Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Steel beams with large web openings of various

shapes and sizes: an empirical design method
using a generalised moment-shear interaction
curve
K.F. Chung a,∗, C.H. Liu b, A.C.H. Ko a
a
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong
Kong, China
b
Manchester School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Simon Building, Oxford Road,
Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Received 9 April 2002; accepted 12 February 2003

Abstract

Vierendeel mechanism is always critical in steel beams with single large web openings.
While the depth of web openings controls both the shear and the flexural failures of the perfor-
ated sections, it is the length of the web openings that governs the ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism
which in turn depends on the local shear and moment capacities of the tee sections above and
below the web opening. A comprehensive finite element investigation on steel beams with
web openings of various shapes and sizes was reported in a complementary paper, and the
primary structural characteristics of those steel beams were presented in detail.
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 develop a generalised moment-
shear interaction curve to assess the load capacities of all steel beams with web openings of
various shapes and sizes. As the global shear forces cause both shear failure and ‘Vierendeel’
mechanism in perforated sections, the effect of local ‘Vierendeel’ moments acting onto the
tee-sections above and below the web openings may be incorporated through a reduction to
the global shear capacities of the perforated sections. A global coupled shear capacity is thus
established and its values for web openings of various shapes and sizes are obtained directly
from the finite element investigation. Details of the design method are fully presented in
this paper.
Moreover, an indicative parameter, the ‘Vierendeel’ parameter, is established to assess the

∗
Corresponding author. Tel: +1-852-2766-6063.
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)00029-4
1178 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

performance of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in perforated sections. Through comparison among

the moment and the shear utilisation ratios, m and v, and the ‘Vierendeel’ parameter, vi , the
critical modes of failure in perforated sections under different moment-shear ratios may be
readily assessed.
 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism; Perforated sections; Openings of various shapes; Moment-shear inter-
action; Design development

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. A large amount of research efforts on the structural behaviour of steel
beams with web openings have been reported in the literature, primarily for steel
beams with multiple hexagonal web openings, and also for composite beams with
single rectangular web openings, both with or without reinforcement. Rectangular
web openings were often formed with aspect ratios ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 while
the opening depth, do, was commonly restricted to about 50% of the overall section
height, h. Circular web openings were also popular in commercial buildings with
high specifications in building services due to easy installation of water pipes.
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.
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.
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 open-
ings. An overall review on the design recommendations [1–4] shows that in general,
there are two design approaches in assessing the structural behaviour of steel beams
with web openings:

앫 Tee section approach: In this approach, the perforated section is considered to be

built up of two tee sections which are separated by a distance according to the
height of the web opening, and all the global actions are re-presented as local
forces and moments. The structural adequacy of the steel beams depends on the
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1179

Fig. 1. Force distribution in a perforated section.

section capacities of the tee sections under co-existing axial and shear forces, and
local moments. In general, the design methods with this approach are complicated
and the calculation effort is considerable. The accuracy of the methods depends
on the accuracy of a number of design rules against respective failure modes.
However, due to the complexity of the problems, approximate design expressions
are often presented to reduce the calculation effort, leading to conservative results.
앫 Perforated section approach: In this approach, the perforated section is the critical
section to be considered in design, and the structural adequacy of the steel beams
depends on the section capacities of the perforated sections under co-existing
global shear forces and moments. Simple and empirical moment-shear interaction
curves are often used, and thus, the design methods are generally considered to
be simple, straight forwards, and suitable for engineers in their practical design.
However, the design methods are somehow restrictive with limited applications,
and often, they are very conservative [5].

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
1180 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

highly desirable to develop an empirical design method which is structurally efficient

and applicable to web openings of various shapes and sizes [6]. This is best
accomplished through extensive parametric studies of non-linear finite element analy-
ses on steel beams with web openings followed by development of an empirical
design method using a generalised moment-shear interaction curve.

