Nonlinear Static Behavior of Space Semi-rigid Steel Frames using Plastic-hinge Analysis

Phu-Cuong Nguyen a, Cuong Ngo-Huu b, Seung-Eock Kim c,*

a,c

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University

98 Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, 143-747 Seoul, South Korea
b
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
268 Ly Thuong Kiet St., Dist. 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
a
henycuong@gmail.com, b ngohuucuong@yahoo.com, c,* sekim@sejong.ac.kr
Abstract
This paper presents nonlinear static analysis of space semi-rigid steel frames including geometric, material and
connection nonlinearities. The second-order effects are considered by the use of stability functions and the inelastic
behavior of material are presented by the lumped plastic-hinge concept using yield surface. The nonlinear behavior of
the steel beam-to-column connection is considered by using a zero-length independent element of six translational and
rotational springs, in which rotational spring response uses Kishi-Chen power model. The nonlinear equilibrium
equations are solved using the generalized displacement control method. A computer program is developed to predict
the nonlinear behavior of space semi-rigid steel frames. The nonlinear static response results are compared with those of
existing studies to demonstrate the accuracy and efficency of the proposed method.
Keywords: Stability functions, Semi-rigid connection, Plastic-hinge, Steel frame.
1. Introduction
The beam-to-column connections of steel structures are conventionally considered as fully rigid or ideally hinged types
for the simplicity in structural analysis. In this paper, an independent zero-length connection element with six different
translational and rotational springs connecting two identical nodes is developed to simulate the beam-to-column
connections. This is an efficient way because the modification of beam-column stiffness matrix considering the semirigid connections is not necessary and the connection is ready to integrate with any beam-column model. The KishiChen power model is used for rotational springs. Although the translational springs are able to model linear semi-rigid
connections with constant stiffness, it is just used herein as rigid springs. The second-order effects of the steel members
are considered by the use of stability functions obtained from the exact solution of beam-columns under end forces and
the inelastic behavior of material are presented by the lumped inelastic concept using Orbison or LRFD yield surface.
The generalized displacement control method is applied to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations in an incrementaliterative scheme. The nonlinear response results are compared with those of existing studies to verify the accuracy of
the proposed numerical procedure.
2. Element formulation
2.1. Beam-to-column connection element
An independent zero-length element with three translational and three rotational springs is developed to simulate the
rigidity of the steel beam-to-column connection. The coupling effects between springs in a connection are neglected.
This multi-spring element connects two nodes having identical coordinates. Each translational spring has the linear
stiffness for translational degrees of freedom while the rotational one can have linear or nonlinear stiffness for rotational
degrees of freedom. In this study, the nonlinear rotational spring uses the Kishi-Chen power model (Chen and Kishi
(1989)) as follows
Rki r
M
1 n
(1)
1 r 0 n
Rki

where

Mu

(2)

The relation between the incremental force vector FS and displacement vector U S of the multi-spring element
corresponding to six degrees of freedom between two connected nodes is as follows
FS K S U S
(3)
where K S is the tangent diagonal stiffness matrix comprising of tangent stiffness components for each spring. The
lin

rot

tangent stiffness values for linear spring ki and nonlinear spring ki

are

ki Rk ,i
lin

lin

(4a)
rot

ki Rkt ,i
rot

Rki ,i

rot

1 r 0 n

(4b)

1 1 n

2.2. Beam-column element stiffness matrix

To capture the effect of axial force acting through the lateral displacement of the beam-column element ( P effect),
the stability functions reported by Chen and Lui (1987) are used to minimize modeling and solution time. Generally
only one element per member is needed to accurately capture the P effect. The material nonlinearity includes
gradual yielding of steel beam-column member under axial force and bending moments considering the effects of
residual stresses and initial geometric imperfection given in Kim et al. (2001). The incremental force-displacement
equation of space beam-column element can be expressed as
0
0
P

