Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruc

Non-linear analysis of composite beams

by a displacement approach
a,* b
Andrea DallAsta , Alessandro Zona
a
Dipartimento di Progettazione e Costruzione dellAmbiente, University of Camerino, Viale della Rimembranza,
63100 Ascoli Piceno, Italy
b
Istituto di Scienza e Tecnica delle Costruzioni, University of Ancona, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Received 10 October 2000; accepted 4 July 2002

Abstract
The non-linear analysis of composite steelconcrete beams by the nite elements method permits obtaining useful
information on collapse modalities but the convergence of the solution must be carefully controlled. Using the dis-
placement formulation of the nite elements technique, the authors illustrate some aspects related to the convergence of
the method by comparing solutions deriving from nite elements with 8, 10 and 16DOF. Some pathologies of the 8DOF
element are posed in evidence.
2002 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Finite element; Locking; Non-linear analysis; Composite beams; Steelconcrete beams; Deformable shear connection;
Incomplete interaction

1. Introduction deformation at ultimate stages, i.e. the non-linear re-

In practical situations involving steelconcrete com-
posite beams with exible connection, the collapse mo-
dalities can be very dierent to those of a girder with full
interaction. In general the ultimate load level decreases
and ductility increases; the behaviour is however ruled by
the structure geometry and the non-linear constitutive
laws of the materials. A redistribution of the axial stress
between the concrete slab and the steel beam, that is
not always intuitive, occurs as a result of the exible
shear connection. Consequently, designing steelconcrete
composite structures requires fairly in-depth knowl-
edge of the non-linear behaviour up to failure of such
structural systems. The analysis should involve the
main aspects that directly aect the carried load and
*
Corresponding author. Address: Institute of Structural
Engineering, University of Ancona, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131
Ancona, Italy. Tel.: +39-71-2800020; fax: +39-71-2204576.
E-mail address: dallasta@unian.it (A. DallAsta).
sponse of concrete, steel, connection and their limited
ductility.
Once a model is dened for the problem, generally the
Newmark model [1], numerical solutions can be obtained
by means of the nite element method. A fair number of
works on this topic can be found in literature and many
problems regarding the convergence to the solution and
the most eective strategies in seeking the equilibrium
path in the non-linear range are still open. Dierent nite
element models were adopted in the not too distant past:
in 1981 Arizumi et al. [2] proposed a 12DOF nite ele-
ment, based on the displacement method, assuring con-
tinuity of rotation and mean axial strain in the two
components of the cross-section, in 1993 Daniels and
Crisinel [3] presented a 10DOF nite element based on
the displacement method, assuring the least regularity for
the solution (continuity for rotations and mean axial
strain) and introducing two internal nodes only for the
axial displacements and, in 1998, Salari et al. [4] used a
nite element based on the force method.
The authors approach the problem by assuming
the displacements as unknowns and the Newmark

0045-7949/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 5 - 7 9 4 9 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 6 8 - 7
2218 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228

kinematical model. This approach permits using plastic 2. Kinematical model and balance conditions
and strain-softening constitutive laws for the materials
and investigating the equilibrium path in the descending The nite element analysis was based on the dis-
branches after the local collapse of some structural placement method by adopting the Newmark kinemati-
components (e.g. the connection). An evaluation of the cal model [1] that furnishes the displacement eld:
most eective strategies in the assessment of the struc-
sy; z vzj wa z ya  yv0 zk on Aa 1
tural behaviour has been developed by comparing
dierent procedures to seek the equilibrium path (dis- (a 1; 2) starting from the deection of the beam and
placement control method, arc-length method and load the axial displacements of the two components (Fig. 1).
control method) and to solve the non-linear problem at The Virtual Work Principle specied for the problem
the interior of each step (NewtonRaphson method, examined becomes:
modied NewtonRaphson method). The other aspect XZ LZ Z L
concerns the convergence of the numerical solution to rza ^eza dAa dz f d^dz
the eective solution. This depends on the number of a 0 Aa 0

elements and on the DOF of the kinematical model XZ L Z

adopted for each element. Three dierent choices were b ^s dAa dz
a 0 Aa
made: the rst considers an 8DOF element, namely the
XZ L Z
element furnishing the least regularity required for the t ^s dsa dz 8 ^s; ^eza ; d^ 2
solution, the second considers a 10DOF element where a 0 @Aa