2. Scope of investigation

The project may be divided into the following parts of activities:

1. Part I. Finite element investigation. Based on the finite element models with
material and geometrical non-linearity 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 opening sizes in steel beams of four different section sizes were covered.
The structural behaviour of the perforated sections in terms of deformation charac-
teristics, moment shear interaction curves, and yield patterns were fully reported
and discussed in a complimentary paper [7]. However, for ease of reference, the
moment-shear interaction curves of perforated sections are presented in this paper.
2. Part II. Development of empirical design method. Based on the results of the
finite element investigation, an empirical design method for steel beams with web
openings of various shapes and sizes was developed through the use of a general-
ised moment-shear interaction curve. Basic section capacities of the perforated
sections were first established, and then the effect of local ‘Vierendeel’ moments
acting on the tee-sections above and below the web openings was incorporated
through a reduction to the global shear and moment capacities of the perforated
sections. The design method is fully presented in this paper supplemented with
worked examples in the Appendices.

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. The formulation is presented in accordance with Euroc-
ode 3 for easy reference. It should be noted that both the bending 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 geometric configurations of all the web open-
ings covered in the finite element investigation are presented in Fig. 2.

3. Moment–shear interaction curves from finite element investigation

The moment-shear interaction curves obtained from the finite element investi-
gation are presented in Fig. 3. The moment-shear interaction curves for eight opening
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1181

Fig. 2. Geometric configuration of web openings.

shapes with three opening sizes subjected to various moment-to-shear force ratios
in steel beams of four section sizes are arranged in a rational manner for easy com-
parison and reference. The global shear force, Vo,Sd, and the global moment, Mo,Sd,
at the centre-line of the perforated sections at failure are non-dimensionalised with
respect to the global section capacities of the perforated sections, namely, Vo,Rd and
Mo,Rd. All the interaction curves are shown to be similar in pattern. This confirms
the suitability of a generalised moment-shear interaction curve for the design of
perforated sections with various shapes and sizes.
It should be noted that despite the variation in sizes and shapes of web openings,
1182 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Fig. 3. Moment–shear interaction curves obtained from finite element investigation.

all the curves converge to the same x-intercept, i.e. having the same moment
capacities under zero global shear force, provided that the web openings have the
same depths. However, all the curves have different y-intercepts, i.e. different shear
capacities at perforated sections under zero global moment, probably due to different
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1183

Fig. 3 (continued)

local ‘Vierendeel’ moments acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web
openings.
In order to understand the effects of both the shapes and the sizes of web openings
on the structural performance of perforated sections, it is important to relate both
the opening depth, do, and the critical opening length, c, to the following:
1184 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Fig. 3 (continued)

앫 global shear force and moment acting on the perforated sections, and
앫 local co-existing axial and shear forces, and moment acting onto the tee-sections
above and below the web openings.

In general, an increase in the opening depth, do, always reduces both the shear
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1185

Fig. 3 (continued)

and the moment capacities of the perforated sections, and thus, both shear and flex-
ural failures of perforated sections are primarily controlled by the magnitude of do.
However, while an increase in the opening length, c, does not affect the shear and
the moment capacities of the perforated sections, it increases directly the local ‘Vier-
endeel’ moments acting onto the tee-sections, and thus promotes the ‘Vierendeel’
1186 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

mechanism in the perforated sections. Consequently, for web openings with same
values of do but with different values of c, the load capacities of the perforated
sections are inversely proportional to the values of c.
It may be convenient to consider that both the shear failure and the ‘Vierendeel’
mechanism in perforated sections are primarily caused by global shear forces. The
global shear capacities of the perforated sections attain their maximum values in the
absence of axial forces due to global moment. Any increase in the global moment
at the perforated sections will induce local axial forces in the tee-sections, promoting
local yielding of the tee-sections and hence collapse of the perforated sections, as
shown in Fig. 4. For perforated sections under large global moment, the global shear
capacities will be greatly reduced.

