Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Steel beams with large web openings of various

shapes and sizes: finite element investigation
T.C.H. Liu a, K.F. Chung b,∗
a
Manchester School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
b
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
SAR, China

Received 9 April 2002; accepted 12 February 2003

Abstract

Vierendeel mechanism is always critical in steel beams with single large web openings,
where global shear force is transferred across the opening length, and the Vierendeel moment
is resisted by the local moment resistances of the tee-sections above and below the web open-
ings. At present, most of the current design methods recommend empirical interaction formulae
on the moment resistances of the tee-sections to allow for the presence of local axial and shear
forces. They ignore the true ultimate behaviour of the tee-sections under co-existing axial and
shear forces and bending moment, and also the load redistribution within the perforated sec-
tions after yielding.
A comprehensive finite element investigation on steel beams with web openings of various
shapes and sizes is reported in this paper, and the primary structural characteristics of those
steel beams are examined in detail. It is found that all steel beams with large web openings
of various shapes behave similarly under a wide range of applied moments and shear forces.
The failure modes are common in all beams, and the yield patterns of those perforated sections
at failure are also similar to each other. 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 derive empirical moment–shear interaction curves to assess the load capacities of
all steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes. Furthermore, it is shown that
for all web openings of various shapes and sizes considered in the present investigation, the
most important parameter in assessing the structural behaviour of perforated sections is the
length of the tee-sections above and below the web opening which controls the magnitude of
local Vierendeel moments acting on the tee-sections. Based on the results of an extensive
parametric study using finite element method, a simple empirical design method applicable

∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2766-6063; fax: +852-2334-6389.
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)00030-0
1160 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

for perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes is developed. Details
of the design method are fully presented in a complementary paper.
 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Perforated sections; Openings of various shapes; Finite element modelling; Vierendeel action;
Moment–shear interaction

1. Introduction

Modern multistorey buildings always have a stringent requirement on headroom.

In order to accommodate building services within the constructional depth of a floor,
it is common practice to provide web openings in structural floor beams for passage
of services. 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 configurations of the
web openings.
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:

앫 Axial force in the tee-section, NT, due to the global moment Mo,Sd.
앫 Shear force in the tee-section, VT, due to the global shear force, Vo,Sd.

Fig. 1. Force distribution in a perforated section.

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앫 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.

1.1. Steel beams with web openings of common shapes

A large amount of research efforts on the structural behaviour of steel beams with
web openings have been reported in the literature over the last three decades, and
most of the research work on perforated sections may be classified into the following
two types of construction [1–4]:

1. Hot-rolled steel beams with single web openings: For universal steel beams, rec-
tangular web openings were often formed with aspect ratios ranging from 1.0-3.0
while the opening depth, do, was commonly restricted to about 50% of the overall
section height, h. Welded steel plates might be provided above and below the
web openings to reinforce the perforated sections. Circular web openings were
also popular in commercial buildings with high specifications in building services
due to easy installation of water pipes.
2. Fabricated beams with multiple web openings: Castellated steel beams were fabri-
cated from universal beams with profile cutting and welding so that the overall
beam depth was increased by 50% for enhanced structural performance against
bending. In typical construction, the opening depth, do, is 2/3 of the overall section
height of the castellated section while the length of the tee-sections above and
below the opening is only a quarter of the opening depth roughly, producing a
very efficient perforated section against Viereendel mechanism. No reinforcements
are normally provided.

In recent years, there is a growing trend of using larger openings up to 75% of

the overall section height with different opening shapes for practical reasons. More-
over, the provision of multiple circular openings in steel beams [5] also becomes
popular for architectural features. Castellation with circular profile cutting provides
an effective means to produce stiff, strong, and attractive structural members;
extended web plates may be used to further increase the overall section height of
castellated beams.

1.2. Recent finite element investigations

In order to provide accurate assessment to the load carrying capacities of simply

supported steel beams with large circular web openings, a finite element model was
established with both material and geometrical non-linearity by Liu and Chung [6],
and Chung, Liu and Ko [7]. The moment capacities of tee-sections above and below
the web openings may thus be accurately evaluated in the presence of co-existing
axial and shear forces. Moreover, load redistribution across the web openings after
1162 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

yielding may be incorporated with full strength mobilisation of the perforated sec-
tions against Vierendeel mechanism. After calibration against test data [7,8], an
empirical moment–shear interaction curve at the perforated sections was also sug-
gested for practical design of steel beams with medium to large circular web open-
ings. The resulting design capacities were found to be typically 15% higher than
those obtained from the conventional design methods. By comparing with existing
design codes, Ko and Chung [9] also suggested that circular openings might be
conveniently transformed into equivalent octagonal openings with suitable dimen-
sions for structural assessment.

