Chapter IV – PLASTIC ANALYSIS FOR BEAMS

IV – PLASTIC ANALYSIS FOR BEAMS

• 4-1 Introduction

• There are 2 approaches in structural analysis accepted in practice:

a. Elastic analysis
b. Plastic analysis

• Elastic analysis is based on the assumed elastic behavior of the

structural members in the system.
 IV – PLASTIC ANALYSIS FOR BEAMS

• On the other hand, plastic analysis is a limit analysis procedure.

• Limit analysis is based on the ultimate capacities of the

structural components where the section is strained beyond the
yield point or elastic range and extends to the limit capacity of
the section.

• In Steel design, ASD and LRFD are limit design methods

 IV – PLASTIC ANALYSIS FOR BEAMS

• 4-2 Plastic Analysis

• Steel, being a ductile material, will in some cases “yield”, i.e., the
section will still undergo additional deformations even if the section
limit capacity has already been reached.

Plastic Region
• In a determinate structural system, once a member reaches its limit
capacity, the system becomes unstable and leads to the collapse of
the system.

• On the other hand, if the system is indeterminate, more than a

single member will have to “fail” or more than a single section is
required to fail before “collapse” of the system will happen.
 IV – PLASTIC ANALYSIS FOR BEAMS

• 4-3 Plastic Hinge

• When a flexural member is subjected to bending moments, the beam

sections are assumed to rotate about the elastic neutral axis(N.A).

• If the moment at a section is low, the strains will be within the elastic
range and the stresses will linearly vary from zero at the N.A. to
maximum at the extreme top and bottom fibers.

Strains and Stresses Within the Elastic Range

• As the bending moment in the section is increased, the stresses will
likewise increase with the linear stress variation maintained until the
extreme fiber stress reaches the yield stress.

Strains and Stresses Partially Beyond the Elastic Range

• Theoretically, the ultimate moment capacity of the section is attained
when the section rotates in a 90-degree fashion where essentially all
the strains are beyond the yield strain and all the fibers will have
yielded already.

• In this situation, it can be said that the section has already reached the
“plastic moment capacity” and a plastic hinge has formed.

Strains and Stresses at Plastic Hinging

• Based on the idealized Stress-Strain diagram shown below, some of the
strains will exceed the yield strain when the bending moment on the
section is increased beyond My.

Idealized Stress-Strain Diagram for Steel

• Consider the rectangular section below. A plastic hinge will form when
all fibers of the cross section are stressed to their limit stress Fy.

• The moment capacity is from the couple made up of the compression

and tension resultants, C and T computed as follows:
C = Ac Fy
T = At F y

Fy

Fy
 Fy

h/2 h/2
h T

Fy

• Equilibrium requires that the force resultants be equal to each other.

For rectangle:
∑F = 0

Ac = At = bh/2
C=T
Ac = At = A/2
Ac Fy = At Fy

Ac = At
• 4-4 Plastic Section Properties

4-4.1 Plastic Neutral Axis

• The plastic N.A. divides the cross section into 2 equal areas (A/2)
defining the compression and tension regions.

• On the other hand, Elastic N.A passes through its centroid.

• Thus, the two neutral axis, i.e., elastic and plastic, do not necessarily
coincide. They only coincide if the section is symmetrical with any axis.
• For unsymmetrical sections, they do not coincide.

• Hence, it follows that as the moment is increased beyond the

yield moment (My), the stresses start to exceed the yield
stress and the neutral axis will shift until it reaches its final
location in the plastic N.A. when the whole section is
stressed to the limit Fy.
4-4.2 Plastic Section Modulus

• The plastic moment is the magnitude of the couple.

• In the case of the rectangular section, the lever arm between the two
resultant forces is “z = h/2.”

• The plastic moment Mp is the force multiplied with the lever arm “z”.
With A = bh,
Fy
Mp = C x z
C
= (A/2) Fy (h/2)
h h/2

= (bh²/4) Fy T

Fy
= Z Fy
 Mp = Z Fy

With Z = b h²/4 (1)

• “Z” is called the plastic section modulus.

• The plastic section modulus Z is the sum of the moment of the

areas about the plastic N.A.

Z = b h²/4 y
h
= b(h)h/4
= A h/4
Z=ΣAy (2)

• There is a plastic modulus Z in both the x-axis and y-axis termed

Zx and Zy.
The I section shown below is doubly symmetrical.

