Plastic analysis of frame

1
structures

02/11/2022
2 “a structure only collapses when it has exhausted all means of
standing” prof. Sean de Coury

Introduction
 up to now, the analysis methods you were using to analyze determinate
and indeterminate structures assumed the systems to be elastic . This has
enabled principles like superposition to be applicable which resulted in
simpler analysis schemes.
 However, an elastic analysis does not give information about the loads
that will actually collapse a structure. An indeterminate structure may
sustain loads greater than the load that first causes a yield to occur at any
point in the structure.
 Plastic analysis is the method through which the actual failure load of a
structure is calculated, and as will be seen, this failure load can be
significantly greater than the elastic load capacity. 02/11/2022
3 Basis of plastic design
Material behavior
A uniaxial tensile stress on a ductile material such as mild steel typically
provides the following graph of stress versus strain:

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4
Cont’d

 As can be seen, the material can sustain strains far in excess of the strain at
which yield occurs before failure. This property of the material is called its
ductility.
 Though complex models do exist to accurately reflect the above real
behavior of the material, the most common, and simplest, model is the
idealized stress-strain curve. This is the curve for an ideal elastic-plastic
material (which doesn’t exist), and the graph is as follows.
 once the yield has been reached it is taken that an indefinite amount
of strain can occur.

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5 Cont’d
 Since so much post-yield strain is modelled,
the actual material (or cross section) must
also be capable of allowing such strains. That
is, it must be
sufficiently ductile for the idealised stress-
strain curve to be valid.
 Next we consider the behavior of a cross
section of an ideal elastic-plastic material
subject to bending. In doing so, we seek the
relationship between applied moment and the
rotation (or more accurately, the curvature) of
a cross section.

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6 Cross section behavior
Moment-rotation characteristics of general cross section
 We consider an arbitrary cross-section with a vertical plane of symmetry,
which is also the plane of loading. We consider the cross section subject to
an increasing bending moment, and assess the stresses at each stage.

Cross section and stresses 02/11/2022

7 Cont’d
Stage 1-elastic behavior
 The applied moment causes stresses over
the cross-section that are all less than the
yield stress of the material.
Stage 2-yield moment
 The applied moment is just sufficient that
the yield stress of the material is reached at
the outermost fibre(s) of the cross-section.
All other stresses in the cross section are
less than the yield stress. This is limit of
applicability of an elastic analysis and of
elastic design. 02/11/2022
8 Cont’d
Stage 3-elasto-plastic bending
The moment applied to the cross section has been increased beyond the
yield moment. Since by the idealised stress-strain curve the material
cannot sustain a stress greater than yield stress, the fibers at the yield
stress have progressed inwards towards the center of the beam. Thus
over the cross section there is an elastic core and a plastic region. The
ratio of the depth of the elastic core to the plastic region is . Since extra
moment is being applied and no stress is bigger than the yield stress,
extra rotation of the section occurs: the moment-rotation curve losses
its linearity and curves, giving more rotation per unit moment (i.e.
looses stiffness).

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9 Cont’d

Stage 4-plastic bending

The applied moment to the cross section is such that all fibers in the cross
section are at yield stress. This is termed the Plastic Moment Capacity of
the section since there are no fibers at an elastic stress,. Also note that the
full plastic moment requires an infinite strain at the neutral axis and so is
physically impossible to achieve. However, it is closely approximated in
practice. Any attempt at increasing the moment at this point simply results
in more rotation, once the cross-section has sufficient ductility. Therefore
in steel members the cross section classification must be plastic and in
concrete members the section must be under-reinforced.

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10 Cont’d
Stage 5-strain hardening  Due to strain hardening of the material, a
small amount of extra moment can be
sustained.
 The above moment-rotation curve represents
the behavior of a cross section of a regular
elastic-plastic material. However, it is
usually further simplified as illustrated in the
figure.
 With this idealised moment-rotation curve,
the cross section linearly sustains moment
up to the plastic moment capacity of the
section and then yields in rotation an
indeterminate amount.
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11 Cont’d
Plastic hinge
Note that once the plastic moment capacity is reached, the section can
rotate freely – that is, it behaves like a hinge, except with moment of
at the hinge. This is termed a plastic hinge, and is the basis for plastic
analysis. At the plastic hinge stresses remain constant, but strains and
hence rotations can increase.

