Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Experimental study of the strength and behaviour of reinforced coped beams

Michael C.H. Yam a,, Hongwei Ma a, b, Angus C.C. Lam c, K.F. Chung d
a

Department of Building & Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Department of Civil Engineering, The South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
c
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Macau, Macau, China
d
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 11 February 2011
Accepted 28 April 2011
Available online 8 June 2011
Keywords:
Coped beams
Reinforcement details
Stiffeners
Testing

a b s t r a c t
A total of 10 full-scale tests were conducted to investigate the strength and behaviour of reinforced coped
steel I-beams. The test parameters included the length of longitudinal stiffeners, length of transverse
stiffeners, combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners, double transverse stiffeners, cope depth and cope
length. For the coped beam specimens without stiffeners, local web buckling failure occurred in the cope. For
the specimens with longitudinal stiffeners only, the general failure mode was exural yielding of the full beam
section at the location of maximum bending moment followed by web crippling at the end of the cope
between the longitudinal stiffeners and the top ange of the full beam section. In contrast, the general failure
mode for the specimens with combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners consisted of exural yielding of
the full beam section at the location of maximum bending moment followed by ange local buckling near the
loading position.
The test results show that the reinforcements were able to increase the capacity of the coped beam specimens
signicantly and the results also illustrate that in addition to cope depth, cope length also affects the
behaviour and strength of the reinforced coped beam specimens. Based on the limited test data, a
modication to the current reinforcement details for coped beams was proposed. The proposed reinforcement
details accounted for the effects of various cope details. To increase the range of applicability of the proposed
reinforcement details, a numerical study is currently underway to consider a wider range of cope details.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In steel structures, when secondary beams are connected to the
main girders, the anges of the beams are usually coped (notched).
Because of the cope, the secondary beams are able to maintain the
same top ange elevation as that of the main girders and provide
enough clearance for constructing the end connections. As shown in
Fig. 1, either welded end plate or bolted clip angle connections can be
used to connect the secondary beams to the main girders. Owing to
the removal of the ange(s), however, the strength of the coped beam
section is signicantly reduced ([1], [2] and [3]). Failure modes of
coped beams include exural yielding, shear yielding, local web
buckling (Fig. 2a) and block shear of the connection (Fig. 2b).
The local web buckling strength and behaviour of coped beams
have been studied by Cheng et al. [4], Cheng and Yura [5], Aalberg and
Larsen [6], Yam et al. [7] and others. In order to improve the strength
of coped beams, Cheng et al. [4] proposed the set of reinforcement
details shown in Fig. 3 to locally strengthen the coped section in order
to prevent the occurrence of local web buckling. However, the details

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bsmyam@polyu.edu.hk (M.C.H. Yam).
0143-974X/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2011.04.015

developed were mainly based on the results of a nite element

analysis without experimental evidence. The AISC Steel Construction
Manual [8] provides a similar set of guidelines, based on the work
of Cheng et.al [4], for reinforcing coped beams. For beam sections with
h/tw 60, where h is the clear distance between anges less the llet
and tw is the thickness of the web, either longitudinal stiffeners
(Fig. 3a) or doubler plate (Fig. 3b) can be used as the reinforcement.
The combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners (Fig. 3c) are used
when h/tw N 60. For reinforced coped beams, it is necessary to check
for exural yielding. Local web buckling of the coped section does not
need to be checked. Yam et al. [9] conducted tests and made a
numerical study of the strength of reinforced coped beams, but only
two coped beam specimens reinforced by longitudinal stiffeners were
tested in the study. Nevertheless, the test results show that even
though the coped section of the beam specimens was reinforced by a
pair of longitudinal stiffeners, the web between the top ange of the
beam and the longitudinal stiffeners distorted with signicant lateral
displacement. Lam et al. [10] also conducted tests on reinforced coped
beams, but the parameters examined were not sufcient to verify the
effectiveness of the reinforcement details suggested by Cheng et al.
[4].
The above discussion shows that only a few studies of the strength
and behaviour of reinforced coped beams have been made and the

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M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

Cope

Bolted clip angles

Welded end plate

Fig. 1. Coped beam connections.

