Elastic Stresses Around Holes in Wide-Flange Beams

The theory of elasticity was used to develop equations for the stresses in uniformly loaded simply supported wide-flange beams with holes in the webs, when the hole is free of force. The equations were solved on a digital computer. The applicability of the analysis is examined by checking a moment equality and a shear-force equality. For circular holes (1) when the shear-moment ratio is 0, the analysis is applicable to a minimum beam depth-to-hole diameter ratio of about 2.0, and (2) when the shear-moment ratio is 2.4/L, in which L is the half-length of the beam, the analysis is applicable to a minimum depth-diameter ratio of about 6.0. However, limited experimental tests demonstrated that the accuracy is sufficient for beams with depth-to-diameter ratios as low as 2.0, even when the shear-moment ratio is not 0. The stresses predicted by the analysis are depicted for several conditions and the major effect of the variables is studied. The results of the investigation are not reduced for design use.