only the axial displacements are rened by introducing

two internal nodes, as in Daniels [3], and the third so- where b and t are the body and surface force respec-
lution examines a 16DOF element, proposed by the tively, eza is the axial strain given by:
authors, where both axial displacements and deec- eza y; z w0a z ya  yv00 z 3
tions are improved by means of internal nodes. These
nodes are calibrated so that the contribution in slip and d is the slip between the two parts of the composite
at interface deriving from axial displacement and de- beam:
ection are described by means of polynomials of the
dz w2 z  w1 z hv0 z 4
same order.
The evaluation of the performance of the three ele- (h y2  y1 is the distance of the two component cent-
ments was carried out with reference to a problem of roids). The shear connection force f d, assumed dis-
interest in structural engineering, consisting of a two- tributed along the interface, can be calculated from the
span continuous beam. slip once the connection constitutive relationship is as-
Comparison of the results demonstrated that signi- signed. Similarly normal stress rza eza can be calculated
cant dierences can be observed between models with from the axial strain once the constitutive relationships
the same total DOF and dierent nite elements, both in of the composite beam materials are assigned.
terms of local error and energy error. In particular, the After the stress resultants:
8DOF element provides poor results for local error and Z
the analysis of the problem showed locking which re- Na rza dAa 5
duces the eective DOF for high connection stiness. Aa

The 16DOF element provides the best results but re- Z

quires a more complex implementation and longer Ma rza y  ya dAa 6
computational time. Aa

Fig. 1. Newmark kinematical model.

 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228 2219

and the load resultants: where d is the vector of the nodal displacements and N is
Z Z
the matrix of the shape functions. Dierent choices may
gza b k dAa t k dsa 7 be made for approximating the displacement eld in the
Aa oAa
Z Z interior of each element. The simplest model providing
gya b j dAa t j dsa 8 the lowest regularity required for the problem involves
Aa oAa an 8DOF nite element where the nodal parameters:
Z Z
d T8DOF w1L w2L vL uL w1R w2R vR uR 
ma b kya  y dAa t kya  y dsa 9
Aa oAa 18
have been introduced, the Virtual Work Principle can be (the apex L denotes the left and R denotes the right of
expressed in the concise form: the nite element) describe deection, rotation and axial
Z L Z L
displacements at the element extremities (see Fig. 2). In
r ^e dz g H^u dz 8^u; ^e 10 this case deections are described by a third-order
0 0
Hermite polynomial and axial displacements of the
after dening the displacement vector components by linear functions. Finite elements with a
uT w1 w2 v 11 richer kinematical model can be obtained by introducing
internal nodes. In the following analyses two additional
collecting the functions furnishing the displacement elements were considered: the 10DOF element obtained
eld, the generalised stress vector: by adding two internal nodes for improving axial
rT N 1 N2 M1 M2 f 12 translations only and the 16DOF element where three
internal nodes improve axial translations and an internal
the dual generalised strain vector: node improves deections and rotations. As a result, in
eT e1 e2 h d 13 the 10DOF element deections are described by a third-
00 order Hermite polynomial and axial displacements by
h v is the curvature), which is related to the dis-
second-order polynomials, whereas in the 16DOF ele-
placements u by means of the dierential operator D
ment deections are described by a fth-order Hermite
(compatibility equations)
2 3 polynomial and axial displacements by fourth-order
@ 0 0 2 3 polynomials. In both cases, the internal nodes were
6 0 @ w1
0 7
e Du 6
4 0 0 @ 2 5 w2
7 4 5 14 calibrated so that the contribution in slip at interface
v deriving from axial displacements and deection are
1 1 h@ described by means of polynomials of the same order.
the generalised load vector: Introducing the polynomial approximation of the
displacement eld (17) and the compatibility relation:
g T gz1 gz2 gy m1 m2  15
e DNd Bd 19
and the dierential operator:
2 3
1 0 0 the Virtual Work Principle Eq. (10) becomes:
60 1 0 7 Z L Z L
H6 40 0 1 5
7 16 rBd Bd^ dz g HN d^ dz 8d^ 20
0 0
0 0 @
and the following non-linear balance equation is ob-
tained:
3. Non-linear nite element solution
f d p 21
The displacements formulation of the nite element where
method introduces a polynomial approximation of the
displacement eld: Z L
f d BT rBd dz 22
u Nd 17 0

Fig. 2. Finite elements with 8, 10 and 16DOF.

