Restrictions of space and height are often imposed to residential, commercial and industrial buildings with one, or several floors, due to aspects like regional regulations, technical, economic or aesthetic nature. In order to provide the passage of pipes and ducts with large diameter under steel girders, that normally requires great heights, sometimes leads to floors building highs with an unviable magnitude. Among others, castellated beams are a possible structural solution to overcome these obstacles. These beams are considered stability issues, since the unbraced span lengths generally reached by them are often long enough to cause instability effects. However, the substantial enhancement in the flexural strength of such members, due to the extra height coming from the manufacturing process in relation with the original profile, combined with the economy of material and utility services, ensures to the designers the attractiveness of this solution, especially when applied to large spans. The present investigation aims to develop a numerical model that calibrated with experimental results, enables the development of a parametric analysis centred on the finite element method. This analysis aimed to determine the structural behaviour of the castellated beams and their associated failure mechanisms, considering an elastic-plastic behaviour as well the geometric non-linearities. The results showed coherency and no relevant technical objections were verified, when considered the application of the castellated beams in alternative of the traditional plated beams since the advantages arising from the beams openings justify their application.
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