Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 467490

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Investigation on Vierendeel mechanism in steel

beams with circular web openings
K.F. Chung
a

a,*

, T.C.H. Liu b, A.C.H. Ko

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong,
Peoples Republic of China
b
Manchester School of Engineering, Manchester, UK
Received 12 September 2000; accepted 6 December 2000

Abstract
In the current design method for steel I beams with circular web openings, the load carrying
capacities of the beams is assumed to be limited by the formation of plastic hinges at the top
tee-sections at the low moment side of the web opening. Moreover, a linear interaction formula
is used to assess the moment capacity of the tee-sections above and below the web openings
under co-existing axial and shear forces. The method is regarded as conservative since the
formation of plastic hinges in the top tee-sections at the low moment side of the web openings
does not always cause failure. The beams are capable of carrying additional load until four
plastic hinges at critical locations of the perforated sections are developed to form a Vierendeel
mechanism. Moreover, the reduction in the moment capacities of the tee-sections under
coexisting axial and shear forces is less severe than that anticipated by the linear interaction
formula.
The paper presents an investigation of the Vierendeel mechanism in steel beams with circular web openings based on analytical and numerical studies. The current design method is
examined in detail with plastic hinges formed at the low moment side (LMS) and the high
moment side (HMS) of the web openings separately. A finite element model is then established
with both material and geometrical non-linearity so that load redistribution across the web
openings may be incorporated. Moreover, the moment capacities of the tee-sections above and
below the web openings may be properly evaluated in the presence of co-existing axial and
shear forces in the finite element model. The load carrying capacities of typical universal steel
beams with circular web openings are also presented and discussed. An empirical shear
moment interaction curve at the perforated sections is also suggested for practical design of
steel beams with circular web openings against the Vierendeel mechanism. It is found that

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cekchung@polyu.edu.hk (K.F. Chung).
0143-974X/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 3 - 9 7 4 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 3 5 - 3

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shear yielding in steel beams with circular web openings is very important as it promotes the
plastic hinge formation at the high moment side of the web opening. Such effect is less significant in steel beams with rectangular web openings where the bending moment is often dominant. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Circular web opening; Design development; Finite element analysis; Material and geometric
non-linearity; Shear moment interaction curves

1. Introduction
In modern buildings, openings are frequently required to be provided in structural
members so that building services may be incorporated into structural zones for
simplified layout and installation. Moreover, the overall depth of the construction
zone may be reduced accordingly, and it may become beneficial for multi-storey
buildings with large headroom requirement.
At present, there is a tendency to use water pipes and air ducts of increasing sizes,
and openings of dimensions up to 75% of the depth of floor beams are often required.
The presence of large web openings may have a severe penalty on the load carrying
capacities of floor beams, depending on the shapes, the sizes, and the locations of
the openings. Both rectangular and circular openings are commonly used, and
reinforcements around the web openings may be provided as necessary through
rational design.
Castellated beams with both hexagonal and circular web openings are also commonly used where large web openings are provided along the beams at regular intervals for flexible routing and re-routing of building services. Moreover, the castellation process increases the overall section depths of the beams by 50%, and thus
improves both the flexural strength and stiffness of the beams significantly. Precambering may also be readily achieved in the beams during the castellation process
with little additional effort.
The presence of web openings in steel beams introduces three different modes of
failure at the perforated sections:
! shear failure due to reduced shear capacity,
! flexural failure due to reduced moment capacity,
! the Vierendeel mechanism, as shown in Fig. 1, due to the formation of four
plastic hinges in the tee-sections above and below the web openings under the
Vierendeel action, i.e. transferring of lateral shear force across a web opening.
In general, both the shear and the moment capacities of the perforated sections may
be readily assessed. However, the moment capacities of the tee-sections above and
below the web openings under local moments are relatively difficult to be evaluated
in the presence of co-existing axial and shear forces due to global bending action.
Moreover, it is necessary to use plastic design to incorporate the formation of four
plastic hinges in the tee-sections for an improved prediction of the load carrying
capacity of the beams.

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Fig. 1.

469

Vierendeel mechanism around the circular web opening.

