Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 11771200 www.elsevier.

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Steel beams with large web openings of various shapes and sizes: an empirical design method using a generalised moment-shear interaction curve
K.F. Chung a,, C.H. Liu b, A.C.H. Ko a
a

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China b Manchester School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Simon Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK Received 9 April 2002; accepted 12 February 2003

Abstract Vierendeel mechanism is always critical in steel beams with single large web openings. While the depth of web openings controls both the shear and the exural failures of the perforated sections, it is the length of the web openings that governs the Vierendeel mechanism which in turn depends on the local shear and moment capacities of the tee sections above and below the web opening. A comprehensive nite element investigation on steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes was reported in a complementary paper, and the primary structural characteristics of those steel beams were presented in detail. Comparison on the global moment-shear interaction curves of those steel beams shows that they are similar to each other in shape, and thus, it is possible to develop a generalised momentshear interaction curve to assess the load capacities of all steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes. As the global shear forces cause both shear failure and Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections, the effect of local Vierendeel moments acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web openings may be incorporated through a reduction to the global shear capacities of the perforated sections. A global coupled shear capacity is thus established and its values for web openings of various shapes and sizes are obtained directly from the nite element investigation. Details of the design method are fully presented in this paper. Moreover, an indicative parameter, the Vierendeel parameter, is established to assess the
Corresponding author. Tel: +1-852-2766-6063. E-mail address: cekchung@polyu.edu.hk (K.F. Chung).

0143-974X/03/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0143-974X(03)00029-4

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performance of Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections. Through comparison among the moment and the shear utilisation ratios, m and v, and the Vierendeel parameter, vi , the critical modes of failure in perforated sections under different moment-shear ratios may be readily assessed. 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Vierendeel mechanism; Perforated sections; Openings of various shapes; Moment-shear interaction; Design development

1. Introduction Modern multistorey buildings always have a stringent requirement on headroom. In order to accommodate building services within the constructional depth of a oor, it is common practice to provide web openings in structural oor beams for passage of services. A large amount of research efforts on the structural behaviour of steel beams with web openings have been reported in the literature, primarily for steel beams with multiple hexagonal web openings, and also for composite beams with single rectangular web openings, both with or without reinforcement. Rectangular web openings were often formed with aspect ratios ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 while the opening depth, do, was commonly restricted to about 50% of the overall section height, h. Circular web openings were also popular in commercial buildings with high specications in building services due to easy installation of water pipes. In a perforated section under a global moment Mo,Sd and a global shear force Vo,Sd , three local actions are induced in the tee-sections above and below the web opening as shown in Fig. 1: Axial force in the tee-section, NT, due to the global moment Mo,Sd. Shear force in the tee-section, VT, due to the global shear force, Vo,Sd. Local moment in the tee-section, MT, due to the transfer of shear force Vo,Sd across the opening length. For beams with given loading and support conditions, the magnitudes of these local actions depend on the shapes, the sizes, and also the locations of the openings. As reported by Lawson [1], Darwin [2], Redwood [3], and Oehlers and Bradford [4], the presence of web openings may have a severe penalty on the load carrying capacities of structural members, depending on the congurations of the web openings. An overall review on the design recommendations [14] shows that in general, there are two design approaches in assessing the structural behaviour of steel beams with web openings: Tee section approach: In this approach, the perforated section is considered to be built up of two tee sections which are separated by a distance according to the height of the web opening, and all the global actions are re-presented as local forces and moments. The structural adequacy of the steel beams depends on the

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Fig. 1.

Force distribution in a perforated section.

section capacities of the tee sections under co-existing axial and shear forces, and local moments. In general, the design methods with this approach are complicated and the calculation effort is considerable. The accuracy of the methods depends on the accuracy of a number of design rules against respective failure modes. However, due to the complexity of the problems, approximate design expressions are often presented to reduce the calculation effort, leading to conservative results. Perforated section approach: In this approach, the perforated section is the critical section to be considered in design, and the structural adequacy of the steel beams depends on the section capacities of the perforated sections under co-existing global shear forces and moments. Simple and empirical moment-shear interaction curves are often used, and thus, the design methods are generally considered to be simple, straight forwards, and suitable for engineers in their practical design. However, the design methods are somehow restrictive with limited applications, and often, they are very conservative [5]. In order to provide design guidance for engineers to design steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes for full integration with building services, it is

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highly desirable to develop an empirical design method which is structurally efcient and applicable to web openings of various shapes and sizes [6]. This is best accomplished through extensive parametric studies of non-linear nite element analyses on steel beams with web openings followed by development of an empirical design method using a generalised moment-shear interaction curve.

