TAN Kiang Hwee

Beams with Openings

In building construction, passing utility ducts and pipes through openings in the floor beams saves a significant amount of headroom and results in a more compact and economical design. However, the provision of openings alters the beam behaviour significantly. Due to an abrupt change in the cross sectional dimensions of the beam, the opening corners are subjected to high stress concentration that may lead to wide cracking while the reduced beam stiffness may give rise to excessive deflection under service load.

Extensive research had been carried out which resulted in the formulation of a set of guidelines to determine the strength and serviceability design of both simply supported and continuous beams under various loading combinations. A book on the subject has been written and published by CRC Press, LLC, USA in 1999.

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