Detailed study of perforated beams with closely spaced novel web opening.

This paper presents a detailed study of the behaviour of perforated steel beams with closely spaced web openings. Seven specimens including two typical cellular beams (i.e. circular web openings) and five perforated beams with novel web opening shapes were tested previously by the authors, to investigate the failure mode and load strength of the web-post between two adjacent web openings. These new novel web opening shapes improve the structural performance of the perforated beams with respect to web-post buckling failure. In addition, the manufacturing procedure of these novel web openings is improved and leads to sustainable design. The effects of web opening spacing/web opening depth of web-posts as well as the web opening depth/web thickness were studied to investigate the stability (slenderness) of the web-post subjected to vertical shear load. In comparison with the conventional cellular beams, significant advantages were obtained.