CASTELLATED GIRDER

INTRODUCTION
• A castellated beam is a beam style where
an I-beam is subjected to a longitudinal cut
along its web following a specific pattern in
order to divide it, and reassemble the beam
with a longer web by taking advantage of the
cutting pattern.
• It is made by separating a standard rolled
shape into two halves by cutting the web in a
regular alternating pattern. The halves are
rejoined by welding, after off-setting one
portion so that the high points of the web
pattern come into contact.
• Some design conditions make it
advantageous to increase the depth even
more. This is done by adding web plates
between high points of the tee sections.
These added plates are called "increment
plates".
TERMINOLOGY
1. Web Post: The cross-
section of the castellated
beam where the section
is assumed to be a solid
section.
2. Castellation: The area of
the castellated beam
where the web has been
expanded (hole).
3. Throat Width: The length of the horizontal cut on the root
beam.
4. Throat Depth: The height of the portion of the web that
connects to the flanges to form the tee section.
5. Expansion Percentage: The percentage change in depth of
the section from the root (original) beam to the fabricated
castellated section.
CASTELLATED BEAM WITH DIFFERENT SHAPED
OPENINGS
FABRICATION

• Thefabrication of castellated beams is a

comparatively simple series of operations
when adequate handling and controlling
equipment is used.

• Web being split to a predetermined pattern.

BASIC DESIGN

• Thebasic design of a castellated beam consists of

analyzing the effect of the forces and calculation of
the stresses. Maximum longitudinal fiber stresses
occur in the tee section. These stresses may be
readily computed on the basis of the following
assumptions which are well verified:
1. Vertical shear divides equally between the upper
and lower tees.
2. For bending in the tees due to shear, there are
points of contra flexure at the vertical
centerline through each opening.
3. Fiber stresses distributed and can be computed
by the formulas.
DESIGN CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES
 There are conditions, which is required for the
design to compute the stresses and capacity of a
castellated beam. This may be required for irregular
concentrated loads, for cantilever beams, or when
there are special web holes. Under such special
conditions the design should have a trial castellated
beam section by judgment and use of the load
tables, and then compute its stresses using
Formulas A and B.
 The maximum longitudinal fiber stress generally
governs the selection of a beam section, but there
are other stress conditions which must be examined
and controlled. These are lateral buckling, local
buckling, web buckling and web bending and shear
stresses.
METHODS OF REINFORCING FOR
SPECIAL STRESS CONDITIONS

1. Web buckling
reinforcing
2. Web bending
reinforcing
3. Web shear reinforcing
4. Enlarged hole
reinforcing
APPLICATION OF CASTELLATED GIRDER
 Castellated beam have been used in a wide variety of applications,
such as roof beams and rafters in both simple span and cantilever
construction, floor beams and girders for heavy as well as light
floor loads, tier buildings, rafter portion of rigid frames, pipe
bridges, girts and other special applications.
 These uses take the advantage of the increased strength and the
economy of the castellated beam.
 They are used in multi-story buildings, commercial and
industrial buildings warehouses, utilization of the web
openings as passages for services.
 The latter leads to useful savings in the overall heights of multi-story
structures.
 Some recent applications for castellated beams have been in roof
purling, girders in rigid frames, and in composite construction.
One of their prime uses is in composite construction in long span
floors, where floor depths are kept to a minimum by passing the major
service ducts through the openings. They are also used effectively for
tightly serviced buildings or for aesthetic reasons where the structure
is exposed.
Advantages
• Improved strength due to the
increased depth of the section
without any additional weight.
• The depth is increased as much as •
70%.
• The beam could carry 10% to 35% •
more moment.
• By increasing the depth of the beam,•
strong axis bending strength and
stiffness are improved as the strong •
axis moment of inertia, and section
modulus are increased.
• Economic savings ranged from 11%
to 22%.
• The principal advantage of
castellation is the increase in vertical
bending stiffness.
Disadvantages
• Increased Fabrication costs
associated with the cutting and
welding of the section.
Stability issues during erection
have presented.
The shear capacity of the web
posts is a limiting factor.
not appropriate for short heavily
loaded spans.
The re-entrant corners at the
openings give rise to stress
concentrations and limit the
usefulness of castellated beams
in situations where dynamic
effects are severe.
FAILURE MODES OF CASTELLATED
BEAMS:
 The major failure modes of castellated
beams are web post buckling and lateral-
torsional buckling. The failure modes
mainly depend on area of openings,
location of opening, length of the tee-
section above and below the opening,
opening depth and type of opening, type
of loading.
 Formation of Flexure Mechanism:-
 This mode of failure can occur when a section is subject
to pure bending. The span subjected to pure bending
moment, the tee-sections above and below the holes
yielded in a manner similar to that of a plain webbed
beam, although the spread of yield towards the central
axis was stopped by the presence of the holes by which
time the two throat sections had become completely
plastic in compression and in tension.
 Lateral-Torsional Buckling :-
 Non-composite castellated beams are more susceptible
to lateral-torsional buckling than composite beams due to
lack of lateral support to the compression flange. The
lateral torsional buckling behaviour of castellated beams
is similar to that of plain webbed beams. The holes had a
significant influence on lateral-torsional buckling
behaviour.
 Formation of Vierendeel Mechanism- Vierendeel
bending is caused by the need to transfer the shear force
across the opening to be consistent with the rate of change of
bending moment, in the absence of local or overall instability,
hexagonal castellated beams have two basic modes of plastic
collapse, depending on the opening geometry. The failure is
dependent on the presence of a shear force of high magnitude
in the holes through span.
 Rupture of the Welded Joint in a Web Post-
 Rupture of a welded joint in a web-post can result when
the width of the web-post or length of welded joint is
small. This mode of failure is caused by the action of the
horizontal shearing force in the web-post, which is
needed to balance the shear forces applied at the points
of contra flexure at the ends of the upper I-section.
 Shear Bucking of a Web Post –
 The horizontal shear force in the web-post is
associated with double curvature bending over the
height of the post. In castellated beam one inclined edge
of the opening will be stressed in tension, and the
opposite edge in compression and buckling will cause a
twisting effect of the web post along its height.