Strength capacity of bolted shear connectors with cold-formed steel section integrated as composite beam in self-compacting concrete

Abstract

The use of composite systems comprising of concrete and hot-rolled steel (HRS) sections is well established as observed by extensive rules and requirements for their design as prescribed in current design codes. There is, however, few technical information available about the use of composite systems that incorporates the use of light gauge steel sections, despite the potentials of the system in residential and light industrial constructions. Therefore, this study investigates the strength capacity of bolted shear connectors with cold-formed steel (CFS) section integrated as composite beam in self-compacting concrete. In this paper, four composite beam specimens of dimensions (4500 mm x 1500 mm x 75 mm) with bolted shear connectors of M12 and M14 of grade 8.8 installed on the upper flanges of the coupled back-to-back CFS I-section with longitudinal spacing’s of 250 mm and 300 mm centers and spaced 75 mm laterally were fabricated, cast and tested to failure using four-point bending test. Shear connector size and the longitudinal spacing were the varied parameters, and their influence was investigated on the ultimate load and ultimate moment capacities. The results showed that, the ultimate load and ultimate moment capacities were both influenced remarkably by the studied parameters. However, results of theoretical analysis, revealed good agreement between the experimental and the theoretical results. This shows that, the plastic analysis results for the ultimate moment capacity of the composite beams can be estimated efficiently by using the constitutive laws as prescribed by Eurocodes.