Energy Dissipation in Determinate Steel Beams

The aim of this study is to predict the amount of energy dissipated in a statically determinate steel beam due to material hysteresis. The case considered is that of a simply supported beam with a centrally applied point load. For any given central‐deflection limit history, an analysis is made to determine the load‐deformation response. The structural response is built up from the sectional response, which, in turn, is built up from the material response, i.e., a discrete element approach is implemented. This approach allows an in‐depth assessment of the stress and strain distributions at sections in the critical regions. Numerical integration is used to determine the cumulative area within the load‐deflection hysteresis curves, i.e., the energy dissipated. A full‐scale beam test is performed to provide a comparison with theoretical estimates of energy dissipation. These theoretical predictions are derived using a variety of cyclic stress‐strain models as input.