4. Proposed design method

The whole range of behaviour of perforated sections is characterised by three

actions: global bending action, global shear action, and local ‘Vierendeel’ action.
Design rules for basic moment and shear capacities of perforated sections are
presented first. The effect of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism is then incorporated into the
shear capacities of perforated sections, giving the ‘coupled shear capacities’ of per-
forated sections. Finally, a generalised moment-shear interaction curve is rec-
ommended to allow for the presence of co-existing global shear force and moment
on perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and sizes.

4.1. Basic moment capacity

Consider a perforated section, and an opening of depth, do, is formed at the mid-
height of the web. The applied global moment and shear force at the centre of the

Fig. 4. Reduction in moment-shear interaction curve of perforated sections due to coupled ‘Vierendeel’
mechanism.
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1187

web opening are Mo,Sd and Vo,Sd respectively. The moment resistance of the perfor-
ated section, Mo,Rd , is given by:
d2otw
Mo,Rd ⫽ fy Wo,pl ⱖ Mo,Sd Wo,pl ⫽ Wpl ⫺ (1)
4
where Wpl is the plastic modulus of the un-perforated section; tw is the web thickness;
do is the opening depth; fyis the design yield strength of the steel beam.

4.2. Basic shear capacity

In general, the shear area of an I-section is defined as h × tw based on simple

plastic section analysis and h is the overall section depth. This approximation is
widely adopted in modern steel codes because of its simplicity. Moreover, as the
flanges are assigned to resist bending moment while the web is assigned to resist
shear force, the contribution of the flanges to the shear capacity of the entire section
may often be neglected without causing any significant error. However, in an I-
section with a large web opening, the shear area of the web is substantially reduced,
and thus the shear areas of the flanges become significant in assessing the shear
capacity of the perforated section.
During the finite element investigation, the shear capacities of perforated sections
were consistently found to be larger than those predicted from current design rules,
suggesting that parts of the flange areas should be incorporated in order to assess
the shear capacities of perforated sections accurately. As shown in Fig. 5, the equival-
ent shear area of a flange, Avf, after calibration against finite element results, is
given by:
Avf ⫽ tf ⫻ (0.375 tf ⫹ tw ⫹ 0.375 tf)
where tw is the web thickness; tf is the flange thickness.
Consequently, the plastic shear resistance of the perforated section, Vo,Rd, is
given by:

Fig. 5. Equivalent shear area in tee section based on finite element investigation.
1188 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Vo,Rd ⫽ fvAvoⱖVo,Sd (2a)

Avo ⫽ Av⫺do ⫻ tw (2b)
where fv is the shear strength of the steel beam taken as 0.577 fy/gMo; gMo is a material
factor taken as 1.0; Av is the shear area of the un-perforated section,
⫽ h ⫻ tw ⫹ 2 ⫻ (0.75 tf ⫻ tf) (2c)
For a typical beam section such as UB 457 × 152 × 52 S275, the shear area of
the flanges contributes an increase of 10% in the shear capacity of a perforated
section with a web opening of do/h equal to 0.50. For a perforated section with do/h
equal to 0.75, the increase in the shear capacity is 21%. It should be noted that for
beam sections with thick flanges, the increase in shear capacities is likely to exceed
30%, and Table 1 summarises the increases of the shear capacities in four steel
beams with web openings of three different do/h ratios.

4.3. Coupled shear capacity allowing for Vierendeel mechanism

After determining the basic shear capacity of a perforated section, Vo,Rd, it is

important to consider the effect of local ‘Vierendeel’ moments acting at the tee-
sections above and below the web opening on the global shear capacity of the perfor-
ated section. It should be noted that both the global shear force and the local ‘Vieren-
deel’ moment are ‘coupled’ as they act on the perforated section simultaneously.
The extents of coupling in perforated sections are obviously very complicated,
depending not only on the shapes and sizes of web openings, but also on the applied
global shear forces and moments at the perforated sections. As reported in the comp-
lementary paper, the ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism has been studied extensively in the
finite element investigation. The global shear capacities allowing for ‘Vierendeel’
mechanism, or the global coupled shear capacities, Vo,Rd,Vi, of perforated sections
covered in the present study may be obtained directly from the moment-shear interac-
tion curves presented in Fig. 3. For design purposes, a coupled shear capacity ratio
for perforated sections, v̄, is defined as follows:
Vo,Rd,Vi
v̄ ⫽ (3)
Vo,Rd
The coupled shear capacity ratio governs the global shear capacity of a perforated

