Direct Strength Method of Design for Channel Sections

in Shear with Square and Circular Web Holes

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Song Hong Pham 1; Cao Hung Pham 2; and Gregory J. Hancock 3

Abstract: The direct strength method (DSM) design rules for cold-formed steel members in shear have been incorporated recently into the
North American specification for the design of cold-formed steel structural members and are being implemented in the Australian cold-
formed steel structures standard. The method, which was calibrated for unperforated members only, requires two inputs including the buck-
ling load V cr and the shear yielding load V y . For members with square web cutouts, V cr can be computed by either the spline finite strip
method or the tabulated values based on the shear buckling coefficients kv as in previous studies or the finite element method. However, V y
has not been accurately formulated including holes. This paper represents a practical model to obtain V y for members with central openings
subjected predominantly to shear. The model ranges from very small holes where traditional shear yielding predominates to large holes where
Vierendeel action dominates. The model is verified with the DSM design formulas using the predominantly shear tests recently conducted at
the University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology with both square and circular web openings and for shear spans with
aspect ratio of 1.0. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0001765. © 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Direct strength method; Web opening; Shear strength; Buckling analysis; Square and circular holes; Metal and
composite structures.

Introduction fraction of the strength of the unperforated member through the

In flooring systems, high-strength steel cold-formed channel sec-
tion beams are commonly used. Joist webs are often perforated
as shown in Fig. 1 to provide space for service systems that go
through the webs to increase the floor clearance height. The pres-
ence of the web holes affects both the buckling capacities and
strengths of structural members.
Members in compression and flexure with evenly spaced web
holes have been studied in detail by Moen and Schafer (2010a, b).
The common cold-formed steel limit states, which include local,
distortional, and flexural-torsional buckling for members with
holes, were addressed, and the direct strength method (DSM)
design rules were also standardized in the North American speci-
fication AISI S100-12 (AISI 2012). For unperforated members sub-
jected predominantly to shear, DSM design rules were also
included in AISI S100-12 on the basis of the research by Pham
and Hancock (2012a). However, for perforated members in shear,
both the AISI S100-12 and the Australian standard AS/NZS
4600:2005 (Standards Australia 2005) still adopt an empirical ap-
proach based on the experimental research by Shan et al. (1994),
Schuster et al. (1995), and Eiler et al. (1997). The method allows
the shear strength of a member with holes to be determined as a
1 program used 200-mm-deep channel members with different thick-
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Sydney,
Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. E-mail: songhong.pham@sydney.edu.au
2
Lecturer, School of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Sydney, Sydney,
NSW 2006, Australia (corresponding author). E-mail: caohung.pham@
sydney.edu.au
3
Emeritus Professor and Professorial Research Fellow, School of Civil
Engineering, Univ. of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. E-mail:
gregory.hancock@sydney.edu.au
Note. This manuscript was submitted on July 7, 2016; approved on
November 30, 2016; published online on February 2, 2017. Discussion
period open until July 2, 2017; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Structural Engi-
neering, © ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445.
reduction factor qs, computed as follows:
When c=t ≥ 54; qs ¼ 1 ð1aÞ
When 5 ≤ c=t < 54; qs ¼ c=ð54tÞ ð1bÞ
where c ¼ b=2 − h=2.83 for circular holes; c ¼ b=2 − h=2 for non-
circular holes; b = depth of the flat portion of the web measured along
the plane of the web; t = web thickness; and h = depth of web hole.
As a result, it is not necessary to determine the buckling capacity
V cr and the shear yielding load V y for perforated sections. Despite
the computational convenience, the method was proven to be
conservative for lipped channel sections with small web openings
but unconservative for sections with large openings (Keerthan and
Mahendran 2013). In addition, the preceding reduction expressions
are only applicable to a certain range of web opening sizes, pre-
sumably because of the limited number of experiments.
In Fig. 2, the reduction factors qs computed according to exper-
imental data have been used for comparison with qs predicted by
Eq. (1). The experiments include two test programs on cold-formed
channel section members with an aspect ratio (shear span/section
depth) of 1.0, conducted by Pham et al. (2014, 2016) at the Uni-
versity of Sydney (USYD) and by Keerthan and Mahendran (2013)
at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The former test
nesses including 1.5, 1.9, and 2.4 mm and square opening sizes
ranging from 40 to 120 mm. Meanwhile, the latter experimental
program worked with a wide range of C-section dimensions (the
web depths include 120, 160, and 200 mm) and various circular
opening sizes and included tests on low-strength specimens as
noted where applicable. These data sets are used throughout the
paper to verify the proposed model. In all the tests, full tension field
action (TFA) is deemed to be reached. Therefore, all the related
graphs hereafter disregard the DSM curve without TFA.
Keerthan and Mahendran (2014) proposed new empirical equa-
tions to determine the shear reduction factors that rely on the ratio

© ASCE 04017017-1 J. Struct. Eng.

