Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Failure mode and strength prediction of laterally braced Litzka-type

castellated beams
João J.V. Braga, Daniel A. Linhares, Daniel C.T. Cardoso ⁎, Elisa D. Sotelino
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), R. Marquês de São Vicente, 225 – Gávea, Cardeal Leme Building, Rio de Janeiro,
RJ 22451-900, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present paper aims to investigate the failure modes of laterally braced non-composite Litzka-type castellated
Received 24 February 2021 beams using finite element simulations, evaluating aspects such as mutual influence of the constituent parts to
Received in revised form 3 June 2021 the behavior, interaction of individual modes and post-buckling reserve of strength. For a comprehensive analy-
Accepted 5 June 2021
sis, a parametric study is carried out and the behavior is depicted in a plot (‘map’) in terms of the bending
Available online 13 June 2021
moment-to-shear force ratio, the flange and web geometries and the generalized non-dimensional slenderness
Keywords:
depending on the plastic and buckling loads. It is shown that the failure mode of a certain beam can be roughly
Castellated beam predicted according to the region of the ‘map’ it belongs. The results confirm the occurrence of interaction be-
Local buckling tween individual modes and reveal that the normalized strength decays more quickly with slenderness for
Web-post buckling shear-dominated failure, although some post-critical reserve of strength can be observed. Finally, inspired by
Vierendeel mechanism the Direct Strength Method, a design approach is proposed to assess the load carrying capacity of beams with
Structural stability usual geometries.
Computational Modelling © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to be checked as members subjected to combined axial forces and bend-

Castellated beams are those obtained from cutting and expanding
the web of regular I-section beams using an automated fabrication pro-
cess that generates a series of equally spaced hexagonal openings. They
offer interesting advantages when compared to plain webbed beams,
such as increased bending stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio, and
the possibility of accommodating underfloor utilities within the open-
ings, making their use suitable to overcome large spans required in in-
dustrial and warehouse facilities, buildings and bridges.
According to Kerdal and Nethercot [1], failure modes of castellated
beams are associated to web-post buckling, formation of Vierendeel
mechanism, plastification of the ‘tee’ and beam lateral-torsional buck-
ling. Although less attention has been given for the ‘tee’ buckling at
the compression zone, de Oliveira et al. [2] showed that this mode
may be relevant when high-strength steel is used. For the sake of clarity,
the term ‘tee’ is used to describe the flange-web assembly at a cross-
section located inside the opening, as indicated in Fig. 1.
In the recently released AISC Design Guide 31 [3], an analogy to a
Vierendeel girder is adopted for the safety assessment of non-
composite castellated beams. The chords above and below the opening
– upper and lower ‘tees’ – are considered as isolated members and have
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dctcardoso@puc-rio.br (D.C.T. Cardoso).
ing, resulting from the global bending moment and shear force, respec-
tively. This procedure allows accounting for the interaction between
Vierendeel mechanism, plastification of ‘tee’, and ‘tee’ buckling. How-
ever, it has been shown elsewhere in literature that: i) the equation
adopted by the standard to calculate the torsional buckling critical stress
does not consider properly the interaction between plates comprising
the cross-section (e.g. flange and stem of tee) [2] and ii) ‘tee’ members
in flexural-torsional buckling may exhibit significant post-buckling be-
havior and neglecting this effect underestimates the member's resis-
tance [4]. Moreover, in the standard, the web-post is also considered
as an isolated member and its available flexural capacity is determined
without considering the restraint provided by the ‘tees’. This was con-
firmed in the recent work by Panedpojaman et al. [5] for cellular
beams, who reported post-buckling reserve of strength associated to
web-post buckling and the interaction between web buckling and
Vierendeel mechanism. For this latter effect, the results reported by
Tsavdaridis and D'Mello [6] also indicated a reduced capacity when
the theoretical web-post buckling critical load is close to that corre-
sponding to Viereendel mechanism formation. Interaction between
buckling modes in beams with openings were also investigated by
Ellobody for unbraced castellated and cellular beams [7,8]. He compared
the results of non-linear analyses with the finite element method (FEM)
with the predictions of the Australian code AS4100 [9], having con-
cluded that standard predictions may be non-conservative in cases
where coupled buckling occurs.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2021.106796
0143-974X/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

typical geometry of the beams considered in this work is presented in

Fig. 1. The scope of the study is limited to the so-called Litzka-
Schnittführung (or simply Litzka) beam, whose geometry is character-
ized by hole depth, dh, approximately equal to 2/3 of the overall beam
depth, d; pitch, s, equal to d; opening length, Lh, equal to dh; and hexagon
horizontal side Le equal to Lh/2 (cut angle approximately ϕ = 63.5°).