available experimental data is insufcient to substantiate the current

reinforcement details of coped beams. Therefore, the main objective
of the study, presented in this paper, was to provide more
experimental evidence on the strength and behaviour of reinforced
coped beams. In addition, a newly developed reinforcement detail
based on previous research results was also examined in this
experimental programme. The experimental data will also be used
to validate a nite element model for a parametric study and the
results of that study will be reported in another research paper.
2. Experimental programme
2.1. Test specimens
A total of 10 full-scale tests were conducted in the experimental
programme to investigate the strength and behaviour of reinforced
coped steel I-beams. The main test parameters included the length of
longitudinal stiffeners (Lx), length of transverse stiffeners (Ly),
combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners, double transverse
stiffeners and cope details (cope depth (dc) and cope length (c)). The
test specimens are illustrated schematically in Fig. 4. The measured

beam dimensions, the cope details and the reinforcement details of

the specimens are shown in Table 1. The cope details and dimensions
were selected to ensure that the test results were able to illustrate the
effects of the reinforcement on strengthening the coped beam
specimens. In addition, the test results, which considered a wide
range of cope details and dimensions, can be used to properly validate
a nite element model for further parametric study. Five test beam
specimens, 3.4 m long, were fabricated using the universal beam
section UB356 127 33 (SCI Guide [11]) and Grade S355 steel (BS EN
10025-2, 2004 [12]). The test beam specimens were coped at both
ends with relevant reinforcement details. Both ends of the test beams
were designed as separate test specimens with different cope and
reinforcement details. A diagram of a typical test beam is shown in
Fig. 5. Table 1 shows that two cope lengths (c, approximately equal to
210 mm and 315 mm) and two cope depths (dc, approximately equal
to 60 mm and 105 mm) were used to form the cope details. The length
of the longitudinal stiffeners varies approximately between 265 mm
and 412 mm corresponding to a stiffener extension (ex) of about one dc
beyond the end of the cope, except for specimen A3. As shown in Table 1,
a stiffener extension of about 2dc was used for specimen A3. The length
(Ly) of the transverse stiffeners was approximately equal to 2dc. It
should be noted that the variations in the length of stiffeners, the
stiffener extension and the cope details were due to fabrication errors.
The width and the thickness of the stiffeners were 60 mm and 8 mm,
respectively. The stiffeners were welded to the beam web using a llet
weld and a partial penetration butt weld and the weld size was 4 mm as
shown in Fig. 4. Class 42 electrodes were used to produce the welds.
As shown in Table 1, specimens A1 and B1 were the control
specimens that did not have stiffeners in the cope. The results for
these two specimens were compared with those of the other
specimens with various types of stiffeners, in order to illustrate the
effectiveness of the reinforcement details. In general, a cope depth
(dc) of about 60 mm was used for the A-series specimens whereas a
cope depth of 105 mm was used for the B-series specimens as shown
in the table. Specimens A2, A3, B2 and B3 were used to examine the

(a) Local web bucking failure

(b) Block shear failure of

welded end connection

Top
flange

Buckled web

Buckled web

Fig. 2. Coped beam failure modes.

(b) Doubler plate

(a) Longitudinal stiffeners

c

dc

(c) Combined longitudinal and

transverse stiffeners
c

dc

dc

dc

dc
Shear
connection
Longitudinal stiffeners

Shear
connection

Shear
connection
Doubler plate

Fig. 3. Coped beams reinforcement details.

Transverse stiffeners
Longitudinal stiffeners

effectiveness of providing longitudinal stiffeners at the cope in

improving the strength of coped beams as suggested by the previous
research results [4]. The comparison of these test results was also able
to illustrate the effects of cope depth on the effectiveness of the
reinforcement details. Specimen B3 which has a cope length of
315 mm (c/D 0.9) was used to examine the inuence of cope length
on the effectiveness of the reinforcement details. Specimens A4, A5,
B4 and B5 were employed to study the use of transverse stiffeners in
combination with longitudinal stiffeners in strengthening coped
beams. As illustrated in Fig. 4c, a single pair of transverse stiffeners
was placed at the end of the cope for specimens A4 and B4. For

specimens A5 and B5, a double transverse stiffener arrangement was

used with an additional pair of transverse stiffeners placed at the end
of the longitudinal stiffeners as shown in Fig. 4d. This new
arrangement of transverse stiffeners is used to control the failure
mode of rigid body movement of the longitudinal stiffeners as
observed from previous test results [9].
Tension coupons were cut from the webs and the anges of the
test beams and also from the stiffeners. In order to obtain the static
values of the yield strength and the ultimate strength of the materials,
the stroke was held constant briey in the yield plateau, the strainhardening range, and near the ultimate strength level. The average

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M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

315
105

598

700

699

700

412

308

350

108
205

349

212
703

3400

Fig. 5. Typical test beam.