J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(6): 04017017

 DSM Design Rules for Unperforated Members

The shear strength (V n ) including TFA of members without web

opening is specified in AISI S100-12 by
For λv ≤ 0.776; Vn ¼ Vy ð3aÞ

0.4 
0.4
V V cr
For λv > 0.776; V n ¼ 1 − 0.15 cr Vy
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Vy Vy
ð3bÞ
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
where λv ¼ V y =V cr .
The shear buckling load V cr is computed by
kv π2 EAw
V cr ¼ τ cr Aw ¼ ð4Þ
12ð1 − μ2 ÞðbtÞ2
where kv = shear buckling coefficient for the whole section, assum-
ing an average buckling stress in the web, which is given in Pham
Fig. 1. Cold-formed framing system (image courtesy of ClarkDietrich
and Hancock (2009, 2012b) for plain lipped channels according to
Building Systems)
the spline finite strip method (SFSM); b = depth of the flat portion
of the web; t = thickness of the web; E = Young’s modulus; and
μ = Poisson’s ratio.
1.2 V y is the yield shear load of the flat web, V y ¼ 0.6f y Aw , where
Aw is the cross-sectional area of web element, and fy is the design
1.0 yield stress. For plate girders, there has been a proposal by Chung
Shear reduction factor q s

et al. (2003) to include the contribution of flanges to the shear

0.8 strength by adding effective flange areas to the shear area. How-
ever, in the cold-formed steel industry, the preceding expression
0.6 for V y has wide acceptance.
0.4
DSM Design Rules for Perforated Members
AISI S100-12 (AS/NZS 4600:2005)
0.2
Experiments-QUT

0.0
Experiments-USYD Buckling Capacity
65 55 45 35 25 15 5
c/t Pham (2015) used the SFSM encoded in the isoparametric spline
finite strip method (ISFSM) program developed by Eccher (2007)
Fig. 2. Shear reduction factor comparison between tests and standards to study the buckling capacity of lipped channel section members
with central square holes. Three cases (A, B, and C) distinguished
by different methods to apply shear loads were examined. In
Case A, uniform shear stress is applied throughout the web panel
of the circular web opening depth (D) to the clear web height (b1 ),
edges. In Cases B and C, a shear flow distribution resulting from a
as follows:

 shear force parallel with the web is applied at the two end sections
D D as occurs in practice. To maintain equilibrium, longitudinal stresses
When 0 < ≤ 0.30; qs ¼ 1 − 0.6 ð2aÞ
b1 b1 caused by a bending moment (M ¼ Va, where a is the member
length) are applied at one end in an opposite way to balance with

 the moment caused by the two coupling shear forces (Case B). In
D D Case C, a pair of bending moments with a half value (M=2 Va=2)
When 0.30 < ≤ 0.70; qs ¼ 1.215 − 1.316 ð2bÞ
b1 b1 acting at both end sections in the same direction is applied to
balance with the longitudinal shear stresses caused by the two cou-

 pling shear forces. The shear buckling coefficients (kv ) correspond-
D D
When 0.70 < ≤ 0.85; qs ¼ 0.732 − 0.625 ð2cÞ ing to the ratio d=b of the opening size (d) to the flat depth of the
b1 b1 web (b) are shown in Fig. 3. The difference in kv between the three
cases is relatively small, presumably because shear predominantly
governs the buckling behavior over the bending effects. These val-
These new design formulas were generated by fitting the test ues take into account the influence of the cross section as a whole
results on members with circular openings; thus, their application and the simply supported boundary conditions. They can be used to
for other perforation shapes requires further interpretation. None- calculate the V cr for use in the DSM. This paper uses the values of
theless, the preceding approaches are not in line with the DSM kv based on Case B, in which the stress distribution matches the
design philosophy, which has been implemented in the design one produced by the experiments.
of other resultant actions, i.e., bending, compression (for both per-
forated and unperforated members), and shear (for unperforated
Shear Strength
members only). Therefore, a DSM design approach for perforated
members in shear is in demand to unify cold-formed steel structural There has not been a successful attempt to develop DSM design
design. formulas for perforated cold-formed sections in shear alone,

