In the last decades, steel beams with web opening were used extensively as useful structural and architectural elements due to their many advantages. In this research, steel beams with web opening subjected to static loading were modelled using the multi-purpose finite element software ANSYS and the finite element results were compared with previous research. Then, steel beams with a single web opening subjected to fatigue loading were investigated numerically. The effect of changing the location of web opening on the fatigue assessment of H section steel beams with web opening was studied taking normal stress into account. It was clear that, normal stress fatigue life of the steel beams was affected significantly by changing web opening location along the beam span when compared to a beam with solid web while the beam span, opening size and steel section were kept constant. The most convenient location of web opening along the beam span was found to be at mid span.

Steel beams with web opening have become a popular structural element nowadays owing to their several structural and architectural benefits. This study numerically investigates a study of the behavior of steel beams with a web opening subjected to fatigue loading using the finite element software ANSYS. Simply supported I-section steel beams with a single web opening were studied under a fully reversed, uniformly distributed vertical load. Fatigue loading, material properties, and boundary conditions are discussed in detail. Finite element analysis was used to determine the effect of the web opening on the normal stress induced in the steel beam and consequently on fatigue stress life. Then, a parametric study was performed to investigate the effect of two geometric parameters (opening size $$\alpha $$ α and opening location $$\beta $$ β ). In addition, suitable fatigue categories were suggested to guarantee safety against fatigue failures. Further, an analytical method for predicting the synthetic SN curves for steel beams with web opening was introduced. The proposed method was validated using SN curves obtained from FE results and was proven safe and slightly conservative for steel beams with a single web opening of various sizes and locations, as well as spans.