Openings through beams are required for the passage of utility ducts and pipes, and they are frequently encountered in the design of modern buildings.
They are particularly important in multistory buildings where the use of openings in beams can mea...
Openings through beams are required for the passage of utility ducts and pipes, and they are frequently encountered in the design of modern buildings.
They are particularly important in multistory buildings where the use of openings in beams can mean lower story heights, leading in turn to a multiplicity of savings.
Therefore, the designers are often faced with the necessity of providing adequate openings in the buildings.
However, provision of openings may cause problems of excessive cracking and deflection, and may severely affect the strength of a beam.
An experimental investigation is carried out on ten reinforced concrete beams with rectangular openings.
The size of opening and it's location are considered as major variables.
The specimens were tested under two point loading. Loads were usually applied in steps of 0.5 ton up to failure to observe the crack initiation and propagation, initial diagonal cracking midspan deflection, concrete strain and reinforcement strain.