Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin.

(2015) 2:4
DOI 10.1186/s40540-015-0016-9

RESEARCH Open Access

An overview of the plastic‑hinge analysis

of 3D steel frames
Van‑Long Hoang2, Hung Nguyen Dang1*  , Jean‑Pierre Jaspart2 and Jean‑François Demonceau2

*Correspondence:
hung.nd@vgu.edu.vn Abstract 
1
Computational Engineering An overview of plastic-hinge model for steel frames under static loads is carried out
Master Program, Vietnamese-
German University, Binh in this paper. Both rigid-plastic and elastic-plastic methods for framed structures are
Duong, Vietnam reviewed, including advantages and disadvantages of each method. It concerns both
Full list of author information analysis and optimization methodologies. The modeling of 3D plastic hinges by using
is available at the end of the
article the normality rule of the plasticity is described. The paper also touches on the consid‑
eration of strain hardening in the plastic-hinge modeling. Related to take into account
different phenomena (distributed plasticity, imperfections, stiffness degradation, etc.),
the practical modeling of members is summarized. How to consider behaviors and cost
of beam-to-column connections is discussed. The existing methods to capture large
displacements are briefly presented, as well as global formulations for different types of
analysis and optimization procedures. For the illustration, several numerical examples
are carried out, including a “loss a column” scenario in the robustness analysis.
Keywords:  Plastic-hinge, Plastic methods, Steel frames, Advanced analysis,
Optimization

Background
Steel frames show a high nonlinear behavior due to the plasticity of the material and the
slenderness of members. How to approach the “actual” behavior of steel frames has been
a large subject in the research field of constructional computation. In general, either the
plastic-zone or the plastic-hinge approach is adopted to capture the inelasticity of mate-
rial and geometric nonlinearity of a framed structure.
In the plastic-zone method, according to the requirement of refinement degree, a
structure member should be discretized into a mesh of finite elements where the non-
linearities are involved. Thus, this approach may describe the “actual” behavior of
structures, and it is known as a “quasi-exact” solution. However, although tremendous
advances in computer hardware and numerical techniques were achieved, plastic-zone
method is still considered as an “expensive” one, requiring considerable computing bur-
den. Moreover, software based on the plastic-zone approach requires the expertise of
users.
On the other hand, the plastic-hinge approach demands only one beam-column ele-
ment per physical member to assess approximately the nonlinear properties of the struc-
tures; so the computation time is considerably reduced. In addition, computer programs
using the plastic-hinge model are familiar to the habit of engineers. Thanks to these

© 2015 Hoang et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://
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Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 2 of 34

advantages, it appears that the plastic-hinge method is more widely used in practice
by engineers than the plastic-zone method. Wherefore, the improvement in the accu-
rateness of the plastic-hinge approach has been an attractive topic since over the past
60 years.
The present paper consists in an overview of the plastic-hinge approach for 3D steel
frames. Both the rigid-plastic and elastic-plastic methods for framed structures are
reviewed, including the advantages and disadvantages of each method. It concerns both
analysis and optimization methodologies. Furthermore, a description of the modeling of
3D plastic hinges by using the normality rule of the plasticity is done. The consideration
of strain hardening in the plastic modeling is also touched on. By taking into account dif-
ferent phenomena (distributed plasticity, imperfections, stiffness degradation, etc.), we
summarize the practical modeling of members. How to consider behaviors and cost of
beam-to-column connections is discussed. The existing methods to capture large dis-
placements are briefly presented, as well as global formulations for different types of
analysis and optimization procedures. For the illustration, several numerical examples
are carried out, including a “loss a column” scenario in the robustness analysis.

Generality on the behavior of frames

Plastic behavior
The plastic behavior of structures in general and of framed structures in particular was
well dealt with in many text books (e.g. Neal [62], Hodge [33], Save [69], Massonnet [58],
Nguyen-Dang [65], König [48], Chen [9], Lubliner [55], Mróz [61], Weichert [75] and
Jirásek [41], among others). Generally, the plastic behavior of steel structures depends
on the type of loading that may be classified as the following:

••  Monotonous loading where all applied loads are monotonically increased with a
unique loading factor.
••  Fixed repeated loading where the loads are repeated (loading, un-loading and re-
loading and so on), but the protocol is defined (defined history).
••  Arbitrary repeated loading where each load varies independently with arbitrary his-
tory, but within their limits (maximum and minimum values, Fig. 1).

The monotonous loading and the fixed repeated loading are two particular cases of the
arbitrary repeated loading. Therefore, in this paper, the terms ‘complex loads’ and ‘sim-
ple loads’ may be used to indicate the arbitrary repeated loading and the monotonous/
fixed repeated loadings, respectively.
In the practice of construction, a structure may be subjected to various kinds of load,
for example: dead load, live load, wind load, effects of earthquake, etc. The dead load
consists of the weight of the structure itself and its cladding. The dead load remains
constant, but other loads vary continually. Those variations are normally independent
and repeated with arbitrary histories. It is clear that the structure is normally subjected
to the loads with arbitrary histories; so the simple loads are used as a simplification in
calculations.
The behavior of a frame under the monotonous loading may be described in Fig. 2. The
frames firstly works in the elastic domain, then the plastic deformation (plastic hinges)
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 3 of 34

Fig. 1  Complex loads (arbitrary loading history)

Fig. 2  Plastic behavior of steel frame under monotonous loading

occurs leading to a progressive decrease of the frame stiffness (elastic-plastic behavior)

and finally the stiffness may be considered to be vanished (totally plastic). In the classic
conception, the limit state is reached when the number of plastic hinges is enough such
that the frame is considered as a deformable geometry system (if the plastic hinges are
replaced by “real” hinges).
Under the repeated loading, the behavior of the frame may be described in Fig. 3 that
corresponds to the three following possibilities:

1. The structure returns to the elastic range after having some plastic deformations
(Fig. 3a); the structure is referred to as shakedown (plastic stability/plastic adapta-
tion).
2. Plastics deformation constitutes a closed cycle (Fig. 3b), the structure is presumed to
be failed by alternating plasticity (low-cycle fatigue);
3. Plastic deformation implies an infinitely progress (Fig. 3c), the structure is considered
to be failed by incremental plasticity.

The alternating plasticity or the incremental plasticity behaviors may be accepted in

some exceptional load cases (as a seismic event), while these behaviors should be avoided
in normal state where the shakedown behavior should be planed. The shakedown
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 4 of 34

a b c
Fig. 3  Behaviors of steel frames under repeated loading

analysis aims to determine the load domain for the complex load cases (Fig.  2) such
that the shakedown occurs in the structure. In other words, the shakedown analysis is a
straight method (“one step”) to avoid the alternating plasticity or the incremental plastic-
ity in structures without knowing the loading histories.