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12 Analysis of rectangular cross section
 Taking the stress diagrams from those of the moment-rotation curve examined
previously, we have:

Elastic moment
From the diagram;

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13 Cont’d
But the force (volume of the stress block) is:

Hence;

The term is a property of the cross section called the elastic section modulus
and it is termed as Z.

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14 Cont’d
Elasto-plastic moment
The moment in the section is made up of plastic and elastic components:

The elastic component is the same as the previous, but for the reduced depth,
instead of the overall depth, d.

The plastic component is:

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15 Cont’d
The lever arm S, is: Hence,

But
And so the total Elasto-plastic moment
Thus is;

The force is;

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16 Cont’d
Plastic moment the term is a property of the cross section
from the stress diagram; called the plastic section modulus,
termed as S.
Shape factor
And the force is; Thus the ratio of plastic to elastic
moment capacity is:
Hence;

This ration is termed the shape factor, f,
and is a property of a cross section alone.
For a rectangular cross-section, we have:

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17 Cont’d
 And so a rectangular section can
sustain 50% more moment than
the yield moment, before a plastic
hinge is formed. Therefore the
shape factor is a good measure of
the efficiency of a cross section in
bending. Shape factors for some
other cross sections are:

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18 Cont’d
Moment rotation curve of a rectangular section
We begin by recalling the relationship between strain, , and
distance from the neutral axis, y:

This is a direct consequence of the assumption that plane

sections remain plane and is independent of any
constitutive law (e.g. linear elasticity). We next identify the
yield strain (that corresponds to the yield stress ), as . The
curvature that occurs at the yield moment is therefore ,

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19 Cont’d
 For moments applied beyond the yield
moment, the curvature can be found by
noting that the yield strain, , occurs at a If we substitute the value ,
distance from the neutral axis , giving,
we find,
Thus, the ratio of curvature to yield
curvature is;
And finally we have;
From which .
Also the ratio of Elasto-plastic
moment to yield moment is; Plotting this gives,
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20 Cont’d
There are some important observations to
be made from this graph:
To reach the plastic moment capacity of
the section requires large curvatures. Thus
the section must be ductile.
The full cross-section plasticity associated
with the plastic moment capacity of a
section can only be reached at infinite
curvature (or infinite strain). Since this is
impossible, we realize that the full plastic
moment capacity is unobtainable.

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21 Cont’d
for other cross-section shapes we have the moment-curvature relations
shown in the following figure.

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 Types of plastic collapse
22 Complete collapse
collapse occurs when a hinge occurs for each of the number of redundants, r, (making it a
determinate structure) with an extra hinge for collapse. Thus the number of hinges formed, (the
degree of indeterminacy plus one). There are three conditions which must be satisfied to
ensure full collapse of a structure and the identification of the true collapse load, they are:
i. the mechanism condition in which there must be sufficient plastic hinges to develop a
mechanism, (i.e. number of plastic hinges ≥[I +1])
D

ii. the equilibrium condition in which the bending moments for any collapse
mechanism must be in equilibrium with the applied collapse loads
iii. the yield condition in which the magnitude of the bending moment anywhere on the
structure cannot exceed the plastic moment of resistance of the member in which it occurs.
Partial Collapse
This occurs when , but a collapse mechanism, of a localized section of the structure can form.
A common example is a single span of a continuous beam.

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23
Plastic hinge formation
Simply supported beams
We investigate the collapse of a simply supported beam under central
point load with the information we now have.

