Estimation of Deflections in Cantilever and Fixed Castellated Beams with Hexagonal, Square and Circular Openings

Abstract

The majority of existing literature on castellated beams focuses on simply supported boundary conditions. But studies on cantilever and fixed boundary condition are limited in the literature. Therefore the present study provides a new experimental solution for bending of cantilever and fixed castellated beams. The experimental investigation on castellated beams with hexagonal, circular and square openings is carried out for cantilever and fixed end conditions and compared with normal beam without opening. All the beams are tested under universal testing machine and subjected to central point load. Experimental results are obtained for maximum deflections and transverse load carrying capacity and validated numerically by using finite element method. ANSYS 14.0 version is used for the finite element analysis. Finally, it is concluded that the present study will serve as a benchmark study for cantilever and fixed castellated beams. 1.