2. Scope of investigation

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
important to investigate the structural implications of the presence of web openings
on steel beams of practical section sizes. Furthermore, it is highly desirable to
develop a simple design method which is applicable to steel beams with web open-
ings of various shapes and sizes. It is generally expected that the shapes of the
web openings are critical in the structural behaviour of perforated sections, such as
transformation of global actions to local forces, yield patterns at failure, and also
failure mechanisms. A number of common and practical web openings are considered
in the present study, such as circular, square, rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, and
elongated circular openings.
The project may be divided into the following parts of activities:

Part I. Finite element investigation: Based on the finite element models 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 sizes in steel beams of four different section sizes were
covered with a total of 960 non-linear finite element runs. It was envisaged that the
finite element results would provide understanding on the structural behaviour of the
perforated sections in terms of deformation characteristics, moment shear interaction
curves, and yield patterns at failure.
Part II. Development of empirical design method: In order to provide a simple
empirical design method for steel beams with web openings of various shapes and
sizes, an extensive parametric study on steel beams with a wide range of opening
configurations was carried out. The development of the design method is fully
presented in a complementary paper [10].

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. For perforated sections with these geometrical
 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1163

dimensions, it is generally considered that local buckling in the tee-sections at the

perforated sections is not critical. However, for class 3 or semi-compact sections
with small web openings, the unsupported webs in the tee-sections may become very
slender, and hence, local buckling may occur. It should be noted that both the bend-
ing 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 formulation is presented in
accordance with Eurocode 3 for easy reference.

3. Areas of interest

Three major areas of interest are examined:

(a) Opening shapes: A total of eight web openings of different shapes are considered,
and the key dimensional parameter in all these opening shapes is the critical
opening length, c, which is the length of the tee-sections above and below the
openings. This critical opening length has major effect on the local applied
moment on tee-sections. Details of the opening shapes together with the associa-
ted values of c are listed as follows:

앫 Opening A: c-hexagon opening with c = 0.252 do;

앫 Opening B: circular opening with c ⬍ 1.0 do;
앫 Opening C: regular octagon opening with c = 0.414 do;
앫 Opening D: regular hexagon opening with c = 0.578 do;
앫 Opening E: square opening with c = 1.0 do;
앫 Opening F: rectangular opening with c = 2.0 do, i.e. a rectangular opening
with an aspect ratio of 2.0-1.0;
앫 Opening G: elongated circular opening 2do with 1.0 do ⬍ c⬍2.0 do;
앫 Opening H: elongated circular opening 3do with 2.0 do ⬍ c⬍3.0 do.

Owing to the geometry of circular and elongated circular openings, the values of c
are not readily specified. The c-hexagonal openings have a similar opening configur-
ation as those in castellated universal steel beams. An illustration of the geometric
configuration of various web openings is shown in Fig. 2.
(b) Opening depth, do: It is intended that the proposed design method is applicable
to a range of opening depth practical for building application, and a total of
three different values of opening depth, do, are considered as follows:

앫 0.50 h;
앫 0.67 h; and
앫 0.75 h, where h is the section height of steel beam.
(c) Beam sizes: A total of four beam sections are chosen which are considered to
represent the upper and the lower ranges of steel beams commonly used in prac-
tice:
1164 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

Fig. 2. Geometric configuration of web openings.

 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1165

앫 UB 457 × 152 × 52 kg / m and UB 457 × 152 × 82 kg / m; and

앫 UB 610 × 229 × 101 kg / m and UB 610 × 229 × 140 kg / m.

It is expected that the two different sections in the same serial will provide
additional information for beams with general cross-section dimensions for practical
application. For ease of comparison, the yield strengths of all sections are assumed
to be 275 N/mm2 despite variation in flange thickness. The results are considered
to be equally applicable to steel beams with yield strengths of 355 N/mm2.
Through an extensive parametric study with 960 successful non-linear runs, the
effects of opening shapes and sizes on the local behaviour of tee-sections and the
overall behaviour of perforated sections are presented and discussed in details in this
paper. Based on the findings of the finite element investigations, a simple empirical
design method for steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes will
be presented in a complementary paper.

