Abstract
Tapered steel beams and columns have been increasingly used as primary load carrying members. The determination of their accurate ultimate capacity can only be achieved employing advanced numerical methods such as the finite element method (FEM). This paper presents a systematic study on the influence of FE model parameters on the ultimate load of I-section tapered beam-columns typically used in medium-span steel frames. It aims the determination of optimal FE mesh size and sub-step number to be used during the arc-length scheme for the performance of an accurate, robust and efficient inelastic post-buckling parametric analysis (PA) as well as the evaluation of the parameters influence. Once validated the FE model, using hexahedral 8-node finite elements, FE edge sizes of 20, 25 and 30 mm and 10 sub-steps have been selected for use in the future PA. Several FE analyses were also carried out to evaluate how it is and quantify the influence of each of the parameters, leading to empirical equations with errors in the range of -35% to 35% for equations without crossed terms and -23% to 23% with first-order crossed terms.
Highlights
Non-prismatic members are widely used in modern steel construction in Civil, Mechanical and Aeronautical industries, mostly due to their i) structural efficiency, ii) functionality and iii) low fabrication costs (Zhang and Tong 2008)
The first objective of the work presented in this paper is the use of FEA techniques as well as the discussion of how to use them, which lead to a reduced simulation time that still guarantees the quality of the results
Since member flanges and webs cannot be considered thin-walled for all cases to be simulated in the parametric analysis (PA), hexahedral 8-nodes FEs, SOLID185 in Ansys Inc. (2014), were adopted
Summary
Non-prismatic (tapered) members are widely used in modern steel construction in Civil, Mechanical and Aeronautical industries, mostly due to their i) structural efficiency, ii) functionality and iii) low fabrication costs (Zhang and Tong 2008). In order to take advantage of those benefits, accurate, simple and efficient design methods must be available It is well-known (Marques et al 2012) that safety verifications in steel standards (CEN 2005, 2006, AISC 2010, SA 2016), mostly adapted from prismatic member rules, might be unsafe (up to 300% in some cases – Bedynek et al 2013), difficult to perform, and/or quite conservative (not taking advantage of the economy of nonprismatic members). The large amount of research performed in the last few decades, either concerning i) numerical/analytical formulations (Asgarian and Soltani 2011, Trahair 2014, Mohri et al 2015, Ghadban et al 2017, Kim and Jang 2017, Balduzzi et al 2017, Lee and Lee 2018), or ii) design methods (Marques et al 2012, Zhang et al 2013, Papp 2016), it is still imperative the development of groundbreaking (i.e., simultaneously accurate, easy-to-use, versatile, efficient and affordable) design rules/tools for tapered steel members
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