2220 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228
is the vector of the internal nodal forces and
Z L
p C T g dz
0 procedure correcting the previously predicted solution
is the nodal load vector (C HN). In the hypothesis of
proportional loading, the load vector can be written as
p kpref , where k is the load level and pref is the xed
reference load.
The non-linear balance equation can be written in
iterative form using the NewtonRaphson method,
consisting of solving the following sequence of linear
problems:
d i1 rf d i 1 p  f d i  24
until an assigned tolerance on the unbalanced force
p  f d i is reached. The matrix
Z L
orBd
rf d BT B dz 25
0 oBd
is the tangent stiness of the composite structure.
The calculation of load vector, internal nodal
forces vector and stiness matrix is performed by means
of numerical integration, using the trapezoidal rule
through the thickness (the cross-section is subdivided
into rectangular strips parallel to the x-axis) and by
using the GaussLobatto rule [5] along the element
length. In their computer code the authors implemented
calculation procedures allowing a variable number of
integration points; some tests showed that if more than 5
points are used in the 8DOF and 10DOF elements, and
more than 7 points in the 16DOF element, the results
at collapse are nearly the same.
The aim of the non-linear analysis is to trace the
structural equilibrium path until failure is reached.
Three dierent numerical techniques were formulated to
trace the equilibrium path: the load control method,
the displacement control method and the arc-length
method.
The load control method consists of an incremental
procedure xing the load level, and of an iterative pro-
cedure correcting the previously predicted solution (i.e.
the displacement nodal vector) for the current level
(predictorcorrector scheme). This is not a suitable
method for describing equilibrium paths with weak load
level variations; moreover this method cannot trace
softening equilibrium paths.
The displacement control method consists of an in-
cremental procedure xing a chosen component of the
nodal displacement vector, and of an iterative procedure
correcting the previously predicted solution (i.e. the load
level and the other displacement components). This
method can trace both equilibrium paths with weak load
level variations and softening equilibrium paths but re-
quires careful choice of the controlled nodal displace-
ment.
The arc-length method consists of an incremental
procedure xing a restraint to the increment of the load
23 level and nodal displacement vector, and of an iterative
(i.e. the load level and the displacement nodal vector).
This method can trace each equilibrium path and does
not require the choice of a particular nodal parameter
to control global deformation.
In their computer code, the authors implemented the
load control method, the displacement control method,
in the formulation proposed by Batoz and Dhatt [6], and
the arc-length method, in the formulation by Ramm [7].
The iterative procedures adopted are the Newton
Raphson method and the modied NewtonRaphson
method.
The numerical application performed by using the
three incremental strategies proved that the displace-
ment control method is often the best suited, even if the
arc-length method may be useful when the former fails.
The reason for this conclusion is the ability to control
the structural evolution in a simple manner (e.g. con-
trolling the midspan deection) even in the case of a
weak load level variation, as occurs near the limit load
and the ability to trace softening equilibrium paths and
equilibrium paths with sudden load variation (e.g. due
to brittle collapse of some materials).
4. Numerical application
In order to analyse the eectiveness of dierent FEM
models and strategies in seeking the non-linear equilib-
rium path, a realistic case that is of interest in structural
engineering was adopted as working problem. This ex-
amines a two-span continuous beam where dierent
non-linear problems arise: cracking and crushing of
concrete occur, steel yields and the connection works in
the non-linear range even at low load levels. The dis-
tribution of the connection force along the beam shows
a complex trend as a consequence of the non-linear be-
haviour of the other components. Stress progress and
collapse modalities are described in detail hereunder.
The geometry of the problem is described in Fig. 3,
where a constant cross-section is assumed along the
beam axis. With regard to the shear connection device, a
uniform distribution of stud connectors, designed to
obtain a full shear connection, according to EC4-2 [8] is
adopted (i.e. the shear connection is designed in such
way as to avoid collapse before the reinforced con-
crete slab and/or steel beam reach their ultimate state).
Elasticperfect plastic-hardening constitutive laws are
adopted for the beam steel and reinforcements bars [9]:
rs Es es for es < ey 26
rs fy for ey 6 es 6 esh 27
 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228 2221

Fig. 3. Data of numerical application: (a) static scheme; (b) cross-section details; (c) material and shear connection data (d) con-
stitutive relationships for materials and shear connection.

