Investigation on the Fire Resistance of Cellular Steel Beam with Sinusoidal Openings

This paper investigated the fire resistance of CSBs with various parameters under high temperature rise due to fire using finite element software ABAQUS. The mechanical parameters of CSBs are analyzed, including load-bearing capacity and the temperature distribution during the heating process. Through structural analysis simulation of the entire heating process, the structural response of the CSBs is divided into five stages: elastic stage, elastic-plastic stage, self-balancing stage, catenary stage and ultimate destruction stage. The results indicate that the opening diameter-to-height ratio, opening spacing-to-height ratio and load ratio significantly affect the structural responses of CSBs in fire, followed by opening shape as secondary effects. In all the numerical analyzes, CSBs are analyzed with a uniformly distributed load and having simply supported boundary conditions.

Effects of temperature change on elastic behavior of steel beams with semi-rigid connections

Based on the nonlinear displacement-strain relationship,the virtual work principle method was used to establish the nonlinear equilibrium equations of steel beams with semi-rigid connections under vertical uniform loads and temperature change.Considering the non-uniform temperature distribution across the thickness of beams,the formulas for stresses and vertical displacements were presented.On the basis of a flowchart for analysis of the numerical example,the effect of temperature change on the elastic behavior of steel beams was investigated.It is found that the maximal stress is mainly influenced by axial temperature change,and the maximal vertical displacement is principally affected by temperature gradients.And the effect of temperature gradients on the maximal vertical displacement decreases with the increase of rotational stiffness of joints.Both the maximal stress and vertical displacement decrease with the increase of rotational stiffness of joints.It can be concluded that the effects of temperature changes and rotational stiffness of joints on the elastic behavior of steel beams are significant.However,the influence of rotational stiffness becomes smaller when the rotational stiffness is larger.

Behaviour of cold-formed stainless steel beams at elevated temperatures

A study of the behaviour of constructional cold-formed stainless steel beams at elevated temperatures was conducted in this paper. An accurate finite element model (FEM) for stainless steel beams was developed using the finite element program ABAQUS. Stainless steel beams having different cross-sections were simulated in this study. The nonlinear FEM was verified against the experimental results. Generally, the developed FEM could accurately simulate the stainless steel beams. Based on the high temperature stainless steel material test results, a parametric study was carried out on stainless steel beams at elevated tem- peratures using the verified FEM. Both high strength stainless steel EN 1.4462 and normal strength stainless steel EN 1.4301 were considered. A total of 42 stainless steel beams were simulated in the parametric study. The effect of temperatures on the behaviour of stainless steel beams was investigated. In addition, a limiting temperature for stainless steel beams was also proposed.

Catenary action of restrained steel beam against progressive collapse of steel frameworks

The changing law of internal forces during the whole deformation development process was analyzed. The process was divided into five stages based on the internal force state of the beam and the assumptions of internal force relationship of five stages were proposed. Then, the formulas for determining the midspan deflection of the steel beam under distributed load, which was restrained both in rotational and axial directions, were obtained using restraint coefficient method and rigid-plastic mechanism, thereby the deformation development process was expressed accurately in a quantified way. Priority was given to the analysis of the process from bending to tension-bending, then the final state totally depends on tension to resist the external loads, that is the problem of catenary action of the restrained beam under distributed load. Additionally, finite element analysis was carried out with soitware ABAQUS6.7 on a restrained steel beam under distributed load with different axial and rotational restraint coefficients. The accuracy of the formulas presented was verified by the results of the behavior of the restrained beams. Finally, error analysis was conducted and some formulas were corrected according to the reasons of errors. The calculated results of corrected formulas match the FEM analysis results better, thus the accuracy of these formulas is improve .

Research on Vibration Suppression of the Finite Plate with Square Steel Beams Using Traveling Wave Method

The vibration suppression of the finite plate with square steel beams is studied using traveling wave method. The finite plate with square beams is modeled as the coupling systems between the plate flexural motion and the flexural and torsional motions for the square beams. The vibration response at any position of the coupling structure can be obtained by wave method. Numerical results show that comparing to finite element method (FEM), not only the low frequency but also the medium-high frequency vibration response of the finite plate with square beam can be effectively calculated by wave method. The suppression effect can be increased as the square beam is located at one-third of the length of plate or increasing the height of the beam. The study provides reference for arranged square beams applying to vibration suppression of ship and train structures.

Experimental study on full-scale steel beam-to-column moment connections

Ten full-scale steel beam-to-column moment connections used in moment-resisting frames （MRFs） were tested to study the failure process, failure mode, strength and plastic rotation capacity. The specimens include one traditional welded flange-bolted web connection, one traditional fully welded connection, four beam flange strengthened connections, three beam flange weakened connections, and one through-diaphragm connection. The test results show that the connections with flange cover plates or with partly cut beam flanges satisfy the beam plastic rotation demand for ductile MRFs. From the measured stress profiles along the beam flange and beam web depth, the mechanics of brittle fracture at the end of the beam is discussed. Design recommendations for steel beam-to-column moment connections are proposed.

