Applying displacement as a horizontal load to RC frame

[AleksaBgd94]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to apply displacement to a steel plate which is then supposed to push RC frame.
Steel plate is defined as a shell element, while RC frame is consisted of C3D8R solid elements.
The interaction between shell plate and frame is defined as tangential behaviour -friction formulation- penalty and normal behaviour - hard contact.
I am not so satisfied with results, because it seems that shell plate goes through the frame and reinforcement(can be seen on the picture attached).
Do you have any recommendations how to solve this problem, especially how to avoid this passing of the reinforcement through shell plate?

Also, is there any other approach to apply displacement to RC frame? I have also tried with assigning displacement to a RP which is coupled with the surface of the frame's beam, but I am not satisfied with force-displacement curves which I get as result.

 

[FEA way]

How did you model this reinforcement ? Using embedded region or stringer feature ? Which type of elements is used for reinforcement (solid or truss) ?

Did you try with the plate tied to frame ? You can also make the plate rigid.

 

[AleksaBgd94]

The reinforcement is modeled using embedded constraint. Truss elements were used (T3D2).
I will try with the plate tied to the frame and with rigid plate also. But I assume that the rigid plate would also deform the frame in the same way or even more. But I guess it is worth trying.
Thanks FEA way.

 

[Mustaine3]

Check if the contact is working at all. So are there contact stresses? What is the contact direction of the rigid?

Otherwise check if the penalty stiffness is high enough. With soft materials this can be an issue. Scale the stiffness in the contact property with a factor of 2 or 3 and check if the penetration is less then.