The castellated/cellular beams are used as structural members and the main advantage is that the beam depth and strength are increased without adding additional material. The castellated/cellular beam is produced by cutting a beam length wise following a hexagonal/circular pattern. The top and bottom halves are then staggered and welded together to create a deeper, stronger beam.
Using GRAITEC PowerPack on top of Autodesk Advance Steel, it is possible to create castellated/cellular beams from catalogues or user-defined. The castellated/cellular beams are considered as already fabricated. The beam with web openings is a standard "I" section without length wise cutting, but with various opening patterns (hexagonal, circular, rectangular, etc.).
The castellated/cellular beams and beams with web openings are compound beams and they are created by specifying the start and end points.
When a castellated/cellular beam from a catalogue is created, only the sections from the specific catalogues are available in the dialog window.
When a beam with web openings is created, the standard "I" sections are displayed in the dialog window.
Also, for each castellated and cellular section, in the "Opening" tab, the corresponding opening dimensions are displayed according to the chosen section class.
For the beam with web openings, the rectangular opening type is set; however, this can be changed from the specific option.
The opening can be offset in the vertical or horizontal direction. Also, it is possible to cover one or more openings using the specific option from the "Individual openings" tab.
When a user-defined castellated/cellular beam / beam with web openings is created, the values for Height, Width, Flange and Web thickness of the "I" section should be modified as desired.
New castellated/cellular beam sections can be added in the database using the "Save as" option from the "Catalog Manager". After the section dimensions are added, use the "Save" option to store them in the database.
"I" symmetric or I asymmetric welded sections can also be created in order to add web openings. Instead of the "straight" beam type, choose "welded" and then set the desired flat sections for the welded beam.