Analysis of steel–concrete composite beam using Ansys 18.1 Workbench

Abstract

Composite beams made from more than one material can cover large column-free spaces. Composite construction is faster than cast in-situ concrete as rolled steel and prefabricated components are used. Steel concrete composite beam consists of a steel beam above which a concrete slab with reinforcement is casted using shear connectors. In recent years, steel–concrete composite beams have been employed extensively in structures and on bridges. The concrete act together with steel to create a stiffer, lighter, less expensive structure. The analysis using ANSYS 18.1 Workbench is significant as it provides more accuracy compared to experimental analysis along with being cost efficient and time saving and it uses the principle of finite element analysis. An experimental study was done to study the behavior of composite beam under monotonic load by Bing Wang, Qiao Huang, Xiao ling Liu and Wenxian Li. The study was conducted on eight composite beams with various arrangement of shear connectors to assess their performance under monotonic load and fatigue load. This paper studies the structural behavior of steel concrete composite beam under monotonic load and also compares the experimental results obtained from above mentioned paper with the results obtained for four steel–concrete composite beams analyzed using Ansys 18.1 Workbench. Non-linear static analysis was done on four sets of beams based on the variation in number of studs and stud spacing. SOLID 65 element was used for concrete and LINK180 element for modelling reinforcement. The analysis as per the report generated by the ANSYS software, seems to stop on 156th iteration and the results were then obtained. Load-deformation and ductility index of the beams were obtained from software and were compared with experimental values. Crack pattern was also obtained using linear analysis. The percentage error occurred in terms of ultimate load, total deformation and ductility index is less than 10%. It was found that as the number of shear connector provided was beyond the permissible number there can be crowding which could result in more cracks. Hence, it is advisable to not to use increased number of studs, as that may result in harming the serviceability conditions of structure.