esh es

rs fy fu  fy 1  e k for esh < es 6 eu 28 boundary conditions are v0 0 and w1 L w2 L

rs 0 for eu < es
where k 0:028esh  esu =esh  0:16.
The non-linear law suggested by the CEB-FIP Model
Code 1990 [10] is considered for concrete under com-
pression while, for the sake of simplicity, null strength
is assumed under traction; furthermore, the Ollgaard
constitutive law [11] is assumed for the shear connection
(Fig. 3d):
f fmax 1  ebd a for d 6 du
f 0 for du < d
where a 0:558 and b 1 mm1 .
The mechanical characteristics of the materials are
reported in Fig. 3c.
Since the structural scheme and the loads are sym-
metric, only half a beam was considered (i.e. the
vL uL 0, with L 30 m).
The following results refer to a regular mesh (32
29 elements) with 16DOF element (388 total degrees of
freedom). The non-linear analysis was performed by
controlling the midspan deection of the beam and the
analysis was carried out up to the formation of a
mechanism even if this is obtained in the softening
equilibrium path. The applied uniform load is q kqref
where qref 215 kN/m is the collapse load of the beam,
assumed as reference load. The steps performed to reach
collapse are 14; the obtained sequence of the load mul-
tiplier is k1 0:25, k2 0:50, k3 0:70, k4 0:80, k5
30 0:95, k6 0:97, k7 0:98, k8 0:99, k9 0:99. After
step 9, the load level increases slightly but the structures
31 shows large deection increments before collapse.
Fig. 4 reports the distribution, at dierent analysis
steps (i.e. steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11), of internal forces and
corresponding dual strains: namely the force f and the
interface slip d at the connection (fmax is the connection
strength and du is the ultimate slip), the axial force NC
and the axial strain eC on the concrete slab (Npl is the
2222 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228
Fig. 4. Progress of distributions of stress resultants and related strains.
plastic axial force), the bending moment MS and the
curvature h on the steel beam (Mpl is the plastic bending
moment and hel is the curvature evaluated at the inter-
mediate support when the steel beam reaches the elastic
limit).
As is evident, the shear connection designed in order
to have a full beam-slab shear connection, does not
reach ultimate strength even if clear yielding is shown at
the ultimate state of the beam. It is important to note
that at the ultimate load, the shear connection force is
near the failure value both for positive and negative
slips, while slip is far from its ultimate value. Near the
intermediate support a reduction of the force on the
shear connection occurs. This is due to concrete cracking
in the hogging region that is present from the rst step of
analysis, given the assumption of null traction strength
of the concrete. In the cracked slab only reinforcements
are active, so that a lower axial force must be transferred
to the steel beam, and a lower level of the shear force on
the connection occurs. The cracked portion of the slab
(positive value of NC ), which has an initial length of
about 5 m, tends to reduce when loads increase and it
reaches a length of about 3.5 m at the ultimate state. The
traction axial force in the hogging region reaches its max
value at the rst steps of analysis, when reinforcements
are yielded, while a strong localisation at the interme-
diate support characterises the axial strain distribution.
At the ultimate state, the diagram of NC is characterised
by an almost piecewise linear distribution due to shear
connection yielding (equilibrium requires that the de-
rivative of the axial force is equal to the shear force, this
implies that the axial force tends to become piecewise
linear when the shear force tends to become piecewise
constant).
The diagram of MS shows that the rst plastic hinge
forms at the intermediate support and the bending mo-
 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228 2223

ment does not further increase for a higher load level. A ble to form a mechanism (i.e. the collapse of the struc-
strong localisation of curvature occurs in the hogging ture).
region while localisation is not as strong in the midspan A reduction of the bending moment appears at the
region where the second plastic hinge makes it possi- midspan cross-section for higher loading levels. This is

