Classification of Open Web Steel Beam: An Analytical and Experimental Study

The cross-section classification is an important topic in flexural steel member design since it tackles a cross-section's susceptibility to local buckling and specifies design resistance. As a result, work focuses on determining the classification limits for various classes of open web steel beams. A comprehensive investigation considering theoretical analysis, experimentation, and data analysis to assess the impact of a solitary point load applied at the beam's midpoint. Based on findings of the different studies, a total of eighty-eight nonlinear finite element models were examined using the ABAQUS software programme. The different finite element models are distinguished by their local slenderness ratios. Most of the steel design regulations consider the influence of the “individual plate rule”, “restricted load pattern rule”, and “monotonic rule” for cross section classification and neglect the effect of interactive behaviour. From the literature, it is found that classification should be done at the member level rather than at the cross-sectional level. To address this issue, open web steel beams were classified using the box section as a base. The classification limits for distinct classes of open web steel beams were derived at the member level, taking into account the interaction of different failure modes and local buckling modes. This suggestion is based on the effects of local and local-to-overall interaction buckling modes, which are not explicitly addressed by current design rules. Based on existing research and statistical assessment of test data, the current study provides suitable classification limits and rotation capacity formulations for open web steel beams.