Table 1
Summary of increase in pure shear capacities of perforated sections due to shear areas of flanges

Perforated sections do /h = 0.50 do / h = 0.67 do / h = 0.75

UB 457 × 152 × 52 10% 16% 21%

UB 457 × 152 × 82 22% 33% 43%
UB 610 × 229 × 101 10% 16% 21%
UB 610 × 229 × 140 18% 27% 36%
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1189

section under coupled shear failure and ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in the absence of
global moment. Table 2 summarises the values of v̄ for perforated sections covered
in the present study, which are obtained directly from the finite element investigation.
It is shown that for web openings with small opening lengths such as c-hexagonal
web openings, the values of v̄ are close to unity for various do/h ratios, showing
little coupling effect of the ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism on the perforated sections. How-
ever, for web openings with large opening lengths such as rectangular and elongated
web openings, the ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism is apparent and the values of v̄ are often
less than 0.5.

4.4. Generalised moment-shear interaction curve

In general, an interaction curve with an elliptical expression may be used to allow

for interaction between moment and shear force in solid rectangular plates:
m2 ⫹ v 2 ⫽ 1 (4a)
or
v ⫽ 冑1 ⫺ m2 (4b)
where
Vo,Sd
v is the shear utilisation ratio ⫽ (5a)
Vo,Rd
Mo,Sd
m is the moment utilisation ratio ⫽ . (5b)
Mo,Rd
However, for perforated sections, this interaction curve should be modified to
allow for the presence of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism as shown in Fig. 4. In general,
for perforated sections under zero global moment, the shear utilisation ratios are

Table 2
Summary of coupled shear capacity ratios, v̄, for perforated sections with web openings of various shapes
and sizes

Opening shapes Opening sizes

do /h = 0.50 do / h = 0.67 do / h = 0.75

C-hexagon 1.00 0.96 0.91

Circle 0.95 0.87 0.80
Regular octagon 0.90 0.78 0.68
Regular hexagon 0.82 0.66 0.55
Square 0.66 0.42 0.32
Elongated circle 2do 0.56 0.35 0.26
Rectangle 2:1 0.38 0.21 0.16
Elongated circle 3do 0.35 0.19 0.13
1190 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

reduced from unity to the coupled shear capacity ratios, v̄. In the presence of global
moments, the shear utilisation ratios of the perforated sections will diminish gradu-
ally, depending on the magnitudes of the global moments. After careful calibration
with the moment-shear interaction curves obtained from the finite element investi-
gation, a generalised moment-shear interaction curve is recommended as follows:

For v̄ ⬍ 2 / 3 冉冊
v
v̄
2
⫹ m2 ⫽ 1 (6a)

For v̄ ⱖ 2 / 3 冉v ⫺ ( v̄ ⫺ 2 / 3 )
2/3 冊 2
⫹ m2 ⫽ 1 (6b)

where
Mo,Rd,Vi
m is the coupled moment capacity ratio, ⫽ . (5c)
Mo,Rd
For analysis, the shear utilisation ratio, v, and the moment coupled moment
capacity ratio, m, are given by:

For v̄ ⬍ 2 / 3 v ⫽ v̄ 冑1 ⫺ m2 ⱕ v or m ⫽ 冑1 ⫺ (v / v) 2
(6c)