2.1. Non-dimensional slenderness and strength

To investigate the performance of laterally braced castellated beams

subjected to four-point bending, two generalized parameters, namely
non-dimensional slenderness, λ, and strength, χ, are adopted, defined
Fig. 1. Typical geometry and notation. as follows:
sffiffiffiffiffiffi
In summary, although the Vierendeel beam analogy is well accepted Pp
λ¼ ð1Þ
among engineers to represent castellated beams, current design ap- P cr
proaches cannot capture some of the relevant phenomena experienced
by them. These could be assessed only by performing nonlinear simula- Pu
χ¼ ð2Þ
tions including both material and geometric nonlinearities. In the au- Pp
thors' opinion, this type of analyses will guide future design of
complex structures and structural members. Meanwhile, effective equa- where Pp is the plastic load associated to full plastification of the ‘tee’ or
tions incorporating complex behavior while not being excessively con- formation of Vierendeel mechanism; Pcr, is the elastic critical load of the
servative are required for reliable structural design. governing buckling mode, i.e., ‘tee’ torsional or web-post buckling; and
In the context described in previous paragraph, a successful approach Pu is the failure load that takes into account the effect of both material
for cold-formed steel members is the Direct Strength Method (DSM), cur- and geometric nonlinearities.
rently available in the North American and Australian/New Zealand spec- In Eq.1, it is important to note that λ has the same definition reg-
ifications [10,11]. According to Schafer [12], the method allows the ardless of the buckling mode. Moreover, it should be highlighted that
incorporation of complicated phenomena such as coupling of buckling the plastic load can be obtained considering a material nonlinear
modes, compatibility between plates comprising the cross-section (e.g. analysis or a plastic analysis [14], whereas the buckling load must be
flange and web) and post-buckling reserve of strength into simple and ef- determined from an eigenvalue analysis. On the other hand, the de-
fective design equations. The fundamental concept behind the DSM con- termination of Pu requires a fully nonlinear simulation considering
sists in the fact that the member strength can be determined directly as a geometric imperfections.
function of elastic buckling loads for the different modes – i.e. local, global
and distortional – and yielding strength. Schafer states that the method is 2.2. Influence of geometry and shear span-to-depth ratio
“an extension of use of column curves for global buckling”. In the DSM ap-
proach, non-dimensional slenderness is computed for each buckling To evaluate the influence of geometry and moment-to-shear ratio
mode based on the critical and plastic loads rather than using pure geo- on the response, approximate equations are adopted within this section
metric parameters such as the usual width-to-thickness ratio, b/t. Then, for a beam under four-point bending with a shear span, a. Considering
empirical expressions are used to determine the strength of members the ‘tee’ torsional buckling (TTB) problem, the critical stress can be
having pre-qualified geometries. Appropriate member “elastic buckling written as [2]:
stability analysis is at the heart of the Direct Strength Method”, which can  2
be performed using finite strip method, generalized beam theory or π2 E t
σ cr,f ¼ kf  2
 f ð3Þ
FEM. Moen and Schafer [13], for instance, derived design expressions 12 1−ν bf
that extended the DSM to cold-formed steel members with holes, ac-
counting for the elastic buckling and inelastic regime of failure modes. where kf is the buckling coefficient, E is the modulus of elasticity, ν is the
In a series of studies, Pham et al. [24–26] also proposed DSM-based equa- Poisson's ratio, and bf and tf are the flange width and thickness, respec-
tions for the shear design of cold-formed perforated members, consider- tively. And the critical global bending moment is equal to Mcr = σcr,f W,
ing both web buckling and Vierendeel mechanism formation and in which W is the elastic section modulus. Assuming that the section
validated using numerical models and experiments. modulus is mostly influenced by flange area and beam depth, W = α
The present paper aims to investigate the failure modes of laterally d bf tf, with α ranging from 1.1 to 1.8 for the geometries considered in
braced non-composite Litzka-type castellated beams – i.e. not subject the present work, the global shear force corresponding to Mcr is deter-
to lateral torsional buckling – using FEM simulations, considering the in- mined as Vcr,f = Mcr,f / a, resulting in:
teraction between each individual failure mode and analyzing aspects of " # ! 
the post-buckling reserve of strength and mutual influence of the con- π2 E tf 3 d
V cr,f ¼ α kf   ð4Þ
stituent parts on the behavior. For a comprehensive analysis, a para- 12 1−ν2 bf a
metric analysis is carried out and the behavior is explained in terms of
bending moment-to-shear force ratio, beam geometry and non- Similarly, the global vertical shear associated to web-post buckling
dimensional slenderness (depending on the plastic and buckling (WPB) mode can be written in the following form [22,24]:
loads). Finally, inspired in the DSM approach previously discussed, a de- "  2 #  
sign approach is proposed to assess the load carrying capacity of beams π2 E tw d−2yt
V cr,w ¼ kw  2
 t w ðs−dh Þ ð5Þ
with usual geometries and subject to four-point bending. 12 1−ν bw s

2. Methodology where kw is the web buckling coefficient, yt is the distance between

beam face and line of action of the normal force at the ‘tee’ (chord). As-
In this Section, the methodology adopted to investigate the behavior suming that d – 2yt ~ 0,9d, and knowing that, for Litzka beams, s – dh =
of non-composite laterally braced castellated beams is described. A 2bw and s = d, Eq. 5 can be rewritten as:

2
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

" #  2.4. Parametric study

π2 E tw 3
V cr,w ¼ 1:8 kw   ð6Þ
12 1−ν 2 bw To build the aforementioned maps, a large number of points are nec-
essary to cover all expected regions of behavior. This requires that dif-
The ratio Vcr,w/Vcr,f can then be used as an indicative if dominant ferent geometries be analyzed. In a previous study conducted by de
buckling is TTB (Vcr,w/Vcr,f > 1) or WPB (Vcr,w/Vcr,f < 1), as follows: Oliveira et al. [2] to assess the flexural buckling behavior of castellated
beams, the authors adopted the ‘tee’ flange-to-web width and thickness
"  # !
V cr,w 1:8kw bf =bw a η ratios, η = bf/bw and ξ = tf/tw, respectively, as the control parameters for
¼  3 ¼ Kb β 3 ð7Þ the parametric analysis. The buckling modes and coefficients were
V cr,f αkf t f =t w d ξ found to be influenced mainly by these two parameters. As shown in a
previous section, these parameters may also control the failure modes
where η = bf/bw, ξ = tf/tw are non-dimensional geometry parameters in beams subject to four-point bending.
and β = a/d is a non-dimensional parameter correlating shear span To cover usual geometries obtained from hot-rolled I-sections [16],
and beam depth. While the term βη/ξ3 is usually known for a given the following ratios were selected: η = 1, 2 and 3; and ξ = 1, 1.4 and
beam, Kb is a coefficient that incorporates a more complex relation be- 1.8. Initially, the beam overall depth, d, was assumed equal to 750 mm
tween flange and web geometries. It is important to mention that ex- in all analyses performed whereas five different web thicknesses rang-
pressions for the buckling coefficients can be obtained for given ing from 3.1 to 13.4 mm were considered. The other dimensions were
geometries (e.g. [24–26]) and more accurate equations can be obtained derived considering Litzka relations and assumed η and ξ ratios. Addi-
for the critical shear forces. tionally, four different values of shear span-to-beam depth ratio were
Considering, now, the problem of plastification, the overall plastic adopted in the parametric analysis: β = 3, 10.5, 15.5, 20.5. An overall
bending moment is given as Mp,f = ZFy, in which Z ~ 1.1 W is the plastic span L = 18,375 mm was adopted in all but the β = 3 case (L = 3000
section modulus and Fy is the steel yield strength. And the shear force mm), varying the shear span as required. Table 1 summarizes the geom-
associated to the moment Mp,f that leads to plastification of ‘tee’ (PT) etries considered in the parametric study carried out in this work, here-
can be written as: after called Group 1.
Additionally, castellated beams with overall depths and flange
V p,f ¼ 1:1αbf t f ðd=aÞF y ð8Þ widths compatible with usual profiles commercially available [16]
were also investigated, to assess the applicability of the methodology
To evaluate the plastic strength associated to Vierendeel me- proposed for beams with geometries closer to those adopted in practical
chanism, it is usually assumed that, for a symmetric beam, half of cases. For these cases, beams with odd number of openings and spans
the total shear V is carried by each ‘tee’ (top and bottom). Thus,
the local bending moment produced by shear force transferred across
‘tee’ at the critical cross-sections located at the ends of length Le is Table 1
MV = (V/2) Le/2 = (V/2) bw. Assuming that the influence of normal Dimensions of castellated beams considered in parametric analysis (Group 1).

force acting on the ‘tees’ has minor effect on the formation of plastic Model ⁎ Beam ID a (mm) L (mm) bf (mm) tw (mm) x tf (mm)
hinges and that the plastic moment resisted by the ‘tee’ is approxi- [ξ: η: β]
mately Mp,w ~ b2wtwFy/2, the required total shear to form a Vierendeel 1: 1: 3 1 to 5 2250 6000 125 3.1 × 3.1
mechanism (VM) is given as: 1: 2: 3 6 to 10 250 4.5 × 4.5
1: 3: 3 11 to 15 375 6.5 × 6.5
V p,w ¼ bw t w F y ð9Þ 1: 1: 10.5 16 to 20 7875 18,375 125 9.3 × 9.3
1: 2: 10.5 21 to 25 250 13.4 × 13.4
1: 3: 10.5 26 to 30 375
and the ratio Vp,w/Vp,f can be roughly used as an indicative if 1: 1: 15.5 31 to 35 11,625 125
plastification is governed by PT (Vp,w/Vp,f > 1) or VM (Vp,w/Vp,f < 1), as 1: 2: 15.5 36 to 40 250
shown in Eq. 10. It can be seen that, for the problem of plastification, 1: 3: 15.5 41 to 45 375
1: 1: 20.5 46 to 50 15,375 125
the dominant failure mode can be assessed mainly in terms of the
1: 2: 20.5 51 to 55 250
β/(ηξ). Coefficient Kp is introduced to incorporate influence of geometry 1: 3: 20.5 56 to 60 375
secondary relations, but it also accommodates some of the simplifica- 1.4: 1: 3 61 to 65 2250 3000 125 3.1 × 4.3
tions made during the development of equations. 1.4: 2: 3 66 to 70 250 4.5 × 6.3
1.4: 3: 3 71 to 75 375 6.5 × 9.1

