INES 2013 • IEEE 17th International Conference on Intelligent Engineering Systems • June 19-21, 2013, Costa Rica
Modelling of Encased Steel Beams
in Abaqus Program
V. Kvočák*, M. Tomko* and V. Kožlejová *
* Institute of Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering Faculty, Technical University of Košice,Slovakia
vincent.kvocak@tuke.sk, michal.tomko@tuke.sk, viktoria.kozlejova@tuke.sk
Abstract— The composite steel-concrete constructions are
going to be applied in a wider range. They are able to
combine the advantages of two construction materials whose
properties are substantially different. To construct an
appropriate computer modelling is a highly demanding
task. This paper presents the construction of the encased
steel beam model. The computer program Abaqus has been
applied.
I. INTRODUCTION
In structural engineering (building and bridge
engineering) the traditionally applied materials are
concrete and steel. Each of these materials has both its
advantages and disadvantages. Steel constructions prove
high carrying capacity at low weight. Their high strength
can be utilized mainly for sliding components as under the
compression stress there arise local and global stability
problems. In some cases their low rigidity could cause
some problems. Fire and corrosion protections have to be
provided in steel constructions which increase costs and
moreover it requires additional costs on maintenance.
Concrete constructions are generally rigid enough but the
low tensile strength of concrete has to be solved by steel
reinforcement nevertheless the tensile strength of concrete
is not considered in this case. A further issue could occur
due to high self-weight of these constructions. An ideal
solution can be obtained by utilizing advantages of both
materials with the aim to eliminate their disadvantages.
This idea has become the basis for construction of
composite steel-concrete constructions. Basically they
stand for concrete and steel building components mutually
composed by different composing means in order to
achieve a compact homogeneous material behaviour
instead of more various ones. Steel acts in tension and as
a consequence its high strength is utilized without
decreasing the effective cross-section by local stability
defection. Concrete acts in tension therefore it
appropiately complements steel and no reinforcement is
required to provide the bending, resp. tensile strength. On
Figure 1. Deformation and stress strain curves in encased cross-section
978-1-4799-0830-1/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
the whole the composite steel-concrete constructions
prove higher rigidity compared with steel constructions
and moreover they become more stabile. Also the
dynamic stress attenuation is increasing. The steel
consumption decreases which is more expensive than the
concrete one. Fire –and corrosion resistance increases
dominantly in the encased types of composite concrete
constructions. In comparison with concrete constructions
the components of composite constructions are slimmer
(pillars), respectively lower (beams, decks). Consequently
the self-weight is decreasing and due to this fact the
permanent construction loading is lower. The combination
of these two building materials leads to optimal utilization
of their best qualities.
The composite steel -concrete constructions are made
of two materials which are composed to perform as
a compact unit. Each of these materials has substantially
different properties. To determine the cross-section stress
it is necessary to consider preservation of cross-section
flatness i.e. the proportional deformation takes place in
a linear course along the cross-section height. The elastic
reaction and the cross-section rigidity are characterized
by the modulus of elasticity which stands for relation
between cross-section stress and proportional deformation
of the cross-section. The maximum stress which could
occur in the steel is at the level of yield strength. The
maximum stress which could occur in concrete is equal to
its strength. Concrete has a different tensile strength and a
compressive strength. The tensile strength of concrete is
substantially lower than its compresssive one. In this
given part of the cross-section, where the stress exceeds
the tensile strength of concrete, cracks can be identified.
Taking into account the plastic impact the aim is to
achieve maximum stress throughout the entire cross-
section. The sliding concrete is not taken into
consideration. The cross-sectional strain as a consequence
of stress by bending moment at plastic impact is
demonstrated in Figure 1.
ε fck 0.85fck
fy fy
real stress strain curve idealized stress strain curve
– 255 –
V. Kvocák et al. • Modelling of Encased Steel Beams in Abaqus Program
I. ENCASED STEEL BEAMS IN DECK BRIDGES
In bridge engineering composite constructions are used
very frequently. One type of these composite bridges is
the deck bridge with encased concrete beams. They are
made of concrete deck which is longitudinally reinforced
by cased reinforcement. This reinforcement consists of
steel rolled or welded beams. Transversally the
reinforcing bars are present.
The steel bridges built in the past do not meet the
requirements set on the modernization of railway roads.
The deck bridges have a low construction heigth. Due to
their construction it is posibble to use railbed for the
railway road and they are rigid as well. Due to these
properties they are able to replace the old steel
constructions in the area limited by levelling and
furthermore they comply with all relevant standards on the
construction of railway roads. They are mainly used for
reconstruction of steel railway bridges with a span
approximately 10m and up to a maximum span of 20 m.
