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Web openings may be provided in structural floor beams for different purposes. The corner radii of web openings can have a significant effect on stress and strain concentrations around the opening. AISC's design guide for steel and composite beams with web openings states that web openings are not recommended for members subjected to significant high cycle-low stress or low cycle-high stress fatigue loading even if a rational corner radii is provided for web openings. This is because, at the time the specification was written, there were only limited references available to the committee which indicates the need for further studies in this field. In this paper, effect of opening corner radii on cyclic behavior of steel moment connections with Reduced Web Beam Section (RWBS) is investigated using finite element analysis. For this purpose, a T-shaped moment connection (without web opening) which has been tested under cyclic loading by another author is used as the reference model. To see effect of opening corner radii, the reference model is considered with square and rectangular web openings of different corner radii. Fracture initiation in models is simulated using Cyclic Void Growth Model (CVGM) which is based on micro-void growth and coalescence. According to this model, fracture under cyclic loading is predicted to occur when the void size exceeds the critical value. Based on the results, for both square and rectangular openings the maximum equivalent plastic strain and fracture index at the opening corners will decrease as the opening corner radii increase. For openings with small corner radii the fracture index at corners will be very high. This is in accordance with recommendation of ASCE 23-97 which indicates that these configurations should not be used in real practice. However, it should be noticed that in the case of rectangular opening the damage index at the corners may be greater than unity even if ASCE 23-97 limitations are met. This means that if it is intended to achieve high rotation capacity at RWBS connections, ASCE 23-97 requirement about minimum corner radii may be non-conservative. As another result, as the opening corner radii increase local buckling around the web opening occurs at higher rotations. In addition to the local effects, the choice of opening corner radii can also affect the global behavior of RWBS connections. In the case of rectangular perforation, as the opening corner radii increase the load carrying and rotation capacity of connection increase too. This is because in these models, the weakening area prevents welds from failure and fracture occurs in the opening corners. As a result, as the opening corner radii increase the fracture index at opening corners decreases and hence the connection can undergo higher rotation capacities. This is not true for square perforation where fracture occurs at connection welds and the connection rotation capacity makes no change as the opening corner radii increase. As a general recommendation it can be said that web openings with the largest corner radii (elongated circular holes) is the best case for perforated steel connections.

Keywords: Moment frame, Beam Web Opening, Cyclic Void Growth Model, Low Cycle Fatigue

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