Interfacial Interaction of CFRP Reinforced Steel Beam Structures

Due to the increase of service life,the phenomenon of performance degradation of bridge structures becomes more and more common.It is important to strengthen the bridge structures so as to restore the resistance level and extend the normal service life.Carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP)materials are thus used for the assembly reinforcement of bridges for the advantages of high strength,light weight,corrosion resistance and long-term stability of physical and chemical properties,etc.In view of this,based on the previous theoretical study and the established formula of the interfacial shear stress of CFRP reinforced steel beam and the normal stress of CFRP plate,this paper discusses the sensitive parameters that affect the interfacial interaction of CFRP strengthened beam structures.Through the analysis,the priority design indicators and suggestions are accordingly given for the design of reinforced beam structures.Young’s modulus of CFRP composite and shear modulus of the adhesive have the greatest influence on the interfacial interaction,which should be carefully considered.It is suggested that CFRP material with Ec close to 300 GPa and thickness no less than 3 mm,and adhesive material with Ga less than 5 GPa and 3-mm thickness can be adopted in CFRP reinforced steel beam.The conclusions of this paper can provide guidance for the interfacial damage control of CFRP reinforced steel beam structures.

Seismic Behavior of Diaphragm-Through Connections of Concrete-Filled Square Steel Tubular Columns and H-Shaped Steel Beams

Based on the introductions of a type of diaphragm-through connection between concrete-filled square steel tubular columns (CFSSTCs) and H-shaped steel beams,a finite element model of the connection is developed and used to investigate the seismic behavior of the connection.The results of the finite element model are validated by a set of cyclic loading tests.The cyclic loading tests and the finite element analyses indicate that the failure mode of the suggested connections is plastic hinge at the beam with inelastic rotation angle exceeding 0.04 rad.The suggested connections have sufficient strength,plastic deformation and energy dissipation capacity to be used in composite moment frames as beam-to-column rigid connections.

Static and Dynamic Analysis Web Opening of Steel Beams

According to the purpose of the opening and the structural designer, the shape of the web opening is decided. It is too easy to choose the shape of openings from regular shape whether it is circular or rectangular shape. The presence of openings in the web of steel beams decreases stiffness of the beam and introducing a larger deflection than in the steel web opening with solid opening. A steel beam with web opening is analyzed in this paper. ABAQUS software is using for analyzing nonlinear static and dynamic opening of steel beam with different position and supporting conditions.

Seismic performance evaluation of hybrid coupled shear wall system with shear and flexural fuse-type steel coupling beams

Replaceable flexural and shear fuse-type coupling beams are used in hybrid coupled shear wall(HCSW)systems,enabling concrete buildings to be promptly recovered after severe earthquakes.This study aimed to analytically evaluate the seismic behavior of flexural and shear fuse beams situated in short-,medium-and high-rise RC buildings that have HCSWs.Three building groups hypothetically located in a high seismic hazard zone were studied.A series of 2D nonlinear time history analyses was accomplished in OpenSees,using the ground motion records scaled at the design basis earthquake level.It was found that the effectiveness of fuses in HCSWs depends on various factors such as size and scale of the building,allowable rotation value,inter-story drift ratio,residual drift quantity,energy dissipation value of the fuses,etc.The results show that shear fuses better meet the requirements of rotations and drifts.In contrast,flexural fuses dissipate more energy,but their sectional stiffness should increase to meet other requirements.It was concluded that adoption of proper fuses depends on the overall scale of the building and on how associated factors are considered.

Simulation of steel beam under ceiling jet based on a wind–fire–structure coupling model

For localized fires, it is necessary to consider the thermal and mechanical responses of building elements subject to uneven heating under the influence of wind. In this paper, the thermomechanical phenomena experienced by a ceiling jet and I-beam in a structural fire were simulated. Instead of applying the concept of adiabatic surface temperature (AST) to achieve fluid–structure coupling, this paper proposes a new computational fluid dynamics–finite element method numerical simulation that combines wind, fire, thermal, and structural analyses. First, to analyze the velocity and temperature distributions, the results of the numerical model and experiment were compared in windless conditions, showing good agreement. Vortices were found in the local area formed by the upper and lower flanges of the I-beam and the web, generating a local high-temperature zone and enhancing the heat transfer of convection. In an incoming-flow scenario, the flame was blown askew significantly;the wall temperature was bimodally distributed in the axial direction. The first temperature peak was mainly caused by radiative heat transfer, while the second resulted from convective heat transfer. In terms of mechanical response, the yield strength degradation in the highest-temperature region in windless conditions was found to be significant, thus explaining the stress distribution of steel beams in the fire field. The mechanical response of the overall elements considering the incoming flows was essentially elastic.