2. Scope of investigation The project may be divided into the following parts of activities: 1. Part I. Finite element investigation. Based on the nite element models with material and geometrical non-linearity established for steel beams with circular web openings, a comprehensive parametric study was carried out to investigate and compare the load carrying capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes. A total of eight different opening shapes with three different opening sizes in steel beams of four different section sizes were covered. The structural behaviour of the perforated sections in terms of deformation characteristics, moment shear interaction curves, and yield patterns were fully reported and discussed in a complimentary paper [7]. However, for ease of reference, the moment-shear interaction curves of perforated sections are presented in this paper. 2. Part II. Development of empirical design method. Based on the results of the nite element investigation, an empirical design method for steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes was developed through the use of a generalised moment-shear interaction curve. Basic section capacities of the perforated sections were rst established, and then the effect of local Vierendeel moments acting on the tee-sections above and below the web openings was incorporated through a reduction to the global shear and moment capacities of the perforated sections. The design method is fully presented in this paper supplemented with worked examples in the Appendices. In the present investigation, all steel beams are hot rolled steel I sections of class 1 or 2 (plastic or compact). All web openings are concentric to the mid-height of the sections with diameters between 0.5 and 0.75 h where h is the section depth; no reinforcement is considered. The formulation is presented in accordance with Eurocode 3 for easy reference. It should be noted that both the bending moment, Mo,Sd, and the shear force, Vo,Sd, due to global actions are evaluated at the centre of the web openings, as shown in Fig. 1. The geometric congurations of all the web openings covered in the nite element investigation are presented in Fig. 2.

3. Momentshear interaction curves from nite element investigation The moment-shear interaction curves obtained from the nite element investigation are presented in Fig. 3. The moment-shear interaction curves for eight opening

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Fig. 2. Geometric conguration of web openings.

shapes with three opening sizes subjected to various moment-to-shear force ratios in steel beams of four section sizes are arranged in a rational manner for easy comparison and reference. The global shear force, Vo,Sd, and the global moment, Mo,Sd, at the centre-line of the perforated sections at failure are non-dimensionalised with respect to the global section capacities of the perforated sections, namely, Vo,Rd and Mo,Rd. All the interaction curves are shown to be similar in pattern. This conrms the suitability of a generalised moment-shear interaction curve for the design of perforated sections with various shapes and sizes. It should be noted that despite the variation in sizes and shapes of web openings,

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Fig. 3.

Momentshear interaction curves obtained from nite element investigation.

all the curves converge to the same x-intercept, i.e. having the same moment capacities under zero global shear force, provided that the web openings have the same depths. However, all the curves have different y-intercepts, i.e. different shear capacities at perforated sections under zero global moment, probably due to different

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Fig. 3 (continued)

local Vierendeel moments acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web openings. In order to understand the effects of both the shapes and the sizes of web openings on the structural performance of perforated sections, it is important to relate both the opening depth, do, and the critical opening length, c, to the following:

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Fig. 3 (continued)

global shear force and moment acting on the perforated sections, and local co-existing axial and shear forces, and moment acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web openings. In general, an increase in the opening depth, do, always reduces both the shear

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Fig. 3 (continued)

and the moment capacities of the perforated sections, and thus, both shear and exural failures of perforated sections are primarily controlled by the magnitude of do. However, while an increase in the opening length, c, does not affect the shear and the moment capacities of the perforated sections, it increases directly the local Vierendeel moments acting onto the tee-sections, and thus promotes the Vierendeel

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mechanism in the perforated sections. Consequently, for web openings with same values of do but with different values of c, the load capacities of the perforated sections are inversely proportional to the values of c. It may be convenient to consider that both the shear failure and the Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections are primarily caused by global shear forces. The global shear capacities of the perforated sections attain their maximum values in the absence of axial forces due to global moment. Any increase in the global moment at the perforated sections will induce local axial forces in the tee-sections, promoting local yielding of the tee-sections and hence collapse of the perforated sections, as shown in Fig. 4. For perforated sections under large global moment, the global shear capacities will be greatly reduced.

