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Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct
Finite element modelling of anisotropic elasto-plastic timber composite beams
with openings
Z.W. Guan
a,
, E.C. Zhu
b
a
Department of Engineering (Civil), University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GQ, UK
b
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 202 Haihe Road, Harbin, PR China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 7 May 2008
Received in revised form
18 June 2008
Accepted 1 September 2008
Available online 1 October 2008
Keywords:
Anisotropic
Composite timber beam
Finite element
Interaction
Orthotropic
OSB
User subroutine
Web opening
a b s t r a c t
In this paper, constitutive equations to model anisotropic elasto-plastic timber composite beams with
openings were formulated and implemented into the finite element (FE) package ABAQUS, via a user-
defined subroutine. The TsaiHill criterion was applied to judge failure of Oriented Strand Board (OSB)
and timber in tension. Both OSB and timber in tension were modelled as linear orthotropic elastic
materials, and in compression as orthotropic elasto-plastic materials. Good correlation has been obtained
between the experimental results and the FE simulations. The user subroutine was used to check and
remove critical elements, through which crack growth was simulated. In addition, interactions between
two openings were modelled, which gave the corresponding critical distance.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
OSB webbed timber I-beams have been widely used in
construction industry in Europe and North America, due to a
number of advantages, such as engineered features, material
savings, low handling costs and its environmental friendly
nature [14]. Openings in webs, usually square or circular
shaped, are often needed to allow services to pass through.
Openings made through the webs will affect the structural
performance of beams to different extents, depending upon the
opening location, size and beam depth [5,6]. Stress distributions
around an opening are complicated, varying between tension and
compression, depending on loading conditions and deformation
modes. OSB and timber can be either treated as anisotropic or
orthotropic materials, dependent upon whether the structural
behaviour through the panel thickness plays a more important
role in comparison with in-plane behaviour. Both materials behave
differently in tension and compression. Experiments show that
OSB in tension behaves almost linearly up to failure, whilst in
compression it exhibits obvious plasticity [7]. Therefore, it is
necessary to develop appropriate constitutive models that can

