Strength of sinusoidally corrugated web beams with web openings

Abstract

Creating openings in the webs of steel I-section beams has been a common method of incorporating services within the floor–ceiling zone of buildings. In the literature, the web opening problem was dealt with only for steel beams with plane web plates and the effect of an opening on a corrugated web was not considered. The present paper deals mainly with the effect of web openings on the shear strength/stability of sinusoidally corrugated web beams. A general purpose finite element program (ABAQUS) was used. Simply supported corrugated web beams of 2m length and with rectangular web openings at quarter span points were considered. These points are generally considered to be the optimum locations of web openings for steel beams. Various cases were analyzed including the dimensions of the openings and the corrugation parameters such as the amplitude of the sine wave and corrugation density. Models without web holes were also analyzed and compared with other cases which were all together examined in terms of load-deformation characteristics and ultimate shear resistance.