimental
researches. So, it was possible to show (TEBEDGE, 1974), (BALLIO, 1983) that the equations
of interactions are conservative and alterations in order to improve the design of the same were
already made by the American Standard and by the Recommendations from the European
Convention of the Steel Construction (ECCS/81).
COMPARISONS BETWEEN STANDARDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Towards the purposes of this paper, was made the analysis of the beam-column from the
umbraced frame. The behaviour of the structure can be different, if this one wasn’t contained
perpendicularly to its flexion plane. Having like purpose to have a more general example, the
two cases, distinctly, are considered. It’s considered, still, that when the stresses of same nature
(normal, shears and bending moments) provoked by the dead load, live load and wind get the
same senses , values of coefficients of actions favourable to the safety are used.
CONCLUSIONS
In the study of the beam-column steel members, was concluded that the used criterions of
calculations by Brazilian Standard (NBR 8800/86) are in a level of development among the best
foreigner Standards. This because its content had had its origin considering like basis the
American Standard (AISC/LRFD/86) and, also, the recommendations from ECCS/81. Among
the general conclusive aspects, those that seem to have great importance will be listed following:
(1) - To one beam-column member working like a beam, the expressions to the verifications of
the local buckling and the formulations that define the critical moments of lateral buckling are
equal to the Brazilian and American Standards;
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(2) - To one beam-column member working like a column, the formulations that lead to the
definitions of the buckling curves are equal to the Brazilian Standard and the ECCS;
(3) - To the verification of one beam-column member, the Brazilian Standard has adopted the
ancient equations of interactions to the verification of the stability and the strength to the
yielding from the American Standard AISC/ASD/78. These formulations were adapted using,
adequately, the strength coefficients from the Standard AISC/LRFD/86;
(4) - The regulations relative to the combinations of the actions from NBR8800/86 are
adaptations made from the recommendations from ECCS/81;
(5) - The factor “Cm” used by Brazilian Standard has got still the restriction Cm ≥ 0.4. This
limitation was retired from the Standard AISC/LRFD/86, after being concluded by numerical
analysis (CHEN, 1987) that without such restriction the expression stays valid to column-beams
in the plane and space;
(6) - The equation of interaction to the verification of the yielding strength used by NBR 8800/86
is generical to any kinds of sections. This equation is conservative such to the uniaxial flexion as
to biaxial one, when applied to sections “I” or “H” . To these profiles, more commonly used in
the practice, the utilisation of that equation lead to suppose that these profiles are idealised
considering the negligible web;
(7) - The standard AISC/LRFD/86 considers the effects “ P − δ ” e “ P − Δ ” separately .This
approximation, normally, lead to conservative results. Furthermore, this approximation is more
rational than the used approximations by Brazilian Standard, of which total moment of first
order, given the interaction equation, is amplified by the factor
−1 −1 −1 −1
C m .(1 − P.Pex ) = 0.85.(1 − P.Pex ) .
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REFERENCES
1 - AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF STEEL CONSTRUCTION. AISC / ASD: Allowable stress

design: specification for the design, fabrication and erection of structural steel for buildings.
Chicago: AISC, 1978.
2 - AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF STEEL CONSTRUCTION. AISC / LRFD: Load and
resistance factor design specification for structural steel buildings. Chicago: AISC, 1986.
3 - ARAÚJO, E. C. Elementos de aço flexo-comprimidos. São Carlos,1993, 569p. Dissertação
(Mestrado) – Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo. (in Portuguese).
4 - ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS. NBR 8800 / 86: Projeto e
execução de estrturas de aço de edifícios (Método dos Estados Limites). Rio de Janeiro: ABNT,
1986.
5 - BALLIO, G., MAZZOLANI, F. M. Theory and design of steel structures. London: Chapman
and Hall, 1983. 632p.
6 - CHEN, W. F., ZHOU, S. C mx factor in load and resistance factor design. Journal of
Structural Engineering, ASCE, v.113, n.8, p.1738-1754, August, 1987.
7 - EUROPEAN CONVENTION FOR CONSTRUCTION STEELWORK (ECCS). European
recommendations for steel construction. London, 1981. 355p.
8 - TEBEDGE, N., CHEN, W. F. Design criteria for H-columns under biaxial loading. Journal
of the Structural Division, ASCE, v.100, n.3, p.579-598, March, 1974.
684
LIMIT STATES DESIGN OF STEEL PLANAR FRAMES USING

ADVANCED ANALYSIS
M. A. Gizejowski,
Department of Metal Structures, WUT, Armii Ludowej 16, 00-637 Warsaw, Poland
H. C. Parameswar,
Department of Civil Engineering, UB, P.O. Bag 0061, Gaborone, Botswana
H.C. Uzoegbo,
Department of Civil Engineering, UW, P. Bag 3, Johannesburg, Wits 2050, South Africa
Keywords: Structural Engineering, Steel Frames, Semi-Rigid Joints, Advanced Analysis,

Continuous Stiffness Degradation Model, System Reliability-Based Limit States Design.
Abstract: The paper deals with the ILSD concept (Integrated Limit States Design concept) of
structural steel frames. The integrated design dealt with herein is a concept which uses an
advanced analysis. The advanced analysis is a method of structural analysis which includes all
the important factors affecting the performance of structural frame elements so that there is no
need for the assessment of local design criteria of structural members and joints. In the present
formulation, the advanced analysis takes into consideration the effects of nonplastic member
sections and joints and lateral buckling modes of failure on the ultimate strength and
serviceability criteria of structural planar frame systems. The model parameters of advanced
analysis are verified by results of experimental investigations of the behaviour of laterally
restrained and unrestrained portal frame specimens which have been carried out at WUT.
1 INTRODUCTION
The factors usually included in the LSD concept using advanced analysis are:
- second order geometric effects in the frame in-plane bending analysis,
- continuous stiffness degradation model of structural members which takes into consideration
in-plane imperfections and inelastic deformations,
- continuous stiffness degradation model of structural joints which is accounted for in-plane
behaviour effects such as their finite initial stiffness and the development of gradual inelastic
deformations when the joint force state approaches its ultimate strength state.
Such an advanced analysis is restricted to design situations in which members and joints do have
sufficient rotation capacities in order to allow for a plastic redistribution of forces in structural
members and joints such as that predicted with use of model parameters in the advanced
analysis. Chen and Kim [3] presented the LRFD concept (Load and Resistance Factor Design
concept) using advanced analysis of this type. As the result of such an analysis, the in-plane
modes of failure referred to the limit point on the structure in-plane equilibrium path can be
identified. At the limit point, the ULS (Ultimate Limit State) of the structural system is reached
which separates the stable equilibrium states from those which are unstable and represented by
the points of the decreasing branch of the structure load-deflection characteristic. At the ULS, it
is yet possible to maintain the equilibrium under the increasing factored loads and internal forces
subjected to a continuous redistribution process according to the component stiffness degradation
models adopted for structural joints and members. At the same time, structural deflections under
unfactored loads at the SLS (Serviceability Limit State) must be within the limits ensuring
normal service conditions. The ILSD concept proposed herein uses the advanced analysis which
takes care of both limit state conditions.
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2 SPECIFICATION OF MODEL PARAMETERS FOR ADVANCED ANALYSIS