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24 Cont’d

The bending moment at the Collapse of this beam occurs when

center of the beam is, the plastic hinge forms at the center
of the beam, since the extra hinge
turns the statically determinate
Therefore the load at which beam into a mechanism. The
yield first occurs is: collapse load occurs when the
moment at the center reaches the
plastic moment capacity:

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 Cont’d
25 The ratio of collapse to yield load is As can be seen from the diagram, the
plastic material zones extend from the
center out to the point where the moment
 The ratio is just the shape factor of equals the yield moment.
the section. This is a general result:
the ratio of collapse load to first Using similar triangles from the bending
yield load is the shape factor of the moment diagram at collapse, we see that:
member, for statically determinate
prismatic structures. In which is the elasto-plastic moment at
Shape of plastic hinge a distance z from the plastic hinge, and
We are also interested in the plastic where, where is the total length of the
hinge, and the zone of elasto-plastic plastic region.
bending.

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26 Cont’d
And so for a beam with a rectangular cross section (f=1.5) the plastic
hinge extends for a length:

lastly, the shape of the hinge follows from the first and third equations;

From our expressions for the elasto-plastic and plastic moments, we

have:

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27 Cont’d

This shows that the plastic region has a parabolic profile, and confirms
that the total length of the hinge, is at the location where
Using a similar form of analysis, we can show that under a UDL the
plastic hinge has a linear profile given by & that its length is .

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28 Methods of plastic analysis
Introduction
There are three main approaches for plastic analysis.
1. The incremental method
the loads on the structure are incremented until the first plastic hinge forms. This
continues until sufficient hinges have formed to collapse the structure. This is a labor
intensive, ‘brute-force’, approach, but one that is most readily suited for computer
implementation.
2. The equilibrium (statical) method
In this method, free and reactant bending moment diagrams are drawn. These
diagrams are overlaid to identify the likely locations of plastic hinges. This method
therefore satisfies the equilibrium criterion first leaving the two remaining criterion
to be derived there from.
02/11/2022
29 Cont’d
3. The kinematic (mechanism) method
In this method, a collapse mechanism is first postulated. Virtual work equations
are then written for this collapse state, allowing the calculations of the collapse
bending moment diagram. This method satisfies the mechanism condition first,
leaving the remaining two criteria to be derived there from.
The incremental method
We now assess the behavior of a simple statically indeterminate structure under
increasing load. Let us consider a propped cantilever with mid-span point load:

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30 Cont’d
For propped cantilever beams with the indicated arrangement of loading, the
bending moments are,

Lets take the span length to be 1m and the cross section to have the
following capacity;

Further, we want this beam to be safe at a working load of 32 kN, so we

start there. We will also look at the deflections for better understanding of
the behavior. To do this, we will take.

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31 Cont’d
Load of 32 KN
At this value of load the BMD is as shown, with

Since the peak moments are less than the yield moments, we know
that yield stress has not been reached at any point in the beam. Also,
the maximum moment occurs at A and so this point will first reach 02/11/2022

the yield moment.

32 Cont’d
The corresponding deflection under the point load is:

the rotation at A is of course zero.

The load factor before yielding occurs , based on the maximum moment (at A)
and the yield moment thus a load of 1.25*32=40KN will cause yielding.
Load of 40 KN
At this load the BMD becomes as shown. The moment at A has now reached
the yield moment and so the outer fibers at A are at yield stress.

02/11/2022
33 Cont’d
the deflection;

Which is the same as the load factor 1.25*29.17mm of course. This is applied because
the beam is linearly elastic to this point. The rotation at A is still zero.
Load of 48 KN
The BMD is as shown. The moment at A is now 9 KNm, the plastic moment
capacity of the section, and so the cross section at A has fully yielded. Thus a plastic
hinge has formed at A and so no extra moment can be taken at A, but A can rotate freely
with constant moment of 9 KNm. Also, the moment at C has reached the yield
moment. Note that the structure does not collapse since there are not sufficient hinges
for it to be a mechanism yet: it now acts like a simply-supported beam with a pin at A
(the plastic hinge) and B (the pin support).
02/11/2022
34 Cont’d

 On the assumption of an idealised moment-

rotation curve, the deflection is now:

 And the rotation at A is till zero (although it

is free to rotate beyond this point).
 Note that the assumption of an idealised
bilinear moment-rotation curve means that
the actual deflection will be greater as some
rotation will occur.