4. Proposed design method The whole range of behaviour of perforated sections is characterised by three actions: global bending action, global shear action, and local Vierendeel action. Design rules for basic moment and shear capacities of perforated sections are presented rst. The effect of Vierendeel mechanism is then incorporated into the shear capacities of perforated sections, giving the coupled shear capacities of perforated sections. Finally, a generalised moment-shear interaction curve is recommended to allow for the presence of co-existing global shear force and moment on perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes. 4.1. Basic moment capacity Consider a perforated section, and an opening of depth, do, is formed at the midheight of the web. The applied global moment and shear force at the centre of the

Fig. 4. Reduction in moment-shear interaction curve of perforated sections due to coupled Vierendeel mechanism.

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web opening are Mo,Sd and Vo,Sd respectively. The moment resistance of the perforated section, Mo,Rd , is given by: Mo,Rd fy Wo,pl Mo,Sd Wo,pl Wpl d2tw o 4 (1)

where Wpl is the plastic modulus of the un-perforated section; tw is the web thickness; do is the opening depth; fyis the design yield strength of the steel beam. 4.2. Basic shear capacity In general, the shear area of an I-section is dened as h tw based on simple plastic section analysis and h is the overall section depth. This approximation is widely adopted in modern steel codes because of its simplicity. Moreover, as the anges are assigned to resist bending moment while the web is assigned to resist shear force, the contribution of the anges to the shear capacity of the entire section may often be neglected without causing any signicant error. However, in an Isection with a large web opening, the shear area of the web is substantially reduced, and thus the shear areas of the anges become signicant in assessing the shear capacity of the perforated section. During the nite element investigation, the shear capacities of perforated sections were consistently found to be larger than those predicted from current design rules, suggesting that parts of the ange areas should be incorporated in order to assess the shear capacities of perforated sections accurately. As shown in Fig. 5, the equivalent shear area of a ange, Avf, after calibration against nite element results, is given by: Avf tf (0.375 tf tw 0.375 tf)

where tw is the web thickness; tf is the ange thickness. Consequently, the plastic shear resistance of the perforated section, Vo,Rd, is given by:

Fig. 5.

Equivalent shear area in tee section based on nite element investigation.

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Vo,Rd Avo

fvAvo Vo,Sd Av do tw

(2a) (2b)

where fv is the shear strength of the steel beam taken as 0.577 fy/gMo; gMo is a material factor taken as 1.0; Av is the shear area of the un-perforated section, h tw 2 (0.75 tf t f) (2c) For a typical beam section such as UB 457 152 52 S275, the shear area of the anges contributes an increase of 10% in the shear capacity of a perforated section with a web opening of do/h equal to 0.50. For a perforated section with do/h equal to 0.75, the increase in the shear capacity is 21%. It should be noted that for beam sections with thick anges, the increase in shear capacities is likely to exceed 30%, and Table 1 summarises the increases of the shear capacities in four steel beams with web openings of three different do/h ratios. 4.3. Coupled shear capacity allowing for Vierendeel mechanism After determining the basic shear capacity of a perforated section, Vo,Rd, it is important to consider the effect of local Vierendeel moments acting at the teesections above and below the web opening on the global shear capacity of the perforated section. It should be noted that both the global shear force and the local Vierendeel moment are coupled as they act on the perforated section simultaneously. The extents of coupling in perforated sections are obviously very complicated, depending not only on the shapes and sizes of web openings, but also on the applied global shear forces and moments at the perforated sections. As reported in the complementary paper, the Vierendeel mechanism has been studied extensively in the nite element investigation. The global shear capacities allowing for Vierendeel mechanism, or the global coupled shear capacities, Vo,Rd,Vi, of perforated sections covered in the present study may be obtained directly from the moment-shear interaction curves presented in Fig. 3. For design purposes, a coupled shear capacity ratio for perforated sections, v, is dened as follows: v Vo,Rd,Vi Vo,Rd (3)

