Shapes and sizes of web opening effects on bending behaviour of I-beam with web

opening
Fatimah De’nan, Choong Kok Keong, and Nor Salwani Hashim

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1892, 020021 (2017);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005652
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1892/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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 Shapes and Sizes of Web Opening Effects on Bending
Behaviour of I-beam with Web Opening
Fatimah De’nan1, a), Choong Kok Keong1, b) and Nor Salwani Hashim1, c)
1
School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
a)
Corresponding author: cefatimah@usm.my
b)
cekkc@usm.my
c)
wani_a02@yahoo.com

Abstract The section subjected to bending behaviour have more strength major axis where the loads are applied
compare to minor axis. This is occurred when the deformation of a section changes from predominantly in-plane
deflection before large deflection and yielding of section. This paper developed non-linear finite element analysis to
analyze the effects of the web opening on the simply supported section under pure bending. Five shapes of web
opening are analyzed, which are c-hexagon, hexagon, octagon, circle and square opening. Three sizes of web
opening involved; 0.67D equaled to 134 mm diameter, 0.75D equaled to 150 mm diameter and 0.80D equaled to 160
mm diameter, where D is depth of section. It is found that, the optimum size in this study is 0.67D due to the lower
values of the displacement value compared with 0.75D and 0.80D. Meanwhile, Model 2 is classified as the optimum
model because the value of displacement is lower than model 1. It is found that c-hexagon has the lowest
displacement value compare to other web opening shapes. Besides that, when the opening becomes more contrast in
web shape such as square opening, the displacement values decreased. This is because the area of web opening
becomes larger when it is compared to another web opening. However, I-beam which acts as control section had the
lower displacement value compare to c-hexagon.

INTRODUCTION
In early 1960s, studies on web opening configurations which is involved square, rectangular, circular,
concentric, and eccentric openings of steel beams were completed in the United States and Canada [1-4]. In
1930’s, castellated shapes were manufactured by the Skoda factories in Pilsner and were first trade in the United
Kingdom [5]. The beam with diamond shapes of web opening size of 0.67 times overall beam depth gives more
strength results. It is also observed that, castellated beams are prone to fail in local modes of failure. [1]. The
additional advantage of conduit and utilities installation throughout the structure without additional supports and
finished floor elevation increment of multi-storey structures [6].
However, the structural behaviours of castellated beams were dissimilar from that of original flat web due to
the web opening. It was dictated by beam stiffness (web slenderness), castellation properties (expansion ratio or
height, angle of cut, and weld length), and type of loading. Experimental study was previously done to know the
deflection of without web opening and castellated beam with hexagonal and circular opening. ISMB 150 was
choose as the control section and was used for the fabrication of castellated beams with hexagonal openings and
circular openings. It was showed that castellated beams with hexagonal openings have higher load carrying
capacity and lower deflection compared to that of solid beam and beam with circular openings because during
fabrication process there is no material loss for hexagonal fabrication, but for the circular opening there is loss
of materials occurred [3].
Castellated beams with hexagonal web openings are made by either flame cutting or automatically cutting in
a zigzag pattern along the centerline of the web and then offsetting the two halves by welding. The process of
rejoining the two halves increases the overall beam depth by approximately 50% which increases the strength
and stiffness by 40% [7]. Generally, formation of standard I-section into a castellated beam, a section become
higher in elastic section modulus and moment of inertia compared to that of the rolled section, without adding
additional material [8].

Proceedings of the International Conference of Global Network for Innovative Technology and AWAM International Conference in Civil Engineering (IGNITE-AICCE’17)
AIP Conf. Proc. 1892, 020021-1–020021-8; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005652
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1574-4/$30.00