The plastic section modulus Z is considered from the N.A. which is

located at mid-height (d/2 or h/2)

N.A
• Eqn. 1 can be used for the web since it is rectangle where the
centroid coincides with the N.A.

• Also, the flanges have equal areas such that these can be
combined. Their contribution to the total Zx is the product of the
flange area multiplied by their lever arm which is the distance
between their centers.

• Thus,

Zx = tw h² + Af (d-tf) x-axis N.A

4 d-tf

= tw h² + bf tf (d-tf)
4
• The plastic section modulus about the y-axis, Zy, is the sum of the Z’s
of the three rectangles whose centroids coincide with the N.A.
located in the y-axis.

• Thus,

Zy = 2 tf bf² + h tw²
4 4
y-axis N.A
• As a next example to illustrate how Z is calculated, consider the
section below which is unsymmetrical with respect to the x-axis but
symmetrical with the y-axis.
• Hence, the plastic section modulus in the y-axis is simply the sum of
the Z’s of the two rectangles about their centroids that both
coincides with the y-axis.

• Thus,

Zy = tf bf² + h tw²
4 4
• The plastic section modulus in the x-axis is considered from the N.A.

• Therefore, the location of the plastic N.A. is established with a line

dividing the section into two equal areas.

• The section is divided into three rectangles as shown below, with the
bottom rectangle having an area equal to the flange area Af

• The distance “y” is given below if the area is Af

y = A f / tw
• The contribution of these areas to the total Z is the product of the
area with the distance between their centroids.

Zx1 = Af (h – y/2 + tf/2)

• The remaining rectangle in the middle has to have its centroid
coincide with the plastic N.A. if the total areas above and below the
N.A. are to be equal.
• Therefore, the contribution to Zx of this middle rectangle has to be
given by Eqn. 1.

Z = b h²/4 Eqn. (1)

• Thus, this is added to the Zx1 contribution of the flanges to get the
total Z.

Zx = bf tf (h – y + tf ) + tw (h-y)²
2 2 4
4-4.3 Shape Factor

• The elastic yield moment is given by the formula

My = S Fy

• The ratio of the plastic moment and the yield moment is called the
shape factor “f”.

f = Mp = Z F y = Z
My S Fy S
• The elastic section modulus of a rectangle is bh²/6. Thus, the
shape factor for a rectangular section is:

f = bh²/4
bh²/6
f = 1.5
• The foregoing value gives the allowance between the yield
moment and the plastic moment.

• In this case with f =1.5, this means that the moment can still
be increased by 50% from the yield moment before the plastic
moment capacity of the section is reached.

• Both “S” and “Z” are section properties and are included in
the AISC steel tables for the “rolled” sections.
Example 4.1

• Determine the plastic section modulus of a W24x104 section

using the dimensions in the AISC Table. Compare the result
with the value in the AISC table, Zx = 4740x103 mm³. Also,
determine the shape factor.
Solution:

From AISC Table:

d = 612mm, bf = 325mm, tw = 12.7mm, tf = 19.1mm

The plastic N.A. is at the centroid of the symmetrical section and is h/2
from the bottom and top flanges which is half of the web height “h”.

h = 612 – 2(19.1)
= 573.8 mm

h/2 = 573.8/2
= 286.9 mm

The plastic section modulus Z can be computed by summing the moment

of the areas about the plastic N.A.
Flange
Web

Zx = tw h² + bf tf (d-tf)
4
= 12.7(573.8)2 + (325)(19.1)(612-19.1)
4

Zx = 4725.78 x 10³ mm³

The error in the above calculated value of Z as compared to the value from
the Table is 0.3%.

The moment of inertia of the section is determined as follows:

I = bh3 + 2(Ay²) ; where y = distance bet. N.A. and centroid

12
Web Flanges

= 12.7(573.8)³/12 + 2[(325x19.1)(612/2 – 19.1/2)² ]

I = 1291.004 x 106 mm4

The elastic section modulus is from the formula S = I/c; where c=d/2
; where c = distance bet. N.A. and bottom fiber
S = 1291.004 x 10 / (612/2)
6

S = 4218.97x 10³ mm³

The shape factor therefore is:

f = Z/S

= (4725.78 x 10³)/(4218.97 x 10³)

= 1.12
 III – DESIGN OF COMPRESSION MEMBERS

End of Presentation