2/5/2021 Application of Links in Bridge FE Models

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Application of Links in Bridge FE Models

December 23, 2020

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This case study covers the following aspects:
 

1. Introduction
2. Types of Links
3. Model Validation
4. Modeling Considerations
 

 
1.Introduction
 
 
When we handle a nite element model, we might have an experience with link type boundaries.
midas Civil also has link types as one of the boundary conditions. Before jumping into links, let’s look
into the concept of the insertion point that can be found in a section property of midas Civil. Because
the insertion point is relevant to links. When you have a beam element, it has 2 nodes at the end side.
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Those nodes represent the centroid of the section. Basically, the insertion point of a section is
located at the centroid of the section. And the insertion point can be moved by users during
modeling. We call it the offset insertion point.
 

 
Figure 1: Insertion point & Offset insertion point
 
 
 
 
In gure 2, it shows a typical steel girder bridge. If we make up a FE model in midas Civil, green and
blue lines will represent elements. Those elements have different elevations therefore, each node of
elements should be connected by links to consider physical connections of the bridge model.
 
 

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Figure 2: Concept of element and links on a bridge
 
 
 

Figure 3 : Concept of elements and links (Cross section view)

 
 
 
The next example, gure 4 shows a more complex bridge. This bridge has several stringers on a
oorbeam and the oorbeam is connected to truss members.
 
 

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Figure 4: A truss bridge
 
 
 
Figure 5 shows a cross-section of the bridge. Stringers, oorbeam, and main truss could be modeled
as beam elements that have different insertion points. In this case, also you need to generate links on
disconnected locations to consider the connection between members.
 
 
 

 
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Figure 5: Concept of elements and links (Cross section view)
 
 
  

 
2. Types of Links

In midas Civil, there are two main types of links. One is the elastic link and the other is the rigid link.
Some characteristics of the elastic link and rigid link are
 
 Elastic Links
  1) B have similar to an element.
  2) User-de ned stiffness to constrained DOFs.
  3) Types of Elastic Links.
     - Elastic – Rigid
     - Elastic – Compression/Tension Only
     - Elastic – General
     - Elastic – Multi-linear Types of Elastic Links.

 Rigid Links
  1)Displacement constraint. Displacement Restricted

  2)Constrained DOFs are assumed as rigid.

 
The elastic link behaves similar to an element in the sense that it has a stiffness in the different
degrees of freedom. And it can only connect two nodes.
 
 

Figure 6: Concept of elements and links (Cross section view)

  Infinite stiffness. In structural engineering, stiffness is defined as applied force divided by the
the resulting displacement. Infinite stiffness means   that no matter how hard you push on it, it
will never deflect (bend).  
When you use the elastic link - rigid type, midas Civil will assign the in nite stiffness into all six
degrees of freedom. The stiffness is relatively higher than the elements surrounding. This type can
be used for supports and diaphragms.
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Figure 7: Elastic link – rigid
 
 
 
The other type of elastic link is the elastic link – compression/tension type. This type has only an
axial stiffness. It can be used for special con gurations and a model having the soil-structure
interface such as an integral abutment. Especially, you should know that this type is a non-linear link.
The next one is the elastic link – general type. This type can give you the most exibility in the
de nition of stiffness. You can de ne stiffness in all six degrees of freedom manually. This type is
typically used in areas where only some DOFs need to be constrained and stiffness in other DOFs is
known.
Let’s move onto the rigid link. The rigid link is similar to the geometric constraint. This type can be
linked to more than two nodes. When you de ne a rigid link, you need to de ne a master node and a
slave node. The distance between the master node and the slave node will be constant during
analysis. It means if the master node is translated or rotated, the slave node will have the same
behavior with the constant distance.
 
 

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Figure 8: Rigid link
 
 
 
Typical applications are:
At beam elements to plate elements transitions.
At girder ends/supports.
 
 

 
Figure 9: Application of rigid links at girder ends/supports
 
 

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The most typical application of rigid links might be found at the ends of girders for support
conditions. Figure 9 shows three different con gurations of rigid links. The rst example is ‘Girder
Node as Master Node’. In this case, the master node doesn’t have a support condition. On the other
hand, the slave node has a support condition. The characteristic of the rigid link is that slave nodes
are constrained at a master node. Therefore, the support condition on the slave node will be ignored
during analysis and you can see the warning message shown in gure 9. The second case is similar
to the rst case. It has a master node at the bottom. A support condition is assigned to the master
node. This case is a bit tricky to catch something wrong because this model is stable. In this case,
several slave nodes connected to a master node therefore, the support conditions on the master
node will be applied to those slave nodes. It possibly can make wrong results. The correct
con guration is to have an additional node at the bottom of the girder node and to add an elastic link
between nodes.
 