At the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical
University of Košice there is a research programme in
progress focused on the design of deck bridges. The main
aim of the research is to design constructions which will
be cost-effective and simultaneouosly they will be in
compliance with standards of resistance and rigidity. One
of the partial issues of the research programme is to
formulate a calculation model which will take into
consideration the real behaviour of deck bridges with
encased beams..
II. MODEL OF ENCASED STEEL BEAMS CONSTRUCTED
IN ABAQUS PROGRAM
The calculation model is based on specimens of deck
bridges tested in the laboratory. The specimens were made
of rolled encased sections IPE200. The concrete cover
above the steel beam is 70 mm. The overall height of the
deck was 270 mm and its width was 670 mm which
corresponds to the axial distance of steel beams in deck
bridges. At the upper edge of the deck there were three
and at the lower edge two concrete reinforcing bars 12
mm in diameter which were proposed in the construction.
The transverse reinforcement consists of stirrups 12 mm
in diameter placed in an axial distance of 300 m. The
Figure 2. Three dimensional model of encased beam
– 256 –
length of specimens was 3000 mm.
The specimens were simply placed at both edges. At the
one edge there was a non-elastic bearing and at the other
one a horizontal shift is provided. From the viewpoint of
statics the specimens were simple beams.The theoretical
span was 2.8 m. The specimens were loaded under two
forces carried by cylinders which were symetrically
placed in distance of 1.0 m from the bearer axis. The
stress was applied continouosly 7.5 kN on each cylinder.
The specimens were twice unloaded, firstly from the
loading value 60 kN to 15 kN and secondly from 105 kN
to 30 kN.
The simulation of composite beam was carried out in
Abaqus 6.11-2. program. The beam geometry and the
loadings were utilized and therefore only the half beam
was modelled. The loading was carried through cylinders
70 mm in diameter which were placed on solid bars 40
mm thick. The beam was placed on connected 100 mm
wide bearers. The loading and the placing were in
compliance with laboratory test procedure standards.
(Fig.2). The concrete, steel beam and reinforcement
components were constructed by 3D ultimate elements.
The calculation model had 1 564 963 elements. In the
analysis the working diagrams of steel, concrete and
reinforcement were taken into consideration which were
constructed according to experimental measurements of
the materials. The plastic deformations of individual
elements were dealt with as well. The working diagram of
concrete which is different for bending and compressed
parts is presented in Figure 3.
Material characteristics of concrete, steel and
reinforcement:
cylindrical compressive strength of concrete
fck = 25 MPa
tensile strength of concrete at bending fct = 3.7 MPa
modulus of concrete elasticity Ecm = 31.5 GPa
yield strength of steel fy = 273 MPa
modulus of steel elasticity Ea = 210 GPa
yield strength of reinforcement fs = 500 MPa
modulus of steel elasticity Es = 200 GPa
 INES 2013 • IEEE 17th International Conference on Intelligent Engineering Systems • June 19-21, 2013, Costa Rica
Figure 3. Working diagram of concrete
The calculation model Dynamics Explicit was chosen
in which the time step was 0.01s. The contacts between
the beams in the bearing and the loading deck were
considered as HARD contact. The calculation lasted 36
hours at XEON 2.4GHz, 48GB RAM where 6 cores of the
system were utilized. The simulation results were
compared with those ones of the experimental
measurements..
Modelling of composite constructions can cause two
basic problems. One of them is the modeling of
composition process mostly in cases of partial
composition or composition with slipping. The specimens
whose models are presented in this paper are overall
composed and there was no slip observed between the
concrete and steel parts. The contact between the steel and
concrete parts are therefore modelled as solid ones.
The next more important issue is the identification of
crack formation and its expansion in the sliding concrete.
According to experiments and theoretical measurements it
can be stated that encased steel beam proves higher
rigidity compared with non-encased one also in those
cases when some cracks are formed in concrete. But if this
Figure 5. Proportional plastic deformations in concrete
– 257 –
Figure 4. Dependence    in tension for CDP
model
beam was modelled as encased one without crack
formation, its rigidity would be abnormally high.
The applied program simulates the crack formation by
the model of Concrete Damaged Plasticity - CDP). Based
on experimental    curves for both uniaxial tension
and compression, it is possible to define the dependence
between stress – cracking strain ( ~t ) in uniaxial tension
ck
and stress – crushing strain ( ~t ) in uniaxial
in
compression. Fig. 4 shows which values in CDP model
are interpreted as the cracking strain ( ~t ) and the
ck
crushing strain ( ~t ). In the cracking area there is no
in
material. This program processes the model in which the
cracking area comprises an elastic perfectly plastic
material. In this model of beam the crack causes plastic
deformations. (Fig. 5). At the point of cracking formation
towards the beam centre with the highest stress area the
consequent plastic behaviour of steel can be determined.
The strain decrease in direction to bearers is related to
decrease of beam loading. (Fig. 6). Similarly there occur
strains also in reinforcing bars which are presented in Fig.
7.
V. Kvocák et al. • Modelling of Encased Steel Beams in Abaqus Program

