Shear resistance of corrugated web steel beams with circular web openings: Test and machine learning-based prediction

This paper presents an investigation on the shear resistance of corrugated web steel beams (CWBs) with a circular web opening. A total of five specimens with different diameters of web openings were designed and tested with vertical load applied on the top flange at mid-span. The ultimate strengths, failure modes, and load versus middle displacement curves were obtained from the tests. Following the tests, numerical models of the CWBs were developed and validated against the test results. The influence of the web plate thickness, steel grade, opening diameter, and location on the shear strength of the CWBs was extensively investigated. An XGBoost machine learning model for shear resistance prediction was trained based on 256 CWB samples. The XGBoost model with optimal hyperparameters showed excellent accuracy and exceeded the accuracy of the available design equations. The effects of geometric parameters and material properties on the shear resistance were evaluated using the SHAP method.