Geometric nonlinearities
The behavior described in Fig. 2 ignores the geometric nonlinearity that is very explicit
within steel frames. The term “geometric nonlinearity” means that the deformed con-
figuration of the frame is considered. Generally, there are two types of effects due to
the geometric nonlinearities (Fig.  4): membrane effect and buckling effect. The mem-
brane effect normally develops at a quite large displacement, and rarely observed in a
normal state. So far, the membrane effect is mainly considered in the robustness analysis
to assess the robustness degree of structures (see Demonceau [19]). On the other hand,
the buckling effect leads to almost failure of steel frames, and this effect is one of the
main aspects concerning steel structure research.

Plastic methods for framed structures

During the past 60  years, the theories of plasticity, stability and computing technol-
ogy have recorded great achievements that constitutes the basis allowing scientists to
develop successfully plastic methods for structures. The framed structures are often
regarded as benchmark to build up computation methods for other kinds of structure.
Up to now, plastic methods for framed structures can be classed into two groups: direct
methods and step-by-step method.

Fig. 4  Geometric nonlinearity effects

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 5 of 34

Direct methods
The term “direct methods” consists in the rigid-plastic methods that the load multiplier
can be directly identified without any intermediate states of structures. The direct meth-
ods are based on the static and kinematic theorems—two fundamental theorems of the
limit analysis, which lead to static approach and kinematic approach, respectively.
In the 1950s, the first plastic methods (e.g., trial and error method, a combination of
mechanism method and plastic moment distribution method) were proposed by Baker,
Neal, Symonds and Horne (see Neal [62]). Since the 1970s, the direct methods have been
largely developed thanks to the application of mathematical programming; in particular,
the linear programming problem can be generally solved through the simplex method
(see Dantzig [20]). An overall picture on the application of the mathematical program-
ming to structural analysis can be found from: the state-of-the-art report of Grierson
[26]; the book edited by Cohn [13]; the state-of-the-art papers and the key note of Maier
[56, 57]; the book edited by Smith [71]; and other papers by Cocchetti [12], Nguyen-
Dang [66]. Additionally, some interesting computer programs were built up, e.g. DAPS
[68], STRUPL-ANALYSIS [25], CEPAO [29, 32, 66] where the linear programming tech-
nique is combined with the finite element method that enables automatic procedures.
The following types of analysis and optimization are generally based on the direct
methods:

••  Limit analysis

••  Shakedown analysis
••  Limit optimization
••  Shakedown optimization

Even if the shakedown problem is classed in the rigid-plastic analysis, the elastic
behavior of structures is needed for the shakedown analysis/optimization.

Advantages of the direct methods

It reveals that this type of analysis is:

••  capable of taking full advantage of mathematical programming achievements.

••  suitable to solve structures subjected to arbitrary repeated loading (shakedown prob-
lem).
••  possible to unify into unique computer program because the algorithms of the direct
methods for different procedures are similar, such as: limit or shakedown, analysis or
optimization, frames or plate/shell, etc.
••  not influenced by local behaviors of structures, namely the elastic return (a phenom-
enon often occurs in the step-by-step methods). There exists sometimes degenerate
phenomenon in the simplex method but it is treated by the lexicographical rule (see
Dentzig [20]).

Limitations of the direct methods

Some their drawbacks may be evoked here: difficulties arise
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 6 of 34

••  when the geometric nonlinearity conditions are taken into account, so it poses a
great challenge.
••  when solving large-scale frames, because the direct methods belong to “one step”
approaches.

Step‑by‑step methods
Step-by-step methods or elastic-plastic incremental methods are based on the standard
methods of the elastic analysis. The loading process is divided into various steps. After
each loading step, the stiffness matrix is updated to take into account nonlinear effects.
In comparison with the elastic solution, only the physical matrix is varied to consider the
plastic behavior. The step-by-step methods take advantage of large experiences of the
linear elastic analysis by the finite element method. One may find many useful compu-
tational algorithms and techniques in many text books (e.g., Bathe [2, 3], among others).
Commercial software for structural analysis has been almost developed by adapting the
step-be-step methods.
Compared to the direct methods, the step-by-step methods have the following
features:

Advantages of the step‑by‑step method

••  The geometric nonlinearity is appropriately taken into account.
••  The step-by-step methods furnish a complete redistribution progress prior to the
collapse of structures.
••  With the progress in both computing hardware and numerical technology, the mod-
eling of complex structures, even very large scales, may be dealt with.

Limitations of the step‑by‑step methods

••  For the case of arbitrary loading histories (shakedown problem), the step-by-step
methods are cumbersome and embed many difficulties.
••  With the elastic-plastic analysis of frames, this method is influenced by the local
behavior of structures, such as the elastic return, it may lead to an erroneous solu-
tion.

Plastic‑hinge modeling
Plastic-hinge modeling is an important issue of the plastic analysis for framed struc-
tures; it influences not only the accurateness but also the formulation procedure. To
model plastic hinges, the yield surface is firstly needed to be defined and then the rela-
tionship between forces and plastic deformations at the plastic hinges is necessary to be
established.

Yield surfaces
In regards to beam-column members in 3D frames, the yield surfaces are generally writ-
ten under the form of the interaction between axial force and two bending moments
(Eq. (1)), the influences of shear forces and torsional moments are usually neglected.

ϕ(n, my , mx ) = 1 (1)
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 7 of 34

in Eq. (1), n = N/Np is the ratio of the axial force over squash load, my = My/Mpy and
mz = Mz/Mpz are, respectively, the ratios of minor-axis and major-axis moments to cor-
responding plastic moments.
The yield surfaces of Orbison [67] and of AISC [1] are generally adopted for I- or
H-shaped sections that are often used in steel frames. Orbison’s yield surface is a single-
smooth-convex-nonlinear function while the AISC yield surface is a sixteen-facet poly-
hedron. The equations are presented bellows:

••  Orbison’s yield surface [67] (Fig. 5b):

ϕ = 1.15n2 + m2z + m4y + 3.67n2 m2z + 3n6 m2y + 4.65m2y m4z = 1 (2)

••  Yield surface of AISC [1] (Fig. 5c):

 
|n| + (8/9)my  + (8/9)|mz | = 1 for |n| ≥ 0.2;
  (3)
(1/2)|n| + my  + |mz | = 1 for |n| < 0.2;

Orbison’s yield surface is very suitable to the elastic-plastic analysis by step-by-step

method for 3-D steel frames, it has been widely applied (see Orbison [67], Liew [51, 52],
Kim [42–45], Chiorean [11], among others). On the other hand, the polyhedrons [e.g.
the sixteen-facet polyhedron, Eq. (3)] obviously are the unique way allowing the use of
the linear programming technique in the rigid-plastic analysis.
Other definitions of yield surface have been also used in some researches (e.g., Izzud-
din [37]). In particular, adapted yield surfaces for various shape section of steel profiles
can be found in Meas [60], where the coefficients in Eq. (2) are varied for each type of
cross section.

