Parametric Finite Element Analyses of Lightweight Cold‐formed Steel‐concrete Composite Floor Beams

Abstract

Composite structural systems have many benefits, such as a high degree of prefabrication, reusability and long span capability. The main advantage of such systems is manifested through the optimal utilisation of structural steel and concrete. Additionally, allowing for demountability and reusability, the system can also result in a much smaller carbon footprint at the end of life. These advantages are particularly emphasised with the implementation of cold‐formed steel sections. This paper presents an innovative solution for a composite floor structure system consisting of built‐up cold‐formed profiles and concrete slabs made with profiled sheets. The influence of the corrugated web thickness, type of connection between steel beam elements, the degree of shear connection and steel beam height on the overall behaviour of the composite system is analysed. The performed FE analyses showed that the influence of connections between steel beam elements and the degree of shear connection had the most significant impact on system behaviour. In contrast, the steel beam height, the corrugated web thickness and spot weld density had less influence on the analysed composite system behaviour. The obtained results provide the basis for implementing laboratory research on the proposed system.

A Critical Review of Cold-Formed Steel Built-Up Composite Columns with Geopolymer Concrete Infill

“…Studies have focused on investigating the flexural performance of composite columns with different cross-sectional configurations, such as C-sections filled with concrete material containing varied lightweight recycled aggregates [60]. Furthermore, the influence of corrugated web thickness, connection types, shear connection degree, and steel beam height on the overall behaviour of composite floor structures has been examined, highlighting the significant impact of connection types and shear connection degree on system behaviour [61]. Meza et al [62] described a comprehensive experimental program in which built-up CFS stub columns with four different cross-sectional geometries were investigated, and the experiments revealed a significant amount of restraint within the buckling due to the cross-sectional stiffeners and connector spacing having a pronounced effect on the observed buckling mode.…”

Numerical Study on the Bending Resistance of Lightweight Built-Up Steel-Concrete Composite Beams

“…In cases where a tie connection is used, the touching surfaces are connected using a tie constraint. When spot welds are used for connecting C-sections, two and three spot welds are used, in accordance with [43]. The spot welds are secured with attachment points using Point-Based Fasteners with assigned properties investigated in [44,45].…”

Finite Element Analyses of Demountable Shear Connection in Cold‐Formed Steel‐Concrete Composite Beam Based on Experimental Data

“…By using backto-back systems, a relatively small distance between two shear connectors is obtained compared to built-up systems, which is used to analyse the influence of the shear connector distance on the behaviour of the shear connection. The proposed innovative system was investigated as part of the scientific project LWT-FLOOR [12][13][14][15], which is being carried out at the University of Zagreb at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Croatia. The project aims to investigate the behaviour of the proposed system as well as the behaviour of the individual components using experimental, numerical and probabilistic methods and, based on this, to enable the development of an analytical procedures for design of proposed system.…”