• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1105-1119
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• 2016

In this study, it is presented that a new developed approach for equivalent area-distributed loading (EADL) induced from a single concentrated force. For the purpose, a full scale 3D steel formwork system was constructed in laboratory conditions. A developed load transmission platform was put on the formwork system and loaded step by step on the mass center. After each load increment, displacement was measured in several crictical points of the system. The developed platform which was put in to slab of formwork to equivalently distribute the load from a point to the whole slab was constituted using I profiles. A 3D finite element model of the formwork system was analyzed to compare numerical displacement results with experimental ones. In experimental tests,difference among the displacements obtained from reference numerical model (model applied EADL) and main numerical model (model applied single load using a load cell via load transmission platform) is about %13 in avarage. Difference among the displacements obtained from experimental results and main numerical model under 30 kN single load is about %11 in avarage. The results revealed that the displacements obtained experimentally and numerically are dramatically closed to each other. It is highlighted from the study that the developed approach is reliable and useful to get EDL.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.525-545
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• 2020

This paper presents a new structural system to use as retaining walls. In civil works, there is a general trend to use traditional reinforced concrete (RC) retaining walls to resist soil pressure. Despite their good resistance, RC retaining walls have some disadvantages such as need for huge temporary formworks, high dense reinforcing, low construction speed, etc. In the present work, a composite wall with only one steel plate (steel-concrete) is proposed to address the disadvantages of the RC walls. In the proposed system, steel plate is utilized not only as tensile reinforcement but also as a permanent formwork for the concrete. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed SC composite system, an experimental program that includes nine SC composite wall specimens is developed. In this experimental study, the effects of different parameters such as distance between shear connectors, length of shear connectors, concrete ultimate strength, use of compressive steel plate and compressive steel reinforcement are investigated. In addition, a 3D finite element (FE) model for SC composite walls is proposed using the finite element program ABAQUS and load-displacement curves from FE analyses were compared against results obtained from physical testing. In all cases, the proposed FE model is reasonably accurate to predict the behavior of SC composite walls under out-of-plane loads. Results from experimental work and numerical study show that the SC composite wall system has high strength and ductile behavior under flexural loads. Furthermore, the design equations based on ACI code for calculating out-ofplate flexural and shear strength of SC composite walls are presented and compared to experimental database.