Design of holes in beams - A new section for Eurocodes 5

Architectural reasons or user-specific requirements often necessitate the placement of supply and drainage pipes, ventilation ducts, heating systems, etc., within the plane of the load-bearing structure. Consequently, holes are required in the beams, which significantly affect the load-bearing behaviour. The current edition of Eurocode 5 (EC 5) does not contain standardized rules for the design of holes in beams. Hence such design rules had to be included as non contradictory complementary information (NCCI) in National Annexes (NA) to EC 5. However, the design rules currently contained in specific NAs impose considerable restrictions on the size, position and distance of holes in beams. In order to address the evident gap in Eurocode 5, the design of holes in beams was prioritised for the revision of Eurocode 5. This paper reports on the new and extended rules for the design of holes in beams in Eurocode 5. The generally recognized findings of recent research allowed for the extension of the existing rules to accommodate holes with larger diameters, eccentric arrangement and holes arranged in groups. The standard text illustrated in this paper is complemented by extensive background information and literature.