1.4: 1: 10.5 76 to 80 7875 18,375 125 9.3 × 13.0
V p,w 1 1 β
¼    ða=dÞ ¼ K p ð10Þ 1.4: 2: 10.5 81 to 85 250 13.4 × 18.8
V p,f 1:1α bf =bw t f =t w ηξ 1.4: 3: 10.5 86 to 90 375
1.4: 1: 15.5 91 to 95 11,625 125
1.4: 2: 15.5 96 to 100 250
1.4: 3: 15.5 101 to 105 375
2.3. Maps for failure modes 1.4: 1: 20.5 106 to 110 15,375 125
1.4: 2: 20.5 111 to 115 250
An interesting approach to identify the failure modes of plain- 1.4: 3: 20.5 116 to 120 375
webbed beams was proposed by Shoukohian et al. [15]. In their work, 1.8: 1: 3 121 to 125 2250 3000 125 3.1 × 5.6
1.8: 2: 3 126 to 130 250 4.5 × 8.1
two non-dimensional slenderness parameters were introduced for
1.8: 3: 3 131 to 135 375 6.5 × 11.7
local and lateral-torsional buckling modes and individual and combined 1.8: 1: 10.5 136 to 140 7875 18,375 125 9.3 × 16.7
failure modes could be predicted using a plot of non-dimensional 1.8: 2: 10.5 141 to 145 250 13.4 × 24.1
strength against these slenderness parameters. 1.8: 3: 10.5 146 to 150 375
1.8: 1: 15.5 151 to 155 11,625 125
In the present work, a similar approach is adopted to identify the
1.8: 2: 15.5 156 to 160 250
failure modes and normalized strengths of castellated beams, using 1.8: 3: 15.5 161 to 165 375
‘Kbβη/ξ3 x λ’ and ‘Kpβ/(ηξ) x λ’ maps – hereafter called maps for failure 1.8: 1: 20.5 166 to 170 15,375 125
modes – to study the performance of such structural members. As a 1.8: 2: 20.5 171 to 175 250
first step, however, a parametric study needs to be carried out in order 1.8: 3: 20.5 176 to 180 375

to obtain the data necessary to populate the proposed maps. ⁎ bw = 125 mm, d = 750 mm and dh = 500 mm for all cases.

3
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

Table 2
Dimensions of beams with overall depth and flange width derived from commercial
W-shapes (Group 2).

W-shape | ξ: η: β a L d⁎ bf x b w tf x tw
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

150 × 13 1.14: 2.7: 7.5 1665 4884 222 100 × 37 4.9 × 4.3a
1.14: 2.7: 9.5 2109 3.3 × 2.9b
1.14: 2.7: 15.5 3441 10,221 2.5 × 2.2c
1.14: 2.7: 20.5 4551
200 × 15 1.21: 2: 5.5 1650 5400 300 100 × 50 5.2 × 4.3a
1.21: 2: 7.5 2250 3.5 × 2.9b
1.21: 2: 11.5 3450 10,199 2.6 × 2.2c
1.21: 2: 15.5 4650
200 × 31.3 1.59: 1.9: 5.5 1732 5040 310 134 × 76 10.2 × 6.4a
1.59: 1.9: 6.5 2047 6.8 × 4.3b
1.59: 1.9: 10.5 3307 10,079 5.1 × 3.2c
1.59: 1.9: 13.5 4252
310 × 21 1.12: 1.9: 3.5 1591 5454 455 101 × 53 5.7 × 5.1a
1.12: 1.9: 4.5 2045 3.8 × 3.4b
1.12: 1.9: 7.5 3408 9998 2.9 × 2.6c
1.12: 1.9: 9.5 4317
360 × 79 1.79: 2.3: 2.5 1327 5310 531 205 × 89 16.8 × 9.4a
1.79: 2.3: 3.5 1858 11.2 × 6.3b
1.79: 2.3: 6.5 3451 10,619 8.4 × 4.7c
1.79: 2.3: 8.5 4513
410 × 38.8 1.38: 1.4: 2.5 1496 4788 599 140 × 100 8.8 × 6.4a Fig. 2. Finite element mesh and element types.
1.38: 1.4: 3.5 2095 5.9 × 4.3b
1.38: 1.4: 5.5 3291 10,772 4.4 × 3.2c
1.38: 1.4: 7.5 4488
610 × 140 1.69: 1.5: 1.5 1388 5552 926 230 × 154 22.2 × 13.1a
1.69: 1.5: 2.5 2314 14.8 × 8.7b
1.69: 1.5: 3.5 3239 11,105 11.1 × 6.6c
1.69: 1.5: 4.5 4164
⁎ dh = d / 1.5
a
thicknesses from commercial profiles
b
thicknesses from commercial profiles divided by 1.5 (fictitious)
c
thicknesses from commercial profiles divided by 2.0 (fictitious)