Fig. 5. Stress resultant progress for cross-sections at midspan and at intermediate support.
2224 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228
Fig. 6. Load level versus midspan deection for dierent shear
connection.
more clearly explained by Fig. 5 which shows the global
bending moment on the cross-section and its equili-
brating components (namely MS , MC and the internal
couple NC h) versus the midspan deection. The results
refer to the midspan section (Fig. 5a) and the cross-
section at the intermediate support (Fig. 5c). The stress
distribution for increasing load level are also reported in
Figs. 5b and d. In both cases the contribution of the
bending moment in the concrete deck MC is negligible.
At midspan, the bending moment in the steel beam MS is
lower than the contribution due to NC h, furthermore MS
decreases for increasing load and a larger part of
bending is sustained by the two opposite axial forces in
concrete and steel. A dierent situation can be observed
at the intermediate support where the concrete deck is
cracked. In this case a large portion of bending is sus-
tained by the bending moment in steel and it shows a
monotone trend for increasing loads.
Finally Fig. 6 shows the loaddisplacement curve
with reference to the displacement at midspan. In this
diagram, results relevant to another two beams with a
lower and a higher shear connection level (0.7 and 1.3
referring to the case studied respectively) are reported.
As is evident, the behaviour of the beam with the higher
shear connection strength is practically superimposed to
the reference case. The case of a lower shear connection
level (partial connection) is on the other hand charac-
terised by a reduction of the ultimate load and above all
by sudden collapse due to the shear connection failure.
5. Convergence of the numerical solution
The non-linear analysis of the problem requires
careful control on the convergence at each load level. In
the sequel a number of aspects related to the inuence of
the type and number of nite elements involved in the
analysis are discussed. In the non-linear analysis such
observations necessarily depend on the strength and
constitutive behaviour of the connection and the other
materials.
5.1. Local error
The local error trend is analysed for the solution
obtained with 100DOF and deriving from homogenous
discretisation with 10DOF elements. In order to evalu-
ate the errors a reference solution involving a high
number (388) of DOF and 16DOF elements was used. In
Fig. 7 the four diagrams show the trend of the error in
the deection v along one span of the beam, the bending
moment in the steel beam MS , the axial force in the
concrete deck NC and the shear force f. Dierent curves
refer to dierent values of the load multiplier k which
attains the unitary value at the maximum load sustain-
able by the beam. The error, reported as a percentage of
the maximum value attained along the beam by the
considered quantities, is given by:
ai k  aRi k
errfai kg 32
max jaRi kj
where ai k is the value calculated at the sample point i
at the load level k, while the sux R denotes the cor-
responding value of the reference solution.
It is evident that such discretisation involving
100DOF, which does however require consistent com-
puting time, furnishes very accurate results in linear
analysis but becomes inadequate in terms of achieving
good results in non-linear analysis and the errors are not
tolerable at a high load level. Local error undergoes
non-uniform distribution. The local error of displace-
ment derivatives related to the strain, not reported here,
show a strong localisation near the plastic hinges and
this is also reected in the stress resultants that are more
important in terms of dimensioning, as can be deduced
from the trend of error in NC , MS and f (Fig. 7). In
general the analysis of continuous beams requires more
rened discretisations and the use of an ecient element
may reduce the computing time and may permit faster
convergence. In order to evaluate the inuence of the
type of nite element adopted in the analysis, the results
obtained by using the same total DOF(100) but dierent
elements were compared and reported in Fig. 8. The
comparison was carried out for the case of 24 nite el-
ements with 8DOF, 16 nite elements with 10DOF and
8 nite elements with 16DOF, the results for MS and f
are reported for two load levels (k 0:4, k 0:8).
To better illustrate the dierence between the nite
elements, in Fig. 9 the distributions of f and MS are re-
ported for two load levels (k 0:4, k 0:8) obtained by
using a lower number of DOF (52 instead of 100) for the
three dierent elements (i.e. 12 nite elements with
8DOF, 8 nite elements with 10DOF and 4 nite ele-
 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228 2225

Fig. 7. Local error of the solution of total 100DOF with 10DOF elements.

Fig. 8. Comparison between dierent elements: local error of the solutions of total 100DOF.

ments with 16DOF). The reference solution is also re-
ported to underline the errors.
Despite the equivalence in terms of total DOF, the
performance of the three elements are very dierent: the
8DOF element is completely inadequate and the con-
vergence is very slow, while better results can be ob-
tained with the 10DOF element, where only the axial
displacements are improved, and the 16DOF element. In
particular, the 16DOF element provides more accurate
results in describing the slip and force at the interface
while similar results were obtained for the bending
moment in steel.
5.2. Global error
Two dierent ways to account for the mean error are
considered: the mean square error along the beam,
2226 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228

Fig. 9. Comparison between dierent elements: solutions of total 52DOF and reference solution.

