WOLLEGA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

MSc. Thesis
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCE OF WIDTH ON SHEAR CAPACITY
OF REINFORCED CONCRETE ONE WAY SOLID SLAB SUBJECTED TO
CONCENTRATED LOAD

PRESENTED BY

BY: TEMESGEN WAKWEYA ANBESSE

 INTRODUCTION

Reinforced concrete slab is one of the structural element that is

a broad, flat plate, usually horizontal, with top and bottom
surfaces parallel.

In slabs and wide beams subjected to a concentrated load, the

width at the support that carries the shear loading needs to be
estimated; this width is the effective width.

The effective width is determined from the stress distribution

over the width of the slab and is defined so that the resisting
action due to the maximum stress distributed over the effective
width equals the resisting action due to the variable stresses over
the entire width.
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 Cont.…
Finite Element Analysis is a computer-based method of simulating or analyzing
the behavior of engineering structures and components under a variety of
conditions and cuts structures into several elements.

FEA is better understanding of structural behavior of RC slabs and provide a

better estimation of their load-carrying capacity.

Abaqus FEA (formerly ABAQUS) is a software suite for finite element

analysis and computer-aided engineering and its application used for both the
modeling and analysis of mechanical components and assemblies (pre-
processing) and visualizing the finite element analysis result .
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 Statement of the Problem
Still there is no single theory that can accurately predict the shear
strength and corresponding mode of failure of a reinforced concrete
one-way solid slab and there is no comprehensive study that
accurately solves shear and shear failure by using
experimental,moveover,still the problem of shear failure of one way
solid slab is seen .

Therefore, using finite element analysis software ABAQUS 6.13-1,

it is intended to study effective width on shear strength of behavior
of reinforced concrete solid slabs.

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 General Objective
To study influence of width on shear capacity of reinforced concrete
one way solid slabs subjected to concentrated load is applied as a
prescribed displacement –controlled loading system FE approach
(ABAQUS 6.13-1).
Specific Objectives
To study the effects of the distance between the load and the support
To predict the location of shear failure mechanism
To study the effective shear span to depth ratio
To study the effects of element width
To study the effect of concrete grade

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 Significance of the Study

 Experimental analysis is widely carried out to study individual component

members and the concrete strength under various loading conditions. This
method provides the actual behavior of the structure. However, it is time
consuming and expensive, so to overcome the problem finite element
method is used in this study.

Finite Element Analysis is a method used for the evaluation of structures,

providing an accurate prediction of the component’s response subjected to
various structural loads and reduces the amount of experimental tests
required, saving time and reducing cost and it has become possible to model
the complex behavior of reinforced concrete slabs using Finite Element
modeling.

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 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research paper was focused on the develop a numerical and

analytical model to predict the influence of width on the shear capacity
of reinforced concrete one-way solid slab under concentrated loads
applied in a displacement –controlling loading system.

 Focuses on non-linear finite element analysis a one-way solid slab

system subjected to concentrated load by varying shear span to depth,
element width, concrete grade and the longitudinal reinforcement
ratios in the span direction and in the direction parallel to the support
and constant length and depth. It was reinforced in both the top and
bottom of the slab.

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 METHODOLOGY

The finite element analysis software ABAQUS will be used to carry out non-
linear analyses of different effective width and shear span depth ratio of the
reinforced concrete solid slab in order to study the load-carrying behavior and
shear strength of the members.
The basic concept of FE modeling is the subdivision of the mathematical
model into disjoint (non-overlapping) components of simple geometry.

Non-linear finite element modeling of reinforced concrete through

commercial ABAQUS software package along with the concrete damaged
plasticity model. They suggested that compressive and tensile uniaxial stress-
strain relationships as well as damage parameter curves for concrete material
to be effectively used in ABAQUS.