02/11/2022
35 Cont’d
 Since the moment at A has already reached the
Load of 54 KN plastic moment of the section, no
extra moment can be taken there and must remain 9
KNm whilst allowing rotation to freely occur.
Therefore, all of the extra moment caused by the
increase in load of 54-48=6KN must be taken by
the structure as if it were a simply-supported beam.
That is, a beam free to rotate at both ends. The extra
moment at C is thus bring the total moment at C to
9 KNm, the plastic moment capacity of the section.
Therefore a plastic hinge forms at C and the
structure is not capable of sustaining anymore load.
It becomes a mechanism and so collapse ensues.
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36 Cont’d
The deflection is now comprised of
two parts: the propped cantilever
deflection of 43.75mm, and the
simply-supported beam deflection Since there are now two plastic hinges, the
due to the extra load of 54 – 48 structure cannot sustain any more load and thus
= 6 kN. Similarly the rotation at A collapses at 54 kN.
now comes from the additional 6 kN The load-deflection graph of the results shows the
load only: formation of the first hinge, as the slope of the line
changes (i.e. the structure becomes less stiff):

This behavior is summarized in the

following diagram.
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37
Important definitions
Load factor
The load factor for a possible collapse mechanism i, denoted , is of
prime importance in plastic analysis:

The working load is the load which the structure is expected to carry in
the course of its lifetime.
The collapse load factor, , is the load factor at which the structure will
actually fail. It is therefore the minimum of the load factors for the
different possible collapse mechanisms;

In our previous analysis the working load was 32 kN and the collapse
load for the single mechanism was found to be 54 kN. Hence:
02/11/2022
38
Cont’d

Factor of safety
 This is defined as;

 The FoS is an elastic analysis measure of the safety of a design. For

our example:

 Prior to the limit-state approach, codes of practice were based on this

definition of safety.

02/11/2022
39 Equilibrium (static) method
Introduction 5. Determine the equilibrium equations
To perform this analysis we generally from the composite BMD;
follow the following steps: 6. Choose the points where plastic
1. Find a primary structure by removing hinges are likely to form and
redundant until the structure is statically introduce into the
determinate; equilibrium equations;
2. Draw the primary (or free) bending 7. Calculate the collapse load factor, or
moment diagram; plastic moment capacity as required .

3. Draw the reactant BMD for each For different possible collapse
redundant, as applied to the primary mechanisms, repeat steps 6 and 7,
structure; varying the hinge locations .
4. Construct a composite BMD by combing
the primary and reactant BMDs;
02/11/2022
40 Cont’d
For Step 4, in constructing the Composite BMD,
Steps 1 to 3 of the Equilibrium Method are illustrated we arbitrarily choose tension on the underside of
in the following diagram: the beam as positive. By convention in the
Equilibrium Method, instead of drawing the two
BMDs on opposite sides (as is actually the case),
the reactant BMD is drawn ‘flipped’ over the line
and subtracted from the primary BMD: the net
remaining area is the final BMD. This is best
explained by illustration below:

02/11/2022
41 Cont’d
As may be seen from the composite
diagram, , can actually have any value (for
example, if a rotational spring support This is equivalent to drawing the
existed at A), once overall equilibrium of the following diagram:
structure is maintained through the primary
(or free) BMD ordinate of .
For Step 5, from the diagram, the
equilibrium equation is:

For Step 6, we recognize that there are two For Step 7, we solve this equation for
hinges required to collapse the structure and
the collapse load:
identify the peak moments from the diagram
as being at A and C. Thus these are the likely
hinge locations. Setting in the equilibrium 02/11/2022
equation gives:
42
Cont’d

For our particular example, L=1m,=9KNm, and P=32𝛌, thus;

And so the collapse load factor is:

Which is the same as the results previously found.

