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FIRE ANALYSIS OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM

USING ANSYS WORKBENCH

Conference Paper · September 2016

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Igor Dzolev Meri Cvetkovska

University of Novi Sad Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
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Djordje Ladjinovic Vlastimir Radonjanin

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 Igor Džolev1, Meri Cvetkovska2, Đorđe Lađinović3, Vlastimir Radonjanin3, Andrija
Rašeta4

POŽARNA ANALIZA PROSTE ARMIRANOBETONSKE

GREDE KORIŠĆENJEM ANSYS WORKBENCH
Rezime:
S-19

Evrokod standardi obezbeđuju osnovne smernice za analizu armiranobetonskih

konstrukcija izloženih požaru. Za određivanje ponašanja konstrukcije, neophodna je
primena naprednog metoda proračuna, kojim se obuhvataju nelinearna svojstva
materijala i uticaji koji se javljaju u toku požara. Ovo podrazumeva termička i
mehanička svojstva betona i čelika i vremensku termičku i mehaničku analizu.
ANSYS Workbench je program baziran na metodi konačnih elemenata koji
poseduje mogućnosti sprovođenja termo-naponske analize na osnovu definisanih
materijala od strane korisnika. Primer proračuna ilustrovan je na slobodno
oslonjenoj armiranobetonskoj gredi izloženoj standardnom požaru.
Ključne reči: požarna otpornost, prenos toplote, MKE modeliranje, ANSYS

FIRE ANALYSIS OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED REINFORCED

CONCRETE BEAM USING ANSYS WORKBENCH
Summary:
Eurocode normes provide basic guidelines for the analysis of reinforced concrete
structures subjected to fire. To determine the behaviour of structure, an advanced
calculation method must be applied, to comprehend nonlinear material properties
and effects that occur during the course of fire. These include thermal and
mechanical properties of concrete and steel and transient thermal and structural
analysis. ANSYS Workbench is a finite element software capable of conducting
thermal-stress analysis based on user defined material properties. An example of a
simply supported reinforced concrete beam subjected to standard fire is presented.
Key words: fire resistance, heat transfer, FEM modelling, ANSYS

1
MSc, Teaching assistant, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad,Serbia, idzolev@uns.ac.rs
2
PhD, Full professor, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Skopje,Macedonia,
cvetkovska@gf.ukim.edu.mk
3
PhD, Full professor, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad,Serbia, ladjin@uns.ac.rs
4
PhD, Associate professor, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad,Serbia, araseta@uns.ac.rs

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1 INTRODUCTION
Problems that are recognized in the numerical analysis of reinforced concrete structures
subjected to fire, using commercial finite element software ANSYS Workbench, include
proper implementation of thermal and mechanical properties of both concrete and steel
material at ambient and elevated temperatures, modelling of connection between steel
reinforcement and the surrounding concrete, transitioning of temperature results from thermal
to structural analysis and defining numerical parameters for nonlinear thermal and subsequent
structural analysis.
Eurocodes EN 1992-1-2 [1] and EN 1993-1-2 [2] provide input parameters for constitutive
materials, while thermal and mechanical actions for structural analysis in case of fire are
presented in EN 1991-1-2. [3] Advanced calculation method should include transient heat
transfer, taking into account conduction, convection and radiation effects, and a mechanical
analysis that must comprehend for material degradation at elevated temperatures, which results
in a highly nonlinear solution.
Numerical example of reinforced concrete simply supported beam subjected to standard
ISO 834 fire is presented and the results are discussed.

2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES

With increasing temperature, concrete containing initial moisture experiences weight loss,
due to evaporation of moisture and physical-chemical transformations. Specific heat of
concrete, based on Eurocode, is dependent only on the initial moisture content, although the
decomposition of calcium-hydroxide to calcium-oxide and transformation of quartz in some
aggregates, have great influence on its values, which is recognized by the ASCE regulations.
Thermal conductivity is mainly influenced by the type of aggregate, cement and moisture
content in the element, and is presented by the upper and lower limit values, with former
derived from steel-concrete compositions [4] and the latter corresponding to concretes made
with siliceous aggregate.
Density of steel is temperature independent. The endothermic process of changing the
crystalline structure of the carbon based steel at around 735°C, results in a sudden increase in
form of a spike of specific heat in the range of 700-800°C. The thermal conductivity decreases
gradually up until 800°C, followed by the constant value.
Thermal properties of concrete and steel based on EN 1992-1-2 and EN 1993-1-2 are
presented in Figures 1-3.

Fig 1. Density Fig 2. Specific heat

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 Fig 3. Thermal conductivity Fig 4. Thermal elongation

Coefficient of thermal expansion is temperature dependent, resulting in a nonlinear thermal

expansion of both materials. According to [1], thermal expansion of concrete is defined for two
types of aggregates, siliceous and calcareous. Thermal elongation is presented in Figure 4.
Increase of temperature causes drop in the slope of the stress-strain curve in the elastic
range, for both concrete and steel. Reduction of strength is gradual for concrete, while steel
reserves its strength up until 400°C, after which the strength decreases by 50% in the range of
400-600°C. Stress-strain curves are presented in Figure 5 and Figure 6.