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Description of Modelling and Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete
One Way Solid Slab
• Thirty-two reinforced concrete Slabs are modeled for different cases.
• parameters that are being varied are , the shear span, element width, and
concrete grade and constant are the length and depth.
The steps used for finite element modeling
Modeling geometry of parts
Developing and assigning material properties
Assembling parts and defining analysis steps
Creating interaction between elements of parts
Creating boundary conditions and applying a load or displacement
Meshing
Job assignment and visualization of results

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 Modelling Geometry
• These are:
• plain Concrete slabs boundary condition and support loads

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Top reinforced steel Bottom reinforced steel
10
Cont..

Assembling element model

Render model of simulation

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FE Mesh for reinforced concrete slab 11
 VALIDATION OF FINITE METHOD

To verify the accuracy of the finite element model comparison was done with
Experiments performed on RC of one-way slab was used for model validation .
The experimental were loaded with displacement-controlled loading system.

1600
Analysis EXperiment
1400
1200
1000
Load[KN]

800
600
400
200
0
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0 1 2 3 Displacement[mm]
4 5 6 7 8 9 12
Cont..

Maximum Displacement(mm) Error

load(KN)

Experiment 1374 8.26 1.22%

Numerical 1390.08 7.06

Analysis

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The results considered to depict the effective width response of reinforced

concrete slab were compressive stress in concrete and reinforcement,
displacement and ultimate strength of the reinforced concrete slab.

Load Deflection Analysis

Non-linear finite element analysis of slabs is done in ABAQUS 6.13 software
program and displacements, an ultimate load-carrying capacity of each slab is
plotted as below.

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Models Ultimate Shear Force Pu, Maximum deflection at failure load Mode of Failure
(kN) (mm)
S#1 1717.53 2.16 S
S#2 1979.252 1.881 S
S#3 2079.01 3.32 S
S#4 2104.02 3.733 S
S#5 652.366 1.647 S
S#6 1707.38 2.39 S
S#7 765.503 2.022 S
S#8 857.447 3.155 S
S#9 329.742 1.65 S+P
S#10 406.566 2.09 S+P
S#11 486.151 2.52 S+P
S#12 468.851 2.34 S+P
S#13 138.451 1.54 P
S#14 279.85 4.304 P
S#15 200.094 2.267 P
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S#16 223.238 2.78 P
15
Models Cont..
Ultimate Shear Maximum deflection at Mode of
Force Pu, (kN) failure load (mm) Failure
S#17 2048.6 1.21 S
S#18 2486.67 1.767 S
S#19 2389.49 1.735 S
S#20 2298.36 1.575 S
S#21 2262.03 1.66 S
S#22 2076.39 1.259 S
S#23 1042.49 2.837 S
S#24 951.556 2.108 S
S#25 406.001 1.679 S+P
S#26 406.56 2.086 S+P
S#27 486.151 2.078 S+P
S#28 468.831 2.358 S+P
S#29 138.451 1.416 P
S#30 279.858 1.796 P
S#31 184.751 1.33 P
S#32 08/15/2024 248.964 2.11 P 16
 Cont..
2400
2100
1800
1500
Load[KN]

1200 S#4
900
600
300
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Displacement[mm]
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 The failure mechanism
 Reinforced concrete slabs without shear reinforcement subjected to a

concentrated load near to support can fail in one-way shear failure, combined
shear failure, and punching failure.

One-way shear failure

 The sample of S#1, S#2, S#3, S#4, S#5, S#6, S#7, S#17, S#8, S#18, S#19, S#20,

S#21, S#22, S#22, S#23, and S#24 attains its limited shear strength at a

maximum deflection of

2.16,1.881,3.23,3.733,1.67,2.39,2.022,3.155,121,1.767,1.735,1.575,1.66,1.29,2.5

37, and 2.108 mm respectively.

Shear crack between the load and the support occurs.
08/15/2024  shear forces flow from the load to the support in a parallel. 18
 Cont..

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 Cont.…

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 Cont..

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 Combined shear failure

This sample of S#9, S#10, S#11, S#12, S#25, S#26, S#27,

S#28, and S#29 attains its limited shear strength at a
maximum deflection of 1.65,2.09,2.52,2.34 1.679,
2.086, 2.078, and 2.358 mm respectively.