For v̄ ⱖ2 / 3 v ⫽ v̄⫺ ⫹ 冑1 ⫺ m2 ⱕ v or
2 2
(6d)
3 3

m ⫽ 冪 1⫺ 冋 v ⫺( v ⫺ 2 / 3 ) 2
2/3
.册
In all cases, the shear utilisation ratio, v, should not exceed the coupled shear
capacity ratio, v̄. Fig. 6 plots the proposed moment-shear interaction curves for web
openings with various shapes and sizes, and they are considered to be applicable to
steel beams with practical section sizes. The design curves are also plotted in Fig.
3 for direct comparison with the finite element results. It is shown that for perforated
sections with large web openings, the proposed design interaction curves follow
closely the finite element results for the whole ranges of moment and shear ratios.
However, for perforated sections with small web openings, the proposed design
curves are considered to be relatively conservative when interactions between
moment and shear forces are significant.
It is important to note that, based on the three ratios, namely, the shear utilisation
ratio, v, the moment utilisation ratio, m, and the coupled shear capacity ratio, v̄, the
load carrying capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes and
sizes may be obtained readily through the proposed moment-shear interaction curve.
The design procedures are fully illustrated in the two worked examples given in
Appendices A and B. Web openings with different shapes and sizes are selected to
illustrate the design procedure of the proposed design method in meeting the require-
ments on the load carrying capacities of steel beams.
It should be noted that the proposed design method is very effective as it has been
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1191

Fig. 6. Proposed moment-shear interaction curves.

carefully calibrated against non-linear finite element results. The design expression
is simple and easy to use. Consequently, the proposed design method is suitable for
engineers in their practical design.

5. ‘Vierendeel’ parameter

After assessing both the global shear force and moment capacities of perforated
sections, it may be useful in some cases to know the relative importance of ‘Vieren-
deel’ mechanism in perforated sections with web openings of various shapes and
sizes. Comparison on the results of the finite element investigation reveals that:

앫 For web openings with small opening lengths under high shear force, shear failure
is apparent in the perforated section, especially for deep web openings.
앫 For web openings with large opening lengths under high shear force, ‘Vierendeel’
mechanism is dominant in the perforated section.
앫 For web openings with large opening depths under low shear force, flexural failure
in the perforated section may be critical.
1192 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

In order to assess the performance of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in perforated sec-

tions, an indicative parameter, namely, the ‘Vierendeel’ parameter, vi , is established
and defined as follows:
Vo,Rd,Vi
vi ⫽ (7)
4 MT,Rd / c
where MT,Rd is the basic moment capacity of tee-sections under zero axial and shear
forces; Vo,Rd,Vi is the global coupled shear capacity of perforated sections obtained
from the finite element investigation; and c is the critical opening length.
For perforated sections under zero global moment, the ‘Vierendeel’ parameter, vi,
is equal to unity provided that plastic hinges are fully developed at the ends of the
tee-sections above and below the web openings.

6. Relative importance of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism

In order to illustrate the importance of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in perforated sec-

tions with web openings of various shapes and sizes, a plot of the ‘Vierendeel’
parameter, vi , against the critical opening length ratio, c/do, for perforated sections
under zero global moment is presented in Fig. 7. It is shown that for web openings

Fig. 7. Typical values of ‘Vierendeel’ parameter in perforated sections with various opening shapes and
sizes. UB457 × 152 × 52 S275 and Mo,Sd = 0.
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1193

with large c, such as square, rectangular and elongated openings, vi is always close
to unity, showing the importance of the ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism. For web openings
with small c, such as c-hexagonal, circular, octagonal and hexagonal web openings,
vi is generally small, in particular for those web openings with do/h equal to 0.50.
In Fig. 8, vi is plotted for three different shapes of web openings located at various
locations along a 12 m long simply supported beam of UB 457 × 152 × 52 S275.
Both the shear and the moment utilisation ratios of the perforated sections, v and
m, are also plotted on the same graph for direct comparison. It is shown that:

1. For perforated sections with rectangular web openings with do = 0.5 h, vi is very
large where the sections are under high to medium shear force. In perforated
sections beyond 4 m from the support, m increases quickly at the expense of vi,
demonstrating a sudden change of critical failure mode from ‘Vierendeel’ mech-
anism to flexural failure.
2. For perforated sections with regular hexagonal web openings with do = 0.67 h,
vi is very large only in sections under high shear force. In perforated sections
beyond 2 m from the support, vi diminishes quickly, but m increases sharply
towards unity showing the significant reduction in moment capacities of the per-
forated sections due to the presence of web openings.
3. For perforated sections with c-hexagonal web openings with do = 0.75 h, the value
of v is always larger than vi along the entire length of the beam, showing that
shear failure is always more critical than ‘Vieredneel’ mechanism as the critical
opening length is small. However, the switch of critical failure mode for shear
failure to flexural failure takes place at about 1.5 m from the support, showing
the severe reduction in moment capacities of the perforated sections due to the
presence of large web openings.

7. Conclusions

Based on the results of a comprehensive finite element investigation on steel beams

with web openings of various shapes and sizes, a design method using a generalised
moment-shear interaction curve is proposed for determining the load capacities of
steel beams with web openings of various shapes and sizes. The design method is
considered to be simple, straight forwards, and highly efficient in structural economy
for engineers in their practical design.
It should be noted that

1. Based on the finite element investigation, it is found that the basic shear capacities
of perforated I-sections are consistently larger than those predicted from current
design rules, and thus, the shear areas of the flanges should be included. Conse-
quently, a revised design rule for basic shear capacities of perforated sections
including both the shear areas of the web and the flanges is proposed after careful
calibration against finite element results.
2. As the global shear forces in perforated sections may cause both shear failure and
1194 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Fig. 8. vi, v and m of perforated sections with various opening shapes and sizes along beam span
UB457 × 152 × 52 S275.
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1195

‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in perforated sections simultaneously, the effect of local

‘Vierendeel’ moments acting onto the tee-sections above and below the web open-
ings is incorporated through a reduction to the global shear capacities of the per-
forated sections, giving rise to the global coupled shear capacity, Vo,Rd,Vi, of per-
forated sections. The values of global coupled shear capacities for perforated
sections covered in the present study may be obtained directly from the moment-
shear interaction curves in Fig. 3. The normalised values of the global coupled
shear capacities for perforated sections covered in the present study are summar-
ised in Table 2.
3. It is important to note that, based on the three ratios, namely, the shear utilisation
ratio, v, the moment utilisation ratio, m , and the coupled shear capacity ratio,
v̄, the load carrying capacities of steel beams with web openings of various shapes
and sizes may be obtained readily through the proposed moment-shear interaction
curve. Moreover, the proposed design method is very effective as it has been
carefully calibrated against non-linear finite element results, and the design
expression is simple and easy to use. Consequently, the proposed design method
is suitable for engineers in their practical design.
4. For perforated sections with large web openings, the proposed moment-shear
interaction curve is considered to follow closely the finite element results for the
whole ranges of moment and shear ratios. However, for perforated sections with
small web openings, the proposed curve is slightly conservative when interactions
between moment and shear forces are significant.
5. An indicative parameter, the ‘Vierendeel’ parameter, is established to assess the
performance of ‘Vierendeel’ mechanism in perforated sections. Through compari-
son among the moment and the shear utilisation ratios, m and v, and the ‘Vieren-
deel’ parameter, vi, the critical modes of failure in perforated sections under differ-
ent moment-shear ratios may be readily assessed.

