Finite element analysis of hollow flange steel girders with web openings

The Hollow Flange Steel Girders have been used generally in different engineering constructions, which are commonly made-up by connecting two plate flanges, a series of longitudinal or transverse stiffeners and a flat web together. Eccentric web openings are usually unavoidable in the maximum shear panels of girders used in bridge construction and offshore. The purpose of this paper is to develop a finite element model for the analysis of hollow flange steel girders with web openings. Finite element ANSYS software are used in the numerical analysis and was carried out on hollow flange steel girder chosen from literature. A parametric study was conducted to study the effect of openings on the behavior of hollow flange steel girders. Three square openings with 50*50 mm dimension and three circle openings with 25 mm radius are considered. Results show that the ultimate moment capacity for the hollow flange steel plate girders with web openings is 4.8 % smaller than the hollow flange steel plate girders without web openings and show that the girder with circle web opening have ultimate moment capacity higher the girder with square web openings.