Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406 www.elsevier.

com/locate/jcsr

Finite element analysis of corrugated web beams under bending

C.L. Chan, Y.A. Khalid , B.B. Sahari, A.M.S. Hamouda
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400 Selgangor, Malaysia Received 18 September 2001; received in revised form 30 November 2001; accepted 3 December 2001

Abstract The effect of web corrugation on the beams strength is presented in this paper. Beams with plane web, vertically and horizontally corrugated webs were investigated using LUSAS nite element package. For the horizontally corrugated case, one arc and two arcs were studied, while half-circular wave corrugation was used for the vertical type. Half of circle corrugations of 22.41 mm mean radius and 3.44 mm thickness were used throughout this study. Non-linear elasticplastic behaviour has been considered. Three different corrugation radii were taken for each type of the beam to investigate its effect on the beams strength. Ordinary I-beams, with plane web, were also tested experimentally. The comparison between the results obtained from both methods, for the plane web type, shows 3.1% to 7.1% differences. On the other hand, it is also found that beams with vertically corrugated web stands 38.8% to 54.4% higher moments than the horizontal type. The vertically corrugated web provides a stronger support against the ange buckling, compared to the plane and horizontally corrugated web types. It is found to be the same for the three radii taken. Moreover, corrugated web beams with larger corrugation radius could sustain higher bending moment and it is true for the sizes used throughout this investigation. 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Keywords: Finite element method; Corrugated web; Arcs corrugation; Corrugation direction; Radius effect

Corresponding author. Tel.: +603-894-66333; fax: +603-86567099. E-mail address: yousif@eng.upm.edu.my (Y.A. Khalid).

0143-974X/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. PII: S 0 1 4 3 - 9 7 4 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 7 5 - X

1392

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

Nomenclature bf width of ange d depth of beam dm = 2rm mean diameter of corrugated web second moment of area about X-axis Ixx M bending moment P applied load on compression ange p loading position on vertically corrugated web beam inner radius/minor radius of arc ri outer radius/major radius of arc ro ange thickness tf web thickness tw V volume W weight angle of corrugation corrugation length Ultimate strength U yield stress y

1. Introduction The corrugated webs are introduced to allow the use of thin plates without stiffeners for use in buildings and bridges. It could eliminate the usage of larger thickness and stiffeners that contributed to the reduction in beam weight and cost. The author found that the early works were carried out by Elgaaly [1] and has been further developed to the practical stage. Most of these analytical and experimental studies concentrated on the trapezoidal vertically corrugated webs. Elgaaly et al. [2] investigated the failure mechanisms of these beams under shear, bending and compressive patch loads. It was found that the failure of beams under shear loading is due to buckling on the web, where local and global for coarse and dense corrugation respectively . Similarly under bending, the compression ange vertically buckled into the crippled web when the yield stress is reached. It was also found that the ultimate moment capacity could be calculated considering the ange and neglecting the web as its contribution to the beams moment carrying capacity is insignicant [3]. Nevertheless, under compressive patch loads, two distinct modes of failure observed. These involve the formation of collapse mechanism on ange followed by the web crippling or yielded web cripples followed by vertical bending of the ange into the crippled web. The failure of these beams is found to be dependent on the loading position and corrugation parameters where it can be a combination of the aforementioned modes [4]. Comparison to the analytical result shows that the average ratio between nite element and experimental results are 1.151,

