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An experimental study has been conducted into the degree of composite action that can arise between cold-formed steel joists and wood-based flooring panels. A series of material, pushout and four-point bending tests have been carried out, and alternative means of shear connection, featuring fasteners and adhesives, have been investigated. It has been found that the spacing of the fasteners as well as the application of structural adhesive at the beam-board interface has a significant influence on the attained degree of shear connection and hence the moment capacity and flexural stiffness of the system. The highest degree of shear connection (up to about 60%) was obtained using the structural adhesive, bringing corresponding increases in capacity and stiffness of around 100% and 40% respectively over the bare steel.Smaller, but still very significant, increases in capacity and stiffness were achieved through the use of screws alone. Based on the results of the push-out tests, a load-slip relationship for screw fasteners in wood-based floorboards has been proposed; this is designed for use in future analytical and numerical models. The findings of this research demonstrate, for the first time, the benefits, in terms of enhanced structural performance and efficiency of material use, that can be derived through the practical exploitation of composite action in cold-formed steel flooring systems.

The findings from a numerical investigation into the degree of composite action that may be mobilised within floor systems comprising cold-formed steel joists and wood-based particle boards are presented herein. Finite element models have been developed, simulating all the components of the examined systems, as well as the interaction between them. The models include initial geometric imperfections, the load-slip response of the fasteners employed to achieve the shear connection as well as both geometric and material nonlinearities. The developed models were first validated against 12 physical tests reported in the literature, which showed them to be capable of accurately capturing the load-deformation curves and failure modes exhibited by the tested specimens. Parametric studies were then performed to examine the influence of key parameters on the structural behaviour of these systems, including the depth and thickness of the cold-formed steel section, as well as the spacing of the employed fasteners; in total, about 100 systems have been examined. Significant benefits in terms of structural response have been identified from the presented numerical study as a result of the mobilisation of composite action; for the systems investigated, which were of typical, practical proportions, up to 140% increases in moment capacity and 40% increases in stiffness were found. The presented research reveals the substantial gains in structural performance and the influence of the key governing parameters for this novel form of composite construction.

Recently conducted experimental and numerical investigations have shown that mobilisation of composite action within systems comprising cold-formed steel beams and wood-based floorboards is feasible and can lead to substantial improvements in structural performance. However, no design rules have yet been established for these systems in order to allow the beneficial effect of composite action to be exploited. In this paper, proposals for the design of such systems are devised and their theoretical basis is presented. At the core of the proposals is the calculation of the attained degree of partial shear connection and the shear bond coefficient for the composite members as a function of the geometric and material properties of their components and connectors. The accuracy of the devised design method for the prediction of moment capacity and flexural stiffness is demonstrated through comparisons with the results of 12 physical tests and about 80 numerical simulations reported in the literature. The proposals provide practical design rules for composite cold-formed steel floor beams, which are suitable for incorporation into future revisions of the Eurocodes.

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a method of metal 3D printing that has the potential for significant impact on the construction industry due to its ability to produce large parts, with reasonable printing times and costs. There is currently however a lack of fundamental data on the performance of structural elements produced using this method of manufacture. Seeking to bridge this gap, the compressive behavior and resistance of WAAM square hollow sections (SHS) are investigated in this study. Testing reported in a previous study by the authors of sheet material produced in the same manner as the studied SHS is first summarized. The production, measurement and testing of a series of stainless steel SHS stub columns are then described. Regular cross-section profiles were chosen to isolate the influence of 3D printing and enable direct comparisons to be made against equivalent sections produced using traditional methods of manufacture. A range of cross-section sizes and thicknesses were considered to achieve variation in the local cross-sectional slenderness of the tested specimens, allowing the influence of local buckling to be assessed. Repeat tests enabled the variability in response between specimens to be evaluated; a total of 14 SHS stub columns of seven different local slendernesses was tested, covering all cross-section classes of AISC 370 and Eurocode 3. Advanced non-contact measurement techniques were employed to determine the as-built geometric properties, while digital image correlation measurements were used to provide detailed insight into the deformation characteristics of the test specimens. Owing to the higher geometric variability of WAAM relative to 2 conventional forming processes, the tested 3D printed stub columns were found to exhibit more variable capacities between repeat specimens than is generally displayed by stainless steel SHS. Comparisons of the stub column test results with existing structural design rules highlight the need to allow for the weakening effect of the geometric undulations that are inherent to the WAAM process, in order to achieve safe-sided strength predictions.

An experimental investigation has been conducted into the degree of shear interaction between cold-formed steel floor joists and wood-based flooring panels and the resulting benefits derived in terms of composite action. A series of four-point bending tests have been carried out to evaluate the overall system behavior, while material tests have been performed to accurately define the material properties of each component of the examined system. Two different shear transfer mechanisms were examined: self-drilling screws with varying spacing and structural adhesive. The bare system was also tested to provide a reference response, against which the stiffness and capacity of the composite system could be bench-marked. The experiments showed that significant benefit could be derived as a result of composite action with as much as a 100% increase in bending capacity and 42% increase in stiffness.

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