Table 2
Summary of the tension coupon test results.
Coupon
specimens
Beam ange
Beam web
Stiffener

Elastic
modulus, E
(MPa)

Static yield
strength, Fy
(MPa)

Static ultimate
strength, Fu
(MPa)

Strain at
fracture
(%)

205,000
207,800
199,800

354
366
225

484
483
441

24.3
24.1
22.5

Note: the values presented in the table are the average of four coupons for the webs,
four coupons for the anges and two coupons for the stiffeners.

static yield strength and the ultimate strength of the beams and the
stiffeners are listed in Table 2. Although the same steel grade as that of
the beam was originally requested for fabricating the stiffeners, the
average yield strength and ultimate strength of the stiffeners obtained
from the tension coupon tests are signicantly lower than those of the
beams as shown in the table. These lower values would be
incorporated in the calculation of the plastic moment capacity of the
reinforced section of the beams.
2.2. Test setup
A schematic of the test setup is shown in Fig. 6. The test beams
were simply supported with the coped end connected to a stub
column using M24 Grade 8.8 bolts. Three washers (12 mm thick in
total) were used between the end plate of the beam and the column
ange in order to allow moderate rotation of the beam end and also to
prevent contact between the beam ange and the column ange due
to beam end rotation. The end plate (10 mm thick) was welded to the
beam web using an 8 mm llet weld. Typical details of the end plate
are shown in Fig. 4. The beam specimens were loaded by a hydraulic
jack with a maximum capacity of 1000 kN. The hydraulic jack was

located approximately 700 mm (about 2 times the beam depth) from

the stub column support. This loading position was chosen in order to
prevent the concentrated load inuencing the structural behaviour of
the coped region.
To achieve the simply supported condition for the test beams,
roller assemblies were used at the loading position and at the
supports to permit both horizontal movement and rotation of the
beam as shown in Fig. 6. The test beams were prevented from lateral
movement near the loading position and near the beam ends by
lateral bracings. Transverse web stiffeners were used to strengthen
the beams at the loading position and at the roller supports. The
applied load and the reaction force were measured using load cells.

2.3. Instrumentation and test procedure

The deection and movement of the test beams were measured
using linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs). The positions of
the LVDTs are shown in Fig. 7. LVDTs were placed near the coped end to
record the lateral movement of the beam and to detect rigid body
movement of the longitudinal stiffeners. Longitudinal strain gauges
were mounted on the beam web near the end of the cope to record the
strain distribution across the beam depth as shown in Fig. 7.
The tests were conducted using load control in the early stage of
loading. When the beams started to yield, stroke control was used in
order to better capture the nonlinear load deection behaviour of the
beam specimens. The test beams were gradually unloaded once the
maximum applied load was reached and the applied load started to
decrease signicantly. Since both ends of the test beams were
designed as a test end, once the test on one end of each beam was
completed, the other end was then connected to the supporting stub
column for another test.

Reaction frame
Hydraulic
jack

Bolted
connection

700 mm (approx.)
2000 mm (approx.)
Strong floor

Fig. 6. Test setup.

M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

Applied load

1753

the location of maximum bending moment and subsequently the

ange of the beam near the loading position buckled locally as
illustrated in Fig. 8c. For these specimens, relatively small lateral
movement of the longitudinal stiffeners was observed. In particular
for specimens A5 and B5, which had double transverse stiffeners,
almost no lateral movement of the longitudinal stiffeners was
observed, as shown in Fig. 8d.

Longitudinal stiffener
Legend:
Strain gauge
LVDT (vertical)
LVDT (lateral)

3.2. Load deection behaviour

Fig. 7. Typical layout of strain gauges and LVDTs.

3. Test results
3.1. General
The test results are summarised in Table 3. The ultimate applied
load (Pu) and the corresponding in-plane deection () at the loading
position are presented in the table. The ultimate reaction (Ru) and the
end moment (Mo) at the coped end were calculated based on the
measured applied load and the measured reaction at the other
support. These end moments were caused by the small rotational
stiffness of the end plate connection. However, it is believed that these
end moments would not have signicant effect on the strength and
behaviour of the reinforced coped beam specimens. This will be
further discussed in the following section.
The general failure mode of the coped beam specimens without
stiffeners consisted of local web buckling in the cope as shown in
Fig. 8a. For the reinforced coped beam specimens, however, the nal
failure mode depended on the types of stiffener. As shown in Table 3,
specimens A1 and B1 (which had no stiffeners) failed in local web
buckling at the cope and the corresponding in-plane deections were
only about 4 to 5 mm. For the specimens with longitudinal stiffeners
only (A2, A3 and B2) except for specimens B3, exural yielding of the
full beam section occurred at the location of maximum bending
moment and subsequently the longitudinal stiffeners moved laterally
due to web crippling near the coped end as shown in Fig. 8b. For
specimen B3, which had a longer cope length (c), lateral rigid body
movement of the longitudinal stiffeners occurred without signicant
yielding of the full beam section at the loading position. For specimens
A4, A5, B4 and B5, exural yielding of the full beam section occurred at