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43 Kinematic method using virtual work
Introduction
The easiest way to carry out a plastic analysis is through the
Kinematic Method using virtual work.
To do this we allow the presumed shape at collapse to be the
compatible displacement set, and the external loading and internal
bending moments to be the equilibrium set. We can then equate
external and internal virtual work, and solve for the collapse load
factor for that supposed mechanism.
• Equilibrium set: the internal bending moments at collapse.
• Compatible set: the virtual collapsed configuration (see below).
02/11/2022
44 Cont’d

Illustrative example
The previously deployed example is repeated here. we know that we
require two hinges for collapse (one more than its degree of redundancy),
and we think that the hinges will occur under the points of peak moment,
A and C. Therefore impose a unit virtual displacement at C and relate the
corresponding virtual rotations of the hinges using , giving:

02/11/2022
45 Cont’d
Notice that the collapse load is the working load times the collapse
load factor. So:

Since , the result is as found before.

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46
Theorems of plastic analysis
Criteria
In Plastic Analysis to identify the correct load factor, there are three criteria
of importance:
1. Equilibrium: the internal bending moments must be in equilibrium
with the external loading.
2. Mechanism: at collapse the structure, or a part of, can deform as a
mechanism.
3. Yield: no point in the structure can have a moment greater than the
plastic moment capacity of the section it is applied to.
Based on these criteria, we have the following theorems.

02/11/2022
47 Cont’d
1. The upper-bound (unsafe) theorem
If a bending moment diagram is found which satisfies the conditions of
equilibrium and mechanism (but not necessarily yield), then the
corresponding load factor is either greater than or equal to the true load
factor at collapse.
This is called the unsafe theorem because for an arbitrarily assumed
mechanism the load factor is either exactly right (when the yield criterion
is met) or is wrong and is too large, leading a designer to think that the
frame can carry more load than is actually possible. Think of it like this:
unless it’s exactly right, it’s dangerous. (yield line analysis method).

02/11/2022
48 Cont’d
2. The lower bound (safe) theorem
If a bending moment diagram is found which satisfies the conditions of
equilibrium and yield (but not necessarily that of mechanism), then the
corresponding load factor is either less than or equal to the true load
factor at collapse.
This is a safe theorem because the load factor will be less than (or at
best equal to) the collapse load factor once equilibrium and yield
criteria are met leading the designer to think that the structure can
carry less than or equal to its actual capacity.
it’s either wrong and safe or right and safe. (strip method of slab
design)

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49
Cont’d
3. The uniqueness theorem
If a bending moment distribution can be found which satisfies the three
conditions of equilibrium, mechanism, and yield, then the corresponding
load factor is the true load factor at collapse.

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50 Plastic design
Load factor and plastic moment capacity
When we come to design a structure using plastic methods, it is the load factor that
is known in advance and it is the plastic moment capacity that is the objective. The
general virtual work equations for a proposed collapse mechanism i is;

In which j is an individual load and deflection or plastic moment and rotation pair
of collapse mechanism i. If we take the of each member to be some factor, , of a
nominal , then we have:

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51
Cont’d
Since work is a scalar quantity, and since the sum of work done on
both sides is positive, we can see that the load factor and plastic
moment capacity have a linear relationship of slope m for each
collapse mechanism i:

Thus for each collapse mechanism, , we can plot the load factor against
the plastic moment capacity. We do so for two cases:

02/11/2022
52 Cont’d
1. Load Factor Required – Design Plastic Moment Capacity Known:

We can see from this graph that for a particular value of the plastic
moment capacity, , collapse mechanism k gives the lowest load factor
and so by the Upper bound Theorem is the true collapse mechanism.
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53 Cont’d
2. Design Load Factor Known – Plastic Moment Capacity Required:

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54 Cont’d
From this graph we can see that for a particular value of the load factor,
, collapse mechanism k gives the highest design plastic moment
capacity, . However, since by the Upper bound Theorem we know
collapse mechanism k to be the true collapse mechanism, it is
therefore the highest value of from each of the mechanisms that is
required.
Mathematically, using the Upperbound Theorem, the above is
summarized as:

Hence, when the desired is specified: 02/11/2022

55 Cont’d

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 Cont’d; (plastic analysis of beams)
56

Example-fixed-fixed beam with point load

For the following beam find the load at collapse, given that 60 kNm.

