Contribution of perforated steel ribs to load-carrying capacities of steel and concrete composite slabs under negative bending

Abstract

To attain a better understanding of the contribution of perforated steel ribs to the load-carrying capacities of steel and concrete composite slabs, six specimens with different shear connectors and areas of steel bars were tested under negative bending. Applied load, deformation, location and subsequent trajectory of cracks, strains, and failure mode of each specimen were recorded during the tests. Shear cracks were observed in two specimens, while in the other specimens only bending cracks were found. The perforated L-shaped ribs were proved to reduce the shear crack risk of composite bridge deck slabs and have a larger contribution to the loading-carrying capacities of composite slabs than plain ribs. Based on the experimental results, calculation methods were proposed to evaluate the flexural and shear strength of composite slabs. The calculated methods can quantitatively show the favorable influence of perforated steel ribs on the loading-carrying capacities of composite slabs, and the failure modes can be well predicted.

Failure Modes and Resistance of Perforated Steel Rib Shear Connectors under Uplift Forces

“…e specimens were designed based on the design of the composite slabs reported in [5]. eir details are shown in Figure 3.…”

“…e width of the L-shaped steel rib flange was 30 mm, as shown in Figure 3(c). All steel members were cast into concrete block with a thickness of 150 mm which is the same with that of the bridge deck slab reported by Xu et al [5]. Referring to Figure 5, in all the specimens, transverse steel bars of 14 mm diameter were placed through the center of the holes.…”

“…A perforated steel rib shear connector is a thin steel plate with a number of uniformly spaced holes. After the holes in the perforated rib are filled with concrete, the concrete dowel can resist longitudinal shear and prevent uplift separation between steel and concrete components [2][3][4][5]. ough the headed stud shear connector is still the most widely used shear connector, there is an increase in applications of perforated steel rib shear connectors in the composite structures [5][6][7][8][9], owing to their ease of manufacture, excellent load bearing and deformation properties, superior antifatigue performance, and usefulness in slender concrete slabs [10].…”

“…e perforated steel ribs can act as not only shear connectors but also stiffeners for the steel plate in composite slabs. e perforated L-shaped ribs proposed by Xu et al [5] and used in composite slabs, as shown in Figure 2, have been proved to reduce the shear crack risk of composite bridge deck slabs and have a larger contribution to the loading-carrying capacities of composite slabs than plain ribs. However, it is still not clear that how perforated ribs resist the vertical relative slip between steel ribs and concrete after the shear crack occurred.…”

Experimental investigation of innovative reinforcement method for two‐way concrete slabs using perforated steel plates

“…One of these methods is to use perforated steel plates (PSPs) as shear components along with profiled sheets. [16][17][18][19][20][21] It has been shown that PSPs perform well in concrete members as shear components due to uniformity than steel bar reinforcement and the ability to confine concrete within the holes.…”