close to 5 and 10 m were adopted. Since beams with different depths

were considered, adjustments in the span were necessary to ensure
that supports would not coincide with opening position. For each over-
all span, two different shear spans were adopted. Table 2 presents a
Fig. 3. Boundary conditions and load application (Ux, Uy and Uz = displacements parallel
summary of analyses performed for this set of beams, hereafter called to X, Y and Z reference axes, respectively).
Group 2. This group will be used in a second step, for the assessment
of the design methodology proposed based on the results derived for
Group 1.
restrained in three orthogonal directions (X, Y and Z), while, on the op-
posite end, the longitudinal displacement (translation parallel to the
3. Numerical modeling
Z-axis) was released; ii) to avoid stress concentration at the supports,
the translation parallel to Y-axis (parallel to applied load) was also re-
To carry out the parametric study described in the previous Section,
strained on both ends along the beam depth; and iii) the translation
numerical simulations were carried out using Finite Element Method
(FEM) using Abaqus software package [17]. In this section, the main
characteristics of the model are described, as well as the result of a val-
idation study. For the developed models, the adopted values for the
yield stress, modulus of elasticity, and Poisson's ratio were Fy = 345
MPa, E = 200 GPa, and ν = 0.3, respectively.

3.1. Finite element modeling

Two types of shell elements were adopted for the 3D finite element
model: a quadrangular 8-node thin shell element, S8R5, and a triangular
6-node thin shell element, STRI65. Both have 5 degrees of freedom per
node and use reduced integration. Fig. 2 shows the mesh discretization
adopted in the model. The S8R5 was adopted for the entire beam except
for the regions around the openings, whereas the STRI65 was adopted
for a smooth transition to the inclined faces of the openings.

3.2. Boundary conditions and load application

The boundary conditions were introduced as shown in Fig. 3 and de-

scribed as follows: i) in one end of the beam, the translations were Fig. 4. Flow chart showing the analyses performed to obtain parameters χ and λ.

4
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

Table 3
Comparison with numerical models and experimental tests.

Work FEM (kN) Experimental (kN) Difference (%) Failure mode

Redwood and Demirdjian [22] 96.1 92.7 −3.67 WPB

Tsavdaridis and D'Mello [6] 293 288.7 −1.49 WPB

70 25
TTB PT
60
WPB 20 VM
50
15

)
40
3
/

/(
30 10
20
5
10

0 0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Beam ID Beam ID

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Buckling and plastification modes for all beams analyzed: a) βη/ξ3 x beam ID; b) β/(ηξ) x beam ID.

Fig. 6. Buckling modes obtained in the parametric study: a) WPB for beam 38 (β = 10.5, η = 2.0, ξ = 1.8); b) TTB for beam 58 (β = 10.5, η = 3.0, ξ = 1.0); c) WPB for beam 33 (β = 3.0,
η = 1.0, ξ = 1.8).

5
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

Fig. 7. – Plastic failure modes obtained from material nonlinear analysis: a) PT for beam 98 (β = 15.5, η = 2.0, ξ = 1.0); b) VM for beam 13 (β = 3.0, η = 3.0, ξ = 1.0).

along the top web-to-flange junction was restrained laterally, i.e. paral- Fig. 3. This strategy was adopted to avoid stress concentration and local-
lel to X-axis. For the simulation of the 4-point bending loading, two con- ized effects, since web stiffeners were not used in the model.
centrated loads were applied distributed along the beam, as shown in
3.3. Numerical analysis

To obtain the normalized strength χ and the non-dimensional slen-

derness λ for each analyzed beam, three different types of analysis had
long
long

to be performed in order to determine the loads corresponding to bifur-

(for > 1.0)

PT TTB cation, plastification and failure. For each beam, the bifurcation load, Pcr,
and the corresponding buckling mode were obtained from linear eigen-
value analysis; only the 1st mode was considered in this work. The
Kp ( ) (for

1.0 1.0
plastification load, Pp, was obtained from a nonlinear analysis consider-
3

ing the material elastic-plastic behavior and no geometry imperfection.

/

Finally, the failure load, Pu, was obtained from a fully nonlinear analysis
short

VM WPB
short

Kb

(geometry and material nonlinear) considering geometric imperfec-

tions, material elastic-plastic behavior and residual stresses. The ampli-
1.0 tude of the imperfection was assumed as d/100, according to fabrication
compact slender tolerances [18,19] and attributed to the shape of the 1st buckling mode
obtained from eigenvalue analysis, following previous studies
Fig. 8. Typical Kpβ/(ηξ) or Kbβη/ξ3 versus λ ‘map’ (map of failure modes). [6,7,15,20]. The residual stress of the hot-rolled parent section is