For beams with multiple web openings, buckling of web posts may be critical
when the openings are closely spaced. Moreover, additional deflection due to the
presence of web openings should also be considered.
2. General design recommendations
There are a number of design recommendations [15] available in the literature
for both steel beams and composite beams with rectangular web openings. In general,
the design rules for both the shear and the moment capacities of perforated sections
are relatively simple and similar. However, there are a number of different methods
in allowing the effect of co-existing axial and shear forces in assessing the moment
capacities of tee-sections. The design rules are complicated and they differ significantly among each other, depending on the design methodology adopted, and also
the accuracy and the calculation efforts involved.
For steel beams with circular web openings, most of the design rules are applicable
using an equivalent rectangular opening of modified dimensions, as suggested by
Redwood [6]. However, due to the simplistic approach, the load carrying capacities
of steel beams are always underestimated significantly. Elastic stress distribution in
beams with large circular web openings have been examined by Chan and Redwood
[7] using the theory of elasticity and the curved beam analysis. In order to assess
the load carrying capacities of steel beams with multiple circular web openings in
an explicit manner, a design method [8] based on the research works of Olander [9]
and Sahmel [10] was developed at the Steel Construction Institute in 1990. The
method was later incorporated into Amendment A2 of Eurocode 3 [11]: Part 1.1:
Annex N, in 1998 after minor modification. However, for steel beams with individual
circular web openings, the use of a different set of approximate design rules was
recommended in Annex N.
For cold-formed steel sections, an extensive experimental investigation [12] was
carried out on both circular and rectangular openings in lipped C-sections and sigma
sections, and a set of design rules supplementary to BS5950: Part 5 was also proposed [13] after calibration against test data.

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An overall review of the design recommendations shows that in general, there

are two design methods in assessing the structural behaviour of steel beams with
web openings:
! Tee-section design. In this method, 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 section
capacities of the tee-sections under co-existing axial and shear forces, and local
moments.
In general, the design procedure in this method is complicated and the calculation effort is considerable. The accuracy of the method 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.
! Perforated section design. In this method, 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 shear
force and bending moment due to global actions. Simple shear moment interaction
curves are often used, and thus the design procedure in this method is generally
simple but the results are often very conservative.

3. Scope of study
The investigation may be divided into the following parts:
Part I. Analytical study of current design method:
(a) Firstly, plastic hinge formation at the low moment side (LMS) of the web
openings is considered. Through the linear interaction curve, the co-existing axial
force, shear force and bending moment are incorporated to give a shear moment
interaction curve, namely, curve LMS.
(b) Secondly, plastic hinge formation at the high moment side (HMS) of the
web openings is considered to give another shear moment interaction curve,
namely, curve HMS, for comparison.
(c) Deficiencies of the current design method are discussed.
Part II. Finite element modelling of the Vierendeel mechanism in perforated sections:
(d) A finite element model for steel beams with large circular web openings is
established with both material and geometrical non-linearity. After calibration
against test data, a shear moment interaction curve, namely curve FEM, is established for steel beams with different opening diameters.
(e) Based on the results of the finite element models, the shear moment interaction curves for perforated sections with different opening sizes in four hot rolled

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471

steel beams are presented. Reduction in the load carrying capacities of the steel
beams with different spans is also studied.
Part III. Proposal of a simple design method:
(f) An empirical shear moment interaction curve is proposed for practical design
of steel beams with circular web openings.
In the present investigation, all hot rolled steel I sections are of class 1 or 2 (plastic
or compact). All web openings are concentric to the mid-height of the sections with
diameters between 0.5h and 0.75h, where h is the depth of the sections. No reinforcement is considered. The formulation is presented in accordance with Eurocode 3 for
easy reference. It should be noted that both the bending moment, MSd, and the shear
force, VSd, due to global actions are evaluated at the centre of the web openings, as
shown in Fig. 1.

4. Analytical study of current design method

Consider a circular opening of diameter do formed in a steel beam of overall depth
h, as shown in Fig. 1. The global bending moment and the global shear force at the
centre of the web opening are MSd and VSd, respectively.
The moment capacity of the perforated section, Mo,Rd, is given as follows:
Mo,Rd!fyWo,pl"MSd, Wo,pl!Wpl#

d 2otw
4

(1)

where Wpl is the plastic modulus of the overall section, tw is the web thickness, do
is the diameter of the opening, and fy is the design yield strength of the steel.
The shear capacity of the perforated section, Vo,Rd, is given as follows:
Vo,Rd!fvAvo"VSd, Avo!Av#dotw

(2)

where fv is the shear strength of the steel, taken as 0.577fy/gMo, Av is the shear area
of the unperforated section, or equal to htw conservatively, and h is the overall
depth of the steel beam.
In general, the reduction in the shear capacity is more pronounced when compared
to the reduction in the moment capacity as the presence of the opening in the web
reduces the shear area of the section significantly but the reduction to the section
modulus is small.
As a result of global actions, the tee-sections above and below the web opening
are subject to three co-existing actions [14] as shown in Fig. 2:
! axial force Nj,Sd due to the global bending moment MSd;
! shear force Vj,Sd due to the global shear force, VSd;
! local bending moment M,Sd due to the transfer of shear force across the opening.
For perforated sections under large MSd and VSd at the centre of the web opening,

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Fig. 2.