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1393

1.036 and 1.085 times for shear, exure and partial compressive patch loads, respectively [5]. This is in agreement with the results obtained by Johnson and Cafolla [6,7]. These differences in results, experimental and analytical analyses, was due to a consideration adopted in modelling the problem and has been addressed by Luo and Edlund [9,10]. They found that the ultimate strength of a RambergOsgood strainhardening model is 812% higher than an elasticplastic model. About 7% reduction of ultimate load was contributed by the presence of local imperfection and not global imperfection. While the corner effects due to cold forming has an insignicant effect on the ultimate strength. The ultimate strength is found to be 20% and 40% lower when a knife load was applied in comparison to uniform distributed patch load with patch length of 50 and 115.2 mm, respectively. The highest value of strength obtained when the girder is loaded at the centre of the oblique part of corrugation and the lowest value was obtained at the centre of the at part. Besides that, the performance of corrugated girders can also be affected by the corrugation parameters. Girders with larger corrugation angle and thicker web and ange have higher ultimate strength or ultimate shear capacity. In addition, the shear capacity increases proportionally with the girder depth but an insignicant effect on the ultimate strength was observed when subjected to patch load. Zhang et al. [11,12] and Li et al. [8] studied the inuence of the corrugation parameters and developed a set of optimised parameters for the wholly corrugated web beams based on the basic optimisation on the plane web beams. It was also found that the corrugated web beam has 1.52 times higher buckling resistance than the plane web beam. Throughout this investigation, corrugated webs of arc corrugation were selected. Both horizontal and vertical directions of corrugation were considered. I-beam of 500 mm length, 75 mm ange width and 127 mm deep were selected to be the basis for this investigation. For the horizontal case, webs with one arc and two arcs were studied while the depth of the corrugated webs was kept the same. Three-point exural tests were carried out on plane web. Then all types of beams, plane and corrugated web types were modelled and analysed by using nite element method where material nonlinearity was adopted. Comparison between the experimental and the nite element analysis results was made. The aim was to determine the accuracy of the analytical method and to verify the improvement in the strength of the beam through use of corrugated webs as compared to a plane web. Parametric studies were also conducted on corrugated webs with different radius ratio to investigate the effect of arc sizes to the beams strength. The manufacturing process of the corrugated web beam was briey discussed for the sizes taken in this investigation. In addition, the effect of the corrugations direction was also veried.

2. Models geometry and materials Four types of mild steel beam were studied namely the plane web (PWx), horizontal corrugated web of one arc corrugation (HC1Rx) and two arcs corrugation

1394

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

(HC2Rx) and vertically corrugated web (VCRx). The corrugation parameters are as shown in Fig. 1. For the plane web, the W-shape type beams (W125 x 13.4 or US customary unit W5 x 9) were tested. Each beam was of 127.05 mm depth and 77.05 mm width. The detailed dimensions for each type of beam are as tabulated in Table 1. For VCRx, web thickness is measured at the cross section where load is applied. Standard tensile tests were conducted on coupons collected from the plane web beams at various locations (see Fig. 2). Similar tests were also carried out for the mild steel pipes and at bars used for the latter fabrication of the corrugated web beams. The average yield stress and ultimate strength obtained are tabulated in Table 2. On the other hand, the typical nite element model of the corrugated web and plane web beam created for this project are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 while the assumed boundary conditions are given in Table 3. A full model of each beam was created according to the dimensions shown in Table 1. Global distributed load type was applied along the width of the top ange at an equal distance from the supported ends. LUSAS nite element package has been used for the modelling and analysis. The load is incremented automatically by using the incrementation scheme of LUSAS. For the corrugated web type, curved lines were created on the web. The eight-node quadrilateral thin shell semiloof elements (QSL8) were used to model the anges and web for both plane and corrugated types.

Fig. 1. Dimensions of corrugation proles. (a) plane web (b) horizontal one arc corrugation (c) horizontal two arcs corrugation (d) vertical arcs corrugation.

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1395

Table 1 Dimensions for types of beam studied Type PWx Designation PW1 PW2 PW3 HC1R1 HC1R2 HC1R3 HC2R1 HC2R2 HC2R3 VCR1 VCR2 VCR3 d (mm) 127.05 126.00 156.00 105.00 105.00 105.00 105.00 105.00 105.00 126.00 126.00 126.00 tf (mm) 7.05 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 bf (mm) 77.05 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 tw (mm) 4.45 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 12.88 17.89 21.78 RO (mm) 24.13 35.34 68.95 24.13 35.34 68.95 12.91 24.13 35.34

HCxRx

VCRx

Fig. 2. Location of tensile specimens collected from plane web beam.