The coupled shear capacity ratio governs the global shear capacity of a perforated
Table 1 Summary of increase in pure shear capacities of perforated sections due to shear areas of anges Perforated sections UB UB UB UB 457 457 610 610 152 152 229 229 52 82 101 140 do /h = 0.50 10% 22% 10% 18% do / h = 0.67 16% 33% 16% 27% do / h = 0.75 21% 43% 21% 36%

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section under coupled shear failure and Vierendeel mechanism in the absence of global moment. Table 2 summarises the values of v for perforated sections covered in the present study, which are obtained directly from the nite element investigation. It is shown that for web openings with small opening lengths such as c-hexagonal web openings, the values of v are close to unity for various do/h ratios, showing little coupling effect of the Vierendeel mechanism on the perforated sections. However, for web openings with large opening lengths such as rectangular and elongated web openings, the Vierendeel mechanism is apparent and the values of v are often less than 0.5. 4.4. Generalised moment-shear interaction curve In general, an interaction curve with an elliptical expression may be used to allow for interaction between moment and shear force in solid rectangular plates: m2 or v where v is the shear utilisation ratio Vo,Sd Vo,Rd Mo,Sd . Mo,Rd (5a) (5b) 1 m2 (4b) v2 1 (4a)

m is the moment utilisation ratio

However, for perforated sections, this interaction curve should be modied to allow for the presence of Vierendeel mechanism as shown in Fig. 4. In general, for perforated sections under zero global moment, the shear utilisation ratios are
Table 2 Summary of coupled shear capacity ratios, v, for perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes Opening shapes Opening sizes do /h = 0.50 C-hexagon Circle Regular octagon Regular hexagon Square Elongated circle 2do Rectangle 2:1 Elongated circle 3do 1.00 0.95 0.90 0.82 0.66 0.56 0.38 0.35 do / h = 0.67 0.96 0.87 0.78 0.66 0.42 0.35 0.21 0.19 do / h = 0.75 0.91 0.80 0.68 0.55 0.32 0.26 0.16 0.13

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reduced from unity to the coupled shear capacity ratios, v. In the presence of global moments, the shear utilisation ratios of the perforated sections will diminish gradually, depending on the magnitudes of the global moments. After careful calibration with the moment-shear interaction curves obtained from the nite element investigation, a generalised moment-shear interaction curve is recommended as follows: For v For v where m is the coupled moment capacity ratio, Mo,Rd,Vi . Mo,Rd (5c) 2/3 2/3 v v v
2

m2 (v 2/3 ) 2/3
2

1 m2 1

(6a) (6b)

For analysis, the shear utilisation ratio, v, and the moment coupled moment capacity ratio, m, are given by: For v For v m 2/3 v 2/3 v 1 v v v 2 3 1 2 1 3 m2 v or m m2 v or 1 (v / v)2 (6c) (6d)

( v 2/3 ) 2 . 2/3

In all cases, the shear utilisation ratio, v, should not exceed the coupled shear capacity ratio, v. Fig. 6 plots the proposed moment-shear interaction curves for web openings with various shapes and sizes, and they are considered to be applicable to steel beams with practical section sizes. The design curves are also plotted in Fig. 3 for direct comparison with the nite element results. It is shown that for perforated sections with large web openings, the proposed design interaction curves follow closely the nite element results for the whole ranges of moment and shear ratios. However, for perforated sections with small web openings, the proposed design curves are considered to be relatively conservative when interactions between moment and shear forces are signicant. It is important to note that, based on the three ratios, namely, the shear utilisation ratio, v, the moment utilisation ratio, m, and the coupled shear capacity ratio, v, the load carrying capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes may be obtained readily through the proposed moment-shear interaction curve. The design procedures are fully illustrated in the two worked examples given in Appendices A and B. Web openings with different shapes and sizes are selected to illustrate the design procedure of the proposed design method in meeting the requirements on the load carrying capacities of steel beams. It should be noted that the proposed design method is very effective as it has been

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Fig. 6.