Experimental study on ultimate flexural capacity of steel encased concrete composite beams

Based on the experimental study and inelastic theory, the ultimate flexuralcapacity of steel encased concrete composite beams are derived. The difference between steel encasedconcrete composite beams with full shear connection and beams with partial shear connection,together with the relationship between the inelastic neutral axis of steel parts and concrete parts,are considered in the formulae. The calculation results of the eight specimens with full shearconnection and the three specimens with partial shear connection are in good agreement with theexperimental data, which validates the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed calculationmethods. Furthermore, the nonlinear finite element analysis of the ultimate flexural capacity of thesteel encased concrete composite beams is performed. Nonlinear material properties and nonlinearcontact properties are considered in the finite element analysis. The finite element analyticalresults also correlate well with the experimental data.

Criteria of limiting temperature and parametric analysis of the large deflection behavior for fully restrained steel beams in fire

This paper mainly involve 3 parts:1) To apply the minimum principle of acceleration in dynamics of elastic-plastic continua at finite deformation to the statics problems,a computing model is presented for the restrained steel beams exposed to the fire.In this model,both effects of large deflection and thermal expansion deformation are taken into account,and the constitutive equations with the temperature effects are used.Then a dynamic finite difference(DFD) method is presented by using the dis-crete technique,which can be used in simulating the response of the steel beams at elevated temperature,and the large deflec-tion behavior and catenary action effects of the beams can be adequately expressed.The primary numerical results show that the method is valid and credible.Compared with other methods,this technique is very simple,and it can also be further devel-oped to simulate the behavior of steel beams subjected to the coupling loading of explosion and fire when both effects of strain rate and inertia are considered.2) By using this DFD method,detailed parametric analysis are presented so as to check the consistency of response results for several different formulas of thermal expansion deformation and retention factors of steel at elevated temperature,the influence of these parameters on the critical temperature is examined.3) Based on the analysis for the curves of temperature-generalized yield function comprised by the axial force and bending moment,both criteria to determine the limiting temperature(or failure temperature) of large deflection steel beams are presented more explicitly,that is,both lim-iting temperatures can be determined by if the catenary force begins to appear or arrives at the maximum value,respectively.It is shown by numerical results that both limiting temperatures are close to the both critical temperatures which are correspond-ing to the maximum deflections equal to span/20 and span/10,respectively.This conclusion may be helpful to make rational fire resisting design for the steel beams.

Structural Resistance of SRC Column-Steel Beam Joint Developed for Innovative Construction of Buildings

This paper presents an experimental study investigating factors influencing the effective width of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) column-steel beam joints of building in order to calculate its resisting moment.Five 1/2 scaled interior SRC column-steel beam joint specimens were made with considering parameters such as beam flange width,beam depth and SRC column width.One directional increasing moment was applied to the joint by acting forces to each ends of beam and the structural behavior of joint was studied.And previous design method suggested by Deierlein was reviewed and a modified equation was proposed from the analysis of test result.Test result indicated that the equation to calculate the effective width in Deierlein’s design method didn’t consider effectively the influence caused by the variation of beam depth so that a modified equation was suggested and the validation of it was confirmed in this paper.

Failure Analysis of Electron Beam Weld Joints for 18Ni Co-free Maraging Steels

Microstructure of two different 18Ni Co-free maraging specimens and their electron beam weld joints were investigated comparatively by optical microscopy and SEM. It is showing that both of the steels are typical lath martensite, however, one grain size is about three times as another one, and XRD reveals that the amount of the retained austenitic phase in the former is less then the latter. The austenite distributes in plate form along granular and lath boundaries while some in fine particle within the matrix. The microstructural difference between two specimens led to diverse behaviors in electron beam welding. The first specimen is weldable well but the second shows obvious welding defects of pits and burn-through holes in weld face. The welding microstructure exhibits a typical dendritic morphology, and the grains in the heat-affected zone recrystallized and grew up obviously for high temperature heated by welding electron beam. The weldablity is relative to the thermal conduction performance of the base materials,which is contributed greatly for grain size and austenite content.

