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Behaviour of axially restrained steel beams with web openings at elevated temperatures

Steel beams with web openings are frequently used in construction to achieve attractive, flexible and optimised design solutions. These beams are used to provide passages for building services, to reduce the overall construction height and to achieve long spans. However, the presence of the openings may lead to a substantial reduction in the load carrying capacity of the beam at both ambient and elevated temperatures and introduce additional failure modes including shear-moment interaction at the location of the openings causing the Vierendeel mechanism. Steel beams in practical construction are axially restrained and the presence of this axial restraint can drastically change the behaviour of the beams in comparison to those without axial restraint. One particular issue is premature buckling of the compressive tee-sections around the openings. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of openings on axially restrained steel beams at elevated temperatures so as to develop an analytical method for design consideration. The analytical derivation will be based on the results of extensive numerical simulations. The research starts with the behaviour of steel beams with web openings under combined axial compression, bending moment and shear force at ambient temperature. The results show that buckling of the compressive tee-sections at the openings can reduce the plastic moment capacity of the openings; and an analytical method has been proposed to incorporate the influences of axial compression and tee-section buckling into the existing shear-moment design equations. The elevated temperature simulations show that axially restrained steel beams with web openings may enter catenary action at much lower temperatures than the commonly accepted critical failure temperatures calculated assuming no axial restraint and no tee-section buckling. Therefore, at the commonly accepted critical failure temperatures, many perforated steel beams exert tensile forces on the adjacent connections. It is important that the connections have the strength and deformation (rotation) capacity to enable catenary action to develop. The parametric study examines, in detail, how changing the different design parameters may affect the elevated temperature behaviour of perforated beams. The examined parameters including load ratio, level of axial restraint, cross-section temperature distribution profile, opening shape, opening size and opening position. Based on the results of the numerical parametric study, an analytical method has been derived to obtain the complete axial force-temperature relationship for axially restrained perforated steel beams. The key points of the analytical method include initial stiffness, point of initial failure under combined axial compression, bending moment and shear force, transition temperature at which the axial force on the beam changes from compression to tension and the magnitude of the tensile force resulting from the beams going into catenary action. Using the analytical method, it is possible to assess the maximum tensile force in the beam and the corresponding temperature so that the safety of the connections can be checked.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:632254
Date January 2014
CreatorsNajafi, Mohsen
PublisherUniversity of Manchester
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttps://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/behaviour-of-axially-restrained-steel-beams-with-web-openings-at-elevated-temperatures(7e807ad7-5d5b-4635-ad39-7eae448736d8).html

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