Proposed moment-shear interaction curves.

carefully calibrated against non-linear nite element results. The design expression is simple and easy to use. Consequently, the proposed design method is suitable for engineers in their practical design.

5. Vierendeel parameter After assessing both the global shear force and moment capacities of perforated sections, it may be useful in some cases to know the relative importance of Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes. Comparison on the results of the nite element investigation reveals that: For web openings with small opening lengths under high shear force, shear failure is apparent in the perforated section, especially for deep web openings. For web openings with large opening lengths under high shear force, Vierendeel mechanism is dominant in the perforated section. For web openings with large opening depths under low shear force, exural failure in the perforated section may be critical.

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In order to assess the performance of Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections, an indicative parameter, namely, the Vierendeel parameter, vi , is established and dened as follows: vi Vo,Rd,Vi 4 MT,Rd / c (7)

where MT,Rd is the basic moment capacity of tee-sections under zero axial and shear forces; Vo,Rd,Vi is the global coupled shear capacity of perforated sections obtained from the nite element investigation; and c is the critical opening length. For perforated sections under zero global moment, the Vierendeel parameter, vi, is equal to unity provided that plastic hinges are fully developed at the ends of the tee-sections above and below the web openings.

6. Relative importance of Vierendeel mechanism In order to illustrate the importance of Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes, a plot of the Vierendeel parameter, vi , against the critical opening length ratio, c/do, for perforated sections under zero global moment is presented in Fig. 7. It is shown that for web openings

Fig. 7. Typical values of Vierendeel parameter in perforated sections with various opening shapes and sizes. UB457 152 52 S275 and Mo,Sd = 0.

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with large c, such as square, rectangular and elongated openings, vi is always close to unity, showing the importance of the Vierendeel mechanism. For web openings with small c, such as c-hexagonal, circular, octagonal and hexagonal web openings, vi is generally small, in particular for those web openings with do/h equal to 0.50. In Fig. 8, vi is plotted for three different shapes of web openings located at various locations along a 12 m long simply supported beam of UB 457 152 52 S275. Both the shear and the moment utilisation ratios of the perforated sections, v and m, are also plotted on the same graph for direct comparison. It is shown that: 1. For perforated sections with rectangular web openings with do = 0.5 h, vi is very large where the sections are under high to medium shear force. In perforated sections beyond 4 m from the support, m increases quickly at the expense of vi, demonstrating a sudden change of critical failure mode from Vierendeel mechanism to exural failure. 2. For perforated sections with regular hexagonal web openings with do = 0.67 h, vi is very large only in sections under high shear force. In perforated sections beyond 2 m from the support, vi diminishes quickly, but m increases sharply towards unity showing the signicant reduction in moment capacities of the perforated sections due to the presence of web openings. 3. For perforated sections with c-hexagonal web openings with do = 0.75 h, the value of v is always larger than vi along the entire length of the beam, showing that shear failure is always more critical than Vieredneel mechanism as the critical opening length is small. However, the switch of critical failure mode for shear failure to exural failure takes place at about 1.5 m from the support, showing the severe reduction in moment capacities of the perforated sections due to the presence of large web openings.

7. Conclusions Based on the results of a comprehensive nite element investigation on steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes, a design method using a generalised moment-shear interaction curve is proposed for determining the load capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes. The design method is considered to be simple, straight forwards, and highly efcient in structural economy for engineers in their practical design. It should be noted that 1. Based on the nite element investigation, it is found that the basic shear capacities of perforated I-sections are consistently larger than those predicted from current design rules, and thus, the shear areas of the anges should be included. Consequently, a revised design rule for basic shear capacities of perforated sections including both the shear areas of the web and the anges is proposed after careful calibration against nite element results. 2. As the global shear forces in perforated sections may cause both shear failure and

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Fig. 8. vi, v and m of perforated sections with various opening shapes and sizes along beam span UB457 152 52 S275.

