Introduction to the Simulation of Dynamic Bending in Steel Concrete Composite Beams with Encased Steel Profiles

This tutorial presents the simulation of a dynamic bending test for a steel concrete composite beam (or column) with multiple encased steel profiles using Abaqus. The beam or column is modeled as a three-dimensional solid, and the two encased steel profiles are also represented as solid parts. With the rapid urbanization of cities and the rise of tall buildings, composite beams and columns have become widely used due to their strength, efficiency, and suitability for high-rise structures.

The behavior of the Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) component is modeled using the Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) model, which combines plasticity theory with damage mechanics to capture the nonlinear response of concrete realistically. The steel profiles are defined using an elastic–plastic material model combined with a ductile damage criterion to account for various failure mechanisms.

Although both static and dynamic solvers can be applied, this tutorial uses the dynamic explicit step with mass scaling to reduce inertia effects and improve computational efficiency. Perfect contact is assumed between the UHPFRC beam and rigid bodies, while tie or cohesive interactions can be defined between the concrete and steel profiles. Boundary conditions are applied to the two bottom rigid supports, and a fine mesh is used to achieve accurate results.

The analysis produces outputs including stress, strain, tension, and compression damage, failure patterns, and force–displacement diagrams, providing detailed insight into the behavior of composite structural members under dynamic bending.