Fig 5. Stress-strain for concrete C30/37 Fig 6. Stress-strain for steel S500C

3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
Commercial software ANSYS Workbench 16.0 [5] is used for the analysis of a simply
supported reinforced concrete beam. The adopted length of a beam is 5 m, with a rectangular
cross section of 30/60 cm. Due to the symmetry, only 1/4 of the beam is modelled to save the
computational time. Self-weight and additional permanent load of 10 kN/m, as well as the
imposed concentrated load of 50 kN at the middle of the beam span, are considered in the
design. The static system and the adopted reinforcement of the beam are presented in Figure 7.
The concrete part of the beam is modelled using 3D solid70 8-node brick element with a single
degree of freedom at each node (temperature) for the thermal analysis, which is transformed to
solid65 8-node element with 3 degrees of freedom (translations) for the structural analysis.
Solid65 element is capable of cracking in tension in three orthogonal directions, and a plastic
deformation in compression. Reinforcement is modelled as a uniaxial line element link33 with
the ability to conduct heat between its nodes, which is replaced by the link180 element with an

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isotropic hardening plasticity, for the structural analysis. Perfect bond is assumed between
reinforcement and a surrounding concrete elements. Mesh element size is adopted as 1.25 cm
for the thermal and 2.5 cm for the structural analysis.

symmetry plane
symmetry plane
2Ø16
P=50 kN
q=10 kN/m

0.6 m
uØ8/10/20
5.0 m
3Ø18
0.3 m

Fig 7. Static system and the adopted reinforcement

Thermal load (ISO 834 fire curve) in terms of convection and radiation is applied at each
side of the beam, as described in [3]. Thermal response of the beam is calculated at every 30
seconds, and the results are later transferred as the thermal load for the structural analysis,
divided in two stages. The first stage of the structural analysis considers external permanent
and imposed load, after which, during the second stage, thermal load is applied. Due to the
severe nonlinearity effects, time step used for the structural analysis is varied between 0.5 and
4 seconds.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Temperature profiles are constant along the beam length. Thermal response of the arbitrary
beam cross section is presented in Figure 8, while the reinforcement temperatures in time are
given in Figure 9. Verification of the results is made comparing the profiles with the results
provided in Annex A in [1].

R60 R90 R120

Fig 8. Temperature profiles after 30, 60 and 90 minutes (1/4 of the beam):
EN 1992-1-2 (left) and ANSYS Workbench (right)

325
 UC (up corner)

DM (down middle)

DC (down corner)

Fig 9. Temperature-time distribution in reinforcement bars

Fig 10. Mid-span vertical displacement Fig 11. Stress-time distribution

Fig 12. Total mech. strain-time distribution Fig 13. Plastic strain-time distribution

Fig 14. Thermal strain-time distribution Fig 15. Stress-strain distribution

326
 Temperatures in reinforcement bars at the corners of the cross section are considerably
higher than in the bar at the middle of the cross section, due to combined heat transfer from
both sides of the concrete corner surfaces exposed to fire.
Vertical displacement-time curve of the mid-span node is presented in Figure 10. Initial
displacement is caused by the external forces acting on the beam prior to fire. Figures 11-15
present distribution of stress, total mechanical strain, plastic strain and thermal strain in time,
and stress-strain diagram, respectively, of reinforcement bars at the middle of the beam. As the
temperature inside of beam rises, degradation of mechanical properties starts, resulting in a
stress reduction in corner bars and its redistribution to the middle bar (with a lower
temperature). Due to concrete heating and cracking in tension, and overall stiffness reduction
of the beam, the proportional limit in the middle bar is exceeded and plastic deformations occur
at around 50 minutes of fire. At 120 minutes, plastic strain develops at corner bars, which
eventually leads to the collapse of the beam.

5 CONCLUSION
Advanced calculation method of determining the fire resistance of reinforced concrete
beam requires the application of powerful finite element software, capable of conducting both
transient heat transfer and structural analysis. In this paper, results of such calculations are
obtained using ANSYS Workbench platform. To overcome the numerical convergence
problems, small time steps need to be applied during whole duration of fire, since cracking of
concrete and plastic deformations appear at the very early stage of fire, after just few minutes.
The proposed finite element based numerical model is capable of tracing the fire behaviour of
reinforced concrete beams under standard fire conditions. Further research will be extended to
reinforced concrete frame structures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research has been conducted within the scientific research project TR 36043, funded by
the Ministry of Science of Serbia. The authors would like to thank Faculty of Civil Engineering
in Subotica, for the ceded license for ANSYS Academic product.

REFERENCES

[20] EN 1992-1-1 (2004): Design of Concrete Structures, General Rules and Rules for
Buildings, European Committee for Standardization
[21] EN 1993-1-2 (2002): Design of Steel Structures, General Rules, Structural Fire Design,
European Committee for Standardization
[22] EN 1991-1-2 (2002): Actions on Structures, General Actions, Actions on Structures
Exposed to Fire, European Committee for Standardization
[23] EN 1994-1-2 (2003): Design of Composite Steel and Concrete Structures, General
Rules, Structural Fire Design, European Committee for Standardization
[24] ANSYS® Academic Teaching Mechanical (2015): ANSYS Help Documentation,
Release 16.0, Canonsburg (PA), ANSYS, Inc.

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