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Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections simultaneously, the effect of local Vierendeel moments acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web openings is incorporated through a reduction to the global shear capacities of the perforated sections, giving rise to the global coupled shear capacity, Vo,Rd,Vi, of perforated sections. The values of global coupled shear capacities for perforated sections covered in the present study may be obtained directly from the momentshear interaction curves in Fig. 3. The normalised values of the global coupled shear capacities for perforated sections covered in the present study are summarised in Table 2. 3. It is important to note that, based on the three ratios, namely, the shear utilisation ratio, v, the moment utilisation ratio, m , and the coupled shear capacity ratio, v, the load carrying capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes may be obtained readily through the proposed moment-shear interaction curve. Moreover, the proposed design method is very effective as it has been carefully calibrated against non-linear nite element results, and the design expression is simple and easy to use. Consequently, the proposed design method is suitable for engineers in their practical design. 4. For perforated sections with large web openings, the proposed moment-shear interaction curve is considered to follow closely the nite element results for the whole ranges of moment and shear ratios. However, for perforated sections with small web openings, the proposed curve is slightly conservative when interactions between moment and shear forces are signicant. 5. An indicative parameter, the Vierendeel parameter, is established to assess the performance of Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections. Through comparison among the moment and the shear utilisation ratios, m and v, and the Vierendeel parameter, vi, the critical modes of failure in perforated sections under different moment-shear ratios may be readily assessed.

Acknowledgements The research project leading to the publication of the paper is supported by the Research Grant Council of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administration Region (Project No. PolyU5085/97E).

Appendix A. Worked example 1 Load carrying capacity of a steel beam with multiple web openings based on empirical design rule A 7.5-m span simply supported beam of UB 457 152 52 S275 with six circular web openings (do = 0.75 h) is subject to a uniformly distributed load of 35 kN/m. The openings are placed symmetrically about the center of the beam with an interval of 1.0 m starting from the supports. Check the structural adequacy of the steel beam.

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Data

L, 7.5 m; xo, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 m; h, 449.8 mm; tw, 7.6 mm; bf, 152.4 mm; tf, 10.9 mm; do, 337.35 mm; Wpl, 1096 103 mm3; v = 0.8 for circular opening. The load carrying capacity of the beam without web openings, wo, is 42.9 kN/m for L = 7.5 m. Steel beams with circular web openings Step 1: Determine the shear and the moment capacities of the perforated section Eq. (1) Mo,Rd 275 Eq. (2) Avo 7.6 Vo,Rd fyWo,pl (1096 fy(Wpl 7.6 4 twd2 o ) 4 10
3

337.352 ) 1000 2 275

241.9 kNm

tw(h do) 0.577fyAvo

2 (0.75t2) f 0.75 10.92 10 1032.8 mm2

3

(449.8 337.35) 0.577

1032.8

163.9k N

Step 2: Determine the applied shear force and moment at the center of the web openings

xo (m)

VSd = w(

L x ) (kN) 2 o

MSd =

wxo(L xo) (kNm) 2

1.0 2.0 3.0

96.3 61.3 26.3

0.587 0.374 0.160

113.8 192.5 236.3

Step 3: Determine the moment capacities at the perforated sections under high shear

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For xo

1.0 m, v

0.587: 241.9 1 0.5872 195.8 kNm

Eq. (4) M1,Rd Noting that v Eq. (6) M2,Rd 0.733 Mo,Rd So Mo,Rd,Vi

Mo,Rd 1 v2 0.8 2 , 3 v 1 [

Mo,Rd

(v 2 / 3) 2 ] 2/ 3 113.8 kNm

Mo,Rd

1 [

0.587

(0.8 2/3

2 / 3)

177.3 kNm MSd

177.3 kNm 2 3

m 1

v 2 3

Similarly,
For xo For xo 2.0 m, Mo,Rd,Vi 3.0 m, Mo,Rd,Vi 0.928 Mo,Rd 0.987 Mo,Rd 224.4 kNm 238.8 kNm MSd MSd 192.5 kNm OK 236.3 kNm OK

If the opening shape is changed, the load carrying capacity of the beam will be different. Suppose the opening shape is changed to octagon and c-hexagon, repeating the above steps will give the following results. Steel beams with octagonal web openings xo (m) 1 2 3 do/h 0.75 0.75 0.67 w v (kN/m) 35 35 35 VSd (kN) v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking (kNm) (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi 123.3 203.6 251.9 0.923 0.946 0.938 OK OK OK

