FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF EWECS COLUMNS WITH VARYING SHEAR SPAN RATIO

A new hybrid structural column system called Engineering Wood Encased Concrete-Steel (EWECS) column was developed for low and high seismic zones. Experimental studies on the seismic behavior of EWECS columns with varying shear span to depth ratio (shear-span ratio) have been conducted by one of the authors. To complement and validate the experimental program, finite element analysis (FEA) on EWECS columns with varying shear-span ratio ranging 1.0 to 2.0 under constant axial and lateral cyclic loads are summarized. This numerical analysis uses finite element program, ANSYS APDL v.14, to investigate the structural performance of the EWECS columns, which was compared with the experimental results. A detailed three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear FE model of three EWECS columns with varying shearspan ratio, subjected constant axial and lateral cyclic loads are performed. The FEA results showed that the shear-span ratio affected by the maximum shear strength and failure mode of the EWECS columns. The maximum strength of the columns increased with decreasing shear-span ratio. The stress distribution on the FE models represented the failure mode of the EWECS columns well. More damages on the columns were observed with decreasing shear-span ratio. In general, good agreement between the experimental data and the FE models output in terms of the seismic performance and failure mode was observed.