The applied load versus deection curves of specimens A1A5, and

specimens B1B5 are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. As
mentioned above, the main difference between the A-series specimens
and the B-series specimens was the depth of the cope (dc). For the Aseries specimens, a cope depth of about 60 mm was used whereas a cope
depth of about 150 mm was used for the B-series specimens. Both series
of specimens considered the effects of providing stiffeners in the cope on
the strength and behaviour of coped beams.
In general, the applied load versus deection curves showed linear
behaviour from the beginning of loading. When the applied load
reached about 80% of the ultimate loads, nonlinear load deection
behaviour was observed as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10. As shown in
the gures, the applied load versus deection curves of specimens A1
and B1 showed an abrupt drop in the load carrying capacity after
reaching the ultimate loads due to web buckling failure of the
specimens. For the specimens reinforced with longitudinal stiffeners
(A2, A3, B2 and B3) except for specimen A3 which had a longer
stiffener extension (ex), once the ultimate loads were reached, the
applied load versus deection curves descended rapidly due to web
crippling at the end of the cope together with a lateral rigid body
movement of the stiffeners. For specimen A3, however, the beam was
able to continue deforming without signicant drop in the load
carrying capacity after reaching the ultimate load. As shown in
Table 3, the deection of specimen A3 corresponding to the ultimate
load was 21.5 mm which was signicantly larger than those for the
other specimens reinforced with longitudinal stiffeners.
The applied load versus deection curves of the specimens which
had both longitudinal and transverse stiffeners (specimens A4, A5, B4
and B5) show that the specimens were able to sustain larger
deections at the ultimate load levels as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10.
As mentioned above, these specimens failed in exural yielding of the
full beam section and the applied load started to decrease when ange
local buckling occurred near the loading position. The deections of
these specimens corresponding to the ultimate loads were generally
larger than those for the specimens with only longitudinal stiffeners
(except for specimen A3).

Table 3
Summary of test results.
Test specimens
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5

Ultimate load
Pu (kN)
308.4
472.0
503.9
494.0
518.6
228.7
452.1
368.6
488.9
507.6

In-plane deection
(mm)
4.78
9.48
21.5
14.3
22.9
3.99
9.16
8.04
17.1
23.5

Ultimate reaction
Ru (kN)

Ultimate end-moment
Mo (kNm)

201.9
305.6
329.0
327.5
340.3
149.5
293.9
240.7
318.8
333.0

Note: L = longitudinal stiffeners; T = transverse stiffeners; WB = web buckling.

R = rigid body movement of stiffener due to web crippling.
YR = yielding of full beam section followed by rigid body movement of stiffener due to web crippling.
YF = yielding of full beam section followed by ange local buckling near loading position.

6.33
3.54
14.5
18.5
16.6
4.64
6.84
8.79
8.32
14.2

Stiffener type

Failure mode

Without
L
L
L+T
L+T
Without
L
L
L+T
L+T

WB
YR
YR
YF
YF
WB
YR
R
YF
YF

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M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

Side view

Top view
Web
crippling

Top
flange

Buckled
web

Buckling line

Lateral
movement of
stiffeners

Bottom
flange

(b) Web crippling and lateral movement of

(a) Buckled web of specimen A1

longitudinal stiffeners of specimen B2

Flange buckling

Transverse
stiffeners

Yielding of
full beam section

Longitudinal
stiffeners

(d) No lateral movement of longitudinal

(c) Yielding of the full beam section and local flange

stiffeners of specimen B5

buckling at the loading position of specimen B5

Fig. 8. Typical failure mode of the test specimens.

signicantly when stiffeners are used in the beam specimens. The

location of the theoretical neutral axis of the reinforced section is in
reasonable agreement with the strain readings as illustrated in the
gure, except for specimen B4. For this specimen, the corresponding
strain gauge was located very close to the transverse stiffeners and
hence the readings might have been affected by the stress concentration effect near the stiffeners. The theoretical strain distributions of
specimen B1 (without stiffeners) and specimens B2B5 (with
stiffeners) are also included in Fig. 11. As can be seen from the gure,
the theoretical strain distributions of specimen B1, which are
determined based on the coped beam section properties, are in
general larger than those of the test results. This might be due to the
fact that the strain gauges were located in the web area between the
coped beam section and the full beam section and hence, the