Table 2 Properties obtained from standard tensile tests Material W shape beam Flat bar Pipe E (kNmm-2) 200 200 200 sy (Nmm2) 355 275 322 sU (Nmm2) 473 405 362

All models behaviour is dened as elasticplastic materials with strain hardening. For the elastic dataset, the modulus, E and Poisson ratio, were dened as 200 GNm2 and 0.3 respectively. Furthermore the different values of the yield stress and ultimate strength were assigned respective to the type of beam and as tabulated in Table 4. The nonlinear static analysis was performed considering material nonlinearity.

1396

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

Fig. 3. Finite element model for the type of beam investigated.

3. Experimental set-up A test rig, as shown in Fig. 5, was built by using a W-shape beam, round solid shafts and at bars to support the specimen. The rig is 600 mm in length and 125 mm in height. It is tted into a 250 kN load capacity Instron tensile/compression testing machine to create the three-point exure test conditions. The specimens were rested on the solid shafts of the rig while the load was applied on the top ange at an equal distance from both supported points. The displacement control was used throughout the tests instead of the load control to obtain a uniform displacement. All specimens were loaded at a crosshead speed of 3.0 mm/min until failure (see Fig. 5 for the instrument set-up). The nal deformed prole of the plane web I-beam specimens were measured and compared with the nite element models.

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1397

Fig. 4.

Finite element model (VCR1).

Table 3 Boundary conditions Side Translation DOF dx ABC DEF GHI JKL BH excluding B and H EK excluding E and H MN F F R R F F F dy R R F F F F DC dz R F F F F F F Rotation DOF qx F F F F F F F qy F F F F F F F qz F F F F F F F

Note: F = Node is free. R = Node is restrained. DC = Node is constrained to displace constantly.

Table 4 Material properties assigned respective to the type of beam Type Flange sy (Nmm2) PW1 PW2 , PW3 HC1Rx , HC2Rx VCRx 355 275 275 275 sU (Nmm2) 473 405 405 405 Web sy (Nmm2) 355 322 322 322 sU (Nmm2) 473 362 362 362

1398

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

Fig. 5. Experimental set-up.

4. Test results Test results obtained from this investigation include the testing of the tensile specimens and the bending tests of the plane web I-beam. Nine tensile specimens were cut from different positions from the I-beam (as shown in Fig. 2) and tested for their mechanical properties (see Figs. 68). The three-point bending tests were then carried out for the selected I-beam (PW1). During the tests of these beams, it has been observed that the yielded compression ange buckled into the web and consequently followed by crippling of the web. The total applied load is plotted against machine head displacement as shown in Fig. 9. It is noted that the moment-carrying capability

Fig. 6.

Tensile test for specimens collected from the web.

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1399

Fig. 7.

Tensile test for specimens collected from the top ange.

Fig. 8.

Tensile test for specimens collected from the bottom ange.

is high prior to the compression ange yielding and decreases rapidly as buckling occurred. The nal deformed prole ordinary plane web beam is shown in Fig. 10.

5. Finite element results Applied moments were calculated from eq. (1) and plotted against maximum displacement, d for the benet of comparison. The length span is taken as 537.6 mm for VCRx and 500 mm for PWx and HCxRx models. The second moment of area about X-axis, Ixx and volume, V were also determined (refer to eqs. 29). This has been carried out to investigate the correlation between the Ixx and V values and the beams bending strength. Comparison between the Ixx values calculated from eqs. 29 and values obtained from the nite element analyses, for all models, shows

1400

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

Fig. 9.

Load versus machine head displacement (PW1).