Local forces acting at an inclined cross-section.

the Vierendeel action may cause the formation of four plastic hinges at critical
locations of the tee-sections under the co-existing Nj,Sd, Vj,Sd and Mj,Sd, as also
shown in Fig. 2. At the cross-section with j equal to zero, the axial force No,Sd, the
shear force, Vo,Sd, and the bending moment, Mo,Sd, may be evaluated as follows:
No,Sd!

Io2IT
1
IT
MSd; Vo,Sd! VSd; Mo,Sd! MSd
Iohc
2
Io

(3)

where Io and IT are the second moments of area of the perforated section and the
tee-section, respectively, and hc is the distance between the centroids of the top and
the bottom tee-sections.
It is assumed that the global shear force VSd is equally resisted by the top and the
bottom tee-sections. This is always applicable when the opening is located away
from any concentrated load or support by a distance of at least twice the section
depth. Moreover, Mo,Sd is evaluated according to deformation compatibility between
the unperforated section and the tee-sections under global bending action.
4.1. Plastic hinge formation at the LMS of the web openings
For a cross-section with an angle j from the vertical at the LMS of the web
opening, the axial force Nj,Sd, the shear force Vj,Sd and the bending moment Mj,Sd
acting at the centroid of the tee-section are given as follows:

!"
!"

!"
!"

Nj,Sd!No,Sd cos

j
j
$Vo,Sd sin
2
2

(4a)

Vj,Sd!No,Sd sin

j
j
#Vo,Sd cos
2
2

(4b)

Mj,Sd!Vo,Sdu#No,Sdv#Mo,Sd (hogging)

(4c)

where u and v are the horizontal and the vertical distances between the centroids of
the two cross-sections.
Under the co-existing actions, the resultant stress distribution of the cross-section

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473

may be established as shown in Fig. 2. As the angle j increases, the stress distribution of the corresponding cross-section changes from elastic to plastic under the
increased local bending moment Mj, and the stress in the web of the top tee-section
is more compressive than that in the flange. However, cross-sections with large j
are elastic due to the large web depth. In general, a plastic hinge will only be formed
at a cross-section where the actions are large but the capacities are small; the corresponding value of j is designated as jp. A similar situation also exists in the teesection below the web opening.
In order to allow for the co-existing axial and shear forces, the local moment
capacity of tee-sections may be evaluated according to a linear interaction formula
[8,11] as follows:
Nj,Sd Mj,Sd
$
%1
Nj,Rd Mj,Rd

(5)

where Nj,Rd and Mj,Rd are the axial force and the moment capacity of the tee-section
at the cross-section being considered. In the presence of high shear force Vj,Sd, both
the axial force and the moment capacities, Nj,Rd and M,Rd, should be reduced in
accordance with Eurocode 3: Part 1.1 and re-designated as Nvj,Rd and Mvj,Rd.
It should be noted that during the evaluation of the moment capacities of teesections against the Viereendel action, the depth of the web depends on the positions
of the plastic hinges. Furthermore, the moment capacities of the tee-sections may
be reduced significantly in the presence of high axial and shear forces which in turn
depend on the positions of the plastic hinges. Thus, iterations are required to locate
the critical cross-sections for plastic hinge formation, and also the minimum values
of the moment capacities of the tee-sections. It is obvious that the calculation process
is very involved and the entire design procedure may be implemented in computer
software for practical application.
In order to demonstrate the structural performance of steel beams with circular
web openings, a shear moment interaction curve at the perforated sections under
global actions may be generated for the low moment side of the web opening. For
a global bending moment MSd, there is always a global shear force VSd which causes
failure in the perforated section according to equations (4) and (5). A typical interaction curve relating the shear utilisation ratio VSd/Vo,Rd and the moment utilisation ratio
MSd/Mo,Rd is plotted in Fig. 3(a) for a simply supported beam with a web opening at
different positions along the beam span; the interaction curve is referred to as curve
LMS. The steel beam is a UB 45715252 S275 and the diameter of the circular
web opening, do, is equal to 0.75h. Fig. 3(b) presents the corresponding value of jp
for curve LMS. It is interesting to note that the angle jp is found to vary from 0
for cross-sections under pure moment to approximately 28 for cross-sections under
pure shear. The typical value of jp may be taken as 25 conservatively [8].
It is possible [8,11] to reduce the calculation effort by assuming that the plastic
hinges in the tee-sections occur at a cross-section with jp equal to 25, and such an
interaction curve is also plotted in Fig. 3(a) for comparison. It is shown that the
simplified method compares very well with the curve LMS and thus, it may be