To assess the structure limit states correctly, the model parameters have to be chosen
properly in order to represent the real structure behaviour as to the modelling of the load-
deflection type response by a simple incremental analysis. In the proposal presented by Chen and
Kim [3] the following conditions have to be met:
- rotation capacities attained by structural members have to exceed the rotation capacity required
for the plastic redistribution of internal forces; the member sections of class 1 (plastic) are
allowed the rotation of which is not reduced by local buckling of sectional plate segments,
- rotation capacities attained by structural joints have to exceed the rotation capacity required for
the plastic redistribution of internal forces; the joints of class 1 (plastic) are allowed the rotation
of which under the increasing moment is not reduced by the local buckling of joint plate
components, rupture of bolt or weld connectors, crushing of steel in the bearing area or even by
the excessive elongation in the tension zones where degraded properties of steel which might
occur as a result of heat treatment during welding,
- structural components (members and joints) have to be sufficiently restrained in the out-of-
plane direction so that any lateral buckling mode of failure does not govern the design.
As a result of the above mentioned restrictions imposed on the advanced analysis, the designer is
responsible for the fulfillment of the assumptions made.
In the proposed ILSD concept, the advanced analysis of Chen and Kim [3] is refined in
order to take into consideration all the possible mode of failure of planar frame structural systems
so that there is no need for any restrictions or assumptions to be made prior to the advanced
analysis carried out. The refined advanced analysis based on the proposals developed by
Gizejowski et al. [4] and Gizejowski and Barszcz [5] is adopted. The refinements are connected
with the following:
- continuous inelastic redistribution of internal forces in the member sections and joints resulting
from the reduction of section moment capacity caused by combined bending and axial
compression/tension,
- nonplastic members of class 2 (compact), class 3 (semi-compact) and class 4 (slender),
- nonplastic joints of class 2 (semi-plastic) and class 3 (brittle),
- lateral buckling mode of failure of structural systems.
The above mentioned effects are taken care of at each incremental in-plane equilibrium state
which is characterised by a progressive stiffness degradation process being monitored at
successive load steps applied in the advanced analysis.
For the description of member and joint classes one may refer to the classification of steel
member sections given in the EC3 standard, the classification of steel joints given by Jaspart [6]
and the rotation capacity requirements for plastic joints given by Bjorhovde et al. [2], among
others. By integrating the above conditions in the advanced analysis, the concept of ILSD
becomes a powerful design tool allowing a uniform reliability to be applied to a wider range of
design situations, so that this methodology may be recommended for future CAD-based limit
states design codes.
In the ILSD concept presented herein, the refined advanced analysis uses a number of
model parameters which are referred to the modelling of member and joint stiffness degradation
processes. They are associated with:
- member stiffness degradation functions: η for the prediction of in-plane redistribution of forces
under combined bending and compression/tension, and η0 for the prediction of out-of-plane
stability,
- joint stiffness model parameters: in-plane stiffness degradation function which accounts for the
effect of inelastic redistribution of forces between member sections and member end
686
connections, and joint initial stiffnesses with respect to the out-of-plane bending and warping.
3 MEMBER STIFFNESS DEGRADATION FOR IN-PLANE BEHAVIOUR

The stiffness degradation function η is given in [4] for I-section members of arbitrary
sectional class which are subjected to combined bending and axial compression/tension. In case
of members of section class 1 (plastic), the recalled function becomes that used by Chen and Kim
[3]. The parameters of this function are: the effective member initial stiffness modulus E0 and the
parameter ψ describing the initial stiffness region in which the member behaves "elastically" due
to the negligence of any irreversible deformations with respect to local buckling and yielding
which might occur. Figure 1 illustrates graphically the η-function for a member of plastic section
and compares this one with the section in-plane reduced rigidity evaluated for an imperfect
member. Sections of this member are subjected to material imperfections in the form of LRS
pattern (Lehigh Residual Stress pattern) with the pick values of 1/3 of the yield point stress both
in tension and compression [3]. The function adopted in the refined advanced method presented
herein is a safe approximation of the "exact" one and when applied in the advanced analysis it
reproduces well the plastic-zone solutions of imperfect structures provided that the effective
member initial stiffness modulus incorporates the effect of geometrical imperfections. Chen and
Kim [3] proposed the value E0 = 0.85 E to be adequate for compression members and E0 = E for
tension. It has to be stressed that the reduction of member strong-axis initial stiffness depends not
only upon the sign of the member axial force but also on the type of frame semi-rigid joints, see
Barszcz and Gizejowski [1]. Existing experimental evidence proves that the reduction seems to
be a bit grater for frames with bolted end-plate connections and smaller for frames with welded
connections. The value E0 = 0.85 E suggested by Chen and Kim [3] is an average value between
those which one could suggest for frames with both bolted and welded connections.
Put-of-plane stiffness degradation
1.0
In - plane stiffness degradation
1.0
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
η - function adopted η0 - function adopted
0.2 0.2
Lehigh residual stresses Lehigh residual stresses
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Force state parameter Force state
Fig.1 Comparison of in-plane bending Fig.2 Comparison of out-of-plane bending
stiffness degradation functions stiffness degradation functions
3 MEMBER STIFFNESS DEGRADATION FOR OUT-OF-PLANE BEHAVIOUR

The stiffness degradation function η0 is given in [1] for I-section members of arbitrary
sectional class which are subjected to combined bending and axial compression/tension. As it is
assumed for the in-plane stiffness degradation model, the parameters of the η0-function are: the
effective member initial stiffness modulus E0 and the parameter ψ describing the initial stiffness
region of undistorted section member. Figure 2 illustrates graphically the η0-function for the
member from Figure 1. The function adopted is a safe approximation of the "exact" one. When
compared with that of Figure 1, it gives a greater reduction of the out-of-plane stiffness than that
used for the in-plane stiffness. This difference results from the fact that yielding of the flange tips
687
due to the highest compressive residual stresses causes a larger deterioration in the weak-axis
strength than that in the strong-axis, see [3]. Barszcz and Gizejowski [1] verified the stiffness
model of the out-of-plane stability of laterally unrestrained frames and suggested that the η0-
function may be taken as the η-function squared.
4 JOINT STIFFNESS DEGRADATION MODEL