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 12 80
C20019-No holes
Case A
C20019-S40
Shear buckling coefficient (kv)
10 Case B C20019-S80
Case C 60 C20019-S120
8

Vn,test (kN)
6 40

4
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20
2

0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0
d/b 0 2 4 6 8 10
(mm)
Fig. 3. Variation of shear buckling coefficients in three cases
Fig. 6. Load-displacement curves for the shear tests on C20019 series

1.0
S40
predominantly shear test results (V n;test ) to the yield shear load
0.8 S0
S40 (V y ¼ V y;net ). In the second test series, the circular opening
S80
S80 S40 shape is transformed to the equivalent square by the expression
S0 S80
d ¼ 0.825D, where d is the square size, and D is the circle diam-
0.6
Vn,test/Vy,net

S120 eter. This conversion is clarified in the following sections. For

S0
S120 both test programs, the data noticeably tend to systematically de-
0.4 S120 viate from the target curve when the openings become substantial.
C20015 Series For relatively small perforations, the use of V y;net seems to be
0.2 C20019 Series acceptable, but it becomes unconservative when applied for mem-
C20024 Series CoV = 10.2 %
Pm,avg = 1.02
bers with large cutouts. The coefficients of variation corresponding
DSM for shear
0.0 to the preceding cases are relatively significant 10.2 and 10.8%,
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
respectively. Thus, it is necessary to appropriately determine V y
= Vy,net
v /Vcr
v
to improve the current design rules.
Fig. 4. Predominantly shear tests at USYD on members with
square holes
Strategy for a New Approach

Motivation
1.4
C12019-271MPa Fig. 6 displays the load versus the vertical deformation curves for
C30 C60 C12015
1.2
C80 C16019
the tests on the USYD 1.9-mm-thick series with square openings. It
C0
C30 C20019 is noticeable that the test with large hole (C20019-S120, where
1.0 C60
C30
DSM for shear S120 denotes a 120-mm square opening) shows ductile behavior
C0
Vn,test/Vy,net

0.8 C0
C60 characterized by a significant flat plateau at the peak range. This
C80
C100 behavior, together with the failure mode as shown in Fig. 7, implies
C100
0.6 C0 that a yielding pattern has been formed and spread out over the
0.4 C125
C125 cross sections at the four corners of the opening, allowing substan-
tial plastic deformation to happen before reaching failure mecha-
0.2 CoV = 10.8 % nism. In other words, plastic hinges have likely occurred locally at
Pm,avg = 1.02
the four opening corners as well recognized in Vierendeel mecha-
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 nism (Chung et al. 2001). The occurrence and propagation of the
v = Vy,net
v /Vcr cracks at the corners occurred well after the yield plateau and are
outside the scope of this paper.
Fig. 5. Predominantly shear tests at QUT on members with circular
holes Vierendeel Mechanism
The Vierendeel truss has been well known in structural design in
which the diagonal bars are eliminated, thus enforcing the chords to
although there was a proposal to use either the V y of the unreduced be stressed in the combination of bending, shear, and compression.
cross section or V y;net based on the net section at the opening To transfer those actions, the joints must be rigid compared with the
location (Unabia 2013). The test data (Pham et al. 2014, 2016; idealized pin connections in conventional trusses. The Vierendeel
Keerthan and Mahendran 2013) are plotted against the DSM design trusses are widely applicable to bridges and buildings to create
curve for shear with tension field action where the yield shear load large openings for their functionality or aesthetics. In the absence
is taken as the yield load of the net section (V y;net ) as shown in of instability, a failure mechanism is formed in a Vierendeel truss,
Figs. 4 and 5. which is characterized by the formation of plastic hinges at corners,
The abscissa
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi depicts the section slenderness (λv ¼ provided that the structure is sufficiently ductile. A substantially
V y;net =V cr ), whereas the ordinate represents the ratio of the perforated cold-formed member can be viewed as a Vierendeel