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Fig. 3. Comparison of shear moment interaction curves LMS and HMS.

regarded as an effective, though conservative, simplification for the formation of the

LMS plastic hinges.
4.2. Plastic hinge formation at the HMS of the web opening
It is important to extend the investigation into the formation of four plastic hinges
in the tee-sections at the HMS of the web opening, instead of merely considering a
plastic hinge in the top tee-section at the LMS of the web opening.
Consider the top tee-section at the HMS of the web opening, as shown in Fig. 2.
As the direction of the shear force is reversed, the flange of the top tee-section has
a higher compressive stress than that in the web. Co-existing forces at cross-sections
of the plane with an angle j from the vertical may be evaluated as follows:

!"
!"

!"
!"

Nj,Sd!No,Sd cos

j
j
#Vo,Sd sin
2
2

(6a)

Vj,Sd!No,Sd sin

j
j
$Vo,Sd cos
2
2

(6b)

Mj,Sd!Vo,Sdu$No,Sdv$Mo,Sd (sagging)

(6c)

Due to the beneficial effect of axial force on the moment capacity of the teesection when the stress in the web is smaller than that in the flange, the HMS plastic
hinges will form at a higher level of VSd and MSd than those at the LMS. The interaction curve for the formation of the HMS plastic hinges, referred to as curve HMS,
is also plotted in Fig. 3(a) for comparison. There is little difference between curves
LMS and HMS at cross-sections under pure shear or bending. However, the differ-

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475

ences become more apparent when there are large co-existing bending moment and
shear force, i.e. VSd/Vo,Rd#MSd/Mo,Rd, where significant interaction occurs due to the
Vierendeel action.
It should be noted that for all values of the M/V ratio at the perforated section,
the LMS plastic hinges always form before the HMS plastic hinges. However, after
the formation of the LMS plastic hinges, there is load redistribution across the web
opening and the HMS plastic hinges are formed in a slightly different way from
curve HMS, as predicted in the above analysis. It is expected that the actual nonlinear shear moment interaction curve of the beam is likely to lie between curves
LMS and HMS. Nevertheless, the current design method may be regarded as a conservative assessment on the Vierendeel mechanism in steel beams with circular web
openings when applied to the LMS of the web opening.
4.3. Deficiencies in current design method
The current design method adapts a simplistic approach where only plastic hinges
in the tee-section at the LMS of the web openings are considered. However, after
the onset of yielding in the tee-sections, additional load carrying capacity of the
beams may be achieved due to load redistribution across the web opening. It is
generally expected that four plastic hinges are required to be developed in both the
tee-sections above and below the web opening in order to form a Verendeel mechanism. Moreover, the design method considers the moment capacity of the tee-sections to be reduced linearly according to the magnitude of the co-existing axial forces,
irrespective of the sense of the forces. However, the interaction is likely to be less
severe in reality than that anticipated, and a non-linear interaction curve based on
the stress block approach will be more appropriate.
5. Finite element modelling
In order to simulate the structural behaviour of steel beams with circular web
openings, a finite element model [15,16] was established as follows:
! With material non-linearity incorporated into the finite element model, it is capable
of fully mobilising the moment capacities of the tee-sections under co-existing
axial and shear forces due to global action. A bi-linear stressstrain curve was
adopted in the material modelling of steel together with the Von-Mises yield criteria.
! Moreover, with geometric non-linearity incorporated into the finite element model,
large deformation in the model may be accurately predicted, allowing load redistribution in the web across the opening after initial yielding. Thus, the Vierendeel
mechanism with the formation of four plastic hinges in both the tee-sections above
and below the web openings may be investigated in detail.
Fig. 4 illustrates the finite element model where the flanges and the web of a steel

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K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 467490

Fig. 4. Finite element model and details of test specimens.

beam are discretised with iso-parametric eight-noded shell elements. A circular opening is formed in the web with refined mesh configuration. After sensitivity studies
on both the configuration and the density of the finite element mesh, it was found
that over 750 shell elements were required to model the flanges and the web of the
beam with almost half of the shell elements located around the web opening. Full
NewtonRaphson solution procedure was used to analyse the beam during the entire
deformation history.
During the numerical investigation, it is necessary to ensure that the finite element
model only fails at the perforated section, and failure in other parts of the beam
including overall instability are prohibited. Moreover, the web opening is free from
any boundary effect or point load.
5.1. Calibration against test data
The finite element model was calibrated against the test data of two steel I beams
with single circular web openings, reported by Redwood and McCutcheon [17]. In
Fig. 4, the deformed finite element mesh with the Vierendeel mechanism of the
perforated section at failure is illustrated, and details of geometrical dimensions and
material data of the steel beams are also given. For both tests, the loaddeflection
curves obtained from the finite element modelling are plotted in Fig. 5 together with
the measured test data for direct comparison. It is shown that both the maximum
moment capacities of the perforated sections and the deformation characteristics of
the beams are modelled satisfactorily.

