Effect of Geometry on Flexural Behavior of Optimal Designed Web-Expanded Beams

Web-expanded steel beams (WESBs) are an excellent example of technological progress in the construction industry. The objective of this research is to compare the flexural strength of optimally designed geometrically diverse WESBs, including castellated, cellular, and angelina types. First, the minimum design weights of these three different WESB types are determined using nature-inspired harmony search (HSA) and particle swarm optimization techniques (PSO), according to the ANSI/AISC-360 and Eurocode practical design rules. Subsequently, a comprehensive experimental procedure was carried out to investigate the load-carrying capacity and failure modes of eighteen new generation simply supported WESBs, which were optimally designed. Scale models of the tested beams, originally made of steel sections with I-profiles, were subjected to various external loads in the reaction frame laboratory. The experimental results confirmed that angelina beams performed better than castellated and cellular beams under all loading conditions. Finally, a three-dimensional finite element analysis was performed for each specimen. These numerical verification analyses, performed using ANSYS Workbench, considered both geometric and material nonlinearities to validate realistic laboratory test results.