3.3. Strain distribution

Applied load, P (kN)

In general, at least ten strain gauges were mounted on the web, the
top ange of the beams and the stiffeners as shown in Fig. 7. Two
strain gauges were also placed on the top and bottom anges of the
beam approximately 1000 mm from the coped end support to help
monitor the loading applied to the beam. Only the load versus strain
curves for the B-series specimens were used to illustrate the strain
distributions in the web at the coped end of the beam as shown in
Fig. 11. The strain distributions for the A-series specimens are similar
to those of the B-series specimens.
Fig. 11 illustrates the elastic strain distributions in the web at an
applied load of 150 kN. As expected, it can be seen from the gure that
the longitudinal strains in the web near the top of the cope reduce

550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

A1

A2

A4

A5

A3

P
M

R
V

12

16

20

24

28

32

Vertical deflection , (mm)

Fig. 9. Load versus deection curves specimens A1A5.

36

40

44

Applied load, P (kN)

550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

Vertical deflection , (mm)

strain gauge readings might have been inuenced by the full beam
section. Moreover, the theoretical strain distributions of specimens
B2B5 are in reasonable agreement with the test results as shown
in Fig. 11.
4. Discussion of the test results

cr = Ks

 2
2 E
t

W
2
ho
12 1v

 b
h
Ks = a o
c
a = 1:381:79

4.1. General
To help discuss the test results, the test maximum bending
moment at the loading position (Mmax) and at the end of the cope
(Mco) of the beam specimens were evaluated. The corresponding
values are shown in Table 4. The shear capacity of the coped beam
section (Rvy), the moment capacity of the coped beam section with or
without longitudinal stiffeners (Mpco) and the plastic moment
capacity of the full beam section (Mp) are also included in the table
for comparison. To predict the local web buckling capacity (Rwb) of
specimens A1 and B1, the design equations proposed by Yam et al. [7]
were used and the predicted values are shown in Table 4 as well. The
web buckling equations for coped beams proposed by Yam et al. [7]
are as follows:
RWb = cr tW Ddc

b = 3:64

2
3a

dc
D

 2
 
dc
d
 3:36 c + 1:55
D
D

3b

3c

where Rwb = local web buckling capacity of coped beams; ks =shear

buckling coefcient; E=elastic modulus; =Poisson's ratio; ho = height
of web of T-section and other symbols have been dened above. The
measured dimensions of the beam specimens and the material properties
obtained from the tension coupon tests were used to calculate the
capacities of the specimens.
As mentioned above, end moments were developed in the end
plate connections. In fact, the ultimate end moments of the specimens
varied between 2% and 10% of the corresponding fully xed end
moment. According to Vinnakota [13], for a simple shear connection
such as the end plate connection used in this study, the connection
end moment may range from 5% to 20% of the fully xed moment.
Therefore, the ultimate end moments developed in the specimens

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M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

Table 4
Summary of moment and shear capacities of specimens.
Test
specimens

Ru
(kN)

Mmax
(kNm)

Mco
(kNm)

Mp
(kNm)

Mpco
(kNm)

Rwb
(kN)

Rvy
(kN)