6
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al.
Fig. 9. Typical failure modes obtained from fully nonlinear analysis for β = 3.0: a) VM for beam 35 (λ = 0.6, Kpβ/ηξ = 0.56); b) VM + WPB for beam 24 (λ = 0.95, Kpβ/ηξ = 0.36); c) WPB
for beam 43 (λ = 1.38, Kbβη/ξ3 = 0.13).
influenced by the thermal effects of the castellation process and was as-
sumed equal to the distribution proposed by Sonck et al. [21]. A flow
chart with the adopted methodology is presented in Fig. 4.
3.4. Validation of the finite element model
The developed finite element model was validated against the exper-
imental test results reported by Redwood and Demirdjian [22] (specimen
10-5(a)) and Tsavdaridis and D'Mello [6] (specimen A1). In Redwood
and Demirdjian's work, the magnitude of the measured web post
7
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796
imperfection reported was equal to 2.7 mm; in Tsavdaridis and D’Mello's
work, the imperfection was not reported and an amplitude of d/100 was
assumed. Table 3 presents a comparison between the results obtained ex-
perimentally in the aforementioned works and the FEM fully nonlinear
simulations performed in the present work for validation. It can be seen
that the differences in capacity were less than 4% and 2% when compared
to Redwood and Demirdjian's and Tsavdaridis and D’Mello's works, re-
spectively. Details of the validation studies are presented in Appendix A.
To the best of authors' knowledge, experimental results on ‘tee’
buckling governed failure are not available due to usual steel grades
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al.
and compactness of cross-sections adopted. Therefore, validation for
this buckling mode was not possible. However, it is important to men-
tion that the modelling strategy was similar to that adopted by de
Oliveira et al. [2], who investigated this buckling mode.
4. Discussion of results
4.1. Eigenvalue analysis
The buckling modes for each beam analyzed in the parametric study
(Group 1) are summarized in the ‘βη/ξ3 x beam ID’ plot of Fig. 5a. A
strong dependence on the βη/ξ3 can be noticed, with web-post buckling
(WPB) dominating the behavior for βη/ξ3 < 6. A typical example of WPB
is shown in Fig. 6a. It can be seen that the greatest out-of-plane deflec-
tion occurs near the compression ‘tee’ and adjacent to the opening clos-
est to the applied load, where interaction of global bending and shear is
the greatest. It can also be noted that the top flange undergoes signifi-
cant rotation, whereas the bottom flange remains practically unde-
formed. This confirms that, even for beams dominated by shear
buckling, interaction between parts of the beam do occur.
For the range of βη/ξ3 > 16, ‘tee’ torsional buckling (TTB) is likely to
govern the behavior. In fact, this phenomenon becomes dominant for
beams with longer shear spans and slender flanges (with greater η
and lower ξ values). Since bending is more relevant in this case, the
compression ‘tee’ over the opening becomes the critical region, and, as
shown in Fig. 6b, buckling occurs at the constant moment region.
Beams with narrower flanges, i.e. η = 1.0, are also more susceptible to
WPB, as shown in Fig. 6c, which can be explained by the reduced slen-
derness of the compression ‘tee’ with respect to the web-posts,
ultimately making TTB critical load greater than that for WPB mode. A
transition region between TTB and WPB modes could be found for
values of βη/ξ3 between 6 and 16. Based on the results, Kb = (1/12)
will be assumed for reference (Eq. 7).
4.2. Material nonlinear analysis
The failure modes obtained from material nonlinear analyses are
presented in Fig. 5b for all beams analyzed and a clear dependence on
the β/(ηξ) parameter can be observed. For β/(ηξ) < 2.0, the governing
plastic mode is associated with the Vierendeel mechanism formation
(VM), whereas plastification of ‘tee’ (PT) developed for values of β/
(ηξ) > 3.5. A transition region is then observed for values of β/(ηξ) be-
tween 2.0 and 3.5. Based on these results, an average Kp = (1/3) will
be assumed for reference (Eq. 10). Fig. 7a illustrates the PT mode in
the pure bending region, whereas Fig. 7b shows the VM mode charac-
terized by the formation of the plastic hinges around the opening closest
to the load application point.
4.3. Fully nonlinear analysis
With the plastic and buckling loads obtained in previous analyses,
the non-dimensional slenderness parameter λ could be calculated for
each beam, according to Eq. 1. This parameter can be used as an indica-
tive if the failure mode is mainly controlled by buckling (λ > 1; slender)
or plastification (λ ≤ 1; compact). Additionally, if λ ≤ 1, it was seen that
the non-dimensional parameter Kpβ/(ηξ) can be used to separate failure
modes due to plastification of ‘tee’ (Kpβ/(ηξ) > 1; long) from Vierendeel
mechanism (Kpβ/(ηξ) < 1, short). Similarly, for λ > 1, the non-
dimensional parameter Kbβη/ξ3 can be used to separate flange from
web-dominated failure modes (Kbβη/ξ3 > 1, long, and Kbβη/ξ3 < 1,
short, respectively). The terminology ‘long’ and ‘short’ herein adopted
is intended to differentiate beams with failures dominated by bending
moment (‘tee buckling’ or ‘tee’ plastification’) and shear force (web-
post buckling or Vierendeel mechanism), respectively. Fig. 8 presents
a typical map of failure modes build using this approach. This map is
intended to provide design guidance, but may not reflect actual failure
8
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796