Fig. 10. Comparison between elements: mean error for solutions with dierent total DOF.

s
evaluated for the single component of the resultant 1 X n

vector r or strain vector e, and the energy error, fur- errm fakg errfai kg2 33
n i1
nishing global information on the convergence.
The mean square error versus the total number of
DOF is reported in Fig. 10 for the three elements and for where n is the number of sampled points.
the two load levels previously considered. The mean Results refer to f and MS . In the case of f there is not
square error is calculated using: a big dierence in the mean error between the analyses
 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228
Fig. 11. Comparison between elements: energy error for solutions with dierent total DOF.
with the 10DOF element or the 16DOF element at low
load levels while the dierence becomes larger when the
load level increases and the material non-linearities are
of relevance in the structural behaviour.
Despite this, in the case of MS , 16DOF shows its
better behaviour even for low load levels, when the
8DOF and 10DOF have a similar mean error, while for
high load levels 8DOF seems to be better than 10DOF.
In general convergence is slower for the connection
force and only internal nodes involving axial displace-
ments seem to provide some benet.
In Fig. 11 the trends of the energy error (i.e. the
percentage dierence between the deformation energy of
the considered solution and that of the reference solu-
tion) versus the total DOF (two dierent load levels are
considered: k 0:4 and k 0:8) are reported. These
graphics clearly demonstrate that an 8DOF element,
inadequate for low load level, shows a better behaviour,
in terms of deformation energy, when the structure
reaches its ultimate state, and results become compara-
ble even to those provided by the 16DOF element.
6. Remarks on the results
The results obtained evidenced the poor ecacy of
the 8DOF element, especially for low load levels, when
the structural behaviour is near the linear elastic range.
This unsatisfactory behaviour of the 8DOF element is
due to locking problems.
For high shear connection stiness k, the slip must
tend to zero:
lim d lim w2  w1 hv0 0 34
k!1 k!1
the substitution of the 8DOF displacement eld in the
previous condition, leads to three equations ensuring
that the second-order polynomial describing the slip is
null. The rst two (i.e. conditions on constant and linear
2227
terms) actually express the kinematical restraint corres-
ponding to a rigid shear connection:
w1L  w2L huL 35
w1R  w2R huR 36
while the third equation (i.e. condition on quadratic
term):
Le
u uL vR  vL 37
2 R
(Le indicates the nite element length) imposes a further
condition, not related to the problem. The substitution
of this last condition in the expression of the deection
vz (f z=Le ):
vz vL 1  3f2 2f3 uL Le f  2f2 f3
vR 3f2  2f3 uR Le f2 f3 38
leads to the following reduced form:
vz vL uL Le f  12f2 uR Le 12f2 39
where the third-order terms disappear and vz is de-
scribed by a second-order polynomial only, in other
words the eective DOF are reduced. Consequently, the
curvature is constrained to be a constant along the ele-
ment.
The theoretical prevision agrees with the numerical
results shown in Fig. 12, where the diagrams of the
curvature at three dierent load levels are reported for a
solution obtained using 10 elements with 8DOF (graphic
on the left) and for a solution obtained by using 20
elements with 8DOF. It is evident that the curvature is
forced to assume a piecewise constant value in the
midspan region where the shear connection stiness is
high since the slip is almost zero. In the hogging region,
where a very high curvature gradient is present, locking
signicantly reduces the maximum value of curvature
and aects the trend of slip that becomes undulating, as
2228 A. Dall Asta, A. Zona / Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 22172228
Fig. 12. Locking in 8DOF element.
already observed in Fig. 9. It is also clear that an in-
crease, even a large one, in the element number does not
aect the problem in a signicant manner.
The 10DOF and 16DOF elements, designed so as
have polynomials of the same order for the contribu-
tions in slip deriving from wa and v are instead immune
from the locking problem described.
The 16DOF element is more accurate than the other
elements even if it does however present some problems
in its practical use. This is mainly due to the static con-
densation of internal DOF, that in the 16DOF must
operate with 8  8 submatrices while the 10DOF must
operate with 2  2 and 2  8 submatrices (8DOF does
not require static condensation having no internal DOF).
7. Conclusions
The performance of three nite elements, two of
which are already known in literature (8DOF and
10DOF element) and the one proposed by the authors
(16DOF element), has been compared by analysing the
non-linear behaviour of a two-span composite steel
concrete beam up to failure.
In general the results show that a large number of
DOF is required for obtaining good solutions in the
non-linear range and the convergence must be carefully
evaluated.
The comparison of results obtained by models with
the same total DOF evidenced that the 8DOF element
provides the worst results. The analysis of the shape
functions reveals that locking can occur and the eective
DOF of the element are reduced when the connection
stiness tends to innity. As a consequence, the perfor-
mances of the 8DOF element improve where the con-
nection force is high and its stiness becomes low.
The 16DOF element furnishes the best results in terms
of local and global error and furnishes a satisfactory de-
scription of the localisation of strain. However, both the
10DOF and 16DOF elements require a static condensa-
tion which makes the non-linear analysis cumbersome
and considerable computational eort is required.
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