In the refined advanced analysis developed herein, inelastic deformations in member end
connections are concentrated in the so-called refined plastic hinges which are placed at the nodal
points. The behaviour of refined plastic hinges is modelled by the nonlinear M-φ characteristic
which reproduces the inelastic redistribution of moments between the member itself and the
member end connections, see Gizejowski and Barszcz [5]. Let us denote: Mu,red - the connection
moment capacity Mu or the member section moment capacity Mb,red , whichever is lower; sini -
the initial stiffness of the refined plastic hinge and 1/u - a shape parameter. Hence, the nonlinear
M-φ characteristic of refined plastic hinges can be conveniently expressed in the form of model
II-1 according to Gizejowski et al. [4]
-u
⎡⎛ 1 ⎞1/u ⎛ 1 ⎞1/u ⎤
M = ⎢⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎥ (1)
⎢⎣⎝ sini φ ⎠ ⎝ M u,red ⎠ ⎥⎦
In order to complete the connection stiffness model of the out-of-plane stability, initial
minor axis bending and warping connection stiffnesses are used, see [1].
5 CONCLUSIONS
The ILSD method is presented in the paper. The model parameters of refined advanced
analysis used in this method are verified by experimental investigations of the behaviour of 15
portal frame specimens of different beam-to-columns connections, see [1]. The experimental
verification is limited to design situations in which member plastic sections are used. Further
tests are needed to verify the method in the case of frame systems composed of nonplastic
section members. This could finalize the verification procedure of all the model parameters and
finally recommend the method for the future generation of limit states design codes.
References
[1] Barszcz A.M., Gizejowski M.A.: An Advanced Analysis for Steel Frame Design:
Comparison with Test Results. Stability & Ductility of Steel Structures, Eds.: D. Dubina
and M. Ivanyi, Elsevier 1999 (submitted).
[2] Bjorhovde R., Colson A., Brozzetti J.: A Classification System for Beam-to-Column
Connections. Journal of Structural Engineering. ASCE, Vol. 116, no. 11, 1990.
[3] Chen W.F., Kim S.E.: LRFD Steel Design using Advanced Analysis. CRC Press, Boca
Raton - New York, 1997.
[4] Gizejowski M.A., Papangelis J.P., Parameswar H.C.: Stability Design of Semi-Continuous
Steel Frame Structures. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, vol. 46, no.1-3.
[5] Gizejowski M.A., Barszcz A.M.: An Alternative Refined Plastic Hinge Method for
Analysis of Steel Frames. Proc. of the 6th International Conference on Modern
Building Materials, Structures and Techniques, VGTU, Vilnius 1999 (submitted).
[6] Jaspart J.P.: Recent Advances in the Field of Steel Joints: Column Bases and Further
Configurations for Beam-to-Column Joints and Beam Splices. Thesis presented for Agrege
de l'Enseignement Superieur, Universitate de Liege, Annee academique 1996-1997.
688
FATIGUE SHEAR STRENGTH OF SLENDER WEB PLATES
Davies A.W.
689
690
691
692
SHEAR STRENGTH OF STEEL PLATE GIRDERS TO EUROCODE 3
693
694
695
696
LOAD-CARRYING CAPACITY OF HYBRID COMPRESSED STEEL

ELEMENTS
Pavol Juhás
Department of Steel Structures, TU, Vysokoškolská 4, 042 00 Košice, Slovak Republic
Keywords: Steel Structures, Hybrid Cross-Sections, Compression Loading, Thin-Walled

Elements, Elasto-Plastic Postcritical Behaviour, Load-Carrying Capacity
Abstract: The paper presents new calculation conception for hybrid compressed steel
elements, which have flanges from higher strength steels and webs from usual constructional
steels. The webs of such elements are stressed in the elasto-plastic region. The calculation
conception enables to appoint the load-carrying capacity of such elements taking into
consideration the elasto-plastic postcritical behaviour of thin webs. This conception is based
on the results of previous wide experimental-theoretical research. It extends the concerned
calculation method for the homogeneous compressed steel elements used in new Slovak
Standard STN 73 1401:1998.
1 INTRODUCTION
Structural steels of various strengths enable material optimisation of cross-sections.
This optimisation efficiency is generally evident in the case of plate girders stressed
prevailingly by bending. However, complex optimisation analyses have shown that deliberate
combination of various steels in the decisive cross-sections can be advantageous also in the
case of bent-compressed or only compressed elements, particularly, those with slender webs.
On the base of these ideas the research of hybrid compressed steel elements has been
realised. The aims of the research were experimental investigation and theoretical analysis of
deformation and failure mechanism of these elements under compression quasi-static and
dynamic fatigue loading. The research has been directed towards their elasto-plastic
behaviour taking into account the development of elasto-plastic strains, lateral buckling of
thin webs, web-flange interaction, local load-carrying capacity, fatigue strength and life time [
1].
Knowledge and results of the investigation offered new calculation conception for
determination of the local elasto-plastic load-carrying capacity for compressed steel elements.
The obtained information has extended also the scientific base for calculation of thin-walled
homogeneous steel elements, which in fact, represent limit case of the material combinations.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
The complete experimental program of the research included quasi-static and dynamic
fatigue tests of 32 welded elements with symmetrical I cross-sections of typical geometric
dimensions, produced under usual production-technological conditions. The knowledge and
results of the quasi-static tests have importance mainly for determination of the load-carrying
capacity of investigated elements. There were 16 elements for quasi-static tests used. The
brief outline of program is in Table 1.
The test elements were allocated into 2 material (A and C) and 4 cross-section groups
(I, II, III and IV). The cross-section dimensions in the individual groups were selected to give
web slenderness βw = 30, 60, 90 and 120 at uniform web thickness (tw) and variable web
697
width (d). The flange dimensions were designed to ensure local stability. Element lengths
were linked to web width (L = 4d). The investigated intermediate panels had uniform aspect
ratio α = a/d ≈ 2. Alternative bracing of the end panels and thick front plates were used to
ensure transfer of the centric concentrated loading into the central parts of the elements.
Table 1 Outline of the experimental programme

