SOFiSTiK Extended T-beam philosophy

Usage for Composite Bridge Sections

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(roblem description
Beams within a slab can be modelled in different ways. This documentation considers a finite-
element deck slab with a rolled steel section below. It could also be a concrete rectangle, a
prestressed precast element or a complex composite steel concrete bridge section the
problem is always the same.
$# T-beam in a simple slab)
A simple slab analysis usually does not want to take into account normal forces or horiontal
deflections. !e"ertheless the excentric part #rolled steel or concrete rectangle$ has a higher
stiffness than a centric element. Therefore an acting

width b
eff
#or bm$ is defined in the section of the beam%
&hen this #centric$ beam is defined within the plane of the
slab finite elements, the cross sectional center of gra"ity will
be placed in the height of the slab-midplane #finite element nodes in midplane of slab$%
As concrete is now defined twice in the system, the '()i'Ti* T-beam philosophy
automatically reduces the stiffness of the beam with%
I-beam + I-T-beam - b
eff
,h-./01
Then A'2 or '233 first calculated the bending moment in this reduced element and finally
adds the bending moment m of the slab in the acting width to store the bending moment of the
T-beam as%
4-T-beam + 4-beam 5 m, b
eff

(f course also area for the dead load calcualation is modified.
The modified stiffness and the added bending moment is printed in the A'2 numerical output.
!# (hysically correct separated elements
The first method does not work #without modification$, if excentric beams are defined in the
analysis, because excentric elements in a three dimensional analysis produce normal forces in
the elements6 Thus by default the '()i'Ti* T-beam philosophy is switched off for excentric
beams. A physically correct analysis runs if the slab elements are defined excentrically abo"e
the element node plane #783 9 posi AB(:$ and the pure rolled steel #or concrete web$ is
defined as an excentric beam below%
b-eff
'-beam '-;uad
8ef-point-;uad5beam
8ef-point-beam
8ef-point-;uad
SOFiSTiK Extended T-beam philosophy
Usage for Composite Bridge Sections
(B !"#$$#!%%&'
The effecti"e width is not input but calculated in the analysis automatically #linear$. Although
this system seems to be perfect, it has a ma<or problem in the design% a lot of design checks
must be made on the cracked section. This re;uires a composite design section including
rolled steel plus concrete #with a acting width$. This can be done in '()i'Ti* "ia integration
of beam5;uad forces in 'I8 and designing with the 'I8 sectional force%
Although the beam itself has a normal force of 1=> k!%
#-?results of tbeam@philosophy@1.dat$%
BEAM FORCES AND MOMENTS
Loadcase 2 20 kN/m
beam x N Vy Vz Mt My Mz
Nmbe! "m# "kN# "kN# "kN# "kNm# "kNm# "kNm#
22$$ 0%000 2&'%0 0%00 $%(( 0%00 &'%&& 0%00
the 'I8 integrated result gi"es !+A.A and 4B+1CA k!m%
FORCES AND MOMENTS SECT)ON $ *S + ,%000
LC Ty-e N"kN# Vy"kN# Vz"kN# Mt"kNm# My"kNm# Mz"kNm#
2 S.M 0%0 0%00 0%00 /0%(, 2,0%00 0%00
But first of all this procedure re;uires additional work and also re;uires the manual definition
of an acting width for 'I8. That is the reason why we recommend way . or D%