Not only the proportional deformation and strain in
cross-section are important features of construction
behaviour but also the deflection. The size of deflection
depends on the rigidity of cross-section component. The
deflection is the largest in the centre of span but its size is
influenced by the rigidity of the complete component.
Longitudinally encased beams have variable rigidity. In
those parts of the beam where the tensile stress in concrete
does not exceed the tensile strength of concrete, the cross-
sections have the flexural rigidity EI1. This rigidity is
calculated considering the total concrete part of the cross-
section. The rigidity of cross-sections in those parts with
totally developed cracks – EI2 is calculated by excluding
the sliding concrete. In the beam parts, between these two
marginal points, rigidity steadily varies. The size of
deflection at beam loading under forces 140 kN on each
cylinder is presented in Fig. 8. In experiments the
deflection in the span centre was measured. The
comparison of measured values and the results of
numerical model are shown in the graph. (Fig. 9).

Figure 6. Von Mises strains in steel cross-section IPE200 [MPa]

Figure 7. Von Mises strains in reinforcement [MPa]

Figure 8. Deflection [mm]

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 INES 2013 • IEEE 17th International Conference on Intelligent Engineering Systems • June 19-21, 2013, Costa Rica
Figure 9. Diagram of a deflection-load curve
III. CONCLUSION
The computer program Abaqus enables modelling of [1]
concrete applying the method which demonstrates the [2]
simulation of crack formation. This model is requirable
for identification of real behaviour of the construction in
which concrete is used also in sliding parts of the cross- [3]
section. The obtained results from computer model
created in the mentioned program are precisely consistent
with experimental results. As the load is higher there [4]
occur slight differences. It is caused by unloading of real
construction. This unloading leads to permanent
deformation in the construction as a consequence of
imperfect cracking block in concrete .
[5]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The research was funded by the project ITMS
"26220220124": "Research into Filler-Beam Deck [6]
Bridges with Encased Beams of Modified Sections".
– 259 –
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