ANALYSIS OF PRESTRESSED GIRDERS WITH OPENINGS

Web openings in beams and girders occur quite often in practice to pro vide a convenient passage for environmental services. As a result stor ey heights in buildings can be reduced resulting in major cost savings . A theoretical and experimental study is carried out to determine the influence of openings on the static and dynamic responses of prestres sed concrete girders. The ABAQUS computer code, based on the finite el ement technique, is used to examine the effects of opening size, eccen tricity and horizontal location on the shear distribution as well as o n the potentially-splitting tensile stress at the opening when the gir der is subjected to static load applied at mid-span and at the opening . The computer code is also applied to study the dynamic response. Sim ply supported and two-span continuous girders of rectangular, T- and I -sections are considered. The theoretical results are verified and sub stantiated by experimental results.