"# Orthotropic slab
To a"oid normal forces and bending parts in the slab, an orthotropic slab with a weak stiffness
in longitudinal bridge direction can be used. In this case the complete composite section must
be defined for the beam. An the concrete is defined twice, you ha"e to pay attention to the
dead load weight because without additional input it would be set twice6
In such a model, the longitudinal composite beam represents the total stiffness in this direction
and gets the total bending moment ready for a design of the composite section.
The disad"antage is that the slab does not act like a real isotropic slab and can be designed
only in trans"erse direction.
'-beam
#composite section$
'-;uad
orthotropic deck slab
Euad-forces n5my
Beam-forces !54y
Integrated 'I8-force 4y
! F A.A
bending moments normalforces
SOFiSTiK Extended T-beam philosophy
Usage for Composite Bridge Sections
(B !"#$$#!%%&'
&# *odified T-beam philosophy +ith excentric beams
To combine all ad"antages, the '()i'Ti* T-beam philosophy can be extended to excentric
beams. To a"oid normal forces in the elements, now only the normal stiffness is reduced in the
slab. The bending stiffness in the slab is defined real isotropic and gi"es a correct distribution
for "ertical loads. The double bending stiffness is taken into account by a reduction of the
bending stiffness of the beam as described in model 0. The normal stiffness is not reduced #in
model 0 also the normal stiffness of the beam is reduced$6 'o the beam will carry all normal
forces.
In the postprocessing of A'2, the bending moment of the beam is then corrected by adding the
bending moment of the ;uadmultiplied by the effecti"e width bm.
As this techni;ue is usually used in bridge analysis with haunched deck slabs, the following
problem occurs% the additional bending part of the EGAH-moment #added to the beam result$
is simply taken as the slab-moment in k!/m at the connection node, multiplied with the width
bm. To take into account smaller ;uad bending moments in the thinner deck parts, a reduced
width B must be taken into account for this multiplication%
This width B must be input "ia TB2A 9 B to acti"ate this method6
Concl,sion)
)or building engineering, model 0 should be used,
)or professional bridge design, model D should be used #simple design$,
)or academic or scientific compares, model 1 should be used.
The input files for a simple one-span test system are named
tbeam@philosophy@,.dat.
8educed B
'ectional width b
mxx-;uad
connection point
SOFiSTiK Extended T-beam philosophy
Usage for Composite Bridge Sections
(B !"#$$#!%%&'
S,mmary)
tbeam@philosophy@0.dat '()i'Ti* T-beam philosophy for a simple slab
tbeam@philosophy@1.dat 3hysically correct separate elements
tbeam@philosophy@..dat orthotropic slab
tbeam@philosophy@D.dat modified T-beam philosophy with excentric beams
#re;uires A'2-:ersion 00.IA or higher$
#Attention% mode D re;uires A'2-:ersion 00.IA or higher.
(therwise the results are not as shown in the documentation6$
4a<or input controls%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
model 0% composite beam section #incl. deck slab$
beam5slab centric definition
specific weight AEGA-7A4 normal "alues #automatic reduction$
model 1% pure separate beam section #without deck slab$
beam5slab excentric
specific weight AEGA-7A4 normal "alues
model .% composite beam section #incl. deck slab$
beam5slab excentric
orthotropic ;uad definition #783...TJ...TB$
additionally ;uad disc-stiffness reduced #KT8L EG2A A.AA0$
specific weight modified for one part #slab or beam-concrete$
model D% composite beam section #incl. deck slab$
beam5slab excentric
normal isotropic ;uad slab
;uad disc-stiffness highly reduced #KT8L EG2A 0.2-M$
manual additional effecti"e width input re;uired #3LAB...B$
specific weight AEGA-7A4 normal "alues #automatic reduction$
'ummary of results%
mode0 $ 2 1 2
LC $3 sm o4 0oads dead 0oad "kN# $1'%( $1'%( $1'%( $1'%(/$
m5ds-a6 !es0ts3
LC 23 beam 6o!ma0 4o!ce "kN# 0%0 2&'%0 0%0 0%0
LC 23 beam be6d567 mome6t "kNm# 22(%' &'%( 2,0%0 22(%'
LC 23 S)R 56te7!ated be6d567"kNm# / 2,0%0 / /
LC 23 8ad 6o!ma0 4o!ce "kN/m# 0%0 /$1&%& 0%0 0%0 /2
LC 23 8ad be6d567 mome6t "kNm/m# 2%'$ 2%92 0%0 2%'$ /2
LC 23 de40ect5o6 m5ds-a6 "mm# $%12 $%2( $%1, $%12 /2
remarks%
/0 only if bm-section + 3LAB-B #3LAB-B may be input smaller6$
/1 nodal result at node 100