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 151 7945210; fax: +44 151 7945218.
E-mail address: zguan@liverpool.ac.uk (Z.W. Guan).
deal with the constituent materials under different stress states
automatically, by implementing them into computer models.
Research on modelling of crack initiation and crack growth in
timber structures has been limited so far [810]. Premrov and
Dobrila [11] developed a semi-analytical modelling for simulating
small cracks on gypsum plasterboards (GPB) of prefabricated
timber-framed walls, using the modified -method. The most
challenging part, is to simulate crack growth in timber, since
such growth is fast and the growth path cannot be accurately
determinedbefore hand. More recently, Smithet al. [12] undertook
a thorough review on discrete, continuum and hybrid finite
element approaches to address failure mechanisms in wood-based
materials. The discrete element approaches [1315] have shown
that discrete element models are very effective at simulating the
failure mechanisms and failure capacities of components of wood
products. The continuumelement approaches are largely based on
2-D linear elastic fracture mechanics to predict the failure of loads
of notched wood components [16,17], to model fracture of wood,
using the bridging crack model [14,18] and to simulate failure
mechanisms of single bolt specimen [19]. Using the continuum
element approach, studies carried out by the authors [20] have
shown some promising developments in the first stage of using
manual control in the modeling of crack growth initiated from an
opening in OSB webbed timber I-beam.
In this paper, timber composite I-beams with openings
were modelled, using a user defined subroutine, which was
0141-0296/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2008.09.007
Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403 395
implemented into the FE package ABAQUS. The TsaiHill criterion
was applied to judge failure of OSB in tension. The user-defined
subroutine is capable of distinguishing and tracing tension and
compression zones in the flange and the web, and modelling
those zones with different constitutive models accordingly. Both
OSB and timber in tension were modelled as linear orthotropic
elastic materials, and in compression as orthotropic elasto-plastic
materials [21,22]. Good correlation has been obtained between
the experimental results and the FE simulations. Crack initiation
and growth were also simulated by element removal techniques
controlled by the user-defined subroutine. In addition, interactions
between two openings were modelled, which produced the
corresponding critical distances between two circular openings,
two square openings, and a circular opening and a square opening.
2. Description of problems
For a beam without any openings, subjected to bending, its
tension and compression zones, which should be treated with
different constitutive models, are clearly separated by the neutral
axis. Its behaviour can be simulated with little difficulty. However,
for a beam with openings subjected to similar loading conditions,
the situation is quite different, since both tensile and compressive
zones around the openings are variable, dependent upon the
applied loading types and levels. Therefore, an algorithm, which
can detect tension and compression zones automatically, and treat
themwithproper constitutive models accordingly, must be sought.
Automatic checking has to be undertaken in every iteration.
Both timber and OSB are treated as orthotropic materials in
this paper, which behave differently in tension and compression.
In tension, both materials follow linear orthotropic elasticity;
however, in compression, they demonstrate certain amount of
plasticity [7]. Therefore, orthotropic elasto-plasticity is employed
in the compression zone, whilst linear orthotropic elasticity in
the tension zone. When deal with stresses around an opening,
shear stresses act with both tensile and compressive stress which
add complexity of stress state there. In the modelling, the OSB
web is assumed to be fully bonded with the timber flange, which
is generally true, based on observations of the experimental
work [23].
Failure can occur either in the OSB web or the timber flange.
For a beam with openings, failure is dependent upon the shape,
the size and the location of an opening. The lower bound failure is
based on the initial crack, and the upper bound failure is based on
the ultimate failure. The corresponding failure stresses, which are
obtained from material tests, are required to be implemented into
the failure criteria.
3. Finite element formulation
Before implementing the user-defined constitutive models into
an ABAQUS programme, finite element formulation of anisotropic
elastic behaviour and plastic behaviour need to be developed.
3.1. Orthotropic elasticity
{} = [D]
orth
{} (1)
where {}is strain tensor, {} is stress tensor and [D]
orth
is
orthotropic elastic matrix (6 6), i.e.
{} = {
L

R

T

RT

LT

LR
}
T
(1a)
{} = {
L

R

T

RT

LT

LR
}
T
(1b)
[D]
orth
=
_
_
_
_
_
_
D
LLLL
D
LLRR
D
LLTT
0 0 0
D
RRRR
D
RRTT
0 0 0
D
TTTT
0 0 0
Symmetric D
LRLR
0 0
D
LTLT
0
D
RTRT
_

