Effect of holes in the tensile capacity of high strength steel

![CDATA[With recent changes in manufacturing processes and advancements in material science, high strength structural steel (fy > 600 MPa) has become an economical alternative for use in structural members. One such type of steel is intermediate and high-strength quenched and tempered lowalloy steel in the form of plates with thicknesses ranging from a minimum thickness of 5mm to a maximum thickness of 110mm and manufactured in accordance with Australian Standard AS 3597- 1993 “Structural and pressure vessel steel – Quenched and tempered steel plate” (SA, 1993). Using standard welding practices, these plates are easily transformed into structural members. Three such grades of steel are currently manufactured in Australia by Bisalloy Steels Pty Ltd, viz. Bisplate 60 (Grade 500), Bisplate 70 (Grade 600) and Bisplate 80 (Grade 700). A summary of plate tensile properties is given in Table 1 where some measured experimental values are compared with the values (in italics) for the various grades specified in AS 3597-1993.]]