Plastic deformation
Various hypotheses on the plastic deformation of plastic hinges may be found in the
literature. However, the normality rule of the plasticity is an efficient way to describe
the plastic deformation evolution of a plastic hinge. When the effects of two bending

a b c

Fig. 5  Yield surfaces

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 8 of 34

moments and axial force are taken into account, the associated deformations are two
rotations and one axial component (Fig. 6a). The normality rule may be applied for this
case as follows:
 p  
� 
   ∂ϕ/∂N 
 
θyp =  ∂ϕ/∂My , (4)
 p
  ∂ϕ/∂M 

θz
 
z

or symbolically:

ep = N. (5)

where λ is the plastic deformation magnitude; N is a gradient vector at a point of the

yield surface ф; ep collects the plastic deformation. Figure  6b describes this normality
rule.
The application of the normality rule for the 3D plastic hinge was detailed in Hoang
[32] for the step-by-step method where Orbison’ yield surface was adopted; or in Hoang
[30, 33] for the rigid-plastic analysis using the polyhedron yield surface.

Force: plastic deformation relationship

In the elastic-plastic analysis based on step-by-step method, incremental force–defor-
mation relation is generally used. Let Δs is the vector of the incremental forces (axial
force and two bending moments) in the plastic hinge; this vector must be tangent to the
yield surface. On the other hand, since the vector of incremental plastic deformation is
perpendicular to the yield surface, the two vectors: incremental plastic deformation and
incremental forces are perpendicular (Fig. 7):

sT ep = 0. (6)

In another context, the rigid-plastic analysis adopts the plastic dissipation conception:

Ω̇ = s0T .
˙ (7)

In Eq.  (7), s0 is the vector of the plastic capacities of the cross section (at the plastic
hinges). Equation (7) shows that the plastic dissipation depends only on ˙ because s0 is a

a Deformations in the plastic-hinge b normality rule

Fig. 6  Plastic deformation in the plastic hinge
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 9 of 34

Fig. 7  The relationship between forces and plastic deformation

given constant vector for each critical section. The plastic dissipation must be minimum
while the compatibility and equilibrium conditions must be respected; this is the gov-
erned idea in the formulation of the rigid-plastic analysis.

Strain hardening consideration

Most of plastic-hinge analysis omit the strain hardening effect of the steel material; how-
ever, this effect has been included in some works (e.g., Byfield [6], Davies ([17], [18]), and
Hoang [31]). The Ref. [31] presented a procedure to take into account the strain hard-
ening effect by using the isotropic strain hardening rule. The diagram σ − ε shown on
Fig. 8a is adopted for the material behavior, and the cross section (plastic hinge) behav-
ior is described as:

Φ = ϕ − H ε̄p ≤ 0 if ε̄p = 0 (8)

p
Φ = ϕ − H ε̄p = 0 if 0 < ε̄p ≤ ε̄l (9)

p p
Φ = ϕ − H ε̄l = 0 if ε̄p > ε̄l (10)

In Eqs.  (8), (9), (10), ϕ is the yield surface of the cross section [e.g., Orbison’s yield
surface in Eq. (2)]; H is the strain hardening modulus (or plastic modulus), it is assumed

a b
Fig. 8  Hardening rule
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 10 of 34

p
constant (linear hardening low); ε̄p is the effective strain that is defined below; ε̄l is the
limit effective strain. How to determine these parameters, and also how to involve the
yield surface given by Eq.  (8) into the global formulation procedure can be found in
Hoang [31].
Equations  (8), (9), (10) describe, respectively, the elastic range, the hardening range,
and the flowed range (Fig. 8b). It shows that a nonlinear hardening rule is approximated
through bi-linear procedures [Eqs. (9) and (10)]. In the space of internal forces, Φ and ф
have the same shape, i.e., Φ is an expansion of ф.

Member modeling
Concerning the rigid-plastic analysis, a member is considered to be rigid body, no defor-
mation is allowed. Therefore, this section mainly devotes to the member modeling in the
elastic–plastic analysis by the step-by-step methods, only the compatibility and equilib-
rium relations (in “Beam-column element formulation”) can be used for the both rigid-
plastic and elastic-plastic analysis.
Figure 9 shows initial and deformed configurations of a frame member. The total dis-
placement of the member may be divided into two components: the displacement of the
chord and the deformation of the member (in comparison with its chord). The member
deformation can be assumed to be small while the chord movement is necessary to be
considered large displacement. Only the member deformation needs to be taken into
account in the member formulation and the chord displacement can be separately con-
sidered. In the following, the member formulation is presented while the large displace-
ment of the chord configuration will be lately investigated in “Large displacements”.
Even if the assumption of small deformation is adopted but different effects (namely
P-δ, distributed plasticity, local and lateral-torsional buckling, etc.) should be taken into
account for the member behavior. There exist several ways to involve the mentioned
effects; the present paper summarizes a practical technique comprising two separate
procedures: (1) establish the fundamental relations (compatibility, equilibrium and
constitutions) using the elastic linear beam theory (Bernoulli beam) and (2) practically
include the different effects to the member formulation. These two procedures will be
presented in “Beam-column element formulation” and “Taking into account different
effects” below, respectively.

Fig. 9  Member displacement

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 11 of 34

Beam‑column element formulation

In the global axes XYZ, considering an element k with attached axes (local axes) xyz
(Fig. 10), let

••  ek be the vector of total deformations (generalized strains) of the element extremities
p
in the local axes xyz and ek be the plastic part of ek.
••  dk be the vector of nodal displacements in the global axes XYZ;
••  sk be the vector of internal forces at the element extremities in the local axes xyz;
••  fk be the vector of external loads applied at the two nodes in the global axes XYZ.

The compatibility, equilibrium and physical relations may be, respectively, written as:

ek = Bk dk (11)

sk = BTk fk (12)

p
sk = Dk (ek − ek ) (13)

where Bk and Dk are the geometrical and elastic matrices, respectively.