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Fig. 7. Failure mode on shear test on C20019-S120 member
Fig. 8. Vierendeel mechanism for C-section perforated member
Local (secondary) bending diagram
Global (primary) bending diagram
Fig. 9. Global bending diagram and local Vierendeel action resultant
truss as demonstrated in Fig. 8, in which the shear, in lieu of being
resisted by the web element as usual, is transferred through the open-
ing by local bending at the top and bottom segments of the perforated
section, i.e., by Vierendeel moment or secondary moment.
Fig. 9 illustrates the secondary and global (primary) bending
moment diagrams in an ideal Vierendeel truss under a central point
load. Each horizontal element is subjected to both local and global
actions except at the contra-flexural point at the midsection. Once
the global actions are negligible, as reasonably applicable for
shear tests with the aspect ratio of 1.0, the shear carried out over
the opening can be conveniently determined as
4M pv
V vrd ¼ ð5Þ
d
where M pv = plastic bending capacity of the top (or bottom) seg-
ment above (or below) the opening, including the flanges and lips,
provided that the hole is centrally located; for cold-formed steel
sections, the rounded corners are considered as squares for simplic-
ity; and d = width of the web opening.
The reason to adopt the plastic bending moment capacity,
not the first yield moment capacity even for thin sections, in the
© ASCE 04017017-4
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(6): 04017017
Fig. 10. Predominantly shear test configuration
aforementioned expression is explained and justified in the
following sections.
Model to Determine Yield Shear Load
for Channel Sections
As discussed previously, the DSM shear design format requires two
inputs, the buckling capacity (V cr ) and the shear load at yielding
(V y ). The V cr is readily available as detailed previously. A practical
model is required to determine V y . The yield shear load V y is a
theoretical value obtained from the equation V y ¼ 0.6fy Aw . The
expression implies the assumption that only the flat portion of
the web contributes to shear resistance and that the flat web is fully
effective, i.e., no buckling. It is also likely that the compression
flanges of cold-formed sections are restrained properly in practice
by attaching them to sheathings or flooring boards. Therefore,
under those assumptions, critical sections can be fully used in bend-
ing until they reach their plastic bending capacity. That makes the
use of Eq. (5) to compute V y from plastic bending capacity sensible
and viable. Generally, the shear strength calculated from Eq. (5) is
not the ultimate member shear strength except when the member is
thick enough. The main reason is, to reach the value of plastic bend-
ing, structures must not be exposed to any instability including
both local and global; thus, the coupled shears resulting from that
plastic moment is V y , not V n .
Finite element (FE) models have been developed to appro-
priately simulate the predominantly shear tests by Pham et al.
(2014). In the tests, simply supported cold-formed steel channel
members with central square holes were loaded at the midlength
as shown in Fig. 10. The shear spans are equal to the web depth;
thus, the bending moment induced by this experimental configura-
tion is minimal. Further details of the test setup and the FE models
can be found in the preceding reference. To investigate the variation
of V y corresponding to various opening sizes, the same FE models
are used, but the member thickness is changed to 5 mm. The sub-
stantially thick member is aimed to eliminate any chance of insta-
bility, thus producing the shear strength close to the theoretical
yield shear load V y . Fig. 11 shows the von Mises stress distribution
at the ultimate state of a member with a 120-mm square web open-
ing. At the four corners of the openings, the stresses across the top
and bottom sections reach the yielding value, thus triggering the
Vierendeel failure mechanism.
In Fig. 12, the dotted solid curve represents the shear strength
(V n;Abq ) obtained from FE analyses for members with the ratio of
square opening size to the flat web depth (d=b) ranging from 0.0 to
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Fig. 11. FE simulation of shear tests with 1,200 mm square holes

300 1.0
V
Vn-abq
n,Abq
S120
250 V
Vy-proposed
y,proposed
0.8 S80
V
Vnet
y,net S120
S0
Shear capacity (kN)

S80
200 S40 S80

Vn,test/Vy,proposed
0.6 S0
S40 S40
150 S0
S120
0.4
100
C20015 Series
0.2 C20019 Series
50 C20024 Series CoV = 6.84 %
DSM for shear Pm,avg = 1.05
0 0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
d/b v = Vy,proposed /Vcr

Fig. 12. FE analysis results and the model for yield shear load Fig. 13. Verifying V y;proposed model with USYD tests

