A precast, prestressed concrete girder with large web openings allows building service systems (mechanical, electrical, communications, and plumbing) to cross the girder line within the member’s depth, educing a building’s floor-to-floor height and the overall height of the structure. These height reductions have the potential to improve the competitiveness of total precast concrete structures versus other types of building systems. The experimental program reported in this paper tested three fullscale inverted-tee (IT) girders with large web openings (ITO girders) to failure to evaluate the openings�? effect on girder behavior. The load-deflection response of the ITO girders up to peak load was similar to that of a control girder without openings. The ITO girders reached their design loads but failed at lower loads than predicted and at values approximately 20% less than the failure load for the control girder. The ITO girders failed in a brittle manner due to diagonal cracking above the opening closest to the support. The test girders were designed using available recommendations in the existing literature. Testing in this experimental program demonstrated that available recommendations in the literature inadequately predict failure loads for ITO girders.