_
. (2)
All components in Eq. (2) are defined below [28]:
D
LLLL
= E
L
(1
TR

RT
) (2a)
D
RRRR
= E
R
(1
LT

TL
) (2b)
D
TTTT
= E
T
(1
LR

RL
) (2c)
D
LLRR
= E
L
(
RL
+
TL

RT
) (2d)
D
LLTT
= E
L
(
TL
+
RL

TR
) (2e)
D
RRTT
= E
R
(
TR
+
LR

TL
) (2f)
D
LRLR
= E
R
(
LR
+
TR

LT
) (2g)
D
LTLT
= E
T
(
LT
+
LR

RT
) (2h)
D
RTRT
= E
T
(
RT
+
RL

LT
) (2i)
= 1/(1
LT

TL

TR

RT

RL

LR
2
TL

RT

LR
). (2j)
is an effective factor based on Poissons ratios, which is used to
give simplified expressions of Eqs. from (2a) to (2i).
The above values also satisfy the stability requirements [28]:
D
LLLL
, D
RRRR
, D
TTTT
, D
LRLR
, D
LTLT
, D
RTRT
> 0 (3a)
D
LLRR
< (D
LLLL
D
RRRR
)
0.5
(3b)
D
LLTT
< (D
LLLL
D
TTTT
)
0.5
(3c)
D
RRTT
< (D
RRRR
D
TTTT
)
0.5
(3d)
det([D]
orth
) > 0 (3e)
i.e.
D
LLLL
D
RRRR
D
TTTT
+ 2D
LLRR
D
LLTT
D
RRTT
D
RRRR
D
2
LLTT
D
LLLL
D
2
RRTT
D
TTTT
D
2
LLRR
> 0. (3f)
Substituting material parameters shown in Table 1, all compo-
nents of the orthotropic elastic matrix in Eq. (2) can be calculated.
3.2. Anisotropic plasticity
Hills yield criterion (stress potentials) [24] has been adopted
to simulate anisotropic plastic behaviour of the OSB web and the
timber flange. The Hill stress potentials are dependent only upon
the deviatoric stress, so that the plastic part of the response is
incompressible. This implies that, in cases where the plastic flow
dominates the response, except for plane stress problems, the
finite elements should be chosen to accommodate incompressible
flow. Ultimate load calculations for OSB-webbed timber I-beams
are such cases. Hills stress potentials, in terms of rectangular
Cartesian stress components, are
f (
ij
) =
_
F
11
(
22

33
)
2
+ F
22
(
33

11
)
2
+ F
33
(
11

22
)
2
+ 2N
12

2
12
+ 2N
23

2
23
+ 2N
31

2
12
_ 1
2
(4)
where F
ii
(i = 1, 2, 3) and N
ij
(i = j = 1, 2, 3) are constants
obtained by tests of the material in different orientations, and are
396 Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403
Table 1
Material properties of the OSB and the timber
Component E
L
E
R
E
T

LT

TL

LR

RL

TR

RT
OSB 3708 2660 130 0.364 0.013 0.184 0.144 0.019 0.312
Timber 10500 900 500 0.470 0.020 0.370 0.029 0.250 0.430
N/mm
2
for all modulus, for OSB L 1, R 2, T 3.
defined as follows:
F
ii
=
_

0
_
2
2
_
1

2
jj
+
1

2
kk

1

2
ii
_
=
1
2
_
1
R
2
jj
+
1
R
2
kk

1
R
2
ii
__
i = 1, 2, 3
j = 2, 3, 1
k = 3, 2, 1
_
(4a)
N
ij
=
3
2
_

0

ij
_
2
=
3
2R
2
ij
(i = j = 1, 2, 3). (4b)
R
ij
are yield ratios which relate the yield level for stress
component
ij
to the reference yield stress
0
of the material. The
yield ratios are defined as follows:
R
ij
=
_

_

ij

o
, if i = j

ij

o
, if i = j
(5)

0
=

0

3
. (6)
For the orthotropic material plasticity, the associated flow rule
used is given by:
d{}
pl
= d
_
f
{}
_
=
d
f
{} (7)
where d is a proportionality constant termed the plastic
multiplier. Before yielding, there is f (
ij
, F
ii
, N
ij
) < 0. Therefore
d = 0. From Eqs. (4) and (7), there is
_
f

ij
_
=
1
f
[] (8)
where
{} =
_
_
_
_
_
_
F
22
(
33

11
) + F
33
(
11

22
)
F
11
(
22

33
) F
33
(
11

22
)
F
11
(
22

33
) + F
22
(
33

11
)
2N
12

12
2N
31

31
2N
23

23
_

_
. (9)
Furthermore, based on Eq. (8), the second order of partial
differential of the yield function can be expressed as
_

2
f

ij

ij
_
=
1
f
_
[]

ij

1
f
2
[][]
_
(10)
where
[]

ij
=
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
F
22
+ F
33
F
33
F
22
0 0 0
F
33
F
11
+ F
33
F
22
0 0 0
F
22
F
11
F
11
+ F
22
0 0 0
0 0 0 2N
12
0 0
0 0 0 0 2N
31
0
0 0 0 0 0 2N
23
_