020021-1
 For the design which is mainly governed by moment capacity or deflection, castellated beams contribute
extra advantage for moderately loaded longer spans [9]. At a maximum web opening depth of 0.6h, it is proved
that the castellated beam behaves satisfactorily under serviceability requirements. Normally, it was replaced
built-up girders due to high strength to weight ratios and less maintenance costs. The usage of medium to long
spans castellated beams for secondary or main section in constructions was another advantage.
Besides that, steel beams with various web and larger openings contribute a high deformations and stress
concentration at the corners of openings. As compare to hexagonal and circular web opening, shear force is
more in rectangular opening. However, moment that induced from bending behaviour is less in rectangular
opening compare to hexagonal and circular web opening. In case of circular opening, shear force reduces as d/D
ratio increases whereas bending moment increases. Besides that, when the web opening is located near to end of
span, the stress and the deflection values increased consistently [10]. Therefore, it is preferable to provide web
openings in the bending main region. Meanwhile, by strengthening the plate with 70 mm offset and thickness
equal to the flange thickness, there is a decrement in stress and deflection values for I section under uniformly
distributed load. It is clear from the out-of-plane displacement, the failure mode of the beam, was directly
related to the distance from the edge of the cope to the edge of the first cell, e’ [11].
Hot-rolled beams with higher steel grades are used for modern composites structures to increase span
capacity without increment in the composite floor depth [13]. However, the behaviour of statically
indeterminate castellated composite beams is more complex than that of simply supported beams [12]. This is
because instability effects subjected to the negative moment regions where the bottom compression flange of the
beam is unrestrained.
Cellular members are identified as a member with an evenly spaced round web openings. The main
advantage of cellular section compared with beams without web openings of the same weight is the bending
resistance and stiffness of cellular beams is considerably higher. Besides that, the weight of the cellular member
is much lower than the beams spanning the same length. Additionally, cellular members have a lighter
appearance, which may also be an advantage from an aesthetic point of view. These members are principally
used for applications loaded in strong-axis bending, and useful for the combination of a compressive force and a
bending moment [14].
Perforated beams not only contribute to higher bending capacity, but also more appropriate of passing
service pipes, wires and ventilating ducts through perforations instead of constructed under the beams [15]. This
crucially reduces the total construction height of the building, especially in design of multi storey buildings.
The performance and mode of failure of cellular beams varies depending on the geometric details of the
beam. Various simple design methods have been presented for cellular beams to check the beam’s resistance
against web post bucking, Vierendeel mechanism and other failure modes [16].
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the shapes and sizes of web opening effects for a simply supported
section under pure bending. A nonlinear FEA is developed with a different shapes and sizes of web opening.

PARAMETRIC STUDY
In this analysis, LUSAS Modeller Version 14.0-3 (2006) is adopted throughout the finite element analysis
(FEA). Parametric study with finite element method is employed to analyze the bending behaviour of I-beam
steel section (I-beam). Spacing to diameter ratio (S/Do) and types of web opening are considered as a parameter.

Mesh and material properties

Convergence study is performed to determine appropriate mesh for I-beam steel section model. The
convergence is established by simultaneously increase the mesh density in each model. 200 mm of depth (D),
100 mm of width (B), 8 mm of flange thickness (tf) and 6 mm web thickness (tw) steel section are used to
perform the convergence study. It is found that the displacement increased from Model 1 to Model 8 where a
convergence solution is acquired when the number of elements is 2228. Therefore, elements size 20 is assigned
for these analyses. Quadrilateral Thick Shell element (QTS8) is assigned with regular mesh pattern. The details
configuration of the models is set before each modelling started. The following material properties and
parameters are used in all entire models; Young’s modulus, E, of 209 kN/mm2, Shear modules, G of 79×103
N/mm2 and Poisson’s ratio, v of 0.3. The whole model is assigned mild steel material

020021-2
 Loads and boundary conditions
The geometric nonlinearities due to the stress deformation and displacement of the steel sections are
considered in FEA. Simply supported sections of 1.1m span length with mid-span concentrated applied load are
analysed in detail. The results obtained are then compared to I-beam without web opening as a control
specimen. The nodes for the both support is constrained on x, y and z translation direction. Concentrated load is
applied at the middle of the span. The load factor equaled to 1 is adopted during analysis.

PROCESS OF ANALYSIS
A nonlinear finite element method is carried out to analyze the structural behavior of I-beam with different
shapes and sizes of web opening. Two categories of model, five shapes and three sizes of web are analysed. In
this paper, 200 mm of depth (D), 100 mm of width (B), 8 mm of flange thickness (tf) and 6 mm web thickness (tw) steel
section were used to perform the analysis. The material properties of each model are assigned and kept constant
during the analysis.

Types of Model
There are two cases of model category for each shapes of web opening namely Model 1 and Model 2. For
the Model 1, the distance between two openings is equal to 150 mm center to center and 200 mm center to
center for Model 2. Meanwhile, for Model 2, the edge length is 50 mm for Model 1 and 100 mm. Figure 1
shows summarize details of the analyzed model.

