PLASTIC ANALYSIS OF

11 BEAMS AND FRAMES

11.1 Introduction
When elastic theory is used to design a statically indeterminate structure in mild
steel, the stresses that arise when the complete external loading is applied must
not exceed a certain value, termed the working stress. The ratio of the yield stress
of the material to the working stress is called the safety factor. In a structure made
from a linearly elastic material the safety factor is also the ratio of the load
required to produce this yield stress to the working load.
At the design stage it is not possible to predict all the applied loads exactly. It
is quite possible for an overload to be applied sometime in the life of a structure.
Also there may be defects in the materials used or there may have been poor
workmanship during the course of construction. Extra stresses can arise due to
differential settlement of supports and from a variety of other causes. It can be
seen that if a structure were to be designed to a stress very close to the elastic
limit, it is quite possible that the yield stress might be exceeded sometime in the
life of the structure. This would not necessarily mean that the structure would
collapse since the yield stress is well below the ultimate stress. However if a suitable
safety factor is introduced the design stress will be well below the yield point. As
an example a typical value for mild steel would be about 1'5.
In some cases a design based on elastic theory can be extremely conservative
and wasteful of material. As an illustration we shall consider the case of a beam
with a constant cross-section with both ends built in, and carrying a uniformly
distributed load. From elastic theory we can easily show that the maximum bend-
ing moment occurs at the ends of the beam and that the value there is twice the
value at the mid-point of the beam. The ends of the beam are therefore the critical
sections and the maximum load that is allowed to be carried by the beam is
governed by the working stress not being exceeded at the ends.
Let us suppose that the beam is loaded until the yield stress is reached at the
supports. Further load can still be applied without the beam collapsing. As the
load is increased plastic hinges will form at the ends of the beam. Even when these
are fully developed the bending moment at the centre of the beam will not be
sufficiently great for the yield stress to be reached there. Loading could in fact
be continued until a plastic hinge occurs at the centre of the beam. At this stage
collapse is said to have taken place. This example has been discussed to show that
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 PLASTIC ANALYSIS OF BEAMS AND FRAMES 343
there is still a considerable reserve of strength in a redundant structure even
though the yield stress may have been reached at some point.
The plastic design method is based on calculating the load required to produce
sufficient plastic hinges in the structure to turn it, or at least part of it, into a
mechanism. This load would then be divided by the load factor as opposed to the
safety factor and the value of the working load determined. In practice of course
the problem would be presented the other way round. The working loads would
be known approximately and for a particular load factor the sections of the
various members could be determined.
One word of warning should be introduced at this stage. If there is the possi-
bility of instability occurring or if the deflections have to be kept to a minimum
it may not always be possible to use a plastic method of design.

11.2 Collapse of redundant beams

In chapter 5 the moment-curvature relationship was derived for a rectangular
cross-section made from an ideal elasto-plastic material. It was also discussed for
a universal beam. In this chapter we shall idealise this relationship as shown in
figure 11.1. This will mean that once Mp is reached at a particular point on a
beam, large changes of curvature can occur for no increase in bending moment.
It is as though a hinge had been inserted in the beam, hence the term plastic
hinge.

Xy X
Figure 11.1

The beam in figure 11.2a is built in at both ends. It carries a uniformly dis-
tributed load that increases in value until collapse of the beam occurs. The
bending-moment diagram when the beam is completely elastic is shown at b. This
can be considered as two separate diagrams, the free bending-moment diagram, a
parabola of maximum height pI2/8, and the reactant diagram, a rectangle of
height pI2/12. It can be seen that the maximum bending moment occurs at the
ends of the beam and the value at the centre is only half this value.
If a moment-curvature relationship similar to that shown in figure 11.1 is
assumed, the value of the load when the bending moment has reached the fully
plastic value of Mp at the supports is given by
12Mp
py =[2"