CH 28

STEEL BEAMS WITH
WEB OPENINGS
Teaching Resource in Design of Steel Structures
IIT Madras, SERC Madras, Anna Univ., INSDAG

2
INTRODUCTION
Provision of beams with web openings
eliminates probability of a service
engineer cutting holes in inappropriate
locations subsequently after erection

This form of construction maintains a
smaller construction depth with
placement of services within girder
depth

3
INTRODUCTION - 1
Introduction of an opening in web alters
stress distribution and also influences
collapse behaviour

Methods to evaluate ultimate shear
capacity of beams and fabricated
girders with circular or rectangular web
openings are discussed based on the
Von Mises yield criterion

4
GUIDELINES FOR WEB OPENINGS
AND STIFFENERS
For designer's convenience, openings of
regular shapes (such as circular or
rectangular) are usually chosen

Introduction of openings in web decreases
stiffness of beams resulting in larger
deflections than corresponding beams with
solid webs

Strength realised will depend on interaction
between moment and shear

5
GUIDELINES FOR WEB OPENINGS AND STIFFENERS - 1
Reduction in moment capacity of web is not
very significant

Reduction in shear capacity at opening can
be significant.

To restore the strength lost, reinforcement
along the periphery of the openings could be
provided

Avoid having openings in locations of high
shear, nor should they be closely spaced

6
Hole should be centrally placed in web and
eccentricity is avoided as far as possible
Unstiffened openings are not always appropriate,
unless they are located in low shear and low
bending moment regions.
Web opening should be away from support by at
least twice beam depth, D or 10% of the span (),
whichever is greater
Best location for opening is within middle third of
span
Clear Spacing between openings should not be
less than beam depth, D

7
Best location for opening is where the shear force
is the lowest
Diameter of circular openings is generally
restricted to 0.5D
Clear spacing between openings should be at
least equal the longer dimension of the opening
Un-stiffened openings
Depth of rectangular openings < 0.5D
Length < 1.5D
Stiffened openings
Depth of rectangular openings < 0.6D
Length < 2D

8
Corners of rectangular openings should be
rounded
Point loads should not be applied at less than D
from side of adjacent opening
If stiffeners are provided at openings, length of
welds should be sufficient to develop full
strength of the stiffener
If above rules are followed, the additional
deflection due to each opening may be taken as
3% of the mid-span deflection of the beam
without the opening

9
FORCE DISTRIBUTION AND
FAILURE PATTERN
Basis of Analysis

Web of beam is thick and
is not prone to buckling in
shear

Collapse is by formation of
four plastic hinges, near
four corners of hole in web
above and below openings

Beam behaves as a
virendeel girder
Mode of failure
Rectangular Hole in web

10
Force distribution and failure pattern
Overall bending moment M is resisted by
compression in top web plate, and tension
in bottom web plate forming a couple
together with relatively small moments
due to vierendeel action

At opening adjacent to lower moment
section shear V will be resisted by V
t

shear in top web plate and V
b
shear in
bottom web plate


11
Force distribution and failure pattern - 1

Force distribution in steel beam at opening
V
M
b1
M
M
b1
V
b
M
t1
V
t
V
t
T
2
T
1
T
2
T
1
T
2
T
2
T
1
T
1
M
V
V
b M
b1
M
t1
M
t1
M
b1
V
b
V
t
V
t
V
b
M
t1

12
Effective size of circular hole in the web
0.9R
R
1.8R

13
A typical failure pattern
T
1
T
1
T
2
V
M
T
2
M V

14
Equilibrium conditions:

V = V
t
+ V
b
M = (T
1
or T
2
) * h + M
t1
+ M
b1

At failure, bottom web plate is likely to yield due
to tension and top web plate above opening is
susceptible to buckling/ yielding
Vierendeel moment across opening is resisted by
plastic moment capacities of sections
Upper and lower web sections resist applied
shear in proportion to square of their depths

15
Web instability for beams with thick webs
Plastic analysis is valid if effective depth of the
web is limited to outstand proportion of compact
sections
Semi-compact or slender sections are
susceptible to local buckling - Opening in such
cases may be stiffened or only elastic capacity of
web-flange section may be used
Instability of vertical sides of web opening will
not occur in rolled sections except in high shear
zones. Fabricated beams are more susceptible to
this form of the web instability


16
Lateral torsional stability
Effect of opening is incorporated by
multiplying the St. Venant's torsion
constant, J , by
1.0
2
2B) t(D
r
2A t
h
d
u
h
a
1 s
(
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
|
|
.
|
\
|


17
Analysis of beams with
perforated thick webs
Shear capacity V may be obtained using
following non-linear interaction equation:

(V/V
B
)
2
+ [(M - M
B
)/ (M
A
- M
B
)]
2
= 1.0

If a beam is to be safe, factored shear V
f
and
moment M
f
should be such that

B
V /
f
V ]
B
M
A
M [
A
M
f
M
B
V
f
V
s
s

18
Analysis of beams with perforated thick webs - 1
Interaction diagram
(V/V
B
)
2
+ [(M - M
B
)/ (M
A
- M
B
)]
2
= 1.0
V
B

Shear
M
A
M
B
B
A
Moment

19
Unreinforced openings in beams
with thick webs
Salient points of interaction diagram:
f
A 4
w
A
1
D
h
d
D
e 4
2
D
h
d
f
A 4
w
A
1
P
M
A
M
+
(
(
|
.
|
\
|
|
.
|
\
|
+ |
.
|
\
|
=
f
A 4
w
A
1
2
1
2
D
h
a
f
A
w
A
3
1
1
p
M
B
M
+
(
(
+
(
(
(
=
o
o

20
Unreinforced openings in beams with thick webs - 1
(
(
+
+
+
(
=
2
1
2
1
1
1
D
h
a
3
1
P
V
B
V
o
o
o
o
2
D
e 2
D
h
d
1
2
h
a
D
4
3
2
2
D
e 2
D
h
d
1
2
h
a
D
4
3
1
(
+
(
=
(
=
o
o

21
Reinforced openings
Area of reinforcing bars A
r
, should be greater
than the area of one flange of steel beam section,
to prevent flange instability
Important equations:
P
M
f
M
D
h
d
1 V
f
V p
s
|
.
|
\
|
s

22
PLATE GIRDERS WITH WEB OPENINGS
Typical slenderness values for these webs - 150 to 250

Buckle prior to the actual collapse of girder

Summary of experimental studies:

Girders having openings in high shear zone failed at loads
significantly lower than those that had openings in high
moment zones
In case of circular openings, ultimate shear capacity of webs
dropped almost linearly with increase in diameter of opening
Observed failure mechanism is similar to that of plate girders
with un-perforated webs

23
Analysis of Plate girders with web openings
Ultimate shear capacity is obtained as sum of following:

Reduced value of elastic critical load in the perforated web
Load carried by membrane tension in post critical stage
Load carried by flanges
Load carried by reinforcement, if any

Introduction of openings in web decreases elastic critical
load
Placement of web openings in diagonal band reduces
width of the Tension field and causes significant drop in
strength

24
Approximate method
Linear interpolation between value of V
S
for an
unperforated web and Vierendeel load, V
V

If diameter of the opening, D
h
, covers full depth, d, of
girder, failure would be essentially due to Vierendeel
mechanism - Corresponding collapse load, V
V
, is given by

a is clear width of web plate between vertical stiffeners

a
p
M 8
V
V =

25
Vierendeel action
A
B
C
D

26
Plate girder webs with unreinforced
circular openings
Shear buckling stress (q
cr
)
red
:

Relative stiffness of flange in comparison with
web increases significantly when opening is
introduced and behaviour of web plate will be
closer to one having fixed supports at flange
web junction

k appropriate to a web fixed at its edges
should be used


27
Plate girder webs with unreinforced circular openings - 1
A B
C
D
Failure mechanism in plate girders
with centrally placed circular hole

28
Plate girder webs with unreinforced circular openings - 2
By using virtual work method, failure load can be
computed from

If flanges can not develop plastic hinges because
they are compact, semi-compact or slender, this
method of analysis is NOT applicable.

( ) ( )
c
pf
M
4
sec Co
h
D c a cot d
2
sin t .
yt
p t . d .
red
cr
q
ult
V
+
+ + = u u u

29
Plate girder webs with unreinforced
rectangular openings
Reduced elastic critical shear stress:

By using virtual work method, failure load can be
computed from
(
(
|
.
|
\
|
=
A
o
A
r
1
2
d
t
)
2
v 1 ( 12
E
2
s
k
red
)
cr
q ( o
t
( ) ( )
c
pf
M
4 Cosec c a cot d
2
sin t .
yt
p d.t .
red
cr
q
ult
V + + + =

30
Plate girder webs with unreinforced rectangular openings - 1
Failure mechanism in plate girders with
centrally placed rectangular hole
A
B
C
D
Tension
field

31
SUMMARY
Two types of beams and girders are covered
Beams with thick webs where web buckling is not a
design criterion
Plate girders with thin webs where web buckling is
consideration
Various types of openings are discussed and
guidelines are given wherever required for
convenience of designers
Failure phenomena are discussed and equations
are given for the purpose of design.

CH 28

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CH 28

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STEEL BEAMS WITH

Teaching Resource in Design of Steel Structures

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