Acknowledgements

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

Appendix A. Worked example 1

Load carrying capacity of a steel beam with multiple web openings based on
empirical design rule

A 7.5-m span simply supported beam of UB 457 × 152 × 52 S275 with six circular
web openings (do = 0.75 h) is subject to a uniformly distributed load of 35 kN/m.
The openings are placed symmetrically about the center of the beam with an interval
of 1.0 m starting from the supports. Check the structural adequacy of the steel beam.
1196 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Data

L, 7.5 m; xo, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 m; h, 449.8 mm; tw, 7.6 mm; bf, 152.4 mm; tf, 10.9 mm;
do, 337.35 mm; Wpl, 1096 × 103 mm3; v̄ = 0.8 for circular opening.
The load carrying capacity of the beam without web openings, wo, is 42.9 kN/m
for L = 7.5 m.

Steel beams with circular web openings

Step 1: Determine the shear and the moment capacities of the perforated section
twd2o
Eq. (1) Mo,Rd ⫽ fyWo,pl ⫽ fy(Wpl⫺ )
4
7.6 ⫻ 337.352
⫽ 275 ⫻ (1096⫺ ) ⫻ 10⫺3 ⫽ 241.9 kNm
4 ⫻ 1000
Eq. (2) Avo ⫽ tw(h⫺do) ⫹ 2 (0.75t2f)
⫽ 7.6 ⫻ (449.8⫺337.35) ⫹ 2 ⫻ 0.75 ⫻ 10.92 ⫽ 1032.8 mm2
Vo,Rd ⫽ 0.577fyAvo ⫽ 0.577 ⫻ 275 ⫻ 1032.8 ⫻ 10⫺3 ⫽ 163.9k N
Step 2: Determine the applied shear force and moment at the center of the web
openings

L wxo(L⫺xo)
xo (m) VSd = w( ⫺xo) (kN) v MSd = (kNm)
2 2

1.0 96.3 0.587 113.8

2.0 61.3 0.374 192.5
3.0 26.3 0.160 236.3

Step 3: Determine the moment capacities at the perforated sections under high
shear
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1197

For xo ⫽ 1.0 m, v ⫽ 0.587:

Eq. (4) M1,Rd ⫽ Mo,Rd冑1⫺v2 ⫽ 241.9冑1⫺0.5872 ⫽ 195.8 kNm
2
Noting that v̄ ⫽ 0.8 ⬎ ,
3

冪1⫺[冋 册
v ⫺ (v ⫺ 2 / 3) 2 0.587 ⫺ (0.8 ⫺ 2 / 3)
冪1⫺[
2
Eq. (6) M2,Rd ⫽ Mo,Rd ] ⫽ Mo,Rd
2/ 3 2/3
⫽ 0.733 Mo,Rd ⫽ 177.3 kNm
So Mo,Rd,Vi ⫽ 177.3 kNm ⬎ MSd ⫽ 113.8 kNm

冪 冉 冊
冤 冥
2
m̄ ⫽ v⫺ v̄⫺
3
1⫺
2
3

Similarly,
For xo ⫽ 2.0 m, Mo,Rd,Vi ⫽ 0.928 Mo,Rd ⫽ 224.4 kNm ⬎ MSd ⫽ 192.5 kNm⬖ OK
For xo ⫽ 3.0 m, Mo,Rd,Vi ⫽ 0.987 Mo,Rd ⫽ 238.8 kNm ⬎ MSd ⫽ 236.3 kNm⬖ OK

If the opening shape is changed, the load carrying capacity of the beam will be
different. Suppose the opening shape is changed to octagon and c-hexagon, repeating
the above steps will give the following results.

Steel beams with octagonal web openings

xo do/h w v̄ VSd v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking

(m) (kN/m) (kN) (kNm) (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi

1 0.75 35 0.68 96.3 0.587 113.8 123.3 0.923 OK

2 0.75 35 0.68 61.3 0.374 192.5 203.6 0.946 OK
3 0.67 35 0.78 26.3 0.160 236.3 251.9 0.938 OK
1198 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Steel beams with C-hexagonal web openings

xo do/h w v̄ VSd v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking

(m) (kN/m) (kN) (kNm) (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi

1 0.75 35 0.91 96.3 0.587 113.8 195.9 0.581 OK

2 0.75 35 0.91 61.3 0.374 192.5 224.4 0.858 OK
3 0.75 35 0.91 26.3 0.160 236.3 238.8 0.989 OK

Note: All web openings are spaced apart without any interaction.