_
. (10a)
At TEM (transmission electron microscopy) solution level, timber
has a cellular structure that is made up of lumens and cell
walls [25]. Reiterer and Stanzl-Tschegg [26] showed that due to
this structure, timber cells buckle and collapse under compressive
loads. In the longitudinal direction, they reported plastic softening
(post-peak) in their specimens. Perpendicular to the grain, they
reported extended yielding plateaux followed by significant
hardening after the cell walls had collapsed into the lumens and
the wood densified. This type of hardening is not feasible in the
timber flange. Therefore, no material hardening is assumed for
modelling the timber in the current research. Also, as toughening
is not included, the current models likely produce lower bound
predictions.
4. Finite element implementation
Finite element code ABAQUS [27,28] was utilised to obtain
numerical simulations. First order iso-parametric solid elements
andthe relatedinterface elements were usedfor the 3-dimensional
problems. The purpose of using interface elements, is to model the
possible interaction between the flange and the web.
An attempt was made to simulate the cracking behaviour of
beams with openings, by removing the damaged elements along
the fracture line [5]. Great effort was needed to manually read
the stress output and to make judgements of material failure.
The efficiency of modelling beams in this way was low. To
improve the situation a user-defined constitutive subroutine was
developed, which automatically assesses whether a particular
element in a beam, especially around an opening, is in tension
or in compression, and whether a failure criterion is satisfied.
The appropriate material constitutive model could thus be applied
and the propagation of cracks traced along progressively damaged
elements.
In addition to the above special purposes, the core of this devel-
opment is to update current stresses, strains and material proper-
ties, which are dependent upon current solutions, for computation
of the following load increments. Using the subroutine, material
nonlinearity, fracturing of OSB, crack propagation and failure of a
beam can be dealt with.
In the subroutine, computation procedures followtwo material
routes OSB and timber. For each of the two orthotropic materials,
there are two sub-routes to follow tension and compression.
For OSB in tension, stresses are checked at every iteration.
Cracking load is reached when the TsaiHill criterion is first
satisfied. The material properties in cracked zones are then set to
be zero, and the elements there lose stiffness in the subsequent
iterations. With an increase of load, more damaged elements on
the OSB web will occur to lead crack growth. Crack propagation
can thus be traced till the cracked zones extend to the flanges, and
the ultimate load is reached. The above numerical processes can
stand alone without the element removal, which will be able to
predict the initial cracking load and the ultimate load, but without
showing actual cracks.
For OSB in compression, the initial yield stress is set to be
60% of the ultimate stress [7]. After initial yield the orthotropic
elasto-plastic constitutive relationship is applied. Failure of OSB in
compression is defined as when the equivalent strain reaches the
statistical ultimate value of 0.008 [7].
If the tensile stress ina flange reaches the strengthof the timber,
although this is less likely to happen to beams with openings, the
Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403 397
Fig. 1. Flowchart for a load increment in the subroutine.
beam will collapse. For timber in compression, the initial yield
stress is set to be 75%of the ultimate strength, and the failure strain
is 0.0085, based on the statistics of the compression test data [7].
The flowchart for an iteration in the subroutine is shown in
Fig. 1, where the treatment of OSB is illustrated. Timber was
similarly treated.
The Model Change Option in ABAQUS [28], in conjunction
with the user-defined subroutine, is used to simulate the damage
behavior of the web with openings, i.e. to remove the fractured
elements along a path where stresses are judged to have reached
a critical level, determined by tests. Once a critical element is
removed, stress redistributions occur in its surrounding areas.
Elements located in the crack growth path will bear more
redistributed stresses than other surrounding elements. Since this
is a static problem, a loading rate does not numerically apply here.
Stresses in the crucial areas are checked in every iteration. When
the web fractures fully and de-bonding between the flange and
the web takes place, the stresses in flanges become critical. If their
values reach the maximum strength of a wood, beam failure is
likely to occur.
The procedures of the element removal are presented as
follows:
a. Check principal stresses or strains in elements in high stress
areas against the critical stress or strain
max(
pri
)
e