Mmax
Mp

Mco
Mpco

Ru
Rwb

Ru
Rvy

Stiffener
type

Failure
mode

A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5

201.9
305.6
329.0
327.5
340.3
149.5
293.9
240.7
318.8
333.0

134.0
209.5
216.5
209.6
221.8
99.3
198.3
160.0
213.7
218.6

38.4
62.8
57.9
51.2
58.2
28.2
57.0
69.5
62.5
58.8

182.8
185.1
187.5
184.2
185.3
184.9
183.4
179.9
178.7
182.5

43.0
122.4
122.9
119.3
120.1
32.2
96.1
94.1
92.1
94.7

198.5

155.7

346.3
355.8
348.7
351.1
351.6
299.7
295.0
300.6
293.0
298.6

0.73
1.13
1.15
1.14
1.20
0.54
1.08
0.89
1.20
1.20

0.89
0.51
0.47
0.43
0.48
0.88
0.59
0.74
0.68
0.62

1.02

0.96

0.58
0.86
0.94
0.93
0.97
0.50
1.00
0.80
1.09
1.12

Without
L
L
L+T
L+T
Without
L
L
L+T
L+T

WB
YR
YR
YF
YF
WB
YR
R
YF
YF

Note: Ru = test ultimate reaction at the coped end of the beam specimens.
Mmax = test maximum bending moment of the beam specimens at the loading position.
Mco = test bending moment of the beam specimens at the end of cope (Fig. 4).
Mp = plastic moment capacity of full beam section.
Mpco = plastic moment capacity of the coped section with longitudinal stiffeners (specimens A2A5 and B2B5) or yield moment capacity of the coped section without
stiffeners (specimens A1 and B1).
Rwb = local web buckling capacity of specimens without stiffeners according to Yam equations [6].
Rvy = shear capacity of the coped beam section.
L = longitudinal stiffeners; T = transverse stiffeners; WB = web buckling.
R = rigid body movement of stiffener due to web crippling.
YR = yielding of full beam section followed by rigid body movement of stiffener due to web crippling.
YF = yielding of full beam section followed by ange local buckling near loading position.

were reasonable. In addition, as shown in Table 4, except for

specimens A1, B1 (failed in local web buckling) and B3 (with a longer
cope length), the ratio of the maximum bending moment to the
corresponding plastic moment capacity ranged from 1.08 to 1.20 and
the ultimate end moments of the specimens were only 1.7% to 8.8% of
the corresponding maximum bending moments. If there was no end
moment developed at the connection, the ultimate reactions of the
specimens would only be slightly decreased and the specimens could
still reach the plastic moment capacity. Hence, it can be seen that the
effectiveness of the reinforcement in strengthening the coped beam
specimens would not be affected due to the inuence of the end
moment.

For the specimens with both longitudinal and transverse stiffeners,

no web crippling was observed and the specimens were able to
develop ange buckling near the loading position after achieving the
plastic moment capacity of the full beam section. It should be noted
that for the specimens which failed in exural yielding of the beam
section near the loading position, the ratio of the corresponding
maximum bending moment at the loading position to the plastic
moment capacity ranges from 1.08 to 1.20 as shown in Table 4. This
high ratio is due to the combined effects of moment gradient along the
test beams and strain hardening of the steel material [14]. It should
also be noted that the applied moment at the end of cope (Mco) is less
than the corresponding moment capacity of the coped section, either
with or without the longitudinal stiffeners (Mpco), for all of the
specimens as shown in Table 4.

4.2. Failure mode

The test results show that the beam specimens without stiffeners
failed in local web buckling at the cope. The predicted local web
buckling capacities (Rwb) of specimens A1 and B1 using the Yam
equation are in good agreement with the test results as shown in
Table 4. Neither of the two specimens reached the yield moment
capacity or the shear capacity of the coped beam section. By providing
longitudinal stiffeners to reinforce the cope, the failure mode of the
reinforced coped beam specimens (except for specimen B3) consisted
of exural yielding of the full beam section at the maximum bending
moment location near the loading position, to be then followed by
web crippling at the end of the cope between the longitudinal
stiffeners and the top ange of the full beam section. Although the
stiffener extensions (ex) of the B-series specimens were slightly
smaller than the corresponding dc (due to fabrication errors),
specimen B2 showed that the longitudinal stiffeners were able to
delay the occurrence of web crippling until the development of
exural yielding of the full beam section near the loading position had
been reached. However, specimen B3, which had a longer cope length
(c) of 315.3 mm compared to 207.2 mm of specimen B2, failed in web
crippling and the specimen did not reach the plastic moment capacity
of the full beam section near the loading position as illustrated in
Table 4. Hence, it can be seen that the stiffener extension requirement
for longitudinal stiffeners should also consider the effects of cope
length in addition to cope depth.

4.3. Effects of longitudinal stiffeners

As mentioned above, longitudinal stiffeners are able to improve
the capacity of coped beam specimens signicantly by forcing the
occurrence of exural yielding of the full beam section near the
loading position prior to the development of web crippling (except for
specimen B3). The ratio of the maximum bending moment at the
loading position to the plastic moment capacity of the specimens
ranges from 0.89 to 1.15 for the specimens with longitudinal stiffeners
only. In order to illustrate the improved performance of the reinforced
coped beam specimens, the curves of maximum bending moment
versus beam deection at the loading position are shown in Fig. 12. It
should be noted that specimens A2, B2 and B3 only have a stiffener
extension (ex) equal to about 1dc whereas specimen A3 has a stiffener
extension (ex) of about 2dc. Although specimens A2 and B2 were able
to develop the plastic moment capacity of the full beam section,
Fig. 12 shows that the moment versus deection curves of these
specimens descend abruptly once they have reached the maximum
applied moment due to the development of web crippling. However,
for specimens A3, which had a stiffener extension (ex) equal to about
2dc, the moment versus deection curves show a more gradual
descending branch with a signicant increase in ultimate deection
prior to the occurrence of web crippling as shown in Fig. 12. In
addition, Table 4 shows that for specimens A2, A3, B2 and B3 the ratio