(a) Model 1 (b) Model 2

FIGURE 1. Types of model (all units in mm)

Sizes of Web Opening

It is known that the shear and flexural behaviour of perforated sections are normally affected mainly by the
size of the web openings. Three sizes of web opening involved; 0.67D which is 134 mm opening diameter,
0.75D which is 150 mm opening diameter and 0.80D which is 160 mm opening diameter, where D is depth of
section. The size of web opening used also comply the existing design of web openings. The design basic
regarding the spacing-to-diameter ratio (S/Do = 1.08–1.5) is taken from BS 5950 Part-1 (2000).

Shapes of Web Opening

Five shapes of web opening are used; it is involved c-hexagon, octagon, hexagon, circle, square and I-beam
(without web opening) as shown in Figure 2 (a) to (f).

(a) C-hexagon (b) Hexagon (c) Octagonal (d) Circular (e) Square

FIGURE 2. Shape of web opening

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 RESULT OF NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Thirty models of I-beam with different shapes of web opening and without web opening is considered to
analyze the bending behaviour. The displacement results of different shapes and sizes of web opening are shown
in Table 1. In Figure 3, displacement, δ versus types of web opening is illustrated.

TABLE 1. Displacement results of I-beam with different shapes of web opening under 1 kN loads for 1.1 m section length
and different web opening size
Shape of Web Model 1 Model 2
Opening (section with 50 mm edge and 150 mm centre (section with 100 mm edge and 200 mm centre
to centre distance) to centre distance)
0.67D 0.75D 0.80D 0.67D 0.75D 0.80D
C-hexagon 0.0919 0.1077 0.1456 0.0853 0.0929 0.1066
Hexagon 0.1023 0.1330 0.2232 0.0906 0.1046 0.1346
Octagon 0.1037 0.1458 0.4670 0.0904 0.1040 0.1322
Circular 0.1046 0.1448 0.3487 0.0909 0.1049 0.1332
Square 0.1578 0.3670 1.2849 0.1108 0.1558 0.2804
I-beam 0.0748 0.0748

(0.67D)
(0.67D)
(0.75D)
(0.75D)
(0.80D)
(0.80D)

FIGURE 3. Displacement versus shapes of web opening for I-beam with different shapes of web opening and without web
opening

From the analysis, it was found that the vertical loading cause displacement of the section where the upper
flanges section undergoes compression force and the bottom part undergo tension force. For I-beams with and
without web opening subjected to concentrated load, the failure mode observed is either the yielding of the
compression flange or vertical buckling of the compression flange which resulted in crippling of the web.
Meanwhile, the web resists the shear force to prevent uncontrolled deflection due to the concentrated applied
load. Figure 4 shows the deformed shapes for C-hexagon and I-beam steel section.

(a) C-hexagon web opening (b) I-beam (without web opening)

FIGURE 4. Finite element model under a failure modes

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 For I-beam without web opening, displacements values for Model 1 are equaled to Model 2 because no web
opening throughout the length. Five shapes and three sizes of web opening with 1.1 m section length are used to
know the optimum size and shapes of web opening. However, the optimum size in this analysis is 0.67D due to
the lower values of the displacement value compared with 0.75D and 0.80D. Meanwhile, Model 2 is classified
as the optimum model because the value of displacement is lower than Model 1
It is found that c-hexagon has the lowest displacement value compare to other web opening shapes. Besides
that, the buckling moment values decrease when the opening becomes more different in shape such as square
opening. This is because the area of web opening becomes larger when it is compared to another web opening.
However, I-beam without web opening has the lower displacement value compare to c-hexagon.
It is summarized that the stress concentration occurs in each shapes of web opening when the load was
increased. Square openings showed a very high stress concentration occurred around the corner side of
openings.

(a) C-hexagon (d) Circular

(b) Hexagon (e) Square

(c) Octagon (f) I-beam

FIGURE 5. Displacement-length curves of Model 1 and displacement contour of each shapes of web opening for a
optimum size of web opening 0.67D

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 (d) Circular
(c) C-hexagon
(e) Square
(d) Hexagon

(c) Octagon (f) I-beam

FIGURE 6. Displacement-length curves of type Model 2 and displacement contour of each shapes of web opening for a
optimum size of web opening 0.67D
A finite element analysis is used to investigate each section under concentrated load. Displacement
measurement are recorded in each section by increasing the loads. The displacement was increased consistently
as shown in Fig 5 and 6. It was observed that the deformation pattern of each section approximately same in
each part. Before the load was applied, the sections remaining plane and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
As the load was applied and increased consistently, the upper part of the section is in compression mode
meanwhile the bottom part is in tension. Therefore, there are a change in displacement.