As the small strain is assumed for the member formulation and no special particularity
is assigned for the geometric matrix (Bk), the explicit form is classical and it is not pre-
sented here. The input data to build up the matrix Bk are: the total length of the member
chord (Fig. 10) and the matrix of direction cosines of the element. On the other hand, as
the matrix Dk describes the elastic relationship of the member, so the plastic deforma-
tion must be eliminated, i.e., the term (e-eP) in Eq.  (13)]. Moreover, the elastic length
(Fig. 10), which is the difference between the total length and the axial plastic deforma-
tions, needs to be used in the matrix Dk. The matrix Dk includes obviously the Young
modulus and mechanical properties of the cross section.
Equation (13) presents the relation between the element forces and the elastic defor-
mations. To accord with the compatibility condition [Eq.  (11)], the physical equation
would be written as the relation between the element forces and the total deformations.
Using Eqs. (5) and (6) to deduce the plastic deformations ep and the plastic magnitude λ,
substituting them into Eq. (13) results in:
ep
sk = Dk ek (14)

Fig. 10  Local axes and the length of the element k

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 12 of 34

ep
where Dk is called elastic-plastic matrix that is computed from the matrix Dk and the
ep
matrix N. The details of the procedure to obtain Dk and its explicit form can be found in
Hoang [32].

Taking into account different effects

In this section, several techniques existing in the literature to take into account different
effects that influence to the member behavior are summarized. Only the principles are
presented, the detailed formulation is referred to the corresponding literature.

P‑δ effect
The stability functions have been largely used to include the influence of the axial force
to the member stiffness (P-δ effect). Normally, one finite element can model one physi-
cal member when the stability functions are applied. To introduce the stability functions
ep
into the formulation of the element, only the physical relation (matrix Dk in Eq. (14)] is
modified, the explicit forms may be found in many texts (e.g. Chen [8]).

Spread of plasticity at plastic hinge

In order to consider the partial plastic state of the section (Fig.  11), the conception of
stiffness degradation functions was proposed in Liew [53]. Based on the yield surface
equation, two states can be identified: (1) when the right-hand side of the yield surface
(Eq. (1)) shows values reaching 0.5, the cross section is considered to start of yielding; (2)
when the yield surface [Eq. (1)] is satisfied, the cross section is completely yielded (plas-
tic hinge). The parabolic function is used to link two mentioned states. Again, only the
ep
physical matrix (Dk in Eq. (14)) needs to be modified. This procedure has been detailed
in many works (e.g., Liew [49], Chen [8], and Kim [42–45]).

Imperfections (residual stress and geometric imperfection) and distributed plasticity

A practical approach allowing to obtain material/geometric imperfections and distrib-
uted plasticity was proposed in Liew [53], so-called the column effective stiffness con-
cept. Based on CRC column curve, the Young modulus of the members is assumed to
be reduced to Et (Fig. 12a), and this Et is introduced to the physical matrix in Eq. (14).
In Landesmann [50], the idea of the column effective stiffness was brought into play by
using the European curves (Fig. 12b) where Et/E is defined to equal to N/NE.

Fig. 11  Spread of plasticity at plastic hinge

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 13 of 34

Fig. 12  Concept of column effective stiffness

It can be found in the literature some other ways to take into account the plasticity
along the member, for example: in Izzuddin [37] an adaptive mesh is used, allowing to
detect whether plastic hinges occur along the member length; or in Chiorean [11] the
Ramberg–Osgood force-strain relationship was adopted to model the gradual yielding of
cross sections; in Liu [54] an element including a plastic hinge was built up, allowing the
occurrence of plastic hinge within the element length at an arbitrary location.

Lateral‑torsional buckling effect

A procedure to consider the lateral-torsional buckling effect in the plastic-hinge analy-
sis of 3D steel frames was proposed in Kim [44]. The procedure consists in two steps:
(1) using the Standards (e.g. European/American ones) to compute the lateral-torsional
buckling strength of the members; (2) replacing the plastic strengths of the cross section
in the yield surface [Eq. (1)] by the obtained lateral-torsional buckling strengths. By this
way, the lateral-torsional buckling is practically taken into account. In some works (e.g.,
[27, 47]), the lateral-torsional effect has been included during the element formulations,
so this effect is sophisticatedly considered in avoiding fiber/plate/shell/solid elements.
In Jiang [40], a mixed element formulation has been proposed to take into account both
geometry and material nonlinearities including the lateral-torsional buckling effect.

Local buckling effect

With a similar idea for including the lateral-torsional buckling, a process to consider the
local buckling effect was also proposed in Kim [45], where the plastic strength of the
section in the yield surfaces involves the local buckling phenomenon.
In another context, based on the classification of cross sections given in Eurocode 3,
part 1-1 [23], a procedure to check the local buckling phenomenon at critical sections
was proposed in Hoang [30]. At each calculation step, the positions of the neutral axes
for the critical sections are determined from the internal forces (axial force and two
bending moments). When the neutral axes of the cross sections are defined, compres-
sion parts of the sections can be checked against the local buckling.
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 14 of 34

Consideration of connections
The connections, as beam-to-column joints and column bases, make up an important
portion of framed structures. The connection behavior shows strong influence on the
frame behavior and the cost of connections occupies a considerable part of the frame
cost. Therefore, the consideration of the connection behavior and the cost in the frame
analysis and the optimisation has been an intensive topic during the past 30 years. In the
following, how to practically introduce the connection characteristics and cost to the
plastic-hinge analysis and the optimisation of steel frames is summarized.

Modeling of connections
Due to the geometrical complexity, the modeling of connections is rather complicated
and usually should be based on experimental and numerical analysis. The main charac-
teristic of connections to be modeled is the moment-rotation relationship, what is the
aim of many researches, e.g. Chen [10], Díaz [21], Jaspart [38, 39], among others. Both
the experiment and numerical analysis demonstrate that the moment-rotation curve is
nonlinear that the slope depends on actual form of assemblages. For the practical pur-
pose, a lot of simple interpretations have been proposed to approximate actual moment-
rotation curves. In the plastic global analysis, the elastic-perfectly plastic modeling is
widely adopted. Two necessary parameters for this modeling are the initial stiffness of
the connection (R) and the ultimate moment capacity (Mj,p). The approaches for deter-
mining these parameters according to various types of connection are now covered in
Standards (e.g., Eurocode 3, Part 1–8 [22]) (Fig. 13).

Effect of initial stiffness of connections

In principle, the rigidity of connections may be modeled by elastic springs, Rn, Ry, Rz
(Fig.  14), however, the axial spring (Rn) is habitually considered to be infinitive rigid.
These elastic springs can be introduced in the member formulation and only the physical
matrix [Dep in Eq. (14)] is modified, the details may be found in many texts, e.g., Chen
[8], Kim [42], Ngo [63, 64].