Fig. 10. Specimen PW3 after failure.

negligible differences. From the analysis results, the vertical corrugated web beam is found to stand higher bending moment than the rest of the beams (as shown in Figs. 12 and 13). It could also be noted that the moment carrying capacity increases as larger corrugation radius is used. Besides that, from the values of Pd=5/W ratio as tabulated in Table 5, lighter beams with equal load-carrying capability and larger second moment of area, Ixx could be produced by the use of corrugation on the web in the vertical direction. Nonetheless, a slight difference was noticed from the failure mechanism in both experimental and analytical analyses. The compression ange buckled into the web as the yield stress is reached (see Fig. 14). However, in the analytical analyses, the web did not cripple as happened in the experimental specimens tested due to the nonlinearities considered and boundary condition for all models, the following equations have been used; M (PL / 4) (1)

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1401

Fig. 11.

Web thickness at different section (top), web thickness curve for VCR1 (bottom).

Ixx 2Ixx(flange) Ixx(web) Ixx(flange) (bf (tf)3) / 12 (bf tf)[(dtf) / 2]2 For WPx model, Ixx(web) (tw (d2tf)3) / 12 For HC1Rx model, Ixx(web) tw / 48{32[(h3 3(rosinq)h2 3(rosinq)2h] 3dm(d2 m t )(2qsin2q)}
2 w

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

1402

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

Fig. 12.

Comparison of moment, M at maximum displacement, d = 5 mm for various proles.

Fig. 13. Moment versus maximum displacement for various proles.

where h=l/2rosinq=d/2(tf+rosinq). For small values of q (approximate to 0 radian), Ixx(web)tw / 48{32[(h3 3(roq)h2 3(roq)2h] where hl/2roq=d/2(tf+roq). For HC2Rx model,
2 2 2 2 Ixx(web) 1 / 8(dm tw)[(2d2 m 2tw l )q(dm tw)sin2q]

(6)

(7)

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1403

Table 5 Calculated Ixx ,V and P=5/W ratio for various proles Prole PW1 PW2 PW3 HC1R1 HC1R2 HC1R3 HC2R1 HC2R2 HC2R3 VCR1 VCR2 VCR3 Ixx ( 106 mm4) 4.4481 3.6674 5.9212 2.1408 2.3654 2.3617 2.5771 2.4420 2.4229 4.8335 5.4519 5.9317 V (mm3) 794275 646080 697680 658470 621760 609235 692185 618765 607180 832744 832433 832641 Pd=5/W (ms2) 21835.0 10791.2 10029.6 7651.3 10845.0 11485.6 4411.3 9622.7 11943.6 10847.4 12074.1 13293.5

Fig. 14.

Deformed mesh of PW1 model.

where =d(2tf+tw/sinq). For small values of q (approximate to 0 radian), Ixx(web)1 / 4(rm tw q l2) where ld(2tf+tw/q). For VCRx model, Ixx(web) (tw (d2tf)3) / 12 where
2 2 2 tw r2 o p r i p

(8)

(9) forrip0 forropri

2 2 2 r 2 fordmpro o(dmp) ri (dmp)

2 2 2 r 2 op ro(dmp)

1404

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

(refer to Fig. 11) Pd=5 / W Pd=5 / (rsteel V) where rsteel 7860 kgm-3 (10)

6. Results and discussion The results obtained from both the experimental and nite element methods were compared to verify the nite element models created and to see if it could closely reect the behaviour of such beams in the real condition. This has been carried for the rst set of models of PW1 type. The comparison of both results for PW1 models is shown in Fig. 15. From the graph plotted, a good degree of accuracy was achieved where the failure loads (based on the maximum load value in test) show a limited difference of 3.1% to 7.1%. Nevertheless, the failure mechanism of the nite element models shows a slight difference compared to the experimentally tested beams due to the idealistic behaviour of the models. The deformed proles along the length span for specimen PW1 were measured by using Contour Measuring Machine (CMM) at the top ange and compared with the nite element results for similar model as shown in Fig. 16. A constant variation of displacement exists between the two results and the same value of maximum displacement is noticed. This is due to the occurrence of crippling on the web in experimental test specimens. On the manufacturing side of view, for these corrugated web beams, a hot rolling process is more applicable to be used. This is suitable for small corrugation radius beams. Difculties would appear for long corrugation radius and for that rolling of web may be done rst then two anges would be welded on both sides.