K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 467490

Fig. 5.

477

Comparison of loaddeflection curves for tests 2A and 3A.

5.2. Yielding under Vierendeel mechanism

It is interesting to examine the stress distribution of the perforated section at both
first yield and failure conditions of Beam 2A, as shown in Fig. 6. First yield appears
in the web of the tee sections at cross sections with = 30 and = 45. At the
same time, shear yielding in the web of the tee sections at cross sections with =
0 is also apparent. However, this does not materialize a collapse mechanism, and
the beam continues to carry additional loading until the Vierendeel moment is large
enough to cause extensive yielding in the tee sections.
At failure, both the webs and the flanges of the tee sections at the HMS are
extensively yielded. Furthermore, there is also extensive shear yielding in the webs
of the tee sections with minimum web depth (i.e. = 0). However, at the LMS,
only the webs of the tee sections are yielded while the stress level of the flanges
reaches only 60% of the yield strength. As a result, Beam 2A is failed with the
formation of two full plastic hinges at the HMS but with only two partial plastic
hinges at the LMS. This is probably due to the fact that at failure, extensive yielding
occurs in the tee sections with minimum web depth which reduces the effectiveness
of load re-distribution across the web openings. This agrees well with the finding
of a complementary analytical study reported by Ko and Chung [18] on existing
design methods that not all four plastic hinges are fully developed at failure. It should

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Fig. 6. Stress distribution at the perforated section in beam 2A (stresses are shown at the mid-thickness
of the steel elements).

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479

also be noted that the yield patterns at failure are very different from those assumed
positions in the current design method as shown in Fig. 1.
For Beam 3A, while the beam section and the opening are similar to those in
Beam 2A, the location of the opening gives rise to a different shear to moment ratio,
and thus a different behaviour from that in Beam 2A is observed. The load-deflection
curve of Beam 3A is also presented in Fig. 5 together with the measured test data
for direct comparison. It is found that Beam 3A starts to yield much later than Beam
2A and the top flange at the HMS of the perforated section buckles locally under
large global bending action.
5.3. Parametric study with finite element models
In order to provide information for practical design of steel beams with circular
web openings, a parametric study was performed to assess the structural performance
of simply supported steel beams with circular openings of different sizes at different
locations along the beams. For practical design, it is highly desirable to develop
simple design methods using shear moment interaction curves to assess the load
carrying capacity of steel beams with circular web openings.
5.3.1. Shear moment interaction curves
The finite element model shown in Fig. 7 was used to generate the shear moment
interaction curve of the perforated section in a simply supported steel beam with
circular web opening under uniformly distributed load. By varying the position of
the opening along the beam span, a non-dimensional interaction curve relating the

Fig. 7.

Finite element model for a steel beam with circular web opening.

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shear utilization ratio VSd/Vo,Rd and the moment utilization ratio MSd/Mo,Rd, namely,
curve FEM, may be obtained.
For a steel beam of UB 45715252 S275, the curves FEM for a web opening
of do equal to 0.5h and 0.75h are plotted in Fig. 8 for direct comparison. It is shown
that both curves are highly non-linear and they are very close to each other in shape,
despite the significant difference in the opening sizes. As the interaction curve for
a web opening of do equal to 0.75h is more critical, it is considered to be typical
for all web openings of diameters do between 0.5h and 0.75h. The data of curve
FEM for a steel beam UB 45715252 S275 with do=0.75h is presented in Table 1.
The shear moment interaction curve based on both the current design method and
the simplified method (with jp=25) are also plotted in Fig. 8 for easy comparison.
It should be noted that curve FEM always lies between curves LMS and HMS of
which both are derived from the same design method with uncoupled plastic hinge
formation at the LMS and the HMS, respectively. Moreover, curve FEM is found
to provide a more economical design with an increase in strength up to 15% when
compared with curve LMS. Consequently, it is demonstrated that the load carrying
capacity of steel beams with circular web openings may be increased significantly
using the shear moment interaction curve derived from the finite element model.
Fig. 9 presents the shear moment interaction curves for four beams of different
section sizes. It should also be noted that when the web openings are placed at the
mid-span of the beams with VSd/Vo,Rd=0, all beams fail in flexure at a bending
moment very close to their respective Mo,Rd, as given by Eq. (1). However, for beams

Fig. 8.