mode, which may be strongly affected by imperfections and interaction
between isolated modes, as will be shown further.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the von Mises stress distribution obtained from
the fully nonlinear analyses for the cases of β = 3.0 and β > 3.0, respec-
tively, as representative for short and long beams cases. Considering the
case of β = 3.0, three different behaviors could be identified depending
on the slenderness. For these cases, Kpβ/(ηξ) or Kbβη/ξ3 were typically
lower than 1.0 (short), indicating shear dominated failure modes. For
low slenderness values (compact members), the failure mode was char-
acterized by the formation of four plastic hinges near to the top and bot-
tom ‘tees’, at the corner of the hexagonal opening, indicating a failure
governed by VM (Fig. 9a). For the beam with greatest slenderness
value (Fig. 9c), the stresses spread throughout the web posts following
a diagonal pattern, with considerable out-of-plane deflection, charac-
teristic of the WPB occurrence. It must be highlighted that the formation
of plastic diagonals indicates a stress redistribution after buckling. It will
be shown later that this behavior is associated with a post-buckling re-
serve of strength for the WPB mode. Finally, for the value of λ close to
1.0, it is possible to observe an interaction between both of the afore-
mentioned individual failure modes, as shown in Fig. 9b.
For larger β values, the plastification of tee (PT) at the constant mo-
ment region dominated the behavior for λ < 1.0 and Kpβ/ηξ > 1.0 (com-
pact and long), whereas TTB becomes the governing failure mode for λ
> 1.0 and Kbβη/ξ3 ≥ ~1.0 (slender and long), as presented in Fig. 10a and
b, respectively. Comparing the PT and TTB stress distributions of showed
in sections ‘A’ and ‘B’ of Fig. 10, respectively, it can be noted that the bot-
tom ‘tee’ did not reach the yield stress, confirming that TTB occurred
prior to plastification. It is also important to highlight that, in TTB failure
mode, the compression flange reached the yield stress, indicating that a
stress redistribution occurred after buckling (post-buckling behavior).
Coupling between shear and bending in the failure modes could also
be observed near the limits between quadrants of the ‘map’ presented
in Fig. 8. However, the borders between isolated and combined failure
modes are not clear and it is not the intention of the present work to de-
fine them. In Fig. 11a, a mixed failure mode combining PT and VM could
be observed for a beam of Group 2 having λ = 0.75 and Kpβ/ηξ = 0.77,
i.e. close to the transition between top left and bottom left quadrants of
Fig. 10. Typical failure modes obtained from fully nonlinear analysis for β > 3.0: a) PT for
beam 70 (λ = 0.47, Kpβ/ηξ = 1.25); b) TTB for beam 73 (λ = 1.24, Kbβη/ξ3 = 0.96).
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al.
Fig. 11. Combined failure modes obtained from fully nonlinear analysis: a) PT + VM for a beam of Group 2 with λ = 0.75 and Kpβ/ηξ = 0.77; b) PT + TTB for beam 158 (λ = 0.91,
Kpβ/ηξ = 2.44); c) TTB + WPB for beam 126 (λ = 1.70, Kbβη/ξ3 = 0.44).
the map. When PT and TTB individual loads are close, i.e., λ is close to 1
and beams relatively long, interaction between PT and TTB could be ob-
served (transition between top left and top right quadrants). In this
case, multiple flange half-waves formed along with the occurrence of
high stresses at both flanges, as illustrated in Fig. 11b. Interaction be-
tween TTB and WPB was also observed for some situations of λ > 1
and Kbβη/ξ3 near unity, i.e., close to the transition between bottom
right and top right quadrants; TTB occurs in the pure bending region
while WPB is observed along the shear span, as shown in Fig. 11c. Sec-
tions ‘B’ and ‘C’ of Fig. 11 show the web-post and the ‘tee’ out-of-plane
deflections, clearly similar to those shown in Fig. 6 for WPB and TLB
eigenmodes.
4.4. Normalized strength
Fig. 12a and b show plots of the normalized strength χ (Eq. 2) in a
map of failure modes for the beams of Group 1 and 2, respectively.
The portion of the map occupied by beams from Group 2 – beam
9
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796
depth and flange width compatible with commercial castellated
beams derived from hot-rolled sections – is much smaller than those
from Group 1. This scenario may change if different steel grades and
cross-sections (from welded profiles) are used. It can be observed that
values of χ reduce more significantly with increased slenderness over
the region of short beams, i.e., those with failure controlled mainly by
shear (VM or WPB). This behavior can be more clearly observed through
a typical strength plot (χ x λ) including short beams for both groups, as
presented in Fig. 13a. In this figure, the perfect member strength curve
(χ = 1 for λ ≤ 1 and χ = 1/λ2 for λ > 1) is also plotted for reference
and it can be seen that the beams with λ > 1.5 consistently exhibited ul-
timate load greater than their critical loads, which indicates post-
buckling resistance associated to the web-post buckling mode. For the
beams in the ‘long’ region, Figs. 12 and 13b show normalized strengths
for slender members greater than those observed for short beams. This
behavior confirms superior post-buckling resistance associated to the
‘tee’ buckling, which resembles a plate-like buckling mode [2,23]. In
Fig. 13, proposed Winter-type expressions for the cases of short and
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