Appendix B. Worked example 2

A 12-m span simply supported beam of UB 610 × 229 × 140 S355 with six square
web openings (do = 0.5 h) is subject to a uniformly distributed load of 80 kN/m.
The openings are placed symmetrically about the center of the beam with an interval
of 1.2 m starting from the supports. Increase the opening sizes by changing the
opening shapes, if appropriate, without reducing the load carrying capacity.

Data

L, 12 m; xo, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 m; h, 617.2 mm; tw, 13.1 mm; bf, 230.2 mm; tf, 22.1 mm;
do, 308.6 mm; Wpl, 4142 × 103 mm3.
The load carrying capacity of the beam without web openings, wo, is 81.6 kN/m
for L = 12 m.
The following tables list the results of which the square web openings are changed
to other shapes at each location.
 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200 1199

Steel beams with octagonal web openings

xo do/h w v̄ VSd v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking

(m) (kN/m) (kN) (kNm) (kNm) Mo,Rd,Vi

1.2 0.67 80 0.78 384.0 0.551 518.4 959.3 0.540 OK

2.4 0.67 80 0.78 288.0 0.413 921.6 1135.7 0.811 OK
3.6 0.67 80 0.78 192.0 0.275 1209.6 1222.4 0.990 OK

Steel beams with circular web openings

xo do/h w v̄ VSd v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking

(m) (kN/m) (kN) (kNm) (kNm) Mvo,Rd,Vi

1.2 0.75 80 0.80 384.0 0.551 518.4 698.2 0.742 OK

2.4 0.75 80 0.80 288.0 0.413 921.6 1007.4 0.915 OK
3.6 0.67 80 0.87 192.0 0.275 1209.6 1222.4 0.990 OK
1200 K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 59 (2003) 1177–1200

Steel beams with c-hexagonal web openings

xo do/h w v̄ VSd v MSd Mo,Rd,Vi MSd Checking

(m) (kN/m) (kN) (kNm) (kNm) Mvo,Rd,Vi

1.2 0.75 80 0.91 384.0 0.551 518.4 895.1 0.579 OK

2.4 0.75 80 0.91 288.0 0.413 921.6 1050.4 0.877 OK
3.6 0.67 80 0.96 192.0 0.275 1209.6 1222.4 0.990 OK

Thus, if the opening shape is to be changed at various specific locations along

the beam without reducing the original load carrying capacity, then the following
opening configuration is one possibility:

References

[1] Lawson RM. Design for openings in the webs of composite beams. CIRIA/Steel Construction Institute,
1987 CIRIA Special Publication and SCI Publication 068.
[2] Darwin D. Steel and composite beams with web openings. In: Steel design guide series No. 2.
Chicago, IL, USA: American Institute of Steel Construction; 1990.
[3] Redwood RG, Cho SH. Design of steel and composite beams with web openings. J Construct Steel
Res 1993;25:23–41.
[4] Oehlers DJ, Bradford MA. Composite steel and concrete structural members: Fundamental behaviour.
Pergamon, 1995.
[5] Ko CH, Chung KF. A comparative study on existing design rules for steel beams with circular web
openings. In: Yang YB, Leu LL, Hsieh SH, editors. Proceedings of the First International Conference
on Structural Stability and Dynamics, Taipei. 2000. p. 733–8.
[6] Chung KF, Liu TCH, Ko ACH. Investigation on Vierendeel mechanism in steel beams with circular
web openings. J Construct Steel Res 2001;57(5):467–90.
[7] Chung KF, Liu TCH, Ko ACH. Steel beams with large web openings of various shapes and sizes:
Finite element investigation. doi:10.1016/S0143-974X(03)00030-0.