Material combination
Cross-section dimensions flange steel / web steel
Cross-section 2 ≠ b × tf + p. tw × d βw=d/tw 11523.1 15 422.5
(mm) A C
11 375.1 11 375.1
Elements
I 2 ≠ 100 × 12 + p. 5 × 150 30 AS 31 AS 32 CS 31 CS 32
II 2 ≠ 150 × 12 + p. 5 × 300 60 AS 61 AS 62 CS 61 CS 62
III 2 ≠ 200 × 12 + p. 5 × 450 90 AS 91 AS 92 CS 91 CS 92
IV 2 ≠ 250 × 12 + p. 5 × 600 120 AS121 AS122 CS121 CS122
Before testing the real geometrical dimensions and material characteristics of the
flanges and webs together with initial lateral web buckling in different cross-sections were
ascertained.
During the tests the elements were gradually stepwise reloaded and unloaded until the
failure. The strains ε were measured with electrical gauges in individual points of the web and
flanges while inductive pickups were applied for measurement of the web deflection w in
central points of tested panels. The global bi-directional lateral buckling v of the elements
was continuously ascertained by the help of displacement transducers in central cross-
sections. All obtained experimental results gave base information necessary for elaboration of
respective calculation conception related to behaviour of steel elements under compression
loading [2].
3 CALCULATION CONCEPTION
The elasto-plastic deformation and failure of compressed steel elements are complex
interactive process of webs, flanges and stiffeners reciprocal effects. From the aspects of local
behaviour and load-carrying capacity the web slenderness βw = d/tw and flange slenderness
βf = c/tf appear to be the crucial parameters. Depending on slenderness βw and βf, steel
elements and their cross-sections are considered either compact of slender. According to the
Standard STN 73 1401:1998 Design of Steel Structures the limit slendernesses are as follows:
β w,1 = 40 235 / f yw and β f ,1 = 15 235 / f yf , (1), (2)
where ƒyw and ƒyf are characteristic (standard) yield stresses of the web and flanges. In our
case ƒyw = σyw , ƒyf = σyf , σyw and σyf are ascertained actual values of yield stresses of webs
and flanges used steels.
According to (1) the slenderness βw,1 is considered as limit value for homogeneous
cross-sections, if σyw = σyf. In the case of compressed elements with hybrid cross-sections the
limit load-carrying capacity should be logically considered as the state when the yield stress
in flanges is reached. Therefore, for hybrid cross-sections the limit slenderness βwh,1 should be
defined. This slenderness should enable web plastification with ultimate strain εu = εyf = σyf /E
698
(E is Young modulus). On the basis of elasto-plastic local stability steel elements research [3]
the limit web slenderness
k1β w,1 − ε yf (k 0 + k1β 2w,1 ) − k 0 k1

β wh,1 = , (3)
k1 − ε yf
where k0 = 1.9 and k1 = 0.06 (σyw/235).

Then, the hybrid cross-sections with web slenderness βwh < βwh,1 can be considered
like compact and with web slenderness βwh > βwh,1 like slender.
In the case of compact hybrid compressed cross-sections only the following theoretical
limit loads can be taken into account:
Nel - full elastic load, defined by reaching the yield stress σyw in the web
Nel = σyw (2Af + Aw) , (4)
Npl - full plastic load, defined by reaching the yield stress σyf in the flanges
Npl = 2σyf Af + σyw Aw. (5)
In the stable elements no local and global lateral buckling occur in the course of the
loading process until the ultimate loading value Npl is reached. The global and local load-
carrying capacity of these elements Nu = Nul = Npl.
The local load-carrying capacity of slender hybrid compressed cross-sections are
adversely influenced by lateral buckling of the webs and/or flanges. In accordance with
experimental results it should be pointed out that reciprocal influences of the web and flanges
always take place. However, in the present simplified concepts of calculation the webs and
flanges are considered separately with respect to the effect of their lateral buckling.
The following theoretical limit load should be taken into account for hybrid
compressed cross-sections with slender webs:
Nel,pc - elastic postcritical load, defined by reaching the yield stress σyw in the extreme
web fibres,
Nel,pc = σyw (2Af + Aw ρw,N), (6)
where ρw,N is reduction coefficient, that expresses web lateral buckling influence
ρw,N = βw,1 / βw,r , βw,r = 0.8 βw + 0.2 βw,1. (7), (8)
In the slender hybrid compressed cross-sections, after reaching Nel,pc the web is
gradually plasticised due to continued increase of the load and web lateral buckling. This web
buckling is however depending on the rigidity and strength capacity of flanges. Therefore, at
sufficient flange rigidity (stability), the ultimate stage of slender hybrid compressed cross-
sections can be defined by reaching the yield stress σyf in the flanges. The only remaining
question is, how to express the local load-carrying capacity of slender hybrid compressed
cross-sections taking into consideration the elasto-plastic postcritical behaviour of thin webs.
According to above considerations the following theoretical limit load should be also
taken into account for hybrid compressed cross-sections with slender webs:
Nep,pc - elasto-plastic postcritical load, defined by reaching the yield stress σyf in the
flanges and ultimate strain εu = εyf in the extreme fibres of the web,
699
Nep,pc = σyf Af + σyw Aw ρwh,N , (9)

where ρwh,N is the reduction coefficient of the compressed web in hybrid elements. According
to the experimental results of this investigation the reduction coefficient is
ρwh,N = βwh,1 / βwh,r , βwh,r = 0.8 βw + 0.2 βwh,1. (10), (11)

