Response of frames to loading

Introduction to key concepts

Member behaviour
L
o
a
d

Deflection
Linear response until material
reaches yield stress

Magnitude of deformations
depends on E and G

Residual stresses cause early
yielding BUT steel ductility
causes local redistribution

May assume linear behaviour
until more general yielding
occurs
Member behaviour
L
o
a
d

Deflection
Full Plasticity
Once yielding starts, member
becomes non-linear and
behaviour approaches full
plasticity

This non-linear behaviour is
due to
MATERIAL NON-LINEARITY
Material non-linearity
Member behaviour
L
o
a
d

Deflection
Full Plasticity
GEOMETRIC NON-LINEARITY
Bending moments and
torques influenced by
deformations as well as
applied forces
Deformations may become
very large (depends on E and
G) as behaviour approaches
elastic buckling limit

Elastic buckling
Member behaviour
L
o
a
d

Deflection
Full Plasticity
MATERIAL & GEOMETRIC NON-
LINEARITY
Curve becomes non-linear
after first yield and
approaches a maximum load
before starting to decrease

Elastic buckling
Member behaviour
L
o
a
d

Deflection
Full Plasticity
Brittle Failure
Local buckling
Material fracture
Elastic buckling
Local buckling
Brittle fracture

Influence of joint stiffness
Simple joints
No moment transfer
Pinned joints
Rigid joints
No beam-to-column
rotation
Full moment transfer
Semi-rigid
Some flexibility
Moments transfer <
rigid joints
Frames with simple joints
Simple joints do not develop moments
which adversely affect structure as a whole
Structure assumed to be pin jointed
No moments transmitted
Joint must have rotation capacity
May analyze and design members individually
See NCCI Simple construction

First order elastic analysis
1
st
order analysis of rigid frame assumes
Material behaves linearly
Member behaves linearly no member
instability effects (P-o)
Frame behaves linearly no frame instability
effects (P-A)


1
st
order analysis
L
h
N N
Hh/2
H/2
H/2
N-Hh/L N+Hh/L
H
2
nd
order analysis
R
L
H
L
H
R
R
R
H
N N
A
o
H
R
h+R
R
A
M
Max
R
R
o First order
analysis
2
nd
order effects due to sway
Second order moments
referred to as the "P-A"
effect; i.e. an axial load P
applied at an eccentricity
A
Generates second order
moments due to
eccentrically applied
vertical load in the
members
Sway causes eccentricity
of the vertical loading
P-A effects arise due:
- to horizontal loading
- and/or from any effect such as lack of verticality or out of
straightness of the column, which could cause the frame to move.
P-A effects do not necessarily cause instability.
Need to determine whether the P-A effects are significant
If so, whether or not they will they cause instability.
cf 1
st
& 2
nd
order braced frame
cf 1
st
& 2
nd
order unbraced frame
Elastic buckling of braced frames
Elastic buckling analysis used to
approximate second-order effects
Replace frame loads by a set which
produces the same member axial
forces without any bending
Set of member forces N
cr
which
causes buckling depends on
distribution of axial forces in frame:
Expressed as a load factor

cr
x set of axial forces N
i

N
cr
= o
cr
N
i

Alternatively, expressed by a set
of effective length factors
k
cr
= L
cr
/L
defines the member forces at
frame buckling by
N
cr
= t
2
EI

/(k
cr
L)
2
.
Computer programs
Except for isolated members (and very simple frames), determination
of frame buckling factor
cr
is carried out numerically, using a
suitable computer program.
1. Find initial member axial forces {N
i
} by carrying out a first-order
elastic analysis of the frame under the initial loads.
2. Then use a finite element method to determine the elastic
buckling load factors
cr
for which the total frame stiffness
vanishes:
ie [K]{D} -
cr
[G]{D} = {0}

[K] is the elastic stiffness matrix
[G] is the stability matrix associated with the initial axial forces {N
i
}
{D} is the vector of nodal deformations which define the buckled shape
of the frame
(e.g. see elastic buckling in braced/unbraced frames)

Alternatively, for rigid rectangular frames
effective length factor k
cr
of
each compression member
obtained using estimates of
member relative end stiffness
factors k
1
, k
2
in a braced
member chart
limited to vertical columns of
regular rectangular frames
with regular loading patterns
in which each horizontal beam
has zero axial force and all the
columns buckle
simultaneously in the same
mode.

q = k =
E(I
c
/ L
c
)
E(I
c
/ L
c
) + E(|
e
I
b
/ L
b
)
|
e
= factor which varies with
restraint conditions at far end
of beam
= 0.5 if far end is same as that
at column,
= 0.75 if far end is pinned,
= 1.0 if the far end is fixed
Effective length ratios non-sway
NCCI
Effective length ratios - sway
Instability
Consider an axially loaded vertical slender cantilever strut
At low axial loads, P, a small disturbing force, F, cause
cantilever to deflect a finite amount.
When disturbing force is removed, cantilever returns to
original shape
As axial load is increased, small disturbing force causes
more deflection due to decreasing stiffness of column
Eventually resistance will vanish and cantilever will
deflect in an uncontrolled manner
Load to cause this failure (infinite material strength and
no imperfections) is known as the elastic critical load
Ratio between this load and the factored load on the
strut is known as the elastic critical load factor
cr


When
cr
> 10 frame judged to be stable and the second
order effects can be neglected.
When
cr
< 4 frame potentially unstable and requires
careful second order analysis.

Imperfections
Necessary to allow for imperfections (residual stresses, lack of
verticality or straightness, lack of fit, minor eccentricities ) see 5.3
For frames sensitive to sway, global sway imperfection
|
0
=1/200
o
h
is a reduction factor for height
o
h
= 2/\h but 2/3 s o
h
s 1,0
o
m
is a reduction factor for
number of columns (m) in a row
o
m
= \{ 0, 5[ 1 + 1/m]}
For individual members,
use e
0
/L
See 5.3.4
Classification of frames
Braced
A frame may be regarded as braced
if the bracing system carries the
horizontal
Unbraced if this loading is carried
by bending action in the columns
Sway
frames are regarded as non-sway if
the P-A effects are deemed to be
small enough to be ignored
Sway sensitive if the P-A effects are
significant in the design.
Approximate calculation of o
crit
o
cr
=F
cr
/F
Ed

F
Ed
is design load on the structure
F
cr
is the elastic critical buckling load for global instability



H
Ed
is total design value of horizontal reaction at bottom of
storey due to horizontal loads (applied and fictitious)
V
Ed
is the total design vertical load at the bottom of the storey
o
H,Ed
is horizontal displacement of top of storey relative to bottom
h is storey height

o
cr
=
H
Ed
V
Ed
|
\

|
.
|
h
o
H,Ed
|
\

|
.
|
Approximate calculation of o
crit

NCCI