cri
or max(
pri
)
e

cri
(11)
where e is an element number, which links to the elements to
be checked, and
cri
and
cri
are the critical stress and strain
398 Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403
Fig. 2. Mesh generations with boundary and loading conditions, for example beams (a) A beamwithout opening, (b) A beamwith circular openings, (c) A beamwith square
openings.
obtained from uniaxial tension tests, which are 13 MPa and
4000 micro-strain respectively, obtained from averaging the
corresponding longitudinal and transverse values.
b. Once an element checked satisfies conditions in Eq. (11), it is
then removed from the beam by setting its material properties
as zero. There will be a redundancy in Jacobian matrix, which
will affect the tangential stiffness matrix [K]
T
, i.e. assume
element ii reaches the critical condition there is
[K]
T
=
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
K
e
11
. . . K
e
1i
. . . . . . K
e
1n
.
.
.
.
.
.
K
e
i1
. . . K
e
ii
= 0 . . . K
e
in
.
.
.
K
e
n1
. . . K
e
ni
. . . . . . K
e
nn
_

_
(12)
where n is the total number of elements.
c. Start a new step based on a redundant structural tangential
stiffness and repeat procedures a and b.
d. Terminate the program when the load starts to go horizontally,
i.e. there is no load increase in subsequent increment.
It is worth pointing out, that using Mode Change or Element
Removal a possible de-bonding failure between the flange and
the web can be dealt by removing the critical elements in the
de-bonding region, provided the de-bonding stress is known. In
the current study, all critical elements were evaluated against
the corresponding critical principal stress or strain, which may
overestimate the de-bonding resistance of the beam. However, de-
bonding only occurs in few situations, such as flaws in the flange
in the critical region and the extreme loading conditions.
Interaction between two openings (see Fig. 7) was also
modeled using the user-defined constitutive subroutine. When
two openings approach each other, the interactive stress state is
changed with the inter-distance between the two openings, i.e. the
corresponding tension zone and compression zone are constantly
varied. The only approach to deal with such variable stress zone, is
to use the user-defined subroutine so that appropriate constitutive
models and material properties can be applied to those zones
accordingly.
5. Examples
Three examples that do not involve the element removal are
shown in the first, one for a beam without any opening, one for a
beam with circular openings, and another with square openings.
All beams are spanned in 4800 mm, with overall depth of 450 mm.
The opening is 1000 mmaway fromthe symmetrical section of the
beam, with the square opening sized as 180 mm 180 mm and
the circular opening in diameter of 180 mm. Fig. 2 shows the mesh
generations, boundary, loading and geometrical conditions.
Material properties are listed as follows.
Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403 399
Fig. 3. Loaddeflection relationships for a beam without opening.
Timber (Sitka Spruce of strength class C24) [23,29]:
E
L
= 1.05 10
4
N/mm
2
, E
R
= 9.0 10
2
N/mm
2
,
E
T
= 5.0 10
2
N/mm
2
,
G
LR
= 7.5 10
2
N/mm
2
, G
LT
= 7.2 10
2
N/mm
2
,
G
RT
= 39 N/mm
2
,

LR
= 0.37,
LT
= 0.47,
RT
= 0.43,
TR
= 0.25,

RL
= 0.029,
TL
= 0.020.
OSB [23]:

0
=
11
= 14.1 N/mm
2
,
22
= 12.62 N/mm
2
,

33
= 6.31 N/mm
2
,

0
= 14.10/

3 = 8.14 N/mm
2
,
12
= 7.5 N/mm
2
,

23
= 1.5 N/mm
2
,
13
= 1.5 N/mm
2
.
Substituting the strengths into the expressions of the con-
stants [27,28], gives the following values.
F
11
=