In the case of hybrid cross-sections with slender both web and flanges (βf > βf,1) the
elasto-plastic postcritical load
Nep,pc = 2σyf Af ρf,N + σyw Aw ρwh,N , (12)
where ρf,N is reduction coefficient, that expresses compressed flange lateral buckling
influence
ρf,N = βf,1 / βf,r , βf,r = 0.8 βf + 0.2 βf,1 . (13), (14)
The elasto-plastic postcritical load Nep,pc is at the same time the local load-carrying
capacity of the hybrid compressed steel elements with slender cross-sections - Nul = Nep,pc.
In the stable compact elements it represents also global load-carrying capacity
Nu=Nul=Nep,pc.
In the unstable-slender steel elements the global load-carrying capacity
Nu<Nul=Nep,pc.
The calculation of the global load-carrying capacity of slender hybrid compressed
steel elements will be analysed in future.
The individual theoretical limit loads were determined for all tested elements taking
into consideration their real geometrical and material properties. The comprehensive analysis
indicates that the experimental and theoretical load-carrying capacity of tested elements is
closely estimated.
4 CONCLUSION
The application of material combination can be efficient also in the case of
compressed steel elements, particularly those with slender webs. Realised experimental and
theoretical investigation creates for it necessary premises.
The proposed calculation conception of the local elasto-plastic postcritical load-
carrying capacity of hybrid compressed steel elements with slender cross-sections is reliable
and suitable for practical applications.
References
[1] Juhás P.-Kriváček J.:Investigation of Thin-Walled Compressed Combined Steel Elements.
Building Research Journal, Vol. 41, No. 4/2, 1993, p. 305-325.
[2] Juhás P.: Thin-Walled Hybrid Compressed Elements. In: Publications of the University of
Miskolc, Series C: Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 47, December 1997, p. 123-129.
[3] Juhás, P.: Stability and Elasto-Plastic Load-Carrying Capacity of Steel Structures. Stav.
Čas., Vol. 32, No. 11, 1984, p. 833-863
[4] STN 73 1401: Design of Steel Structures. ÚNMS SR Bratislava, April 1998.
700
BUCKLING OF MONOSYMMETRIC BEAMS - CONJURED PROBLEM
Ivan Baláž
Department of Metal and Timber Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak Technical
University, Radlinského 11, SK-813 68 Bratislava, Slovakia
Keywords: Lateral Torsional Buckling, Metal Monosymmetric Thin-Walled Beams, Elastic

Critical Moment, Eurocodes ENV 1993 and ENV 1999, Slovak Code STN 73 1401.
Abstract: Lateral torsional buckling of metal monosymmetric beams. Equations for the
elastic critical moment M cr . Remarks to historical development. Critical review of the
theoretical results of various authors including criticism of both Eurocodes ENV 1993-1-1:
1992 and ENV 1999-1-1: 1998. First results of the parametric study for particular cases and
proposals for Eurocodes EN 1993 and EN 1999.
1 INTRODUCTION
Most research work on the elastic buckling of thin-walled beams has been focused on
beams of doubly symmetric cross-section. The buckling deformations of monosymmetric
beams can have complicated forms depending on boundary conditions, type of loading,
degree of monosymmetry parameter δ , parameter ε describing location of the load in the
cross-section and torsion parameter K . Lateral torsional buckling of monosymmetric beams
is quite complex problem and difficult to solve entirely.
The paper: a) presents critical review of some solutions, b) identifies errors in
solutions and corrects them, c) finds that Eurocode formula for critical moment can lead to
incorrect results, d) defines validity of approximate formulae for M cr for particular cases as a
result of parametric study of the author.
2 REVIEW OF SOLUTIONS
The general theory for thin-walled structural members has been established by Vlasov
[1]. Already in 1940 two solutions were presented in [1] concerning simply supported
monosymmetric beams: a) an exact formula expressing the elastic critical moment of beam
under uniform moment, b) a numerical example for the beam with uniformly distributed load.
In the latter case, solved by Galerkin method taking one term in the Fourier sine series, two
mistakes should be corrected: i) in the formula (39) „ + b2 ” should be replaced by „ − b2 ”, ii)
in the formula (96) and (98) „ e y ” should be replaced by „ (e y − a y ) ”. The correct values in
numerical example then are
I z = 1,643 .10 6 mm 4 z s = − 77,89 mm (qL )1cr = − 0,000144 E kg / cm
I ω = 1,6516 .10 9 mm 6 z a = − 41,176 mm (qL )2cr = + 0,00185 E kg / cm
I t = 16,43 .10 3 mm 4 z j = 85,753 mm
All symbols are defined in [11,12]. The sign convention for coordinate z here differs
from [11,12]. We assume that the positive values of coordinate z are at the bottom flange.
According to Vlasov, who took also three terms, taking only one term in the Fourier
series leads in this case to the error lesser than 6 %. In the numerical example Vlasov used
convenient dimensionless parameters.
Both cases mentioned above were solved also in [2]. Pratusevitch used Galerkin
method too, but in slightly modified way comparing with [1]. In [2] the following corrections
701
are needed: „ e y ” in formula (22.13), table XXII, case 15 and on the page 328 should be
replaced by „ (e y − a y ) ” and in formula (84.2) and in previous ones „ − e y ” should be replaced
by „ (e y − a y ) ”. After correcting I ω , e y , β y on page 330 we can obtain correct results.
Mrázik [3] was the first who showed in 1958 that it is convenient to express the
elastic critical moment in the form of the formula with 3 coefficients β 0 , β1 , β 2 depending on
loading and boundary conditions:
π 2 EI z ⎪
⎧ ⎡ I ⎛ k ⎞ 2 GI k L 2 ⎤ ⎫
M cr = β 0 ⎨ ( ) ( ) ⎛ ⎞ ⎪
β1 z j + z g + β1 z j + z g + β 2 ⎢ ω ⎜⎜ z ⎟⎟ + t ⎜ z ⎟ ⎥ ⎬
2
(1)
(k z L )2 ⎪ ⎢ I z ⎝ kω ⎠
⎣
EI z ⎝ π ⎠ ⎥ ⎪
⎦⎭
⎩
The values of the coefficients β 0 , β1 , β 2 were obtained in [3] for various 11 loading and
boundary conditions, by using Galerkin method taking only one term in the Fourier sine series
and therefore the values are approximate ones. One term was taken also in [2].
The simplified Mrázik formula is used in Slovak code STN 73 1401 [13] for:
a) monosymmetric sections loaded in the plane of symmetry:
⎡ 2 2⎤
1 π 2 EI z ⎢ ⎛ kz ⎞
M cr =
2 ⎢
( )
κ ac + z g + κ 2 ac + z g ( ) 2 I
+ ω ⎜⎜
GI ⎛ k L ⎞
⎟⎟ + t ⎜ z ⎟ ⎥
EI z ⎝ π ⎠ ⎥
(2)
κ M (k z L )
2 Iz ⎝ kω ⎠
⎣⎢ ⎦⎥
where κ M depends only on the shape of bending moment line, κ = 1 for uniform moment,
κ = 0,5 for other loading cases, a c is distance of the point in the middle of the section height
from the shear centre.
The simplification of Mrázik formula [1] means that
κ 1
β0 ≈ , β1 z j ≈ a c , β2 ≈ (3)
κ 2M κ2
b) monosymmetric sections loaded transversaly to their plane of symmetry [15] and doubly
and centrally symmetric profiles:
⎧ ⎡I 2 2⎤⎫
π 2 EI z ⎪ ⎛ kz ⎞ GI ⎛ k L ⎞ ⎥ ⎪⎬
M cr = κ1 ⎨ z g + z g2 + κ 2 ⎢ ω ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + t ⎜ z ⎟ (4)
(k z L )2 ⎪ ⎢ Iz
⎣ ⎝ kω ⎠ EI z ⎝ π ⎠ ⎥⎪
⎦⎭
⎩
where κ1 = β 0 , κ 2 = β 2 are defined in [13].
Sixteen years later Djalaly [7] presented formula similar to Mrázik ones:
⎡ 2⎤
π 2 EI z ⎢
M cr = C1 (
C3 z j + C 2 z g + ) (C3 z j + C 2 z g ) 2 I GI
+ ω+ t
⎛ kω L ⎞ ⎥
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ (5)
k z k ω L2 ⎢⎢ I z EI z ⎝ π ⎠ ⎥⎥
⎣ ⎦
and calculated the values of coefficients C1 , C 2 , C 3 for 37 various loading and boundary
conditions. Some of the coefficients Ci are not correct, what can be seen comparing Ci with
correct Mrázik’s coefficients β i .
Eurocodes [11,12] use Djalaly’s results and give the following formula
⎡ 2 2⎤
π 2 EI z ⎢ ⎛ kz ⎞
M cr = K1 (
K3z j + K 2 zg + ) (K 3 z j + K 2 z g ) 2 I
+ ω ⎜⎜
GI ⎛ k L ⎞
⎟⎟ + t ⎜ z ⎟ ⎥ (6)
(k z L )2 ⎢⎣⎢ Iz ⎝ kω ⎠ EI z ⎝ π ⎠ ⎥
⎦⎥
where it should be
kz kz
K1 = C1 , K 2 = C2 , K 3 = C3 (7)
kω kω
702
It is quite astonishing that the Eurocodes [11,12] use in formula (6) K1 = C1 , K 2 = C 2 , K 3 = C3