 

 
 
3. Model Validation
 
Model validation is critical for the proper use of links and boundary conditions. One of the
approaches for applying links is to build a model with all links DOF constrained and to validate
structure behavior. After that, release DOFs gradually to ensure there are no instability issues and to
validate structure behavior along the way. Typical items to validate are bending moments,
de ections, and intended load path.
Here is the rst validation example. Figure 10 shows a simply supported beam. This example shows
that incorrect results can occur even links properly de ned. Figure 10 shows the negative moments
at the end of the beam. This result obviously isn’t that correct. In order to make it the correct way, you
should use Beam End Release function at the end of the beam element.
 
 

Figure 10: Bending moment result of simply supported beam

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Figure 11: Bending moment result of simply supported beam with Beam End Release
 
 
The second example is regarding the insertion point and offset insertion point. If you assign an offset
insertion point, midas Civil will internally create the rigid link between an original point and offset
insertion point. It makes the same issue as the rst example as shown gure 12 and 13.
 
 

Figure 12: Insertion point and offset insertion point

 
 

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Figure 13: Results along the insertion point

 
 

 
 
Figure 14: Results along the insertion point with Beam End Release
 
 
 
 
The third example is a truss bridge. After analysis, the results seemed to be ne however, member
force results have shown huge bending moments at the ends of the bottom chord. This model has
diagonal members. Especially, diagonal members at the end of the truss had the offset insertion
point. It made improper results. After the change of insertion point, analysis results showed
reasonable values. It is a good example that shows a small input could hugely in uence analysis
results.
 

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Figure 15: Initial bending moment results with offset insertion points
 

 
Figure 16 : Modi ed bending moment results with original insertion points
 
 
 
The fourth example is a connection between a stringer and a oorbeam in the same truss bridge. The
stringers are supported on the oorbeams. Several rigid links are used for this case. The stringers are
continuous on the oorbeams. Therefore, the initial expectation was that positive bending moments

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occur between oorbeams and not big negative moments occur at the oorbeam locations. However,
analysis results showed that not making sense.
 
 
 

 
Figure 17 : Rigid link details
 
 

 
Figure 18 : Initial bending moment results
 
 
 

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The reason for this issue was that the rotation of the master node introduces additional moments on
the stringers. So, the moment in the y-axis was released using Beam End Release. After that, this
issue easily was gured out.
 
 

Figure 19: Modi ed bending moment results with Beam End Release
 
 
 
The last example is a bridge having high skew. This bridge has two main girders along the tra c
direction. And it has several diagonal members between two girders and a diagonal joint at the
middle of the bridge.
 
 

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Figure 20 : Bridge overview
 
 
 
In terms of the diagonal joint, it was designed as xed at the left side and movable at the right side of
the deck. An initial issue was that the movable side could introduce damage to the deck along the
time. Therefore, a new bearing system was proposed. It was a tie-down system. This type can
prevent the damage of the deck and allow it to expand itself. For the design, there were steps the
engineer needs to check. The rst one is what causes a hammering effect on the deck. And the
second one is to nd a design load.
 
 

Figure 21 : Bearing overview (Existing vs Proposed)

 
 
 
There were two main con gurations that have been found. When truckloads are placed on the south
and north side of the joint, it causes a vertical gap on the joint. And when truckloads are placed on
one side of the joint, it also causes a vertical gap on the joint. In order to model the bridge in midas
Civil, elastic links have been used.
 
 
 

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Figure 22 : Vertical gap at the join (Case 1)
 
 

 
Figure 23 : Vertical gap at the join (Case 2)
 
 
 

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Figure 24 : Modeling con guration

 
 
 

 
 
 
4. Modeling Consideration
 
The last part is how to consider what type of links you should use. The rst step is to check out what
degrees of freedom need to be constrained. You can choose a suitable one among link types
depending on degrees of freedom. The second step is to consider the size of the model and
computation time. This is not big deal on a small model but if the model is getting bigger, proper link
types can in uence the model and analysis. The third step is to consider whether you need member
forces at a link location or not. If you need the member forces, the elastic link will be a suitable case.
The last step is to validate your model even the model is simple and small. It will be helpful to
improve the quality of your model.
 
 

 
 
Watch the full webinar video
 

Appropriate Application of Links in Bridge FE …

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About speaker

Luis Vila | Structural Engineer(PE) | GM2 Associates Inc (US)

- GM2 Associates Inc, 2015 ~ Present

- MIDAS Expert Activities, 2016 ~ Present
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from The University of Connecticut

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Experience in design, modeling, and analysis of various types of bridges including steel, arch, PSC,
NEXT beams, box culvert, and pipe arch.

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