Shear moment interaction curves from different design rules.

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481

Table 1
Shear moment interaction curve, curve FEMa
Point

Shear ratio
VSd/Vo,Rd

Moment ratio
MSd/Mo,Rd

Position of opening
from support, x (m)

Load carrying
capacity, w (kN/m)

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

1.019
1.002
0.981
0.919
0.842
0.701
0.529
0.354
0.177
0

0
0.181
0.357
0.531
0.707
0.835
0.916
0.973
1.004
1.005

0.284
0.537
0.788
1.039
1.299
1.573
1.866
2.177
2.500

63.8
70.5
75.7
81.3
82.2
80.4
78.8
77.4
76.1

a
The load carrying capacity for UB 45715252 S275 with no web opening is 96.4 kN/m for a span
of 5.0 m.

Fig. 9.

Comparison of shear moment interaction curves.

with the same serial sizes but with different weights per unit length, the curves are
of similar shape, but with different y-intercepts, i.e. different shear utilization ratios,
VSd/Vo,Rd. This is due to the underestimation of the shear capacities of the perforated
sections given by Eq. (2) for sections with thick flanges, when compared with the
finite element model.
Furthermore, it is interesting to compare curve FEM with other empirical but yet

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simple interaction curves, such as the straight line and the quadratic curve, as shown
in Fig. 9. While the straight line may be too conservative, the quadratic curve is
considered to be simple and practical for the design of the Vierendeel mechanism
in steel beams with circular web openings. With accurate prediction on the shear
capacity, Vo,Rd, the non-linear curve with a power of 2.5 seems to be a good fit to
curve FEM for all four steel beams with circular web openings of diameter do
between 0.5h and 0.75h.
5.3.2. Shear yielding in tee-sections
A close examination of the finite element results shows that there is extensive
shear yielding at the tee-sections above and below the web opening. However, this
does not materialize a collapse mechanism, and the beams do carry more loading
until the Vierendeel moment is large enough to cause plastic hinge formation. The
plastic hinges are typically formed at an angle jp between 25 and 30. Shear yielding
prior to failure is not apparent for web openings close to the support, and this applies
to all four steel beams examined with the finite element model.
The shear capacities of the perforated sections, Vo,Rd, for a number of universal
beams are evaluated using the finite element model, and they are summarized in
Table 2. It is shown that Vo,Rd is dependent on both the relative thickness and area
of the web and the flange. The value of Vo,Rd may be increased by a maximum of
30% using the finite element model, when compared with the shear capacities
obtained from Eq. (2).
5.3.3. Load carrying capacities
The load carrying capacities, w, of simply supported beams of different spans
under uniformly distributed loads are plotted in Fig. 10(a). The steel beam is UB
45715252 S275, and the diameter of the web opening, do, is equal to 0.5h. The
Table 2
Shear capacities of tee-sectionsa
Section sizes

Size of opening
do/h

Af,T/Aw,T

tf/tw

Vo,FEM/Vo,Rd

UB 914419388
UB 610305179
UB 610229140

0.75
0.75
0.75
0.50
0.75
0.75
0.50
0.75
0.50
0.75

6.22
6.66
5.03
2.52
4.22
5.67
2.84
4.66
2.33
3.89

1.70
1.67
1.69
1.69
1.40
1.72
1.72
1.77
1.77
1.43

1.26
1.29
1.15
1.17
1.04
1.25
1.18
1.15
1.13
1.01

UB 610229101
UB 45719198
UB 45715282
UB 45715252
a

Af,T is the flange area of the tee-section, Aw,T is the web area of the tee-section, Vo,Rd is the shear
capacity evaluated according to Eq. (2), and Vo,FEM is the shear capacity obtained by the finite element
method.

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483

Fig. 10. Load capacity vs opening position for UB 45715252 S275 with (a) do=0.5h and (b)
do=0.75h.

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K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 467490