2
0
2
_
1

2
22
+
1

2
33

11
2
_
=
14.1
2
2
_
1
12.62
2
+
1
6.22
2

1
14.1
2
_
= 2.69
F
22
=

2
0
2
_
1

2
33
+
1

2
11

22
2
_
Fig. 4. Numerical simulations for a beam with circular openings at an ultimate load of 24 kN. (a) Loaddeflections curves, (b) Shear stress (S12, N/mm
2
) in the web at
ultimate load (24.0 kN), (c) Tensile and compressive principal stresses at failure SP3(N/mm
2
) and SP1(N/mm
2
).
400 Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403
Fig. 5. Numerical simulations for a beam with square openings at an ultimate load of 20.2 kN (a) Loaddeflections curves, (b) Shear stress (S12, N/mm
2
) in the web at
ultimate load (20.2 kN), (c) Tensile and compressive principal stresses at failure, SP3 (N/mm
2
) and SP1(N/mm
2
).
=
14.1
2
2
_
1
6.22
2
+
1
14.1
2

1
12.62
2
_
= 2.45
F
33
=

2
0
2
_
1

2
11
+
1

2
22

33
2
_
=
14.1
2
2
_
1
14.1
2
+
1
12.62
2

1
6.22
2
_
= 1.45
N
12
=
3
2
_

0

12
_
2
=
3
2
_
8.14
7.5
_
2
= 1.77
N
13
=
3
2
_

0

13
_
2
=
3
2
_
8.14
1.5
_
2
= 44.17
N
23
=
3
2
_

0

23
_
2
=
3
2
_
8.14
1.5
_
2
= 44.17.
Fig. 3 shows the loaddeflection curves for the beam without
opening, obtained from the FE simulation and the experimental
work. Reasonably good correlation has been obtained. The initial
damaging load was 27.0 kN and the ultimate load was 41.7 kN,
compared with test load of 37.7 kN. Discrepancies in the later stage
may be caused by local instabilities such as wrinkling or warping
in the loading points and supports.
Fig. 4a shows the loaddeflection curves for the beam with
circular openings. It can be seen that the overall behaviour of
the beam was well simulated. Fig. 4b shows shear stress (S12)
distributions in the web at the ultimate load. There are shear
stress concentrations around the opening. Fig. 4c shows the tensile
(SP3) and compressive (SP1) principal stresses at the ultimate load.
The damaged areas expanded in the tension zones and reached
the bottom flange, while yielded areas expanded in compression
zones with more plasticity being developed in the upper right
corner. However, at a predicted cracking load of 16.5 kN, tensile
and compressive stress concentrations appeared at the diagonally
opposite corners of the opening, with the maximum tensile stress
at the lower right corner, and the maximum compressive stress
at the upper right corner. This indicates that cracking would take
place initially from the lower right corner and OSB would yield
from the upper right corner.
Fig. 5 shows the modelling results for the beam with square
openings. It first cracked fromthe lower right corner of the opening
Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403 401
Fig. 6. Comparison of experimentally failed modes and numerically simulated failed modes (ratio of the opening size to the web depth is 0.75). (a) A beam with circular
openings. (b) A beam with square openings,
Fig. 7. Principal tensile stress (SP3, N/mm
2
) in beam webs at ultimate load. (a) Openings 500 mm apart, (b) openings 250 mm apart.
at a load of 9.0 kN (14.0 kN in test), collapsed at 20.2 kN (21.3 kN
in test). The lower predictions were likely caused by precluding
toughening in the models. The maximum tensile and compressive
stresses in the flanges were 19 and 26 N/mm
2
respectively.
Crack initiation and growth were then modelled, using the
element removal controlled by the stress checking. Fig. 6 shows the
failure modes obtainedfromFE simulations for beams withcircular
andsquare openings, respectively. Experimentally failedbeams are
also shown in the same figure for better comparison. Compared
with beamwith circular openings (see Fig. 6a), the behaviour of the
two beams are similar, both in tests and FE simulations. They both
cracked fromthe lower right corners of the opening, and collapsed
when cracks reached the flanges. However, the cracking load and
the ultimate load of the latter are significantly lower than those of
the former, proving the fact that a square opening imposes more
damage to a beam than the same sized circular opening does.
Both tests and FE analysis have shown that when two openings
are sufficiently far away from each other, the interaction effect is
not significant. As they become closer to each other, interactions
become more severe, and the load carrying capability of a beam is
further reduced. The distance between two openings is defined as
the critical distance at which interactions become obvious. This is
402 Z.W. Guan, E.C. Zhu / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 394403
