• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.873-887
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• 2015

The continuous composite I-girder should have a sufficient rotation capacity (or ductility) to redistribute the negative bending moment into an adjacent positive bending moment region. However, it is generally known that the ductility of the high strength steel is smaller than that of conventional steel, and application of high strength steel can cause ductility problems in a negative moment region of the I-girder. In this study, moment redistribution of the continuous composite I-girder with high strength steel was studied, where high strength steel with yield stress of 690 MPa was considered (the ultimate stress of the steel was 800 MPa). The available and required rotation capacity of the continuous composite I-girder with high strength steel was firstly derived based on the stress-strain curve of high strength steel and plastic analysis, respectively. A large scale test and a series of non-linear finite element analysis for the continuous composite I-girder with high strength steel were then conducted to examine the effectiveness of proposed models and to investigate the effect of high strength steel on the inelastic behavior of the negative bending moment region of the continuous composite I-girder with high strength steel. Finally, it can be found that the proposed equations provided good estimation of the requited and available rotation capacity of the continuous composite I-girder with high strength steel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제52권4호
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• pp.475-485
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• 2024

The mechanical behavior of the steel tube encased high-strength concrete (STHC) composite walls under constant axial load and cyclically increasing lateral load was studied. Conclusions are drawn based on experimental observations, grey evolutionary algorithm and finite element (FE) simulations. The use of steel tube wall panels improved the load capacity and ductility of the specimens. STHC composite walls withstand more load cycles and show more stable hysteresis performance than conventional high strength concrete (HSC) walls. After the maximum load, the bearing capacity of the STHC composite wall was gradually reduced, and the wall did not collapse under the influence of the steel pipe. For analysis of the bending capacity of STHC composite walls based on artificial intelligence tools, an analysis model is proposed that takes into account the limiting effect of steel pipes. The results of this model agree well with the test results, indicating that the model can be used to predict the bearing capacity of STHC composite walls. Based on a reasonable material constitutive model and the limiting effect of steel pipes, a finite element model of the STHC composite wall was created. The finite elements agree well with the experimental results in terms of hysteresis curve, load-deformation curve and peak load.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.313-333
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• 2013

The web-encased steel-concrete composite (WESCC) beam is a new developed steel-concrete composite beam. Experiments of six simply supported WESCC beam specimens were conducted. The effects of the shear-span ratio and steel section type were all investigated on the static behaviors such as failure modes, failure mechanism and bearing capacity. The experimental results denoted that all specimens failed in bending mode and the degree of combination between the bottom armor plate of steel shape and concrete were very well without any evident slippage, which demonstrated that the function of bottom armor plate and web were fully exerted in the WESCC beams. It could be concluded the WESCC beams have high stiffness, high load carrying capacity and advanced ductility. The design methods are proposed which mainly consist the bearing capacity calculation of bending and flexural rigidity. The calculation results of the bearing capacity and deflection which take the shear deflection into account are in agreement with the experimental results. The design methods are useful for design and application of the innovative composite beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.1-19
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• 2011

The introduction of the Eurocodes makes plastic design criteria available also for composite bridges, leading to more economical solutions compared with previous elastic design rules. Particularly for refurbishment old bridges with higher actual traffic loads, up to date outside the scope of the Eurocodes, strengthening should therefore be avoidable or at least be necessary only to a minor extent. For bridges with smaller spans and compact cross sections, the plastic load bearing capacity is clearly justified. In this work, however, the focus is placed on long span continuous composite bridges with deep, longitudinally stiffened girders, susceptible to local buckling. In a first step, the elastic - plastic cross section capacity of the main girder in bending is studied as an isolated case, based on high preloads acting on the steel girder only, due to the common assembling procedure without scaffolding. In a second step, the effects on the whole structure are studied, because utilising the plastic section capacity at midspan leads to a redistribution of internal forces to the supports. Based on the comprehensive study of an old, actual strengthened composite bridge, some limitations for plastic design are identified. Moreover, fully plastic design will sometimes need additional global analysis. Practical recommendations are given for design purposes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.605-619
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• 2009

A comparative experimental study of prestressed continuous steel-concrete composite beams was carried out. Two continuous composite beams were tested, one of which was plain continuous steel-concrete composite beam, while the other was a composite beam prestressed with external tendons. Cracking behavior and the load carrying capacity of the beams were investigated experimentally. Full plasticity was developed in the mid-span section each beam, the maximum moments attained at the internal support sections however were governed by local buckling which was related to the slenderness of composite section. It was found that in hogging moment regions, the ultimate resistance of an externally prestressed composite beam would be governed by either distortional lateral buckling or local buckling, or interactive mode of these two buckling patterns. The results show that exerting prestressing on a continuous composite beam with external tendons will increase the extent of internal force and moment redistribution in the beam. The influences of local and distortional buckling on the behaviors of the composite continuous beams are discussed. The Moment redistribution and the load carrying capacity of the prestressed continuous composite beams are evaluated, and it is found that at the ultimate state, the moment redistribution in the prestrssed continuous composite beams is greater than that in non-prestressed composite beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.501-524
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• 2014