i. e. Djalaly’s coefficients and not coefficients according to (7). Moreover Eurocodes do not
inform that: a) all coefficients Ci [11,12] were calculated in [7] for k ω = 1 ; b) the formula
C1 = 1,88 − 1,40ψ + 0,52ψ 2 but C1 ≤ 2,70 is valid only for doubly symmetric profiles (see e. g.
Fig. 2 in [9]).
The relation between Eurocodes coefficients and Mrázik ones is:
β 0 = K1 K 2 β1 = K 3 / K 2 β 2 = 1/ K 2 (8)
2
K1 = β 0 β 2 K 2 = 1/ β 2 K 3 = β1 / β 2
Peterson [8] solved on p. 713 simply supported beam with uniformly distributed load
by Rayleigh-Ritz energy approach taking one term. He made mistake in his calculation. It
should be in formula (7.178) „ (rx − 2 y M )K ” instead of „ (rx − 2 y M )K ” where
K = 1 / 12 − 1 / (2π)2 . Consequently we obtain in formula (7.181) „ ( y M − 0,5rx )0,5337852 “
instead of „ ( y M − 0,5rx ) “. It should be also noted that this approach leads to the less accurate
results comparing with Galerkin method used in [1,2], which was stated already by Vlasov in
[1] p. 231. Petersen’s diagrams on p. 729-730 give correct and accurate values.
DIN 4114 formula and formula (5.31a) using diagrams parameter ζ from [14] can
hardly be used to achieve accurate results for monosymmetric sections. Lindner’s diagrams
[14] were made for doubly symmetric profiles.
Critical load parameters in table 2 [6] presented by Anderson and Trahair, were
verified by the computer program IBDSQ [10], which has given in the range of parameters
K ≤ 0,1; δ = − 0,6; ε = 0,6; (ε = − 0,6 in [6]) differences up to +30 %. The perfect agreement was
achieved in the range K ≥ 0,3 for all δ and ε and in the range K < 0,3 except δ < 0 and
simultaneously ε > 0 (ε < 0 in [6]) .
The monosymmetry parameters z j and δ are positive when the bottom flange of the I-
beam is the smaller. The value δ = 0 indicates the doubly symmetric cross-section.
The parameters z g and ε are positive for bottom flange loading. For the beams under
end moments and for shear centre loading ε = 0 . For top flange loading ε < 0 .
The torsion parameter K = 0 means that I ω = 0 (angle, rectangular, cruciform, tee
cross-sections.
3 CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of author’s parametric study it can be stated:
a) for the simply supported beam with uniformly distributed load Djalaly’s coefficients
C1 = 1,132; C 2 = 0,459; C 3 = 0,525 are correct and may be used in the whole following range
of dimensionless parameters 0 ≤ K ; − 2 ≤ δ ≤ 2; − 0,7 ≤ ε ≤ 0,7 where:
π 2 EI ω 2z j EI z zg EI z
K= , δ= , ε= (9)
LGI t L GI t L GI t
Except the range for K < 0,2 and simultaneously δ < 0 and ε > 0 (in sign convention
according to [6] ε < 0 ), where the formulae (5), (7) give greater (unsafe) values of M cr .
b) for the simply supported beam with concentrated central load Djalaly’s coefficients
C1 = 1,365; C 2 = 0,553; C 3 = 1,73 give correct results only for the case δ = 0 (doubly
symmetric section). After correcting coefficient C 3 and using C 3 = 0,411 , the formulae
(5), (7) may be used safely in the range K ≥ 1 . Original value C 3 = 1,73 leads to the greater
values of M cr in the range δ > 0 and to the smaller values of M cr in the range δ < 0 .
703
c) three coefficients formulae (1), (5), (7) can give good approximation to the accurate
values of M cr only in certain range of monosymmetry parameter δ , torsion parameter
K and parameter ε defining point of load application. More details will be given in the
full length paper of the author.
Acknowledgement
The research work presented here was undertaken in the frame of Research Project
No. 1/4061/97 supported by the Slovak Grants Agency VEGA and of Educational Project No.
62/96 supported by the Slovak Grants Agency KEGA, Ministry of Education Slovak
Republic.
References
[1] Vlasov,V.Z.: Thin-Walled Elastic Beams. (Strength, Stability, Vibrations). (In Russian).
Strojizdat Narkomstroja. Moscow, Leningrad 1940.
[2] Pratusevitch,Ja.A.: Variationsmethods in Structural Mechanics. (In Russian). OGIZ.
Moscow, Leningrad 1948.
[3] Djubek,J.,Mrázik,A.: Stability of Thin-Walled Member Structures. Research Report IX.3
S/58, ÚSTARCH - Slovak Academy of Sciences. (In Slovak). Bratislava 1958.
[4] Mrázik,A.,Plander,I.,Gruska,J.: Tables for Critical Stresses of Thin-Walled Members and
Use of Computer for their Calculation. (In Slovak). Stavebnícky časopis IX (1961), No 8,
p. 461-484.
[5] Mrázik,A.,Gruska,J.: Calculation of Thin-Walled Members. Publishing House of Slovak
Academy of Sciences. (In Slovak). Bratislava 1965.
[6] Anderson,J.M.,Trahair,N.S.: Stability of Monosymmetric Beams and Cantilevers. Journal
of Structural Division, Proceedings of ASCE, ST1, January 1972, p. 269-287.
[7] Djalaly,H.: Calcul de la résistance ultime au déversement. Construction Métallique No. 1,
1974, p. 58-77, see also No. 3, 1974 p. 43 - 56 and No. 4, 1974, p. 54 - 61.
[8] Petersen,Ch.: Statik und Stabilität der Baukonstruktionen. Vieweg. 1. Auflage 1980, 2.
Auflage 1982.
[9] Kitipornchai,S.,Wang,C.M.,Trahair,J.S.: Buckling of Monosymmetric I-Beams under
Moment Gradient. Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 112, No. 4, April 1986, p. 781-
799.
[10] Dickel,T.,Klemens,N.-P.,Rothert,H.: Computer program IBDSQ. (Ideale
Biegedrillknickmomente). Vieweg 1993.
[11] European Prestandard ENV 1993-1-1: 1992. Design of steel structures.
[12] European Prestandard ENV 1999-1-1: 1998. Design of aluminium structures.
[13] Slovak Standard STN 73 1401: Design of steel structures. Edition 1976, edition 1984,
edition 1998.
[14] Roik,K.,Carl,J.,Lindner,J.: Biegetorsionsprobleme gerader dünnwandiger Stäbe. Ernst &
Sohn. Berlin, München, Düsseldorf 1972.
[15] Melcher,J.: Kippen von Trägern als Stabilitätsproblem zweier Gruppen von
Querschnittypen. Stahlbau 68 (1999), Heft 1, S. 24-29.
704
ECCENTRICALLY BRACED STEEL FRAME DESIGN IN SEISMIC