4. Finite element model

In the present investigation, it is important to assess the applied moment and the
applied shear force accurately at failure at the perforated sections of steel beams
with different opening shapes and sizes, and the following features have been adopted
in the model:

앫 Iso-parametric eight-noded shell elements with a 2 × 2 × 5 integration scheme

are used. The stresses incorporated in each shell element includes two in-plane
direct stresses, one in-plane shear stress and two out-of-plane shear stresses.
앫 With material non-linearity incorporated into the finite element model, it is capable
to fully mobilise the moment capacities of the tee-sections above and below the
web opening under co-existing axial and shear forces. A bi-linear stress-strain
curve is adopted in the material modelling of steel together with the Von-Mises
yield criteria and non-associate plastic flow rule. It should be noted that in order
to model load redistribution after yielding, elastic unloading is also incorporated.
앫 With geometric non-linearity incorporated into the finite element model, large
deformation in the perforated section after yielding may be predicted accurately
to allow for load redistribution within the perforated sections. Consequently, the
Vierendeel mechanism with the formation of plastic hinges in the tee-sections
above and below the web openings may be investigated in details.

The use of finite element modelling has been shown to produce good comparisons
with laboratory tests on steel beams with circular web openings of diameter do equal
to 0.60 h, which is subjected to significant moment–shear interaction [7,8]. Conse-
quently, the finite element models are considered to be applicable in the present
study for perforated sections with various shapes and sizes.
The model used for the parametric study consists of a simply supported beam
1166 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

with an overhang at each support, as shown in Fig. 3. Both the flanges and the web
of the beam are discretized into the shell elements. An opening is formed in the web
where the mesh is refined locally. The model takes the advantage of the plane of
symmetry at both the mid-span and along the plane of symmetry through the web
as local buckling is assumed not to be critical for class 1 or 2 hot rolled steel I
sections with concentric large web openings. Stiffeners are added at the point of
simple support and locations of point loads in order to avoid premature local failure.
For simplicity, fillets are not considered in the model. In order to adjust both the
applied moment and the applied shear force at the perforated section, a point load
V is applied at the mid-span (i.e. 2 V for the whole beam) while another point load
with a magnitude of aV is applied at the end of the overhang. The applied moment,
Mo,Sd and the applied shear force, Vo,Sd, at the centre of the perforated section are
therefore given by:
M0,sd ⫽ V[x⫺(a ⫹ 1)ls] and Vo,sd ⫽ V
where x is the distance from the end of the overhang to the centre of the web opening,
and ls is the distance from the end of the overhang to the support.
The values of x, ls and α are always chosen in such a way in order to satisfy the
following criteria:

앫 For consistency, the moment at the perforated section should always be in sagging,
so that the left hand side of the perforated section is the lower moment side (LMS)
while the other side is the high moment side (HMS), as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Finite element model of a perforated section for parametric study.

 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1167

앫 The perforated section should fail prior to any other parts of the beam, such as
the mid-span or the support of the beam.
앫 The centre of the web opening should be located away from restraints, point loads
or supports by a distance of at least the overall section height of the steel beam, h.

For those four beam sections covered in the present study, the overall beam span
is typically set to be 6 m and the length of the overhang ls at 3 m. The location of
the web opening, x, is fixed for the series of analysis having the same opening
shapes. By varying the ratio of the two point loads or the value of a, the interaction
curve between the shear force and the applied moment at the perforated section at
failure may be obtained. The value of a is often chosen in such a way that 10 equally
spaced data points are generated on each curve. After a sensitivity study on both
the configuration and the density of the finite element mesh, it is found that over
1000 shell elements are required to model the flanges and the web of the beam with
almost half of the shell elements located around the web opening. Full Newton–
Raphson iterative scheme assisted by Arc-Length procedure is used to analyse the
steel beam during the entire deformation history until failure when the load starts
to drop.

5. Results of parametric study

A total of 960 non-linear finite element runs were performed, covering a wide
range of opening configurations in steel beams of different section sizes. However,
it is found that the results for steel beams of different section sizes are consistently
similar among each other. Thus, all the results presented in the subsequent sections
are based on the same steel beam; the complete set of results of the parametric study
is presented in the complementary paper [10].
For ease of comparison and discussion, the results presented in this paper are
related to a simply supported beam of a UB 457 × 152 × 52 S275 with a span of
12 m under uniformly distributed loads as shown in Fig. 4. While the web openings
of various shapes may be located at different locations along the beam length, three
specific locations labelled as locations 1, 2 and 3 are considered in details where
the moment to shear force ratios are 0, 0.5 and 1.73 m, respectively. The perforated
section at location 1 is under pure shear without any global moment, while interaction
between global shear force and global moment at locations 2 and 3 are significant.
In all cases, the opening depth is 75% of that of the beam section. It should be noted
that location 1 is a fictitious arrangement presented for illustration purpose only, and
the structural behaviour of the perforated section at the location is very useful for
the development of the design rules which is fully presented in the complementary
paper [10].