load carrying capacities of the beams with different spans, namely 5, 6, 7.5, and 10
m, are directly obtained from finite element modelling, as given in Table 1. Fig.
10(b) presents similar information for the same beam but the diameter of the web
opening, do, is increased to 0.75h. Similar information is also provided in Fig. 11(a)
and (b) with a steel beam of UB 45715282 S275. It should be noted that the load
carrying capacities for beams of different spans may be evaluated according to the
shear moment interaction curves derived from the finite element models, as shown
in Appendix A
As the web opening is relatively small for the results presented in Figs. 10(a) and
11(a), the shear capacity of the perforated sections is sufficiently high to prevent
any shear failure at the perforated sections for all beam spans. Reduction of the load
carrying capacity is largely due to reduced moment capacity at perforated sections
near the mid-span of the beams while the Vierendeel mechanism is generally not
critical. Full load carrying capacities of the beams are always achieved when the
web openings are located within one-third of the span.
For the results presented in Figs. 10(b) and 11(b), the web opening is relatively
large and reduction in the shear capacities of the perforated sections is generally
severe, especially in beams of 5 and 6 m spans with the web openings located close
to the supports. For beams of 7.5 and 10 m spans, the Vierendeel mechanism is
critical for web openings located within one-third of the span of the beams. By
moving the web openings towards the mid-span, the global bending moment at the
perforated section increases quickly with a steady decrease in the shear force, and
the beams tend to fail in flexure due to reduced moment capacity of the perforated
sections, as also indicated by the results in Figs. 10(a) and 11(a).
In general, full load carrying capacities of the beams may be attained even in the
presence of large circular web opening, especially in long span beams when the web
openings are located within one-third of the span. It is thus envisaged that by careful
positioning of the web opening, it is possible to retain the full load carrying capacities
of the steel beams, and thus any penalty to the load carrying capacity of the steel
beams due to the presence of web openings may be completely eliminated.
6. Simple design rules
In order to provide a simple rule for practical design of steel beams with circular
web openings, an empirical shear moment interaction curve is proposed as follows:

! " ! "
VSd
Vo,Rd

2.5

MSd
Mo,Rd

2.5

%1

The non-linear interaction formula may be re-presented to give a simple empirical

design rule to assess the moment capacity of the perforated section, Mvo,Rd, under
global shear force, VSd, against the Vierendeel mechanism as follows:

$ ! "%

Mvo,Rd!Mo,Rd 1#

VSd
Vo,Rd

2.5 0.4

"MSd

(7)

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485

Fig. 11. Load carrying capacity vs opening position for UB 45715282 S275 with (a) do=0.5h and
(b) do=0.75h.

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The design of steel beams with circular web openings may be readily carried out
according to Eqs. (1, 2) and (7). With the use of the simple empirical design rule,
the capacity assessment against flexural failure, shear failure and Vierendeel mechanism are all based on the perforated section with significant reduction in the calculation effort; there is no need to evaluate section capacities of the tee-sections. A
worked example on the design of a steel beam with large circular web openings,
based on the proposed design rule, is presented in Appendix B.
7. Conclusions
Both analytical and numerical investigations of the load carrying capacities of steel
beams with circular web openings are presented in detail. It should be noted that:
1. The current design method is conservative in evaluating the load carrying
capacities of steel beams with circular web openings based on the formation of
LMS plastic hinges while consideration of the formation of HMS plastic hinges
may lead to unconservative results.
2. Based on the finite element model, improvements to the assessment of load carrying capacities of steel beams with large circular web openings are obtained
through:
! incorporation of plastic hinge formation at both the LMS and the HMS of the
perforated sections, as modified by load-redistribution across the web opening
at large deformation, and
! enhanced strength assessment on the moment capacities of tee sections under
co-existing axial and shear forces.
3. According to the results of the finite element modelling, it is found that the load
carrying capacities of steel beams with circular web openings are typically 5
10% higher than those obtained from the current design method based on the
formation of LMS plastic hinges. Furthermore, the over-prediction of the current
design method based on the formation of HMS plastic hinges is quantified to be
typically 1015%, when compared with the results of the finite element modelling.
4. By the use of an empirical shear moment interaction curve, the load carrying
capacities of steel beams with medium to large circular web openings may simply
be evaluated in terms of both shear and moment utilisation ratios of the perforated
sections. This method is shown to be conservative and highly efficient in terms
of structural adequacy and calculation effort when compared with the use of finite
element modelling.
5. For steel beams with circular web openings, the reduction in shear capacity of
the perforated section is found to be more critical than the reduction in moment
capacity. The accurate prediction of the load carrying capacities of steel beams
with circular web openings depends largely on the accuracy of the shear capacity
assessment of the perforated sections.
6. Moreover, shear yielding in the webs of the top and the bottom tee-sections is
very important as it promotes the formation of the plastic hinges at the HMS, as

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487

shown in Fig. 6. Such effect is less significant in steel beams with rectangular
web openings where the bending moment is often dominant.
7. It is demonstrated that the structural penalty on the load carrying capacity of steel
beams due to the presence of web openings may be completely eliminated through
rational design of the web openings in terms of the locations along beam span
and also the opening sizes.
Acknowledgements
The research project leading to the publication of the paper is supported by the
Hong Kong Research Grant Council (Project No. PolyU5085/97E). The financial
support to the second author as a Honorary Research Fellowship to the Department
of Civil and Structural Engineering of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is also
gratefully acknowledged.
Appendix A. Design example A: load carrying capacity of a steel beam with
a single web opening based on curve FEM
A simply supported beam of UB 45715252 S275 with a circular web opening
under uniformly distributed load. Basic equations:

! "

M(x)!12wx(L#x) and V(x)!w 12L#x

A.1. A web opening with a diameter of 0.75h at x=1.0 m from the support over a
span of L=7.5 m
The load carrying capacity of a beam without a web opening, w, is 42.9 kN/m
under flexural failure at mid-span. In the presence of the web opening, the beam
should fail at a reduced load carrying capacity, depending on the moment to shear
ratio as follows:
M x(Lx)/2
!
!1.182 m
V L/2x
Since the section capacities of the perforated section are Mo,Rd=236.5 kNm and
Vo,Rd=141.0 kN,
VSd/Vo,Rd 236.5
1
!
&
!1.419
MSd/Mo,Rd 141.0 1.182
A shear moment line with a gradient equal to 1.419 is thus plotted in Fig. 8, which

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cuts curve FEM at VSd/Vo,Rd=0.895 and MSd/Mo,Rd=0.625. The applied shear force
and bending moment at the opening are VSd=126.2 kN and MSd=147.8 kNm, respectively, giving the beam a load carrying capacity of 45.9 kN/m, which is larger than w.
Therefore, the load carrying capacity of the beam with a web opening is 42.9
kN/m due to flexural bending failure at mid-span, rather than failure at the opening.
It should be noted that there is no reduction in the load carrying capacity of the
beam, even though a large circular web opening is provided.
A.2. A web opening with a diameter of 0.75h at x=1.0 m from the support over a
span of L=5.0 m
The load carrying capacity of the beam without a web opening, w, is 96.5 kN/m
under flexural failure at mid-span. Following a similar procedure as above, we have
M x(Lx)/2
!
!1.333 m
V (L/2x)
and
VSd/Vo,Rd 236.5
1
!
&
!1.258
MSd/Mo,Rd 141.0 1.333
From the intersection between curve FEM and the shear moment line in Fig. 8,
we have VSd/Vo,Rd=0.855 and MSd/Mo,Rd=0.680, giving V=120.6 kN and
M=160.8 kNm. The load carrying capacity of the beam is 80.4 kN/m, which is
smaller than w. Therefore, the load carrying capacity of the beam is 80.4 kN/m due
to failure at the web opening.
Appendix B. Design example B: load carrying capacity of a steel beam with
multiple web openings based on the empirical design rule
A 7.5 m span simply supported beam of UB 45715252 S275 with six circular
web openings (do=0.75h) is subject to a uniformly distributed load of 40 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.
B.1. Data

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489

L=7.5 m, x=1.0, 2.0, 3.0 m, h=449.8 mm, tw=7.6 mm, b=152.4 mm, tf=10.9 mm,
do=337.4 mm, Wpl=1096103 mm3.
The load carrying capacity of the beam without web openings, w, is 42.9 kN/m
for L=7.5 m.
Step 1. Determine the applied shear and moment at the center of the web openings.
x (m)
1.0
2.0
3.0

MSd=[wx(L#x)/2] (kNm)
130
220
270

VSd=[w(L/2#x)] (kN)
110
70
30

Step 2. Determine the shear and the moment capacities of the perforated section.
Eq. (1): Mo,Rd!fyWo,pl!fy(Wpl#twd 2o/4)!275(1096#7.6&337.42/4)
!241.9 kNm
Eq. (2): Vo,Rd!fvAvo!0.577fy(Av#dotw)!0.577&275&7.6&(449.8#337.4)
!135.6 kN
Step 3. Determine the moment capacities at the perforated sections under high shear.
For x=1.0 m,
Eq. (7): Mvo,Rd!Mo,Rd[1#(VSd/Vo,Rd)2.5]0.4!241.9[1#(110/135.6)2.5]0.4
!168.9 kNm'MSd!130 kNm !OK
For x=2.0 m,
Mvo,Rd!222.2 kNm'MSd!220 kNm !OK
For x=3.0 m,
Mvo,Rd!239.7 kNm(MSd!270 kNm !not OK
The load carrying capacity w is reduced as follows:
w!40/270&239.7!35.5 kN/m
Alternatively, the diameter, do, of the third opening may be reduced to 0.5h or 225
mm, and repeat Steps 2 and 3:
Mo,Rd!275.0 kNm and Vo,Rd!271.2 kN
For x=3.0 m,
Mvo,Rd!274.6 kNm'MSd!270 kNm !OK

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K.F. Chung et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 467490

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