The Behavior of RC Beam with an Opening Filled with the Hollow Square Section Under Static Loading

Openings are often given in RC beam construction for accessibility and to permit vital utilities such as electricity, ventilation, and network system access. The existence of openings in beams, on the other hand, may create a variety of issues in the beam's behavior, including a loss in beam strength, excessive cracking, and deflection. As a result, this investigation was carried out to see how RC beams with and without openings filled with hollow sections at different locations behave. Finite element analysis using ABAQUS software was used to investigate the beams. The opening shape used for test criteria was a square filled with a square tube. The opening in this research used was 125 × 125 and 150 × 150 mm hollow square sections. The beam specimens were all 200 mm in width, 250 mm in depth, and 2500 mm in length. Four-point bending was used to test the beams until they reached the ultimate load-carrying capacity. The results obtained were used to compare against conventional RC beams without opening. The fracture patterns and load–deflection behavior were discussed as a consequence of the findings.