5.1. Deformation characteristics

The load–deflection curves of the beams with web openings of various shapes at
locations 1 and 3 are plotted in Fig. 5. The curves may be divided into three different
1168 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

Fig. 4. Locations of perforated sections in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with d0 / h = 0.75. The beam is
simply supported under uniformly distributed load. Location 1 is fictitious arrangement for illustration
purpose only.

Fig. 5. Load deflection curves of UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with perforated sections at d0 / h = 0.75.

parts, namely, (1) initial linear elastic deformation, (2) non-linear deformation, and
(3) ultimate stage near failure with imminent unloading. The non-linear deformation
stage indicates the degree of plasticity propagation at critical cross-sections of tee-
sections, and also the progressive redistribution of loading from the LMS to the
HMS of the perforated section. All the load-deflection curves of perforated sections
with various web openings of various shapes are shown to be similar.
Moreover, the failure modes are common among all beams with web openings
of various shapes and sizes, namely, shear failure, flexural failure and Vierendeel
 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1169

mechanism, depending on the loading and the support conditions of the beams, and
also the locations of the web openings along the beam length. As shown in Fig. 6,
the deformed finite element models of the perforated sections with web openings of
various shapes at location 2 exhibiting Vierendeel mechanism are found to be similar.

5.2. Moment shear interaction curves

Fig. 7 plots the moment–shear interaction curves of the perforated sections with
web openings of various shapes along the beam length. It should be noted that while
all the curves have different y-intercepts, i.e. different values of shear resistance at

Fig. 6. Deformed shapes of perforated sections at failure at location 2 in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with
d0 / h = 0.75.
1170 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

Fig. 7. Moment–shear interaction curves of perforated sections at failure in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275
with d0 / h = 0.75.

perforated sections, all the curves converge to the same x-intercept showing that the
moment resistances of all the perforated sections with web openings of different
shapes but same depths are the same. Furthermore, all the interaction curves are
shown to be similar in pattern.

5.3. Yield patterns

Figs 8, 9 and 10 present the yield patterns at failure of perforated sections with
web openings of various shapes at locations 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In general, it
is shown that except circular openings, plastic hinges are always formed at both ends
of the tee-sections of all the perforated sections with various opening shapes under
various degrees of global moment–shear interaction. The critical cross-sections in
the perforated sections with circular openings do not always occur at the same pos-
itions, and instead, their positions are found to depend on the relative magnitude of
the global shear force and bending moment of the perforated sections [7].
In Fig. 8 where the perforated sections are under pure shear, no axial force due
to global bending action exists in the tee-sections, and thus the yield patterns in the
tee-sections are caused by the local shear force and also the local Vierendeel moment.
It is interesting to note that plastic hinges are always formed near the corners of the
web openings with asymmetrical yield patterns about the opening centre, i.e. similar
yield patterns facing diagonally.
 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1171

Fig. 8. Von-Mises stress of perforated sections at failure at location 1 in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with
d0 / h = 0.75. Location 1 is a fictitious arrangement for illustration purpose only.

In Fig. 9 where the perforated sections are under high global shear force but low
global bending moment, only the plastic hinges at the HMS of the perforated sections
are shown to be fully developed. As the flanges of the tee-sections at the LMS of
the perforated sections are not yielded, the moment resistances of those tee-sections
are only partially mobilised.
However, for perforated sections with low global shear force but high global bend-
ing moment as shown in Fig. 10, plastic hinges at both ends of the tee-sections above
and below the web openings are readily mobilised under the presence of large local
axial forces. For perforated sections with small critical opening length c, such as c-
hexagonal and circular web openings, the yield zones at both the LMS and the HMS
of the perforated sections overlap significantly.
A convergence study on finite element meshes was also carried out, and the yield
1172 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

Fig. 9. Von-Mises stress for perforated sections at failure at location 2 in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with
d0 / h = 0.75.

patterns at failure of a perforated section with a rectangular web opening at location

2 predicted with a coarse and a refined meshes are plotted in Fig. 11 for comparison;
the global shear forces, Vo,Sd, at failure are 25.8 and 25.6 kN, respectively. It is
shown that the yield patterns at both the LMS and the HMS of the perforated sections
of the coarse and the refined meshes are very similar. Furthermore, both meshes
predict extensive yielding in the web of the tee-sections at the LMS, and also in the
web and the flange of the tee-sections at the HMS. No yielding is found in the web
of the unperforated section in the close proximity of the web opening in both meshes.
Consequently, the coarse mesh is considered to be adequately accurate to produce
reliable data on perforated sections with openings of various shapes and sizes.
 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1173

Fig. 10. Von-Mises stress for perforated sections at failure at location 3 in UB457 × 152 × 52 S275
with d0 / h = 0.75.