1.0. For members with small cutouts (d=b up to 0.1), the shear
strength reduction is negligible. Thereafter, the value of V n;Abq
starts reducing gradually, following a double curvature path. On
the basis of this graph, it is hypothesized that the shear load at yield-
ing is unchanged for a member with small holes (d=b up to 0.1),
and then it linearly decreases up to the ratio of d=b ¼ 0.6. The
shear behavior of the members with large openings (d=b ≥ 0.6)
is governed by the shear derived from the Vierendeel action, which
is determined by Eq. (5). The new proposed model to determine
yield shear load (V y;proposed ) for perforated members is illustrated
by the diamond solid curve in Fig. 12. In case of d=b ¼ 1.0,
the shear yielding load vanishes when computed on the basis of
the net section V y;net , but it is still captured well by the proposed
method because of the inclusion of the flanges. The difference be-
tween V n;Abq and V y;proposed at d=b ¼ 0.0 is a direct result of the use
of V y ¼ 0.6f y Aw in AISI S100-12, which may be slightly uncon-
servative. The new proposal does not require a reduction in the
shear capacity until d=b ¼ 0.1 by comparison with the net section
approach, which requires an immediate reduction. This new pro-
posal can be formulated by the following expressions:
d
When 0 < ≤ 0.10; V y;proposed ¼ V y
b experimental outcomes V n;test =V y;proposed are plotted against
d DSM design curve even when the openings are substantial. The
When 0.10 < < 0.60;
b


d
V y;proposed ¼ V y − 2 − 0.1 ðV y − V vrd,0.6 Þ
b Fig. 4 of 10.2%.
d
When 0.60 ≤ ; V y;proposed ¼ V vrd ð6cÞ
b
where V vrd is determined by Eq. (5); and V vrd,0.6 = value of V vrd
computed for the perforated section with the ratio of d=b ¼ 0.6.
DSM Design for Shear for Channel Sections
Members with Square Openings
The proposed shear yield load (V y;proposed ) is used in the DSM
design formulas for shear [Eqs. (3a) and (3b)] to verify the pre-
dominantly shear tests conducted by Pham et al. (2014, 2016)
on 200-mm-deep channel members with the thicknesses of 1.5,
1.9, and 2.4 mm. The square opening sizes include 0 (unperfo-
rated), 40, 80, and 120 mm for each thickness. The shear buckling
coefficients kv are extracted from Pham (2015), depending on the
ratio d=b, and then the buckling force V cr is computed by Eq. (4).
ð6aÞ The results are shown in Fig. 13, in which the normalized
the section slenderness. It is evident that the data follow well the
associated coefficient of variation (COV) and the average Pm;avg
ratio of V n;test to V n;DSM are 6.84% and 1.05, respectively, as
ð6bÞ computed in Table 1. This COV can be compared with that in

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 Table 1. Shear Capacity of Channel Section Members with Square Web Openings and Aspect Ratio of 1.0
t b2 V cr V n;test V y;proposed V n;test =
Designation (mm) (mm) d (mm) d=b kv (kN) (kN) (kN) λv V n;DSM
V-C20015-S0-1 1.50 200 0 0.0 10.2 32.8 53.4 87.7 1.63 1.00
V-C20015-S40-1 1.50 200 40 0.2 7.0 22.5 47.1 75.0 1.83 1.12
V-C20015-S80-1 1.50 200 80 0.4 3.8 12.3 29.1 49.6 2.01 1.12
V-C20015-S120-1 1.50 200 120 0.6 2.2 7.1 15.1 24.1 1.84 1.12
V-C20019-S0-1 1.90 200 0 0.0 10.2 65.9 72.7 104.8 1.26 0.95
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V-C20019-S40-1 1.90 200 40 0.2 7.0 42.8 62.5 89.5 1.45 1.06
V-C20019-S80-1 1.90 200 80 0.4 3.8 24.5 41.3 59.1 1.55 1.11
V-C20019-S120-1 1.90 200 120 0.6 2.2 14.0 20.7 28.6 1.43 1.09
V-C20024-S0-1 2.40 200 0 0.0 10.2 132.0 108.1 139.3 1.03 0.93
V-C20024-S40-1 2.40 200 40 0.2 6.9 91.4 91.2 119.0 1.14 0.98
V-C20024-S80-1 2.40 200 80 0.4 3.8 48.9 60.0 78.4 1.27 1.05
V-C20024-S120-1 2.40 200 120 0.6 2.2 28.4 30.6 37.8 1.15 1.05
V-C20015-S0-2 1.50 200 0 0.0 10.2 32.8 49.8 87.7 1.63 0.94
V-C20015-S40-2 1.50 200 40 0.2 7.0 22.5 45.9 75.0 1.83 1.09
V-C20015-S80-2 1.50 200 80 0.4 3.8 12.3 30.9 49.6 2.01 1.19
V-C20015-S120-2 1.50 200 120 0.6 2.2 7.1 14.5 24.1 1.84 1.08
V-C20019-S0-2 1.90 200 0 0.0 10.2 65.8 77.5 104.8 1.26 1.02
V-C20019-S40-2 1.90 200 40 0.2 7.0 43.5 64.2 89.5 1.43 1.08
V-C20019-S80-2 1.90 200 80 0.4 3.8 24.1 41.8 59.1 1.56 1.13
V-C20019-S120-2 1.90 200 120 0.6 2.2 14.2 20.3 28.6 1.42 1.06
V-C20024-S0-2 2.40 200 0 0.0 10.2 132.4 106.0 139.3 1.03 0.91
V-C20024-S40-2 2.40 200 40 0.2 6.9 91.3 91.4 119.0 1.14 0.99
V-C20024-S80-2 2.40 200 80 0.4 3.7 48.9 61.0 78.4 1.27 1.07
V-C20024-S120-2 2.40 200 120 0.6 2.2 28.1 30.5 37.8 1.16 1.05
Mean 1.05
Standard deviation 0.07
COV (%) 6.84
Note: In V-C20015-S120-1, C = channel section; S = square web hole; V = predominantly shear case; 1 = first test series; 15 = thickness multiplied by 10;
120 = size of square opening; 200 = nominal depth of the cross section. All dimensions are in millimeters. The corner radii are measured as 5 mm.