M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

1757

Maximum moment, Mmax (kNm)

250
225
200 Mp = 184 kNm
175

150

B2

Mmax

125

A3
V

100

B3
A2

75
50
25
0

12

15

18

21

24

27

30

33

36

Vertical deflection , (mm)

Fig. 12. Moment versus deection curves for specimens A2, A3, B2 and B3.

ratio of the ultimate reaction (Ru) to the shear capacity of the coped
section varies between 0.93 and 1.12. Hence, it can be seen that the
combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners were able to develop
the capacity of either the coped section (except for specimen A4) or
the full beam section of the specimens and also prohibited the
occurrence of web crippling at the end of the cope. Fig. 14 shows the
curves of applied load versus lateral displacement of the web at the
end of the cope for specimens B4 and B5. The gure illustrates that
there is a lateral web movement of about 7 mm for specimen B4.
However, almost no lateral movement was observed for specimen B5
which had the double transverse stiffeners.
Based on the test results and the above discussion it can be seen
that the use of combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners in
reinforcing coped beams improves the capacity of the beams
substantially by allowing failure to occur in either the coped section
(due to shear) or the full beam section (due to moment). In addition,
the reinforced coped beams were able to sustain the maximum
applied load with considerable deection. Furthermore, the combined
longitudinal and double transverse stiffeners prohibit lateral movement of the web at the end of the cope and hence eliminate the
possibility of web crippling.

of the ultimate reaction (Ru) to the shear capacity of the coped section
ranges from 0.8 to 1.0.
Based on the test results and the above discussion it can be seen
that reinforcing coped beams using a pair of longitudinal stiffeners
with a stiffener extension of 1dc is able to improve the capacity of the
beams signicantly. However, a longer stiffener extension (2dc used
in this test programme) was able to provide a more stable and more
gradual coped beam unloading behaviour after the full beam section
reaches its plastic moment capacity.
4.4. Effects of combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners
The test results show that when the specimens (A4, A5, B4 and B5)
were reinforced by both longitudinal and transverse stiffeners, the
beam specimens were able to achieve the plastic moment capacity of
the full beam section with a nal failure mode of ange local buckling
near the loading position. In addition, the ultimate reaction (Ru) of
specimens B4 and B5 reached the shear capacity of the coped section
as shown in Table 4. The maximum bending moment versus beam
deection curves at the loading position for specimens A4, A5, B4 and
B5 are shown in Fig. 13. It can be seen from the gure that all the
curves show a typical moment versus deection behaviour where the
beams are able to sustain the maximum applied moment with
considerable beam deection. As shown in Table 4, the ratio of the
maximum bending moment at the loading position to the plastic
moment capacity of the specimens ranges from 1.14 to 1.20 and the

4.5. Effects of cope depth and cope length

All the specimens had a cope length (c) of approximately 210 mm
(c/D 0.6) except for specimen B3 which had a cope length of

Maximum moment, Mmax (kNm)

250
B5

225
200 Mp = 182.7 kNm

B4

175

A5
P

150
125

A4

Mmax

R
V

100
75
50
25
0

12

15

18

21

24

27

30

Vertical deflection , (mm)

Fig. 13. Moment versus deection curves for specimens A4, A5, B4 and B5.

33

36

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M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

600

500

B4

Applied load, P (kN)

400
LVDT
Specimen B4

300
B5

200

LVDT

100

Specimen B5

0
-2

-1

Lateral displacement of web at end of cope (mm)

Fig. 14. Applied load versus lateral displacement curves for specimens B4 and B5.