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 L o a d c a s e : 1

T i t l e : I n c r e m e n t 1 L o a d F a c t o r = 1 . 0 0 0 0 0

R e s u l t s F i l e : 0

E n t i t y : S t r e s s

C o m p o n e n t : N E

6 . 0 8 6 8 2 E - 3

0 . 0 1 2 1 7 3 6

0 . 0 1 8 2 6 0 5

0 . 0 2 4 3 4 7 3

0 . 0 3 0 4 3 4 1

0 . 0 3 6 5 2 0 9

0 . 0 4 2 6 0 7 8

0 . 0 4 8 6 9 4 6

0 . 0 5 4 7 8 1 4

M a x 0 . 0 5 4 7 9 0 2 a t N o d e 1 4 0 0

M i n 8 . 7 6 7 8 6 E - 6 a t N o d e 2 7 2 9

(a) Througout the length of the section

L o a d c a s e : 1

L o a d c a s e : 1

T i t l e : I n c r e m e n t 1 L o a d F a c t o r = 1 . 0 0 0 0 0

T i t l e : I n c r e m e n t 1 L o a d F a c t o r = 1 . 0 0 0 0 0

R e s u l t s F i l e : 0

R e s u l t s F i l e : 0

E n t i t y : S t r e s s

E n t i t y : S t r e s s

C o m p o n e n t : N E

C o m p o n e n t : N E

6 . 0 8 6 8 2 E - 3

6 . 0 8 6 8 2 E - 3

0 . 0 1 2 1 7 3 6

0 . 0 1 2 1 7 3 6

0 . 0 1 8 2 6 0 5

0 . 0 1 8 2 6 0 5

0 . 0 2 4 3 4 7 3

0 . 0 2 4 3 4 7 3

0 . 0 3 0 4 3 4 1

0 . 0 3 0 4 3 4 1

0 . 0 3 6 5 2 0 9

0 . 0 3 6 5 2 0 9

0 . 0 4 2 6 0 7 8

0 . 0 4 2 6 0 7 8

0 . 0 4 8 6 9 4 6

0 . 0 4 8 6 9 4 6

0 . 0 5 4 7 8 1 4

0 . 0 5 4 7 8 1 4

M a x 0 . 0 5 4 7 9 0 2 a t N o d e 1 4 0 0

M a x 0 . 0 5 4 7 9 0 2 a t N o d e 1 4 0 0

M i n 8 . 7 6 7 8 6 E - 6 a t N o d e 2 7 2 9

M i n 8 . 7 6 7 8 6 E - 6 a t N o d e 2 7 2 9

(b) At the corner and centre of the section

FIGURE 7. Stress-depth/length curves and stress cotour of square web opening

Apart from that, stress distribution analysis was conducted on each section to investigate stress distribution
in flange and web. From Figure 7, it is observed that the stress distribution is more in flanges at some points
especially at the centre (below the applied concentrated load). It is mentioned that all these sections were
analysed for concentrated load under combined bending and shear loading. Besides that, the stress is high in
web where the support was placed. This is because the more fixed that section, the more stress was occurred. It
is found that the bending stress distribution in the square opening was critical compare to another web opening.
However, in a solid web section where there is no web opening involved, a linear distribution was clearly
observed.

CONCLUSIONS
A finite element model for the nonlinear analysis of I-beam section included the effects of the shapes and
sizes of web opening is developed in this paper. The model is used to analyze the effects of the shapes and sizes
of web opening due to pure bending behaviour.
For I-beam without web opening, displacements values for Model 1 are equaled to Model 2 because it has no
web opening. Five shapes and three sizes of web opening with 1.1 m section length are used to know the
optimum size and shapes of web opening. However, the optimum size in this study is 0.67D due to the lower
values of the displacement value compared with 0.75D and 0.80D. Meanwhile, Model 2 is classified as the
optimum model because the value of displacement is lower than Model 1
It is found that c-hexagon has the lowest displacement value compare to other web opening shapes. Besides
that, the displacement values decrease when the opening more contrastive in shape such as square opening. This
is because the area of web opening becomes larger when it is compared to another web opening. However, I-
beam without web opening has the lower displacement value compare to c-hexagon.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors appreciatively the financial provided by Research University Grant-RUI (Account
Number: 1001/PAWAM/814222) provided by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) during the course
of this research.

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