Lateral-torsional buckling of box beam with corrugated steel webs

Corrugated steel web is folded along the longitudinal direction and has the mechanical properties such as axial compression stiffness corrugation effect, shear modulus corrugation effect, similar to that of an accordion. In order to study the lateral-torsional buckling of box beams with corrugated steel webs (BBCSW) under the action of bending moment load, the neutral equilibrium equation of BBCSW under the action of bending moment load is derived through the stationary value theory of total potential energy and further, along with taking Kollbrunner-Hajdin correction method and the mechanical properties of the corrugated web into consideration. The analytical calculation formula of lateral-torsional buckling critical bending moment of BBCSW is then obtained. The lateral-torsional buckling critical bending moment of 96 BBCSW test specimens with different geometry dimensions are then calculated using both the analytical calculation method and ANSYS finite element method. The results show that the analytical calculation results agree well with the numerical calculation results using ANSYS, thus proving the accuracy of the analytical calculation method and model simplification hypothesis proposed in this paper. Also, compared with the box beams with flat steel webs (BBFSW) with the same geometry dimensions as BBCSW, within the common range of web space-depth ratio and web span-depth ratio, BBCSW’s lateral-torsional buckling critical bending moment is larger than that of BBFSW. Moreover, the advantages of BBCSW’s stability are even more significant with the increase of web space-depth ratio and web depth-thickness ratio.

Analysis and seismic tests of composite shear walls with CFST columns and steel plate deep beams

A composite shear wall concept based on concrete filled steel tube （CFST） columns and steel plate （SP） deep beams is proposed and examined in this study. The new wall is composed of three different energy dissipation elements： CFST columns; SP deep beams; and reinforced concrete （RC） strips. The RC strips are intended to allow the core structural elements - the CFST columns and SP deep beams - to work as a single structure to consume energy. Six specimens of different configurations were tested under cyclic loading. The resulting data are analyzed herein. In addition, numerical simulations of the stress and damage processes for each specimen were carried out, and simulations were completed for a range of location and span-height ratio variations for the SP beams. The simulations show good agreement with the test results. The core structure exhibits a ductile yielding mechanism characteristic of strong column-weak beam structures, hysteretic curves are plump and the composite shear wall exhibits several seismic defense lines. The deformation of the shear wall specimens with encased CFST column and SP deep beam design appears to be closer to that of entire shear walls. Establishing optimal design parameters for the configuration of SP deep beams is pivotal to the best seismic behavior of the wall. The new composite shear wall is therefore suitable for use in the seismic design of building structures.

Experimental research on shear carrying capacity of H-steel concrete composite beam with small shear span ratio

In order to investigate shear carrying capacity of H-steel concrete beam with small shear span ratio,shear test on 5 H-steel concrete composite beams with small span ratio (from 0.7 to 1.1) are reported,including test design,test scheme,test method,failure characteristics and test results. Influences of shear span ratio,web of H steel and concrete on shear carrying capacity of this kind of beam are investigated. The main components comprising shear bearing capacity are analyzed. The results show that with the shear span ratio increasing,the contribution of web of H steel and concrete on shear carrying capacity decrease. Based on test data,the calculation formula of shear carrying capacity for this beam is established by curve fitting.

Experimental research on mechanical properties of prestressed truss concrete composite beam encased with circular steel tube

Tests of 4 simply supported unbonded prestressed truss concrete composite beams encased with circular steel tube were carried out. It is found that the ratio of the stress increment of the unbonded tendon to that of the tensile steel tube is 0.252 during the using stage,and the average crack space of beams depends on the ratio of the sum of the bottom chord steel tube's outside diameter and the secondary bottom chord steel tube's section area to the effective tensile concrete area. The coefficient of uneven crack distribution is 1.68 and the formula for the calculation of crack width is established. Test results indicate that the ultimate stress increment of unbonded tendon in the beams decreases in linearity with the increase of the composite reinforcement index β0. The pure bending region of beams accords with the plane section assumption from loading to failure. The calculation formula of ultimate stress increment of the unbonded tendon and the method to calculate the bearing capacity of normal section of beams have been presented. Besides,the method to calculate the stiffness of this sort of beams is brought forward as well.

Microstructures and Properties of 550 MPa Grade High Strength Thin-walled H-beam Steel

The microstructures and mechanical properties of 550 MPa grade lightweight high strength thin-walled H-beam steel were experimentally studied. The experimental results show that the microstructure of the air-cooled H-beam steel sample is consisted of ferrite, pearlite and a small amount of granular bainites as well as fine and dispersive V（C,N） precipitates. The microstructure of the water-cooled steel sample is consisted of ferrite and bainite as well as a small amount of fine pearlites. The microstructure of the water-cooled sample is finer than that of the air-cooled sample with the average intercept size of the surface grains reaching to 3.5 gna. The finish rolling temperature of the thin-walled high strength H-beam steel is in the range of 750 ~C-850 ~C. The lower the finish rolling temperature and the faster the cooling rate, the finer the ferrite grains, the volume fraction of bainite is increased through water cooling process. Grain refinement strengthening and precipitation strengthening are used as major strengthening means to develop 550 MPa grade lightweight high strength thin- walled H-beam steel. Vanadium partially soluted in the matrix and contributes to the solution strengthening. The 550 MPa grade high-strength thin-walled H-beam steel could be developed by direct air cooling after hot rolling to fully meet the requirements of the target properties.