7 Ranges of : 7 7 Ranges of : 7
0.2-0.4 0.4-0.6 0.2-0.4 0.4-0.6
6 6 6 6
0.6-0.8 > 0.8 0.6-0.8 > 0.8
5 5 5 5

Kp ( )
Kp ( )

3
3
4 4 4 4

/
/

Kb
Kb
3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

(a) (b)
Fig. 12. Normalized strengths χ for beams represented in maps of failure modes: a) Group 1; b) Group 2.

1.2 1.2
'Short' Beams 'Long' Beams
1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 Perfect 0.4 Perfect

Proposed (Eq.11) Proposed (Eq.11)
0.2 Group 1 0.2 Group 1
Group 2 Group 2
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

(a) (b)
Fig. 13. Normalized strength versus slenderness: a) ‘short’ beams; b) ‘long’ beams.

long beams defined in Eq. 11 are also plotted, showing that these can be near borders between quadrants of the ‘map’. This interaction results
adequately used to obtain lower-bound predictions of strength for later- from the influence of inelastic material behavior, imperfections and
ally braced castellated beams. post-buckling;
8 c) representations of the normalized strength in the ‘map’ showed that
< 1:0 for λ < 0:559 it decreases more quickly with slenderness for short beams than for
χ ¼ 0:62 long beams. This results from a greater post-buckling reserve of
: 0:83 for λ ≥ 0:559 for short beams and λ ≤ 3:0
λ strength associated to ‘tee’ buckling experienced by long slender
8 beams, as this mode resembles a plate-like buckling mode. More-
< 1:0 for λ < 0:338 over, a moderate reserve of strength was also obtained for short
χ ¼ 0:70 for long beams and λ ≤ 3:0 ð11Þ beams subject to web-post-buckling;
: 0:33 for λ ≥ 0:338
λ d) Winter-type expressions for the cases of short and long beams
were proposed and it was shown that they can be used for
lower-bound strength predictions of laterally braced castellated
5. Conclusions beams. The methodology proposed in this study requires the
critical buckling and plastification loads for a given beam to be
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study: determined adequately using a numerical model or analytical ap-
a) it was shown that the behavior of laterally braced Litzka-type castel- proach. Identification of modes is not required for an appropriate
lated beams can be described in a simple plot (Kpβ/ηξ or Kbβη/ξ3) assessment of strength. Further work is required to verify the ap-
vs λ, in which the ordinate indicates if the failure mode is governed plicability of the proposed methodology for other geometries of
by flexure or shear – long or short beams, respectively. On the castellated beams, as well as for different boundary and loading
other hand, the non-dimensional slenderness λ indicates if failure conditions.
is controlled by plastification or buckling – compact or slender,
respectively;
b) the results of parametric study confirmed that the failure mode of a Declaration of Competing Interest
certain beam can be roughly predicted according to the region of the
‘map’ it belongs, although combined modes could also be observed None.

10
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 184 (2021) 106796

Acknowledgments Table A.1

Types of mesh analyzed.

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Mesh type Number of elements
Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES, Finance Code 1 2372
001 – and by Brazilian agencies FAPERJ and CNPq. 2 5218
3 23,328
Appendix A. Convergence and validation studies 4 55,519

A.1. Convergence study

The sensitivity study of the finite element mesh was carried out
using four different types of meshes for a beam having η = 2.0 and ξ
= 1.0 and β = 3.0. The number of elements adopted for each test is pre-
sented in Table A.1. Two types of verifications were used: a) critical load
vs number of elements; and b) displacement at the load application
point vs number of elements, for a load correspondent to the
plastification load. The results are presented in Fig. A.1 and it can be
seen, for both verifications, that there is a trend for stabilization of the
results. Based on the results, a mesh density corresponding to type-3
was adopted for further analyses, with size of approximately 20 mm.
A.2. Validation studies
The validation of the numerical model was carried out against the
experimental results obtained from Tsavdaridis and D'Mello [6] and
Redwood and Demirdjian [22], as described in Section 3.4. In the nu-
merical models, imperfections were generated using the shape of the
first buckling mode, with the amplitudes defined according to those
measured by the authors for the latter or assumed as d/100 for the for-
mer. The geometries of the beams are presented in Fig. A.2, along with
the curves comparing numerical and experimental results. The

Fig. A.1. Mesh convergence studies: a) Pcr vs type of mesh; b) deflection vs type of mesh.

100 350
1 2
300
80
Applied load (kN)
Applied load (kN)

250
60 200

40 150
Numerical
100 Numerical
20 Experimental
50 Experimental
0 0
-10 -5 0 5 10 0 20 40 60 80
Lateral deflection (mm) Vertical mid-span deflection (mm)

(a) (b)
Fig. A.2. Validation studies: a) load vs Lateral deflection for Tsavdaridis and D'Mello [6]; and b) load vs vertical displacement for Redwood and Demirdjian [22].

11
J.J.V. Braga, D.A. Linhares, D.C.T. Cardoso et al.
comparison shows that a fairly good agreement was achieved,
highlighting the fact that real imperfections may be quite different
from that adopted in the numerical analyses. For both cases, differences
in capacity were lower than 4%.
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