Fig. 8. Initial cracking load versus distance between openings (ratio of the opening
size to the web depth is 0.5).
symbolised in FE analysis as the point at which the initial cracking
load is first reduced as a result of the interaction.
Interactions, in terms of the critical distance, between two
circular openings, a circular opening and a square opening, and
two square openings were simulated using the developed models.
Here, the maximumprincipal stress distributions frominteractions
between a circular opening and a square opening are shown in
Fig. 7. Fig. 7a shows the stress distributions around the square
opening and the circular opening 500 mm apart. There is little
interaction effect, since the openings are sufficiently far away from
each other. Fig. 7b shows that interactions between the openings
250 mm apart become more severe. There are moderate effects
on both tensile and compressive stress between the right hand
corners of the square opening and the left hand side corners of
the circular opening. As a result, the tension and the compression
zones at the far corners of the openings are much more severe
than those in the beam shown in Fig. 7a. In fact, there are high
tensile stress regions between the two openings almost merged,
which could contribute a damage linking both openings. It should
be noted that interaction between the openings would be also
dependent upon the size of the opening, which is not included in
the current study.
To investigate the critical distance, parametric studies were
carried out, in which one opening was kept at a distance of
1000 mmfromthe mid-span, just at the position where the square
opening was in the tests. The other opening was moved gradually
towards the fixed position opening at 50 mm intervals, starting
from 750 mm away. Fig. 8 shows the relationships between the
initial cracking load and the distance between two openings. The
initial cracking loads shown in Fig. 8 indicate that the critical
distance between two circular openings and between a square and
a circular opening is 500 mm, and between two square openings
is 550 mm. If openings of these sizes are spaced at distances
greater than the critical distances found, interactions will have
little influence on bending behaviour of a beam. Otherwise, initial
cracking and ultimate loads of a beam will be further reduced and
the failure mode may change. It is interesting to compare the above
critical distance, which is about 2.2 times the opening width, with
industrial recommendations that are usually 22.5 times the width
of the largest opening. However, the calculated critical distances
were based on the initial cracking load, which is usually 50%60%
of the ultimate load. Therefore, the predictions are well into the
safe side.
The developed user subroutine can also be used to simulate
de-bonding between two bonded sections, provided critical de-
bonding stresses are obtained from further experimental work.
Tracing of de-bonding paths can be carried out by checking
selected key elements where de-bonding is likely to occur through
each iteration. However, if there is no clue where the possible
de-bonding will be, the number of elements to be checked must
be increased. This will inevitably increase computing costs. In
practical modelling, mesh sizes in possible critical regions need to
be small enough, so that removal of de-bonded elements will not
cause unrealistic loss of load carrying capacity in a structure.
6. Conclusions
A user-defined constitutive subroutine has been successfully
implemented into a commercial FE code to simulate 3-dimensional
structural behaviour of composite timber beams, with and without
openings. The model developed can deal with various constituent
materials, such as OSB and timber, under variable stress states,
by selecting appropriate constitutive relationships and the corre-
sponding material properties automatically. Reasonably good cor-
relation between the experimental results and the FE simulations
has been obtained. The model can identify the location of the ini-
tial cracking around an opening and the related load. In conjunc-
tion with the element removal, the model is capable of simulating
crack growth in an efficient way. It can also predict the ultimate
load, by assessing stress states in key elements. Using validated
models, interactions between two openings were also studied and
discussed, by which the critical distances between openings with
various combinations were produced.
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