REGIONS USING EUROCODE 3 AND EUROCODE 8
Čaušević M.
705
706
707
708
A DESIGN MODEL FOR THE CONTACT JOINTS OF STEEL

COLUMNS
Bogdan Stefanescu
Department of Steel Structures, UTCB, Bd. Lacul Tei 124, sector 2, Bucharest, Romania
Keywords: Civil Engineering, Structural Steel Columns, Structural Connections, Multi-

storey buildings
Abstract: Important axial forces can appear in the columns of multi-storey buildings. In the
case of steel columns, the classical solution for the column connections can lead to large
cross-sections of the splices. This also means a great number of bolts, or an important
quantity of welding in the connection. The contact joints of steel columns transfer the axial
force through direct contact between the column parts. The proposed model is based on the
principle that the connection should not be a weak point of the member. Following this, the
model requires the connection to have the same plastic capacity, in compression and bending,
as the cross-section of the column.
1. INTRODUCTION
Important axial forces can appear in the columns of multi-storey buildings. In the case
of steel columns, the classical solution for the column connections can lead to large cross-
sections of the splices. This also means a great number of bolts, or an important quantity of
welding in the connection.
The contact joints of steel columns transfer the axial force through direct contact
between the column parts. They are frequently used in USA. The design model recommended
in the code [1] is based on the following ideas:
1. It consists of a check of the stresses that appear in the connection due to the axial force N
and the bending moment M (the shear force is transferred in the classical manner);
2. If both flanges of the column are in compression, than the role of the flange splices is just
to keep the parts in position;
3. If one of the flanges of the column is in tension, than the flange splices are designed to be
able to resist this tension;
4. The cross-section of the flange splices should be at least half of the cross-section of the
flange.
The proposed model is based on the principle that the connection should not be a
weak point of the member. Following this, the model requires the connection to have the
same plastic capacity, in compression and bending, as the cross-section of the column. This is
expressed by the demand that the reduced plastic resistance moment allowing for axial load
to be the same for the connection and for the cross-section of the column.
2. PRESUMPTIONS AND NOTATIONS

The proposed model is developed for I cross-section. It reduces the cross-section of
the column to the axes of the web and of the flanges. This allows writing relations in a simple
form, without losing accuracy. The relations are compatible to those existing in EUROCODE
3. The following notations are used:
A - area of the cross-section of the column;
Aw - area of the web of the column;
709
As - area of the splices on a single flange;