Fig. 15.

Comparison between nite element (FEA) and experimental results for PW1.

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

1405

Fig. 16. Deformed prole of top ange for PW1 model for both the experimental and nite element analysis.

7. Conclusion The difference between the experimental and the nite element analysis results is contributed mainly to the idealistic behaviour of the models created where nonlinear buckling has not clearly identied. This principle creates a different failure mechanism obtained on the web, while the anges were behaving the same for both results. The failure load could not be determined from the nite element results where strainhardening properties were used. Nevertheless, the models created could closely depict the experimental conditions where the percentage of differences obtained in the range of 3.1% to 7.1% for the maximum load. The main conclusions that can be drawn from this investigation include: 1. The vertical corrugation produces higher strength than the horizontal corrugation and the plane web, at an average range of 1.82.1. 2. The strength increases as the corrugation radius used increases. 3. The Ixx values calculated by using the derived equations and the LUSAS nite element package are adequately the same, that the maximum deviation obtained is 4.1%. 4. The arc corrugation could be manufactured by hot rolling process, but it is important to mention that, a larger corrugation radius or angle of corrugation, q is not practical to produce and could damage the tool. 5. When the vertical corrugated beams are compared to the original I-beams, of the same parameters, it appears that a lighter vertical corrugated beam could carry the same load of the original I-beams with 10.6% reduction in weight. 6. The increase of the corrugation radius for the vertical corrugated webs would further reduce the weight of the beam for the same maximum load when compared to the original I-beam.

1406

C.L. Chan et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 58 (2002) 13911406

References
[1] Elgaaly M, Seshadri A, Hamilton RW. Beams with corrugated webs, research to practice. In: Proceedings of the Jun 14-16 1995 NSF Research Transformed into Practice: implementation Conference. VA (USA): Arlington; 1995, p. 60312. [2] Elgaaly M, Hamilton RW, Seshadri A. Shear strength of beams with corrugated webs. Journal of Structural Engineering ASCE 1996;122(4):3908. [3] Elgaaly M, Seshadri A, Hamilton RW. Bending strength of steel beams with corrugated webs. Journal of Structural Engineering ASCE 1997;123(6):77282. [4] Elgaaly M, Seshadri A. Girders with corrugated webs under partial compressive edge loading. Journal of Structural Engineering ASCE 1997;123(6):78391. [5] Elgaaly M, Seshadri A. Depicting the behavior of girders with corrugated webs up to failure using non-linear nite element analysis. Journal of Advances in Engineering Software 1998;29(3 6):195208. [6] Johnson RP, Cafolla J. Local ange buckling in plate girders with corrugated webs. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Structures and Buildings 1997;122(2):14856. [7] Johnson RP, Cafolla J. Corrugated webs in plate girders for bridges. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Structures and Buildings 1997;122(2):15764. [8] Li Y, Zhang W, Zhou Q, Qi X, Widera GEO. Buckling strength analysis of the web of a WCW H-beam: Part 2. Development and research on H-beams with wholly corrugated webs (WCW). Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2000;101(1):1158. [9] Luo R, Edlund B. Ultimate strength of girders with trapezoidally corrugated webs under patch loading. Journal of Thin-Walled Structures 1996;24(2):13556. [10] Luo R, Edlund B. Shear capacity of plate girders with trapezoidally corrugated webs. Journal of Thin-Walled Structures 1996;26(1):1944. [11] Zhang W, Zhou Q, Li Y, Cai Z, Widera GEO. Hot rolling technique and prole design of toothshape rolls. Part 1: Development and research on H-beams with wholly corrugated webs. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2000;101(1):1104. [12] Zhang W, Li Y, Zhou Q, Qi X, Widera GEO. Optimization of the structure of an H-beam with either a at or a corrugated web. Part 3: Development and research on H-beams with wholly corrugated webs. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2000;101(1):11923.