315 mm (c/D 0.9). The cope depth (dc) of the B-series specimens
was about 105 mm (dc/D 0.3) whereas the cope depth of the Aseries specimens was about 60 mm (dc/D 0.18). For specimens A1
and B1 which did not have stiffeners, increasing the cope depth
causes a decrease in the web buckling capacity of the specimen as
shown in Table 4. For the specimens with stiffeners, however,
increasing the cope depth does not affect the capacity of the
specimens signicantly as shown in the table since the stiffeners are
able to strengthen the coped section such that web crippling does not
occur prior to the development of the full beam section plastic
moment capacity. When comparing the test results of specimen B2 to
those of specimen B3, it can be seen that increasing the cope length by
52% (with the same stiffener extension of about 1dc) the capacity of
the beam specimens is decreased by 18%. In fact, the failure mode of
specimen B3 is that of web crippling at the end of the cope instead of
exural yielding of the full beam section near the loading position.
Hence, it can be seen that the reinforcement detail requirement of
coped beams should include the inuence of both the cope length and
the cope depth.
5. Proposed modication to the current reinforcement details for
coped beams
As mentioned above, the current reinforcement details for coped
beams are based on the work by Cheng et al. [4], details which have
also been adopted by the AISC Steel Construction Manual [9] as
shown in Fig. 3. According to the gure, for coped beams (h/tw 60)
reinforced with longitudinal stiffeners the stiffener extension (ex)
must be at least equal to or greater than the cope depth (dc). The
reinforced coped beam is then checked for exural yielding of the
reinforced section and a local web buckling check of the coped section
is not required.
Based on the test results, it can be seen that the coped beam
specimens (except for specimen B3), which were reinforced with
longitudinal stiffeners according to the current reinforcement details,
were able to reach the plastic moment capacity of the full beam section
and no bending failure was observed in the reinforced section. In
addition, the ultimate reactions of the specimens were also close to the
shear capacity of the coped section. For specimen B3, which had a longer
cope length (c/D 0.9 comparing to c/D 0.6 of other specimens) web
crippling failure was observed prior to reaching the plastic moment
capacity of the full beam section. The test results also show that

specimen A2, which had a stiffener extension of 2dc, exhibited more

ductile behaviour. For the specimens with both longitudinal and
transverse (single or double) stiffeners, the beams were able to reach
the plastic moment capacity of the full beam section with ductile
behaviour and the ultimate reactions of the specimens were very close
to or exceeded the shear capacity of the coped section.
Based on the limited test data and the above discussion, a modication
to the reinforcement details for coped beams is proposed as follows:
For coped beams with h/tw 60, dc/D 0.3 and c/D 0.6, only
longitudinal stiffeners are required and the length of the
longitudinal stiffeners (Lx) is
L = c + eX

where eX 2dc:

For coped beams with h/tw 60, dc/D 0.3 and 0.6 c/D 0.9, both
longitudinal and transverse (single) stiffeners are required and the
lengths of the longitudinal (Lx) and the transverse (Ly) stiffeners are
Lx = c + ex

where eX dc

Ly = dc + ey

where ey dc:

All the symbols have been dened in Fig. 4. It should be noted

that the above preliminary recommendations of the reinforcement
details for coped beam are based on limited test data. Further
numerical work is underway to systematically examine the reinforcement requirements for a wider range of cope details in order to
increase the range of applicability of the above recommendations.
6. Summary and conclusions
A total of 10 full-scale tests were conducted to investigate the
strength and behaviour of reinforced coped steel I-beams. The main
test parameters included the length of longitudinal stiffeners (Lx),
length of transverse stiffeners (Ly), combined longitudinal and
transverse stiffeners, double transverse stiffeners and the cope details
(cope depth (dc) and cope length (c)). For the coped beam specimens
without stiffeners, local web buckling failure occurred in the cope. For
the specimens with longitudinal stiffeners only, the general failure
mode was exural yielding of the full beam section at the location of
maximum bending moment followed by web crippling at the end of

M.C.H. Yam et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 17491759

the cope between the longitudinal stiffeners and the top ange of the
full beam section. In contrast, for the specimens with combined
longitudinal and transverse stiffeners, the general failure mode was
exural yielding of the full beam section at the location of maximum
bending moment followed by ange local buckling near the loading
position.
The test results show that the reinforcements were able to increase
the capacity of the coped beam specimens signicantly. The ratio of
the maximum bending moment at the loading position to the plastic
moment capacity of the full beam section of the reinforced coped
beam specimens ranged from 0.89 to 1.20 and the ratio of the ultimate
reaction (Ru) to the shear capacity of the coped section varied
between 0.80 and 1.12. The test results also illustrate that in addition
to the cope depth, the cope length (c) also affected the behaviour and
strength of reinforced coped beams. In addition, the specimens with
either a longer stiffener extension (ex) for the longitudinal stiffeners
or combined longitudinal and transverse stiffeners were able to
sustain the maximum applied load with considerable deection.
Based on the limited test data, a modication to the currently
recommended reinforcement details for coped beams has been
proposed. The proposed reinforcement details included the inuence
of various cope details. A numerical study of reinforced coped beams
is currently underway to consider a wider range of cope details in
order to increase the range of applicability of the proposed
reinforcement details for coped beams.

Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a
grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, China (Project No. PolyU 5329/08E). The

1759

assistance of Mr. T.L. Ip, Mr. C.H. Leong and Mr. S.L. Meng in conducting the tests is also acknowledged.
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