Fig. 13  Modeling of connection

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 15 of 34

Fig. 14  Introduction of connection characteristics in the member modeling

Effect of partial strength connections

Let Mj,py, Mj,pz,Nj,p be, respectively, the plastic moment in Y direction, the plastic
moment in Z direction and the squash load of the connections. Analog as the cross sec-
tions in principle, we have yield surfaces for connections:

Φj (N /Nj,p , My /Mj,py , Mz /Mj,pz ) = 0

The partial-yield surface (Φ̄) is the surface that envelopes intersection zones. These
zones are constituted by the intersection between the cross section yield surface and the
joint yield surface (Fig. 15a).
However, for the practical purpose, one may use the simple partial-yield surface.
It is deduced from the cross section yield surface but the plastic moments of section
( Mpy , Mpz) are replaced by the ones of joints ( Mj,py, Mj,pz) (Fig. 15b):

Φ̄ ≡ Φ(N /Np , My /Mj,py , Mz /Mj,pz ) = 0

Effect of connection cost

There is clearly a correlation between the properties (stiffness and strength) and the cost
of connections. Some authors mathematized this relationship to count the connection
cost in optimization procedures (e.g., Xu [76], Simöes [66], Hayalioglu [28]). Generally, a
member including their connections is considered to be equivalent to a member with a
conventional length that may be written by Eq. (15):

l̄i = li + li f (R) (15)

a b
Fig. 15  Partial-yield surface
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 16 of 34

f(R) is function of the connection rigidity (R). A detailed expression was provided in
Simöes [66], accordingly the conventional length is increased by 20  % if it consists in
pinner connections and 100 % if the extremities of the connections are fully rigid.
The conventional lengths of the members replace the actual lengths in the objective
function of the optimization procedure (“Weight function”) that means the connection
cost is considered in the optimal procedure.
As the connection strengths are not present in Eq. (15), in order to include them in the
expression of the conventional length, a classification system given in Bjorhovde [5] may
be adopted:

Mj,p = (EIy /νh)θj , (16)

where ν is a constant; h is the depth of connecting beam. The graphical illustration of

this behavior is shown in Fig. 16 for the ranges of rigid, semi-rigid and flexible behaviors.
Let s be the ratio of connection strength, s = Mj,p/Mp where Mp is the plastic moment
of the beam. Intermediate values of the plastic moment for a given stiffness are interpo-
lated in accordance with the dashed line (Fig. 16). Some values of s and corresponding
values of ν are shown in Table 1.

Weight function
In the optimization problem, the node layout of the investigated frame is considered
already assigned, the objective is to find out an optimal selection of profile provided in
the database. Because the plastic axial capacity is proportional to the area of the mem-
bers, the weight (or the volume) of the frame is proportional to the sum of all products
of the plastic axial capacity and the length, computed for each member. As mentioned in
“Effect of connection cost”, the connection cost is referred to the conventional length of
the members. Therefore, the objective function of the frame may be written as:

Z = npT l̄,

where np, l̄ are, respectively, the vector of plastic axial capacities and the vector of the
conventional lengths [see Eq. (15)].

Fig. 16  Classification of connections

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 17 of 34

Table 1  Relation between s and ν

S 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

ν 25.0000 10.0000 6.2667 4.4000 3.2800 2.5333 2.0000 1.1667 0.5185 0.0000

Formulation for the whole frame

The previous sections have presented the modeling of plastic hinges, members and con-
nections. This section aims to summarize the formulation procedures for the whole
frames with various types of analysis.

Step 1: Preparation of input

For the whole frame, the following quantities need to be written under the vector or
matrix forms:

••  s0: vector of plastic capacities (axial force and two bending moments) of the cross
sections (plastic hinges)
••  np: vector of axial plastic capacities of the cross sections (it is a sub-vector of s0).
••  l: vector of member lengths (or conventional lengths if the connection behaviors are
considered)
••  f: vector of applied loads (in the global axes)
••  sE: envelop vector of elastic responses according to the domain of considered loading
(the structure is considered purely elastic), it involves two extreme values: the posi-
tive sEmax and the negative sEmin
••  B: the compatibility matrix (BT is the equilibrium matrix), see Eq. (11)
••  Dep: the physical matrix, see Eq. (14)
••  N: vector containing gradients of the yield surfaces, see Eq. (5)
••  d: vector of displacements (in the global system axes)
••  ρ: vector of residual internal forces (in the local axes)
••  λ: vector of plastic magnitudes
••  s: vector of internal forces (in the local axis)

Depending on the type of problem, the above quantities may undertake different roles,
as mentioned in Table 2.

Step 2: Global formulation

Based on the available data from the previous step, the governing equations for different
problems may be formulated as presented in Table 3.

Step 3: Solving procedure

Incremental-iterative strategies are used for the elastic-plastic analysis while the Sim-
plex technique is adopted for the rigid-plastic analysis/optimization (Table  4). The
simplex technique is classical one and the detail can be found in many textbooks (e.g.,
Dentzig [20]). Generally, the incremental-iterative strategies compose three stages:
(1) the predictor that aims to determinate the structure responses subjected to a give
load increment; (2) the corrector aims at recovering of the element forces; and (3) the
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 18 of 34

Table 2  Input and variables according to different types of problem

Type of problem Input Unknowns

Elastic–plastic analysis B, Dep, f d

Limit analysis B, N, f, s0 d, λ
Shakedown analysis B, N, sE, s0 d, λ
Limit optimization B, N, f np, s
Shakedown optimization B, N, sE np, ρ

Table 3  Global formulation

Type of problem Global formulation

Elastic–plastic analysis [29] d = K −1 f with K = BT Dep B

Limit analysis [27]  N˙ − Bḋ = 0


Min Ω(, ˙ ḋ) = sT ˙ with f̄ T ḋ > 0

0
˙ ≥ 0


Shakedown analysis [27]  N˙ − Bḋ = 0



Min Ω(, ˙ ḋ) = sT ˙ with sT N˙ > 0

0  E˙
≥0
Limit optimization [30]
 T
B s = f
Min Z(np , s) = nTp l with
T
N s ≤ s0

Shakedown optimization [30]

 T
B ρ=0
Min Z(np , ρ) = nTp l with
NT (se + ρ) ≤ s0

Table 4  Solving procedure

Type of problem Solving method

Elastic–plastic analysis Incremental-iterative strategies

Limit analysis Simplex algorithm
Shakedown analysis
Limit optimization
Shakedown optimization

error-checking where the unbalanced forces are estimated to compare with the applied
forces. Many techniques have been proposed for each stage, in particular how to pass
through the limit point where the structure behavior becomes post-critical one. The
details on the incremental-iterative strategies for framed structures can be found in [7,
74] among other works.