This paper presents a type of composite box girder with corrugated webs and concrete filled steel tube slab to overcome cracking on the web and reduce self-weight. Utilizing corrugated steel web improves the efficiency of prestressing introduced into the top and bottom slabs due to the accordion effect. In order to understand the loading capacity of such new composite structure, experimental and numerical analyses were conducted. A full-scale model was loaded monotonically to investigate the deflection, strain distribution, loading capacity and stiffness during the whole process. The experimental results show that test specimen has enough loading capacity and ductility. Based on experimental works, a finite element (FE) model was established. The load-displacement curves and stress distribution predicted by FE model agree well with that obtained from experiments, which demonstrates the accuracy of proposed FE model. Moreover, simplified theoretical analysis was conducted depending on the assumptions which were confirmed by the experimental and numerical results. The simplified analysis results are identical with the tested and numerical results, which indicate that simplified analytical model can be used to predict the loading capacity of such composite girder accurately. All the findings of present study may provide reference for the application of such structure in bridge construction.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.217-234
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• 2016

In order to investigate mechanical properties and load-bearing capacity of T-shaped Concrete-Filled Square Steel Tubular (TCFST) composite columns under eccentric axial load, three T-shaped composite columns were tested under eccentric compression. Experimental results show that failure mode of the columns under eccentric compression was bending buckling of the whole specimen, and mono column performs flexural buckling. Specimens behaved good ductility and load-bearing capacity. Nonlinear finite element analysis was also employed in this investigation. The failure mode, the load-displacement curve and the ultimate bearing capacity of the finite element analysis are in good agreement with the experimental ones. Based on eccentric compression test and parametric finite element analysis, the calculation formula for the equivalent slenderness ratio was proposed and the bearing capacity of TCFST composite columns under eccentric compression was calculated. Results of theoretical calculation, parametric finite element analysis and eccentric compression experiment accord well with each other, which indicates that the theoretical calculation method of the bearing capacity is advisable.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.309-322
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• 2017

This paper conducted both numerical and theoretical studies to investigate the composite action of notched circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) stub columns under axial compression and established a theoretical method to predict their ultimate bearing capacity. 3D finite element (FE) analysis was conducted to simulate the composite action and the results were in good agreement with experimental results on circular CFT stub columns with differently oriented notches in steel tubes. Parametric study was conducted to understand the effects of different parameters on the mechanical behavior of circular CFT stub columns and also the composite action between the steel tube and the core concrete. Based on the results, a theoretical formula was proposed to calculate the ultimate bearing capacity of notched CFT stub columns under compression with consideration of the composite action between the steel tube and the core concrete.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.895-905
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• 2022

Composite flooring systems consisting of cold-formed steel joists and reinforced concrete slabs offer an efficient, lightweight solution. However, utilisation of composite action to achieve enhanced strength and economical design has been limited. In this study, finite element modelling was utilised to create a three-dimensional model which was then validated against experimental results for a composite flooring system consisting of cold-formed steel joists, reinforced concrete slab and steel bolt shear connectors. This validated numerical model was then utilised to perform parametric studies on the performance of the structural system. The results from the parametric study demonstrate that increased thickness of the concrete slab and increased thickness of the cold formed steel beam resulted in higher moment capacity and stiffness of the composite flooring system. In addition, reducing the spacing of bolts and spacing of the cold formed steel beams both resulted in enhanced load capacity of the composite system. Increasing the concrete grade was also found to increase the moment capacity of the composite flooring system. Overall, the results show that an efficient, lightweight composite flooring system can be achieved and optimised by selecting suitable concrete slab thickness, cold formed beam thickness, bolt spacing, cold formed beam spacing and concrete grade.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.537-551
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• 2016

A new type of composite beam which consists of a wide flange steel shape beam and an innovative type of composite slab was introduced. The composite slab is composed of concrete slab and normal flat steel plates, which are connected by perfobond shear connectors (PBL shear connectors). This paper describes experiments of two large-scale specimens of that composite beam. Both specimens were loaded at two symmetric points for 4-point loading status, and mechanical behaviors under hogging and sagging bending moments were investigated respectively. During the experiments, the crack patterns, failure modes, failure mechanism and ultimate bending capacity of composite beam specimens were investigated, and the strains of concrete and flat steel plate as well as steel shapes were measured and recorded. As shown from the experimental results, composite actions were fully developed between the steel shape and the composite slab, this new type of composite beams was found to have good mechanical performance both under hogging and sagging bending moment with high bending capacity, substantial flexure rigidity and good ductility. It was further shown that the plane-section assumption was verified. Moreover, a design procedure including calculation methods of bending capacity of this new type of composite beam was studied and proposed based on the experimental results, and the calculation methods based on the plane-section assumption and plastic theories were also verified by comparisons of the calculated results and experimental results, which were agreed with each other.