When the distance from the concentrated load to the

support increases, the shear failure mechanism
changes from one-way shear failure to punching
shear failure, this is called combined shear failure .
i.e. The transition in failure mechanism is not sudden.

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 Cont.….

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 punching shear failure

The sample of S#13, S#14, S#15, S#16, S#29, S#30, S#31, and S#32 attains
its limited shear strength at a maximum deflection of
1.54,4.304,2.267,2.78,1.416,
1.796,1.33, and 2.11mm respectively.

Two-way” refers to a situation in which the principal shear lines do not run
in one direction parallel to each other.

 Around the subjection point of Concentrated load located at larger distance

from the support.

Truncated conical shaped failure surface.

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 Cont..

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 Result of various parameter on the failure load

The influence of element width on the concentrated load and deformation of the
slab for various shear spans
(a) a=400mm
b=2500mm b=3000mm b=3500mm b=4000mm
2400
2100
1800
Load[KN]

1500
1200
900
600
300
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Displacement[mm]
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 a=1000mm
b=3000 b=2500mm b=3500mm b=4000mm
600

500

400
Load[KN]

300

200

100
a= 1000mm
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
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Displacement[mm] 27
 a=2000mm

b=2500mm b=3000mm b=3500mm b=4000mm

300
250
200
Load[KN]

150
100
50
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Displacement(mm)

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The influence of the a/dl ratio on the maximum shear capacity

b=2500mm b=3000mm b=3500mm b=4000mm

2500
Maximum Shear Force At Suppost [kn]

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Shear Span To Effective Depth(a/dl)ratio

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 The influence of the element width on the maximum shear capacity for c-
25MPa
Maximum shear at support[KN] a/dl=2.36 a/dl=4.14 a/dl=5.92 a/dl=11.83
2400
2100
1800
1500
1200
900
600
300
0
2400 2600 2800 3000 3200 3400 3600 3800 4000 4200
Element Width [mm]
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The influence of the element width on the maximum shear capacity for c-40MPa

a/dl=2.36 a/dl=4.14 a/dl=5.92 a/dl=11.83

Maximum shear force at 2500
support[KN]
2000

1500

1000

500

0
2500 3000 3500 4000

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Element wiidth [mm] 31
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMONDATION

Conclusion
The accuracy of the results obtained can be increased by using more mesh that is
refined. This analysis gives values of different parameters like, maximum
deflection, maximum shear force at support.
A parametric study is carried out on shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs
after an application of nonlinear finite element analysis using three-dimensional
ABAQUS software in predicting the ultimate shear capacity of thirty-two simply
supported reinforced concrete shear critical slabs subjected to symmetrically
placed concentrated load is applied in displacement controlled way.

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 Cont.…

The FEM analysis result is shows the shear capacity clearly increases for a
decrease in distance to the support (shear span) and increasing element width
lead increase in shear carrying capacity and as increasing concrete compressive
strength also increase shear strength I was observed.

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 Recommendation

During the Finite element method by ABAQUS software 6.13-1, the

analysis kept on running. When the load-defection behavior of the
element did not show strange results, it was allowed that one or two
consecutive load steps did not converge. As long as the steps
afterwards did. The element was said to fail when no convergence was
reached for any subsequent step and the applied load decreased
quickly. Decreasing the step size or increasing the number of maximum
iterations might result in convergence for more steps, however it also
means a significant increase in computational time for each analysis.
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 Future works

• Experiments on slabs with a different effective depth, to study how the size
effect influences the shear capacity of concrete slabs under concentrated
loads and to compare the influence of the size effect on beams and slabs.
• Finite element analysis on slabs with a larger distance between the load and
the support, to verify if the proposed methods for slabs under concentrated
loads near to the support are still valid for larger distances of the load.
• Experiments on slabs subjected to multiple concentrated loads to represent
the two-wheel loads per axle and study the resulting effective width of the
entire axle.
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 Cont.….

•THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

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