Fig. 14. FE simulation of shear tests with circular holes

Members with Circular Openings
The model for yield shear load is also verified against the predomi-
nantly shear tests performed by Keerthan and Mahendran (2013) on
channel members with the aspect ratio of 1.0. Different section
sizes and circular hole diameters were included in their tests.
Fig. 14 shows a FE simulation of 5-mm-thick channel section
members in a predominantly shear test with substantial circular
opening (d=b ¼ 0.6). The failure mechanism happens as analogous
as occurred in the test on square holes as shown in Fig. 7. It in-
cludes the formation of four plastic hinges, resulting in a large vis-
ible deflection that constitutes the mechanism. This allows the
methodology to determine V y to be applicable for members with
circular holes by transforming the circles to the squares by the re-
lation d ¼ 0.825D, where d is the square size, and D is the circle
diameter. This transformation is also used to determine the buckling
coefficients of channel members with circular holes on the basis of
the values for square hole cases as already shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 15
shows the data extracted from Pham (2016, 2017), in which the
buckling coefficients of channel section members with square
and circular web openings have been computed for an aspect ratio
of 1.0. The dotted and square dashed curves represent the relation
between the buckling coefficients and the hole sizes, which are the
circle diameters (D) and the square sizes (d), respectively. For the
circular web opening cases, if the data are plotted against 0.825D=b
instead of D=b, the curve shifts to the left, as depicted as the dotted
solid curve, to be almost identical to the curve for square openings.
Using this transformation, the experimental results are plotted
against the DSM curve for shear as shown in Fig. 16. A low-
strength test series (fy ¼ 271 MPa) and other tests are well

© ASCE 04017017-6 J. Struct. Eng.

J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(6): 04017017

 10
Square web openings Obviously, it is evident that the proposed model to compute
shear load at yielding for perforated sections is viable for members
Shear buckling coefficient (kv)
8 Circular web openings
with an aspect ratio of 1.0 and for both circular and square
Circular web openings, openings.
6 transformed to squares

4 Conclusion
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2
A practical model to compute the yield shear load of sections with
square and circular holes has been formulated to describe the tran-
sition of failure modes from traditional web shear to Vierendeel
0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 mechanism. That gradual transition was supported by the FE
d/b (square hole), D/b (circular hole) simulations of thick C-section members in shear. The proposed
V y model is introduced into the current DSM design rules for shear
Fig. 15. Buckling coefficients for channels with square and circular to predict well the shear strength of various predominantly shear
web openings tests with an aspect ratio of 1.0 and with circular and square
openings. Experimental research is underway at the University
of Sydney to extend the methodology to combined bending
1.2 and shear.
C0 C60
C30 C80
1.0
C0 C125
C30
C0
C60 C60 Acknowledgments
0.8
Vn,test/Vy,proposed

