www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us INFLUENCE OF TRANSVERSE HOLE ON FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF RC BEAM Boorla Tharun 1 & Sreenu Ramavath 2 1 Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Anurag Group of Institutions, Hyderabad, India 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Anurag Group of Institutions, Hyderabad, India ABSTRACT Height limitations are not uncommon in multi-storey buildings due to economic requirements and esthetical considerations. Substantial spaces are normally required to enable the passage of large pipes and ducts beneath RC beams leading to uneconomic floor heights. The most adopted solution for this issue is the use of RC beam with openings to provide the required space for services. These openings could lead to a significant decrease in the beam load carrying capacity depending on the adopted openings shape, and location. These aspects motivated the present study based on FE simulations calibrated against numerical results. In this study, a solid RC beam, beam with a circular hole and beam with a square hole, totally 3 beams were considered. The modeling & analysis is carried by using ANSYS software. The models are compared for their flexural strength to find out the best suitable shape of the opening and also the optimum position of the opening. An study shows that the beam with a circular opening having more flexural strength than a beam with a square opening. This is because of smooth stress flow around the circular opening and stress flow lines at sharp edges of the square opening are crowded, leads to an increase in stress concentration and decrease in flexure strength. The opening should be placed nearer to the supports to have the more flexural strength than at the middle of the beam. The flexural strength of a beam with a circular opening is same as that of the solid beam if we increase the depth of beam by 6%. KEYWORDS: ANSYS, A Circular Opening, Four Point Loading, RC Beam and Square Opening Article History Received: 14 Dec 2018 | Revised: 07 Jan 2019| Accepted: 12 Jan 2019 INTRODUCTION In most buildings, utility ducts and pipes are accommodated in the space within the floor-ceiling sandwich. The need for services in all types of buildings has greatly increased, new regulations and demands, such as for more efficient methods of cooling, local temperature control, effective ventilation, more efficient methods of heat recovery, combined heat, power and cooling systems, information technology and communication systems and new forms of renewable energy technologies, have also focused attention on how to locate and distribute these services effectively within buildings and to facilitate future maintenance and adaptability. The integration of services within the structural elements of buildings leads to economies in the construction by reducing the floor-to-floor height. International Journal of Civil Engineering (IJCE) ISSN (P): 2278-9987; ISSN (E): 2278-9995 Vol. 8, Issue 1, Dec- Jan 2019; 1-12 © IASET