5.4. Shapes and sizes of web openings

In order to understand the effects of both the shapes and the sizes of web openings
to the structural performance of perforated sections, it is important to relate the global
shear force and bending moment acting on the perforated sections to the local co-
existing forces and moment acting on the tee-sections above and below the web
openings. It should be noted that any increase in the opening depth always reduces
both the shear and the moment resistances of the perforated sections while it has no
effect on the applied forces, i.e. the global shear force and bending moment at the
perforated sections. Thus, both shear and flexural failures of the perforated sections
are primarily controlled by the value of the opening depth.
However, while the opening length has no effect on the local shear and moment
1174 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

Fig. 11. Von-Mises stress for perforated sections at failure with rectangular openings at location 2 in
UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 with d0 / h = 0.75, convergence comparison.

resistances of the tee-sections above and below the web openings, any increase in the
opening length will increase the local Vierendeel moment acting at the tee-sections
significantly. Thus, the Vierendeel mechanism of the perforated sections is essentially
controlled by the opening length. In practice, both the opening depth and the opening
length are geometrically related, and thus any increase in sizes in web openings of
given shapes will reduce not only both the global shear and the global moment
resistances of the perforated sections, but also the local axial, shear and moment
resistances of the tee-sections. Furthermore, the Vierendeel moment is also increased
at the same time. Consequently, it is expected that for web openings of various
shapes but of same opening depths and lengths, i.e. do and c, their structural perform-
ance should be similar. For web openings with same values of do with different
values of c, the load capacities of the perforated sections are expected to be inversely
proportional to the values of c.

5.5. Section sizes

It should be noted that in the present parametric study covering four different steel
beams, no significant difference in terms of deformation characteristics, modes of
failure, yield patterns, and shear–moment interaction curves was found. This implies
 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176 1175

that all the results obtained from the present investigation are applicable to typical
universal beams, and also to fabricated beams with usual geometrical dimensions.

6. Conclusions

A comprehensive parametric study using finite element method on steel beams

with web openings of various shapes and sizes was executed, and all the primary
structural characteristics of the steel beams are assessed and compared in details.
The study is based on a finite element model with eight-noded iso-parametric shell
elements calibrated against test results of steel beams with web openings of similar
configurations. It is found that:

1. All the steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes behave simi-
larly among each other in terms of deformed shapes under a wide range of applied
moments and shear forces. Moreover, the failure modes are common among all
beams, namely, shear failure, flexural failure and Vierendeel mechanism,
depending on the loading and the support conditions of the beams and also the
location of the web openings along the beam length. Moreover, the load–deflection
curves of steel beams with web openings of different shapes and sizes are also
very similar to each other.
2. The yield patterns for steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes
at failure are also similar to each other. In general, plastic hinges are always
formed at both ends of the tee-sections above and below the web openings at
failure. For perforation sections with circular and elongated circular web openings,
the Vierendeel mechanism is critical at cross-sections where the interaction
between the co-existing axial and shear forces and moment is most severe. Thus,
in those cases, the positions of the plastic hinges are not readily specified.
3. It is shown that for all web openings of various shapes and sizes considered in
the present study, the most important parameter in assessing the structural behav-
iour of the perforated sections is the critical opening length, c. While the opening
depth controls the shear and the moment resistances of a perforated section, it is
the critical opening length of the web opening that controls the magnitude of local
Vierendeel moments acting on the tee-sections. Moreover, it is interesting to note
that apparently, all other geometrical parameters of the web openings do not affect
the structural behaviour of the perforated sections at all.
4. Comparison on the moment–shear interaction curves of perforated sections with
web openings of various shapes and sizes shows that they are similar to each
other. This suggests that it is possible to derive empirical moment–shear interac-
tion curves to assess the load carrying capacities of all those steel beams through
the use of equivalent web openings.
5. Consequently, it is concluded that despite the difference in shapes and sizes of
web openings, all the primary structural characteristics of steel beams with perfor-
ated sections are similar to each other. It is thus recommended that based on the
results of the extensive parametric study, a simple empirical design method should
1176 T.C.H. Liu, K.F. Chung / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1159–1176

be developed for perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and
sizes. Details of the design method are fully presented in a complementary paper.

Acknowledgements

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

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