C80
C100
C100 Funding provided by the University of Sydney International
0.6 C0
C30 C125 Scholarship for the first author is appreciated.
0.4 C12019-271MPa
C12015 Series
C16019 Series
0.2
C20019 Series CoV = 5.63 %
Notation
DSM for shear Pm,avg = 1.06
0.0 The following symbols are used in this paper:
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
a = shear span (mm);
= Vy,proposed /Vcr
v
b = depth of flat portion of web (mm);
Fig. 16. Verifying V y;proposed model with QUT tests b1 = clear depth of web (mm);
b2 = overall depth of web (mm);
D = diameter of circular opening (mm);
captured by the design curve. The corresponding COV and Pm;avg d = size of square opening (mm);
are 5.63% and 1.06, respectively, as computed in Table 2. t = thickness of cold-formed section (mm);
This COV can be compared with that using V y;net of 10.8% V cr = elastic buckling load of section (kN);
in Fig. 5. V n = shear strength of members with TFA (kN);

Table 2. Shear Capacity of Channel Section Members with Circular Web Openings and Aspect Ratio of 1.0
Designation f y (MPa) t (mm) b2 (mm) D (mm) d=b kv V cr (kN) V n;test (kN) V y;proposed (kN) λv V n;DSM V n;test =V n;DSM
V-C120-C0 271 1.95 120 0 0.0 10.2 126.4 38.1 34.3 0.52 34.3 1.11
V-C120-C30 271 1.95 120 30 0.2 6.6 82.3 32.3 29.6 0.60 29.6 1.09
V-C120-C60 271 1.95 120 60 0.5 3.5 42.9 22.2 20.6 0.69 20.6 1.08
V-C120-C80 271 1.95 120 80 0.6 2.3 29.1 15.0 14.6 0.71 14.6 1.03
V-C120-C0 537 1.50 120 0 0.0 10.2 58.3 43.3 51.6 0.94 45.6 0.95
V-C120-C80 537 1.50 120 80 0.8 1.6 9.0 16.0 22.4 1.57 14.0 1.15
V-C160-C0 515 1.90 160 0 0.0 10.2 85.8 73.8 86.5 1.00 73.4 1.01
V-C160-C30 515 1.90 160 30 0.2 7.8 65.9 65.4 79.7 1.10 63.6 1.03
V-C160-C60 515 1.90 160 60 0.3 4.9 40.9 49.5 60.5 1.22 45.1 1.10
V-C160-C100 515 1.90 160 100 0.6 2.7 22.3 27.6 34.9 1.25 25.5 1.08
V-C160-C125 515 1.90 160 125 0.7 1.9 16.0 16.9 18.8 1.08 15.2 1.11
V-C200-C0 515 1.90 200 0 0.0 10.2 67.5 75.0 110.0 1.28 79.3 0.95
V-C200-C30 515 1.90 200 30 0.1 8.5 56.6 74.8 106.1 1.37 72.9 1.03
V-C200-C60 515 1.90 200 60 0.3 6.0 39.7 63.4 86.0 1.47 56.2 1.13
V-C200-C100 515 1.90 200 100 0.4 3.6 24.0 38.8 59.2 1.57 36.9 1.05
V-C200-C125 515 1.90 200 125 0.6 2.7 18.0 29.4 42.4 1.54 26.9 1.09
Mean 1.06
Standard deviation 0.06
COV (%) 5.63
Note: In V-C200-C125, C = channel section; C = circular web hole; V = predominantly shear case; 125 = opening diameter; 200 = nominal depth of the cross
section. All dimensions are in millimeters. The corner radii are measured as 5 mm.

© ASCE 04017017-7 J. Struct. Eng.

J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(6): 04017017

 V n;DSM = shear strength computed by DSM design
formulas (kN);
V n;test = shear strength obtained from predominantly
shear test (kN);
V vrd = shear load transferred through Vierendeel action
(kN);
V vrd,0.6 = V vrd computed for perforated section with
d=b ¼ 0.6;
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V y = shear load at yielding, calculated on the basis of
gross area of flat web section (kN);
V y;net = shear load at yielding, calculated on the basis of
net area of flat web section (kN);
V y;proposed = shear load at yielding including influence of
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi web holes (kN); and
λv ¼ V y =V cr = section slenderness.
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