Draft:Cope hole
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A cope hole is a structural engineering term used for a cut out section or hole in a beam, girder, plate or similar construct, which facilitates connectivity to another construction element. The hole may hold the other element by gravity, welding, bolting or using adhesive mechanisms. A variant of a cope hole is a snipe, which is where a 45 degree triangle is cut off from an otherwise square corner, so that another building component can join at that point. A weld access hole is where the hole or cut out section is used to gain access for a welding operation.[1]
Usage
[edit]Cope holes can be found on bridges constructed with steel.[2]
Cope holes have several potential uses
- To facilitate weld access, in the case of weld access holes for steel products[3]
- To prevent overlapping welds on different surfaces so that they can be prepared separately with a discrete welds.[1]
- To facilitate the construction assembly processes[2]
- To allow beams or girders to be plugged into each other
- To allow visual inspections
- To allow drainage[1]
- To facilitate coating / painting[1]
- To accommodate shear studs
- To enable concrete flow, between different units at different stages of construction
- Stress management, a snipe or notch can reduce cracking on sharp corners, with stress more evenly spread on the radius of the edging.[1]
Building codes in different countries take different approaches to scope and weld access holes, in some cases restricting or prohibiting their use.[2] Fatigue damage has been identified around some cope holes, particularly as the size of the hole increases.[3][4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Guidance notes on best practice in steel bridge construction" (PDF). No. 7. Bracknell: Steel Construction Institute. July 2025. pp. 1.01/2-1.01/4, 8.01/4. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 Berthellemy, Jacques (2022). "Fatigue evaluation of beam cope holes in the web coinciding with thickness transition in the flange". Procedia Structural Integrity. 38: 428–446. doi:10.1016/j.prostr.2022.03.044. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
- 1 2 Miki, Chitoshi; Tateishi, Kazuo (1997). "Fatigue strength of cope hole details in steel bridges". International Journal of Fatigue. 19 (6): 445–455. doi:10.1016/S0142-1123(97)85727-1. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
- ↑ Śledziewski, Krzysztof (2019). "Numerical investigation of the cope hole shape impact on fatigue life of welded joints in steel bridges". MATEC Web of Conferences. 252: 07008. doi:10.1051/matecconf/201925207008. ISSN 2261-236X. Retrieved 24 June 2026.