Assessing The Configuration and Structural Behavior of Web-Opening Steel Beams: A Comprehensive Review

This paper comprehensively reviews the various configurations of web-opening steel beams and their impact on load bearing capacity, safety, economy, and failure modes. This review encompasses the seismic performance, fire resistance, the role of stiffeners, and the composite behavior of web-opening beams. The findings show that circular openings often display lower stress concentrations than rectangular ones. In contrast, in terms of load-carrying capacity, hexagonal openings perform better than both circular and rectangular openings. Additionally, Sinusoidal openings in castellated beams perform better than hexagonal openings, and diamond-shaped openings offer more strength than circular ones. Furthermore, the study indicates that the main failure modes, such as web post buckling, lateral torsional buckling, and Vierendeel, negatively influence the load bearing capacity, but integrating stiffeners and using composite beams helps control these failure modes. The findings suggest that while more common opening shapes have been widely investigated, studying and utilizing innovative and unconventional shapes offers new opportunities for advancement. Additionally, the behavior and the performance of composite open-web steel beams with shallow depths in masonry and traditional mud structures remain unexplored, highlighting an opportunity for further research.