FINITE ELEMENT MODELING WITH SHELL ELEMENT FROM 3D POINT CLOUDS OF THIN-WALLED STEEL STRUCTURAL MEMBERS

Abstract

Most thin-walled steel structural members are configured by assembling several plates, and their finite element (FE) models for performance evaluations are often constructed by using the structural elements, such as the shell element. The purpose of this study is to show constructing the FE model with the shell element from 3D point cloud data for modeling thin-walled steel structural members toward the performance evaluations of existing structures. In the verification, three specimens of steel members that are configured by assembling flat plates were prepared, and the point cloud data was acquired by a 3D scanner. Each plate was segmented by the k-means method, and the neutral plane was estimated by principal component analysis. The FE model was constructed from the obtained neutral surfaces, and the validity of the models were verified by comparing the FE models created with the design parameters with the output from the static elastic analysis. It was shown that the FE model constructed from the point cloud data provides reasonable results for Mises stress distribution. On the other hand, the maximum stress at corner angle and maximum displacement did not show agreement. It was recognized that the identification of plate size and the modeling of local geometry are the issues for the next step.