b - width of the flange of the cross-section;
tf - thickness of the flange of the cross-section;
A − 2 bt f A w
a= =
A A
hw - height of the web of the cross-section;
h e = h w + t height of the equivalent cross-section (reduced to the axes);
Mpl,Rd - plastic resistance moment of the cross-section;
MNy,Rd - reduced plastic resistance moment allowing for axial load;
Mcap,N - capable moment of the connection allowing for axial load;
N - axial load;
Npl,Rd - resistance axial force in compression;
N Sd
n= ;
N pl , Rd
The model considers a plastic distribution of compression stresses at the contact of
the two parts in the connection. It proposes relations for establishing the net area of the cross-
section of the flange splices for columns in compression and mono-axial bending. The axial
load is transferred through contact. The shear force is considered to be transferred by
classical means and has not been analyzed in this paper. The torsion moment is neglected.
3. DESIGN MODEL
The area of the cross-section of the splices of a flange is obtained as:
A e = β e ⋅ bt f (1)
The situations to be taken into account depend on the stress distribution on the cross-
section of the column and in the connection.
Depending on the value of the axial force (compression) the plastic bending moment
of the cross-section may be calculated with one of the following relations:
1. If the axial force is less than the capable force of the web (n ≤ a),
1 ⎛ n a⎞
1− n⋅ ⋅⎜ + ⎟
2 ⎝ a n⎠
M pl , N = M pl ⋅ (2)
1 − 0,5 ⋅ a
2. If the axial force is greater than the capable force of the web (n > a),
1− n
M pl , N = M pl ⋅ (3)
1 − 0,5 ⋅ a
The stress distribution in the connection is considered to be plastic. There are four
situations to take into consideration:
⎛ 1 − a⎞
1. The compressed zone is developed only on the flange in compression ⎜ n ≤ ⎟ . The
⎝ 2 ⎠
splices in tension reach the yielding stress.
710
N plRd h e
M cap , N = ( n + β e − aβ e ) (4)
2
2. The compressed zone is developed on the flange in compression and on half of the height
⎛1− a 1⎞
of the web ⎜ < n ≤ ⎟ . The splices in tension still reach the yielding stress.
⎝ 2 2⎠
M cap , N =
N plRd h e ⎡
+ β − β −
( 2n + a − 1) 2 ⎤
⎢ n e a e ⎥ (5)
2 ⎢⎣ 4a ⎥⎦
3. The compressed zone is developed on the flange in compression and on more than half of
⎛1 1 + a⎞
the height of the web ⎜ < n ≤ ⎟ . The splices in tension no longer reach the yielding
⎝2 2 ⎠
stress. The model can take into account a reduced area of the splice in tension that
reaches the yielding stress.
4. The compressed zone is developed on more than one flange and the entire height of the
⎛1+ a ⎞
web ⎜ < n ≤ 1⎟ . Both splices are in compression and they have no practical
⎝ 2 ⎠
influence on the capable bending moment of the connection.
The aim of the calculation procedure is to establish the minimum necessary area of
the cross-section of the splices on the flanges, that is to find βe. It is obtained from the
requirement:
M capN ≥ M Ny , Rd (6)
The main situations to be observed are determined by the limits of the relations for the
capable bending moment allowing for axial load on the cross-section of the column and on
the connection. These are (the first condition is given by the cross-section and the second one
by the connection):
⎛ 1 − a⎞
1. If (n ≤ a) and ⎜ n ≤ ⎟
⎝ 2 ⎠
2 a − ( n + a)
2
βe = (7)
2 a(1 − a)
⎛1− a 1 + a⎞
2. If (n ≤ a) and ⎜ <n≤ ⎟
⎝ 2 2 ⎠
2 a − ( n + a) ( 2n + a − 1)
2 2
βe = + (8)
2 a(1 − a) 4a(1 − a)
⎛ 1 − a⎞
3. If (n > a) and ⎜ n ≤ ⎟
⎝ 2 ⎠
711
1 − 2n
βe = (9)
1− a
⎛1− a 1 + a⎞
4. If (n > a) and ⎜ <n≤ ⎟
⎝ 2 2 ⎠
1 − 2 n ( 2 n + a − 1)
2
βe = + ( 10 )
1− a 4a(1 − a)
⎛1+ a ⎞
5. If ⎜ < n ≤ 1⎟ the splices of the flanges have no influence on the capable bending
⎝ 2 ⎠
moment of the connection.
Codes of practice generally recommend for the area of the cross-section of the splices
of a flange to be at least half of the area of that flange. Following this, simple relations can be
established for the situations when the area of the splices results from technical
recommendations.
The procedure allows the use of these solutions in seismic areas, being consistent with
modern seismic codes. The approach is correct for class 1 and 2 sections and puts the
connection on the safe side for class 3 sections.
All relations consider that the surfaces in contact are machined in a manner that
allows presuming a perfect contact between the two surfaces in the connection. These
connections are not allowed in energy dissipating zones of columns.
The model can be extended for bi-axial bending.
Acknowledgement
This paper is a tribute to the memory of professor Dragos Georgescu.
References
[1] Load Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) - first edition, 1986.
712
AUTHORS INDEX
713
714
715
716
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ECCS Publication - Eurosteel 1999

Proceedings of the Conference

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2nd EUROPEAN CONFERENCE

Czech Technical University in Prague

The texts of the papers in this volume were set individually by

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

Copyright © Czech Technical University Praha

First edition 1999

Simplified design of thin-walled, steel, continuous beams 23

Prague and Stuttgart experimental research on web breathing 75

A design procedure for steel frames with rigid connections 227

A simplified model for beam-slab systems subject to fire 303

Authors Index 355

Effect of girder depth on ultimate behavior and strength of long-span steel

Free vibration of a two-span highway cable-stayed bridge 391

Steel structures of technological and foot-bridges 455

Q-factor evaluation of moment resisting steel frames with semi-rigid connections

SESSION - COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

Shear force distribution of headed studs of composite simply supported beams

Effective anchor connector for composite beams of desk structures 593

Random properties of steel elements produced in Czech Republic 657

Authors Index 713

EUROSTEEL ´99 CONFERENCE

Praha, June 1999

The idea to organize a European Conference on Steel Structures was conceived in

SIMPLIFIED DESIGN OF THIN–WALLED, STEEL,

with Θ(1) = Θ(2) = Θ'(2) = 0 and κ = 3, the solution of (1) yields:

B1 = – 0.0865311 ml2, B2 = – 0.0683236 ml2 , (8)

but a four digits accuracy of calculations was found equally sufficient.

S0 = 0.4135 ml S1 = 1.1047 ml S2 = 1.0364 ml S3 S4

Table 1. Bimoment distribution

Fig. 1 Diagram of bimoments

LIMIT STATE FLEXURAL-TORSIONAL ELASTIC POSTBUCKLING

George I. Ioannidis, Anthony N. Kounadis,

Keywords: Central compression, flexural-torsional buckling, open thin-walled asymmetric

( A the length of the bar and I o = I x + I y + x o + y o A ) ( 2 2

k y2 yo ϕo −(π 4 /8)uo3 k x2 xo ϕo +(π 4 /8)vo3

5. APPLICATION TO A CHANNEL ROLLED CROSS-SECTION

5.2. Non-linear analysis

PSEUDO PLASTIC ZONE ANALYSIS OF STEEL FRAME

Philip Avery and Mahen Mahendran,

2 STUB BEAM-COLUMN MODEL ANALYSIS

310 UBi 32.0 0.7

Figure 2. Plastic strength, section capacity, Fig.3. Normalised moment-curvature curves

3 FORMULATION OF FRAME ELEMENT FORCE-DISPLACEMENT RELATIONSHIP

3.1 Plastic strength, section capacity and initial yield

3.2 Section tangent moduli

3.3 Hinge softening

3.4 Imperfection reduction factor

3.5 Second-order effects

30 4 + ρ' 8.183 + ρ'

3.6 Flexural stiffness reduction parameter

ELASTIC LATERAL BUCKLING OF COPED BEAMS

Roland Abspoel, prof. Jan Stark

Fig. 1 Standard conditions of restraint at each end of a girder.

Note: Paragraph and figure numbering according to full paper.

Standard conditions Bottom flange connection End plate

Fig. 2 Difference in rotation between different types of connection

2 TYPES OF CONNECTIONS OF COPED BEAMS

Fig. 5 Diagram critical force related to span.

β cope = 0 .57 + lnG

The limitations for use of this suggested reduction factor are:

INTERACTION OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL PHENOMENA IN THE

János Néző1, László Dunai1, Ichiro Okura2, Miklós Iványi1