Et A / L 0 0

yA

0
M yB
0

0
M zA
0
M
zB

0
T

kiiy

kijy

yA

kijy

k jjy

yB

kiiz

kijz

zA

kijz

k jjz

GJ / L

(5)

zB

where kiiy , kijy , k jjy , kiiz , kijz , and k jjz are coefficients given in Kim et al. (2001).
3. Nonlinear analysis algorithm
An incremental-iterative algorithm using generalized displacement control method proposed by Yang and Shieh (1990)
is applied to trace the equilibrium path of the frame structure under static loading. Its significant feature is the general
numerical stability and efficiency in solving the nonlinear problem. The incremental equilibrium equation of structure
can be rewritten for the jth iteration of the ith incremental step as
K i D i i P R i
(6)

where

j 1

j 1

K j 1 is the tangent stiffness matrix, D j is the displacement increment vector, P is the reference load
i

vector, R j 1

is the unbalanced force vector, and j is the load increment parameter.

i

4. Verification
A computer program written by Fortran programming language is developed based on the proposed numerical
procedure to predict the nonlinear static response of space semi-rigid steel frames. It is verified for the validity using the
results from existing studies through two following numerical examples.
4.1. Vogel portal frame
Vogel (1985) presented this portal rigid frame as the European calibration frame for static inelastic analysis. The initial
out-of-plumb straightness and the ESSC residual stress model were assumed for the frame and its members (Figure
1(a)). The rigid beam-to-column connections were replaced by semi-rigid ones to study the second-order inelastic
behavior considering the connection rigidity by Chen and Kim (1997) using the plastic-hinge method. The values of
three parameters for Kishi-Chen power model of these semi-rigid connections are: Rki 280, 000 kip in / rad ,
M u 1, 250 kip in , and n 0.98 . The results of the proposed program using Orbison yield surface and existing studies
in predicting the second-order inelastic response of frames with rigid, semi-rigid, and hinged beam-to-column
connections are shown in Figure 1(b), in which NASF is a nonlinear finite element program for second-order spread-ofplasticity analysis of semi-rigid planar steel frames written by Nguyen (2010). It can be seen that the nonlinear load
displacement curves agree well.


P
H

5.0 m

HEB300

HEB300

HEA340

4.0 m

(a) Geometric dimensions

(b) Load-displacement curves

(PZ: plastic-zone method, PH: plastic-hinge method)
Figure 1. Vogels portal frame

4.2. Orbison six-storey frame

Figure 2 shows a six-storey space rigid frame analyzed previously by Orbison et al. (1982) using plastic hinge approach
and recently by Chiorean (2009) beam-column method considering the spread-of-plasticity along the member length.
A36 steel with the yield stress of 250 MPa and Youngs modulus of 206,850 MPa is used for all members. Uniform
floor load of 9.6 kN/m2 is converted into equivalent concentrated loads on the top of the columns. Wind loads are
simulated by point loads of 53.376 kN in the Y-direction at every beam-column joints. One proposed element per
member is used to model this structure.
The beam-to-column connections using Kishi-Chen power model are as follows: (1) for W12x53 and W12x87 beams
framing about the major-axis of columns: the fixity factor g 0.86 , ultimate moment M u 300 kN m , and shape
factor n 1.57 ; (2) for W12x26 beams framing about the weak-axis of columns: g 0.86 , M u 200 kN m ,
n 0.86 . From the above fixity factor value, the initial connection stiffness is calculated by the following formulation
(Chiorean (2009)). The load displacement curves at point A at the roof predicted by the proposed program using
Orbison yield surface for rigid, linear semi-rigid, and nonlinear semi-rigid frames compare well with those of Chiorean
(2009) (Figure 2(c)).

(a) Plan view

(b) Perspective view

Figure 2. Orbison six-storey frame

Figure 2(c). Load displacement response at Y direction of Orbison six-storey frame.

5. Conclusions
A simple and efficient numerical procedure using beam-column method is proposed for nonlinear static analysis of
space semi-rigid steel frames. The stability functions are employed to minimize modeling and solution time. A zerolength independent element of six translational and rotational springs connected six degrees of freedom of two identical
nodes is developed to simulate the rigidity of the steel beam-to-column connection. The Kishi-Chen three-parameter
power model is used for nonlinear rotational spring. The generalized displacement control method is applied to solve
the nonlinear equilibrium equations. As shown in some numerical examples, the proposed program demonstrates the
capability of predicting the nonlinear static behavior of space semi-rigid steel frames accurately and efficiently.
Moreover, the proposed procedure proves to be reliable and valuable for application in engineering design.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Human Resources Development of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology
Evaluation and Planning (KETEP). Fund was granted by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
(No. 20104010100520).

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