0.68 96.3 0.68 61.3 0.78 26.3

0.587 113.8 0.374 192.5 0.160 236.3

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Steel beams with C-hexagonal web openings xo (m) 1 2 3 do/h 0.75 0.75 0.75 w v (kN/m) 35 35 35 VSd (kN) v MSd (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi (kNm) 195.9 224.4 238.8 MSd Checking Mo,Rd,Vi 0.581 0.858 0.989 OK OK OK

0.91 96.3 0.91 61.3 0.91 26.3

0.587 113.8 0.374 192.5 0.160 236.3

Note: All web openings are spaced apart without any interaction.

Appendix B. Worked example 2 A 12-m span simply supported beam of UB 610 229 140 S355 with six square web openings (do = 0.5 h) is subject to a uniformly distributed load of 80 kN/m. The openings are placed symmetrically about the center of the beam with an interval of 1.2 m starting from the supports. Increase the opening sizes by changing the opening shapes, if appropriate, without reducing the load carrying capacity. Data

L, 12 m; xo, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 m; h, 617.2 mm; tw, 13.1 mm; bf, 230.2 mm; tf, 22.1 mm; do, 308.6 mm; Wpl, 4142 103 mm3. The load carrying capacity of the beam without web openings, wo, is 81.6 kN/m for L = 12 m. The following tables list the results of which the square web openings are changed to other shapes at each location.

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1199

Steel beams with octagonal web openings xo (m) 1.2 2.4 3.6 do/h 0.67 0.67 0.67 w v (kN/m) 80 80 80 VSd (kN) v MSd (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi (kNm) 959.3 1135.7 1222.4 MSd Checking Mo,Rd,Vi 0.540 0.811 0.990 OK OK OK

0.78 384.0 0.78 288.0 0.78 192.0

0.551 518.4 0.413 921.6 0.275 1209.6

Steel beams with circular web openings xo (m) 1.2 2.4 3.6 do/h 0.75 0.75 0.67 w v (kN/m) 80 80 80 VSd (kN) v MSd (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi (kNm) 698.2 1007.4 1222.4 MSd Checking Mvo,Rd,Vi 0.742 0.915 0.990 OK OK OK

0.80 384.0 0.80 288.0 0.87 192.0

0.551 518.4 0.413 921.6 0.275 1209.6

1200

K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 11771200

Steel beams with c-hexagonal web openings xo (m) 1.2 2.4 3.6 do/h 0.75 0.75 0.67 w v (kN/m) 80 80 80 VSd (kN) v MSd (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi (kNm) 895.1 1050.4 1222.4 MSd Checking Mvo,Rd,Vi 0.579 0.877 0.990 OK OK OK

0.91 384.0 0.91 288.0 0.96 192.0

0.551 518.4 0.413 921.6 0.275 1209.6

Thus, if the opening shape is to be changed at various specic locations along the beam without reducing the original load carrying capacity, then the following opening conguration is one possibility:

References
[1] Lawson RM. Design for openings in the webs of composite beams. CIRIA/Steel Construction Institute, 1987 CIRIA Special Publication and SCI Publication 068. [2] Darwin D. Steel and composite beams with web openings. In: Steel design guide series No. 2. Chicago, IL, USA: American Institute of Steel Construction; 1990. [3] Redwood RG, Cho SH. Design of steel and composite beams with web openings. J Construct Steel Res 1993;25:2341. [4] Oehlers DJ, Bradford MA. Composite steel and concrete structural members: Fundamental behaviour. Pergamon, 1995. [5] Ko CH, Chung KF. A comparative study on existing design rules for steel beams with circular web openings. In: Yang YB, Leu LL, Hsieh SH, editors. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Structural Stability and Dynamics, Taipei. 2000. p. 7338. [6] Chung KF, Liu TCH, Ko ACH. Investigation on Vierendeel mechanism in steel beams with circular web openings. J Construct Steel Res 2001;57(5):46790. [7] Chung KF, Liu TCH, Ko ACH. Steel beams with large web openings of various shapes and sizes: Finite element investigation. doi:10.1016/S0143-974X(03)00030-0.