The Study On Mechanical Properties And Design Methods Of Cellular Beams And Fabricated Perforated Beams

Cellular beams have been increasingly employed in mid-rise office buildings, industrialfacilities, and parking structures in Europe and the United States.Cellular beams are steelsections with regular circular openings that are produced by cutting and re-welding hot rolledsteel sections, or by cutting circular openings in fabricated steel sections(perforated beams).According to the different web-perforated section form, cellular beam can be classified ashexagonal hole, circular-hole, elliptical hole, elongated round-hole and rectangularhole.Strength and stiffness to weight ratios are increased, enabling greater structuralefficiency and economy.Cellular beams can decrease a building’s overall story height becauseof their ability to easily accept the passage of utilities and duct work within the holes.But atpresent,the application of cellular steel beams in our country is not wide and the study is notwell studied.Until now there has not been a complete design approach into relevantspecifications, so the cellular beam (including fabricated perforated beam) needs furtherstudy.First finite element models of circular holes cellular beams with different H-sectionbeams(narrow-flange and wide-flange) and different fabricated methods(standard processingmethods and direct openings) are built.The whole process analysis of failure behavior ofcellular beam, as well as normal stress,shear stress and stiffness of the beam areinvestigated,the strength and stiffness calculation formulas are vetified. Several measures onimproved behavior of cellular beam are suggested and analyzed.Then the finite element software of ABAQUS is used to analyze integral stability andlocal stability of circular-hole cellular beam The relationship of integral stability and localstability bearing capacity of cellular beam, equivalent solid web beam and prototype beam areanalyzed.Theoretical formulas of integral stability and local stability bearing capacity areconducted and a set of design method of cellular beam is put forward for the design andpractical applications relevant reference of cellular beam.Finally, seismic behaviors of cellular beam (or fabricated perforated beam) to columnconnection are conducted by using finite element software of ABAQUS, Analyses resultsshow that cellular beam to column connection can’t provide enough ductility and energydissipation.By adjusting the effective hole diameter and the distance between two adjacentholes, the seismic performance of fabricated perforated beam to column connection will besignificantly improved,so fabricated perforated beam could be considered for use in momentresistant frames subject to seismic loading.