Large displacements
The plasticity of material and different effects of geometry are dealt with in “Plastic-
hinge modeling” (plastic-hinge modeling) and “Member modeling” (member formula-
tion). This section concerns the methods to capture large displacement (Fig. 9) and aims
to update the deformed configuration of the chord. Generally, either the conventional
second-order approach or co-rotational approach is adopted in the literature.
In the conventional second-order methods, the compatibility and equilibrium rela-
tions are written in the initial configuration of the structure. At each computation step,
secondary axial force and shear forces are added to the member forces (Fig.  17). The
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 19 of 34

Fig. 17  Additional forces in the conventional second-order approach

external load that equilibrates with the secondary forces is called secondary load, caus-
ing the second effect in the frame. Due to the deformed configuration is not considered
for the basic relations, so the conventional second-order approach is only valid in the
case of moderate displacements, while it is not enough accurate in the case of quite large
displacements. On other word, the conventional second-order approach can be used for
the analysis in normal state but it is not suitable in the case of exceptional states (the
robustness analysis for example). The application of the conventional approach for 3D
steel frames can be found in many works (e.g. Kim [42–45]).
On the other hand, in the co-rotational approach, the deformed configuration of the
chord is used to up-date the fundamental relationships; so this approach can be appro-
priate for the structure as far as very large displacements with a high accuracy. The co-
rotational approach has been abundantly interpreted in the literature (e.g., Battini [4],
Crisfield [14, 15], Izzuddin [35, 36], Mattiasson [59], Souza [72] and Teh [73]), maybe
with various terminologies (namely Convected/Eulerian/etc. formulations). The main
objective of researches is to treat the finite rotation in the space and there exist actually
several techniques. In the following, a quite simple technique to calculate the rotation of
the member around its axis, so-called “mean rotation” formulation, is chosen to present.
In fact, updating the deformed configuration means determining the local axes of the
structural elements. Once the local axis is defined, the compatibility (also equilibrium)
relationship [matrix Bk in Eq. (11)] is accordingly determined, that means the deformed
configuration is updated. It is clear that the local axes of a member are defined from:
(1) the axial axis (the axis joining initial node to final node of the member) and (2) the
web plan vector of the element (Table 5). The positions of the nodes (I and J) are easy to
update because they concern only the translation displacements; therefore, the axial axis
of the member can be straightly defined. On the other hand, the rotation of the web plan
vector represents rotational movement of the member around its axis. It can be assumed
that the rotation of the element equals to the mean value of the rotations according to
the nodes: φk = (φI + φJ)/2 (Table 6). The rotation according to each node against the
axial axis of the member may be deduced from the rotational components of the node
about the global axes by using the second-order transformation given in Izzuddin [36]
(Table 7). Once the rotation of the web plan vector is determined, the local axes of the
member in a current configuration are accordingly defined (Table 8).
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 20 of 34

Table 5  Web plan vector

xoy is called the web plan; a vector in the web plan is called web plan vector. The local axes (x, y and z) can be determined
once the member axis (x) and a web plan vector are defined

Table 6  Concept of “mean rotation”

yk is a web plan vector of the member which is perpendicular to the member axis
yI and yJ are the vectors at the nodes I and J respectively and parallel to yk
фI and фI are the rotations of the vectors yI and yJ (see Table 6)
Assumption of the mean rotation: фk=(фI + фJ)/2

Table 7  Determination of the rotations according to nodes I and J about the member axis

I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J)

+θZ )2
 
(θ θX θY θX θZ
1− Y 2 −i θZI(J) + 2 θYI(J) + 2
I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J)
(θX +θZ )2
 
TI(J) = I(J) θX θY I(J) θ θ
 θZ + 2 1− 2 −θX + Y 2 Z 

I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J) I(J)
θ θ θY θZ (θ +θ )2
−θYI(J) + X 2 Z θX + 2
I(J)
1− X 2Z
where TI(J) is second-order transformation matrix that can be found in Izzuddin [36]:
θXI(J), θYI(J), θZI(J), and are incremental rotations of node I (or J) about the global axes X, Y and Z respectively, they are given in
the output at each step of the computation
фI(J) are angles between the vectors yI(J) and ȳI(J)
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 21 of 34

Table 8  Determination of the web plan vector for a current configuration

(i−1)
  I, (i−1)J, (i)I and (i)J are the coordinates of the nodes at the last (i − 1)th and the current (i)th configurations, respectively
(i−1)
  yk is web plan vector of the element at the last configuration, perpendicular to the member axis
φk is the rotation of the element about its axis (Table 6)
(i−1) ȳ is the position of (i-1)y after performing the rotation φ
k k k
(i) ȳ is a web plan vector of the member at the current configuration, parallel to (i−1) ȳ
k k
(i) y is the web plan vector of the current configuration that is (i) ȳ after normalizing (still in the web plan but perpendicular
k k
to the member axial axis)

Numerical examples
Almost formulations presented in the previous sections have been implemented in a
computer program, named CEPAO (Table 9). In the following, some numerical examples
carried out by CEPAO are presented, the results are also validated by other programs.

Robustness analysis
In recent years, the robustness analysis has become a relevant topic in the research field.
At University of Liege, the “loss a column” scenario is under developement by analyti-
cal, numerical and experimental approaches [see Demonceau [19] and Huvelle [34]). The
main idea is to model the behavior of structures after loss of a column. In this state,
the frame geometry is considerably modified and the internal forces in the frame mem-
bers are strongly varied (even from purely in bending to purely in tension). This situa-
tion is out of the classical concept of the plastic-hinge analysis, simple models of plastic
hinge (for example: neglecting of plastic axial deformations) and the conventional sec-
ond-order approach may be not adequate. In the following, some typical examples con-
cerning the “loss a column” scenario are analyzed by the CEPAO program. The CEPAO
results are compared with the results provided by FINELG—a nonlinear finite element
software developed at the University of Liege [24]. The FINELG model can be consid-
ered a plastic-zone analysis where both material and geometric aspects are considered.