To start the problem, we examine the usual elastic BMD to see where the
plastic hinges are likely to form:

02/11/2022
57 Cont’d
 We also need to know how many hinges are required. This structure
is 3˚ statically indeterminate and so we might expect the number of
plastic hinges required to be 4. However, since one of the
indeterminacies is horizontal restraint, removing it would not
change the bending behavior of the beam. Thus for a bending
collapse only 2 indeterminacies apply and so it will only take 3
plastic hinges to cause collapse.
 So looking at the elastic BMD, we’ll assume a collapse mechanism
with the 3 plastic hinges at the peak moment locations: A, B, and C.
Next, we impose a virtual rotation of to the plastic hinge at A and
using the rule, relate all other displacements to it, and then apply the
virtual work equation:
02/11/2022
 58
Cont’d

We need to check that this is the

correct solution using the Uniqueness
at A at c at B Theorem:
1. Equilibrium:
We’ll check that the height of the free
 Since =60kNm, the load required for collapse BMD is 120 kNm as per the collapse
is P= 80 kN and so the collapse BMD for this
BMD:
mechanism is:
02/11/2022
 Cont’d
59
And so the applied load is in
equilibrium with the free BMD of the
collapse BMD.
2. Mechanism:
From the proposed collapse
mechanism it is apparent that the beam
Thus using a free body diagram of CB: is a mechanism.
3. Yield:
From the collapse BMD it can be seen
that nowhere is exceeded.
Thus the solution meets the three
conditions and so, by the Uniqueness
Theorem, is the correct solution. 02/11/2022
 Plastic analysis of frames
60
Additional aspects for frames
Basic collapse mechanism
in frames the basic collapse mechanisms are:

Beam type collapse sway type collapse combination collapse

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 Location of plastic hinges at joints
61
In frames where members of Combination of mechanisms
One of the most powerful tools in plastic analysis is
different capacities meet at Combination of Mechanisms. This allows us to
joints, it is the weaker work out the virtual work equations for the beam
member that develops the and sway collapses separately and then combine
them to find the collapse load factor for a
plastic hinge. combination collapse mechanism.

As shown in the figure Combination of mechanisms is based on the idea

that there are only a certain number of independent
below, The plastic hinge equilibrium equations for a structure. Any further
occurs in the column and not equations are obtained from a combination of these
independent equations. Since equilibrium equations
in the beam section since the can be obtained using virtual work applied to a
column section is weaker. possible collapse mechanism, it follows that there
are independent collapse mechanisms, and other
collapse mechanisms that may be obtained from a
combination of the independent collapse
02/11/2022
mechanisms.
 Example 5-simple portal frame
62
In this example we will consider a basic Beam collapse
prismatic (so all members have the same
The possible beam collapse looks as
plastic moment capacity) rectangular
follows:
portal frame with pinned feet:

The virtual work equation for this

gives;
We will consider each of the possible
mechanisms outlined above. 02/11/2022
 Cont’d
63
Giving:

Sway collapse
the virtual deflection for the sway
collapse is: Combined collapse
The virtual deflection for this form of
collapse is:

02/11/2022
 Cont’d
64 Giving:

Collapse mode
Notice that each mechanism defines a
Since we don’t know the relative
boundary and that it is only the region inside
values of H and V, we cannot
all of these boundaries that is safe. Now, for a
determine the correct collapse mode. given ration of V to H, we will be able to
However, we can identify these determine the critical collapse mechanism.
collapse modes if we plot the three Note also that the beam collapse mechanism is
load factor equations derived above on only critical for this frame at point P on the
the following interaction chart: chart – this point is also included02/11/2022
in the
Combined mechanism.
65

The end

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