FCE402 THEORY OF

STRUCTURES IIIB.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL & CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
Lecturer: Eng. Hayowa 1
Topic

PLASTIC ANALYSIS :
Introduction.
Plastic hinge development.
Virtual work in plastic analysis.
Theorems of plastic analysis.
Examples.
Analysis of frames.

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Recap …

In the context of plastic analysis of structures, virtual work is a method used to

analyze the distribution of internal forces and moments in a structure that has
reached or is approaching its plastic collapse state.

This approach is particularly useful in the analysis of structural elements under

ultimate loading conditions (where plastic deformation occurs), such as beams,
frames, and slabs.

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Key concepts …

1. Plastic Analysis:

o Plastic analysis refers to the study of how a structure behaves when it has
reached its plastic (yield) limit. At this stage, certain areas of the structure
may undergo plastic deformation, and the structure can redistribute internal
forces to other parts.

o The primary goal is to assess the collapse condition of a structure and

determine the load at which plastic failure occurs.

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Key concepts …

2. Virtual Work Principle:

o The Principle of Virtual Work states that the virtual work done by the
internal forces due to a virtual displacement is equal to the virtual work
done by the external forces due to the same virtual displacement.

o This principle is used to compute the internal forces (bending moments,

axial forces, etc.) that develop in a structure under loading.

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Key concepts …

3. Virtual Work in Plastic Analysis:

o In plastic analysis, virtual work helps in determining the collapse load of a

structure by assuming that the structure undergoes plastic deformations at
some critical locations while the rest of the structure behaves elastically.

o Virtual displacements are assumed (such as unit displacements in the

direction of interest), and the work done by internal forces (bending
moments, shear forces) is equated to the work done by the applied external
loads.

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Key concepts …

4. Application to Plastic Hinge Formation:

o As a structure approaches its plastic collapse state, plastic hinges begin to

form at locations where the moment capacity is exceeded. The virtual work
method is applied to model the formation of these hinges and to determine
the load at which the structure becomes fully plastic (i.e., collapses).

o A plastic mechanism (the pattern of plastic hinge formation) is considered,

and the collapse load is found by applying the virtual work principle to this
mechanism.

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Steps in Virtual Work for Plastic Analysis…
1. Assume a virtual displacement field:
o This represents the way the structure would deform under a hypothetical
load, considering the plastic regions and elastic regions.
2. Determine internal forces:
o Use the assumed displacement field to calculate the internal forces and
moments that arise due to this virtual displacement.
3. Set up the virtual work equation:
o Equate the internal virtual work to the external virtual work to solve for the
collapse load.
4. Solve for the collapse load:
o By equating internal and external work, the collapse load or ultimate load
at which the structure will fail plastically can be determined.

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Introduction

The easiest way to carry out a plastic analysis is to use virtual work.

To do this we allow the presumed shape at collapse to be the compatible

displacement set, and the external loading and internal bending moments to be the
equilibrium set.

We can then equate external and internal virtual work, and solve for the collapse
load factor for that supposed mechanism.

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Introduction …

Note that in the actual collapse configuration the members will have elastic
deformation in between the plastic hinges.

However, since a virtual displacement does not have to be real, only compatible,
we will choose to ignore the elastic deformations between plastic hinges, and take
the members to be straight between them.

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Assumptions:

•The elastic deformations are negligible as compared to plastic deformations

•The displacement of ‘beam-element’ is localized at the plastic hinges as rotations

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Example

Actual Collapse Mode

So for our previous beam, we know that we require two hinges for collapse (one
more than its degree of redundancy).
The hinges will occur under the points of peak moment, A and C. Therefore
impose a unit virtual displacement at C and relate the corresponding virtual
rotations of the hinges using S = Rθ , giving:
Example

Notice that the collapse load is the working

load times the collapse load factor. So:

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Other Collapse Modes

For the collapse mode looked at previously, it

seemed obvious that the plastic hinge in the
span should be beneath the load.

But why?

Using virtual work we can examine any

possible collapse mode. So let’s consider the
following collapse modes and see why the
plastic hinge should have been beneath the
load.

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Plastic Hinge between A and C:

Imposing a unit virtual deflection at B, we get the

following collapse mode:

And so we see that the collapse load factor for this

mode depends on the position of the plastic hinge in
the span.

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Plastic Hinge between C and B:

Again imposing a unit virtual deflection at B we get:

And again we see that the load factor depends on

the position of the hinge.

And so the virtual work equation becomes:

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Summary

Plotting how the collapse load factor changes with

the position of the hinge, we get: This tells us that when the load reaches 1.6875 times the
working load (i.e. 54 kN) a hinge will form underneath
the load, at point C, 0.5 m from support A.

It also tells us that it would take more than 54 kN for a

hinge to form at any other place, once it hadn’t already
formed at C.

Thus the actual collapse load factor is the smallest of all

the possible load factors. Hence we can see that in
analysing proposed collapse mechanisms, we are either
correct ( = 1.6875 ) or we are unsafe (λ > λ ). This is
why plastic analysis is an upperbound method.

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Advantages of Using Virtual Work in Plastic Analysis:

• Simplifies the analysis of structures approaching collapse by focusing on the

energy methods rather than complex equilibrium equations.

• It helps in estimating the collapse load without needing to solve complex

differential equations.

• Efficient for determining limit states, especially when dealing with

indeterminate structures and plastic collapse mechanisms.

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Conclusion

In plastic analysis, the virtual work principle is a powerful tool to determine the
collapse load of a structure by considering the formation of plastic hinges and
equating the work done by internal and external forces.

It offers an energy-based approach to solving for the ultimate strength of structures

under extreme loading conditions, allowing engineers to predict when a structure
will fail due to plastic deformation.

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THANK YOU

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