Example a1
It consists in a system used for a parametric study in Huvelle [34] of which the proper-
ties are shown in Fig.  18. It concerns a beam subjected to a concentrated load at the
middle span (span  =  14  m). Two extremities of the beam are locked in vertical and
rotational displacements, the horizontal displacement is allowed by the spring k. Due
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 22 of 34

Table 9  Features of the CEPAO program

Features Problem types
Elastic–plas‑ Limit Shakedown Limit optimi‑ Shakedown
tic analysis analysis analysis zation optimization

Orbison yield surface (“Plastic-hinge ×

modeling”)a
AISC yield surface (“Plastic-hinge mod‑ × × × ×
eling”)
P-δ effect (“Member modeling”) ×
Spread of plasticity in the plastic hinge ×
(“Member modeling”)
Initial imperfections (“Member mod‑ ×
eling”)
Lateral-torsional buckling (“Member ×(c)
modeling”)
Local buckling (“Member modeling”) ×
Member stability checkb × ×
Conventional second-order approach ×
(“Large displacements”)
Co-rotational approach (“Large displace‑ ×
ments”)
Semi-rigid connection (“Consideration of ×
connections”)
Partial connection (“Consideration of × × × × ×
connections”)
Cost of connection (“Consideration of × ×
connections”)
“x”: implanted in the program
a
  The first coefficient (1.15 in Eq. (1)) has been replaced by 1.0 in CEPAO
b
  As the different effects (second-order, P-δ, etc.) have been not yet introduced in the optimization options, so a stability
check according to Eurocode 3 has been adopted to check for individual members
c
  The practical method proposed in Kim [45] have been adopted in the program
In the CEPAO, Newton–Raphson method (See Chan [7]) is used for the incremental-iterative strategy and the force
incremental method (See Wang [74]) is adopted to recover the element forces

Fig. 18  Example a1—the configuration and the properties of the considered system

to the symmetry, only a half of the system is used to analyze. The profile IPE550, steel
grade S355 (yield strength = 355 N/mm2) are used. The properties of k are varied and
reported in Fig. 18: k1 = 10,000 kN/m, k2 = 20,000 kN/m, k3 = 40,000 kN/m that are
purely elastic; on the contrary, an elastic-plastic behavior is assumed for k4 (elastic
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 23 of 34

rigidity = 40,000 kN/m, plastic strength = 1020 kN). The obtained load–displacement

curves given in Fig. 19 reveal a very good agreement between the two programs, even
with very large displacements. It shows that the classical mechanism occurs at the load
of about 280 kN, but with the membrane effect, a considerable hardening is observed;
this hardening significantly depends on the spring k.

Example a2
It concerns a 2D frame subjected to loss a column (Fig.  20), also presented in Huvelle
[34] that the analytical results were compared with the FINELG outcomes. The beam
spans equal to 7 m, the column heights equal to 3.5 m; the profiles HEB300 and IPE550
are, respectively, assigned for the columns and the beams; the steel grade is S235 (yield
strength  =  235  N/mm2, Young modulus  =  210  ×  103  N/mm2), but the partial struc-
tures in the indicated zones (Fig. 20) are supposed to be purely elastic (to highlight the
membrane effect). The load–displacements curves given by CEPAO and FINELG are
reported in Fig. 21, again a good agreements is obtained.

2000

dashed lines: FINELG

connous lines: CEPAO
1500
Load (kN)

k1
k3 1000
k2

500

0
-3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0
Displacement [m]
Fig. 19  Example a1—the comparison of the FINELG and CEPAO results

Fig. 20  Example a2—the frame description

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 24 of 34

Fig. 21  Example a2—the comparison of the FINELG and CPEAO results

Example a3
It deals with a 3D frame of which the geometry is given in Fig. 22. All beams have the
spans of 7  m and the columns are 3.5  m high. The profiles IPE550 and HEB400 are,
respectively, used for the beams and the columns. The column in the first story under
the point A (Fig.  22) is removed and replaced by a load P. The steel grade S355 (yield
strength = 235 N/mm2 and Young modulus = 210 × 103 N/mm2) is used for the frame,
but again the purely elastic material (Young modulus = 210 × 103 N/mm2) is adopted
for the zone indicated in Fig. 22. The frame was analyzed by FINELG program in Kulik
[49]. The load–vertical displacement curves for the point A (Fig. 22) and the deformed
configurations from the FINELG and CEPAO programs are reported in Figs. 23 and 24
A very good agreement between them is observed.

Example b
A quite complex 3D steel frame is investigated by elastic-plastic analysis in CEPAO. The
frame data are presented in Fig. 25 and Table 10. The load factor = 1.48 is obtained after
forming 208 plastic hinges within the frame, the load–displacement curves for the node
A (Fig. 25) are shown in Fig. 26. While in examples a1, a2 and a3, the second-order effect
is the membrane effect (positive effect), the second-order effect in this example b is the
buckling effect.

Fig. 22  Example a3—the description of the frame

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 25 of 34

7000

6000

FINELG
5000
CEPAO

4000

Load (kN)
3000

2000

1000

0
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0

Displacement (m)
Fig. 23  Example a3—the comparison of the FINELG and CEPAO results

Fig. 24  Example a3—the deformations given by CEPAO and FINELG

Limit and shakedown analysis for 3D steel frames

Example c1: six‑story space frame
Fig. 27 shows an Orbison’s six-story space frame. The yield strength of all the members
is 250 N/mm2 and Young’s modulus is 206 × 103 N/mm2. The floor pressure is uniform
of 4.8 μ1 kN/m2; the wind loads are simulated by point loads of 26.7 μ2 kN in the Y direc-
tion at every beam-column joint, where μ1, μ2 are factors defining the loading domain.

Example c2: twenty‑story space frame

Twenty-story space frames that the dimensions and the properties are shown in
Fig.  28. The yield strength of the all members is 344.8  N/mm2 and the Young modu-
lus is 200 × 103 N/mm2. The uniform floor pressure is of 4.8 μ1 kN/m2; the wind loads
0.96 μ2 kN/m2 are activated in the Y direction.
These two 3-D steel frames have been used as benchmarks in the literature concern-
ing the advanced nonlinear analysis of steel frames (e.g. Orbison [67], Liew [51, 52], Kim
[46], Chiorean [11] and Cuong [16]). The frames were also analyzed by CEPAO and the
results were validated by previous works Hoang [29, 31]. In the present paper, these
examples are re-presented to highlight the incremental plasticity and the phenomenon
of alternating plasticity in the frames.
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 26 of 34

Fig. 25  Example b—the description of the frame

Table 10  Example b-the data of the frame

Frame layout (Fig. 25)

Used profiles (European profiles)

Story Columns Beams in the X direction* Beams in the Y direction

1st to 3rd HL 1000 × 883 IPE 400 IPE O 600

4th to 6th HL 1000 × 591 IPE 400 IPE 600
7th to 9th HEM 1000 IPE 400 IPE 550
10th to 12th HEM 400 IPE 400 IPE 500
13th to 15th HEM 300 IPE 400 IPE 400
Material: Steel grade S355 (yield strength = 355 N/mm2, Young modulus = 206 × 103 N/mm2)
Applied loads: Y direction: 180 kN/node, at the nodes of the face XZ (Y = 0), Z direction = −252 kN/node, at every nodes
* Include also inclined beams (Fig. 1)

Concerning the loading domain in the two examples, two cases are considered for the
shakedown analysis: a) 0 ≤ μ1 ≤ 1, 0 ≤ μ2 ≤ 1 and b) 0 ≤ μ1 ≤ 1, −1 ≤ μ2 ≤ 1. For the
fixed or proportional loading, obviously we must have: μ1 = μ2 = 1. The uniformly dis-
tributed loads are lumped at the joints of frames.
The load multipliers are shown on Table  11 while the collapse mechanisms are
reported on Figs. 29 and 30.
It appears that in the case of symmetric horizontal loading (wind load for example),
the alternating plasticity occurs and corresponding load factors are very small, less than
the load factors given by the second-order analysis, even the second-order effect is not
yet considered in the shakedown analysis.
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 27 of 34

Fig. 26  Example b—the CEPAO deformation and load–displacement curves

a b
Fig. 27  Example c1—Six-story space frame (a perspective view, b plan view)

In the case where the alternating plasticity occurs, one may verify the results as the
following. For example, with the six-story frame and the load domain b, the alternating
plasticity occurs at section B (Fig. 27); in this point one has:
The elastic envelop: My+ = My− = 186.42 (kNm); N + = N − = 13.46 (kN);
Mz+ = Mz− = 1.22 (kNm);
The plastic capacity (W12x53): Mpy = 318.70 (kNm); Np = 2525.00 (kN);
Mpz = 119.50 (kNm).
For this simple case (the elastic envelop is symmetric), the load multiplier (Fig. 31) is
calculated by: µ = OA/OB = 1.670; it agrees with the value given in Table 11.
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 28 of 34

Fig. 28  Example c2—Twenty-story space frame (a perspective view; b plan view)

Table 11  Examples c—load factors of the frames given by CEPAO

Type of analysis Load factors Limit state
Example c1 Example c2

Limit analysis 2.412 1.698 Formation of a mechanism

Shakedown analysis, domain load a 2.311 1.614 Incremental plasticity
Shakedown analysis, domain load b 1.670 0.987 Alternating plasticitya
Second-order analysis [31] 2.033 1.024
a
  Alternating plasticity in section B (Figs. 27, 28)

Limit optimization of 2D semi‑rigid frame

A twenty-story three-bay semi-rigid frame of which the geometry and loading are shown
in the Fig. 32 is optimized by CEPAO (limit optimization). Forty different groups of ele-
ments are selected as variables to be optimized (Fig. 32), European I-shaped profiles are
used as database. The load factor is assigned μ = 0.25. The cost of semi-rigid connections
is considered through the conventional length [Eq. (15)] that the detailed expression is
given in [70]. Again the relationship between ultimate strength and initial stiffness of the
connections is defined by Eq. (16) and Fig. 16. This example aims to investigate the varia-
tion of the frame weight according to connection characteristics.
As mentioned, a strategy of stability check according to Eurocode 3 is adopted for
individual members. However, the second-order effect has not yet been considered in
the optimization problem.
Figure  33 represents the variation of the frame weight according to connection
strength in two cases considered: theoretical length and conventional length of member
(to take into account the connection cost, “Effect of connection cost”). In the case where
the connection cost is ignored, the minimum weight is obviously corresponding to the
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 29 of 34

Fig. 29  Example c1—deformation at limit state (left to right: limit analysis; shakedown analysis with the load
domain a; shakedown analysis with the load domain b)

Fig. 30  Example c2—deformation at limit state (left to right: limit analysis; shakedown analysis with the load
domain a; shakedown analysis with the load domain b)

Fig. 31  Section B in the six-story frame with the load domain b

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 30 of 34

Fig. 32  Example d—the frame geometry, groups of elements and loading

Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 31 of 34

75
Member'weight

70 Member+connections'weight

65

Weight (tonne)
60

55

50

45
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Connection strengths
Fig. 33  Example d—Variation of the weight according to connection strengths

full strength and rigid connections. However, when the connection cost is considered,
the partial strength connection (0.7) leads to an optimal solution.

Summary
A quite complete picture on the plastic-hinge analysis and the optimization of 3D steel
frames under static loads is made out in the present paper. From the modeling of plastic-
hinges, members as well as connections to the global formulation, a whole frame is dealt
with. Both the rigid-plastic and elastic-plastic methods are addressed; both the analysis
and optimization procedures are concerned.
It points out that the elastic-plastic analysis by the step-by-step method is an efficient
tool to globally analyze steel frames. Using the standard codes for beam columns to
practically take into account different effects within the member length allows modeling
the local behavior of the frame; furthermore complex formulation can be avoided. By
applying the normality rule for plastic hinges and the co-rotational approach for geo-
metrical nonlinearities, the plastic-hinge approach can describe the structure behav-
ior with a high accuracy as far as with very large displacement. In comparison with the
plastic-zone model, the plastic-hinge approach shows very good agreement results while
the computation cost is strongly reduced. Accordingly, exceptional states of structures,
as defined in robustness or progressive-collapse analysis, can be resolved by the plastic-
hinge model instead of the plastic-zone method. However, for identifying alternating
plasticity/incremental plasticity in structures, the step-by-step method is still powerless
when arbitrary history is considered for the loads. Moreover, algorithm for optimization
design by using the step-by-step method has not yet been straightforwardly deduced
from the analysis problem.
On the other hand, the rigid-plastic analysis is quite attractive within the case of arbi-
trary loading histories that are the nature of almost loads applying on structures. With
the shakedown analysis, the alternating plasticity and incremental plasticity phenomena
can be straightforwardly analyzed without knowing the loading histories. Moreover, the
rigid-plastic method takes full advantages of mathematic programming achievements in
Hoang et al. Asia Pac. J. Comput. Engin. (2015) 2:4 Page 32 of 34

both the analysis and optimization algorithms. However, there remain many difficulties
for the rigid-plastic method to take into account geometrically nonlinearities that are
very explicit within steel frames.
The plastic-hinge approach can involve the connection behaviors without difficulty.
The consideration of connection cost in the optimization problem provides more pos-
sibilities to obtain economical designs. The burden may arise from the mechanical mod-
eling and the modeling of connection cost, because the connection configurations are
largely varied.
It may be an interesting direction of future research to combine the two approaches:
the rigid-plastic and elastic-plastic methods, for the sake of taking full advantage of both
methods.

Authors’ contributions
V-LH, DHN, J-PJ and J-FD carried out the study. V-LH drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved
the final manuscript.

Author details
1
 Computational Engineering Master Program, Vietnamese-German University, Binh Duong, Vietnam. 2 ArGEnCo Depart‑
ment, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.

Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Received: 12 August 2015 Accepted: 25 November 2015

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