A numerical study on a novel demountable cold-formed steel composite beam with profiled steel sheeting

Abstract

Cold-formed steel composite beams are known for their unique advantages, like being lightweight and ease of installation. The use of profiled steel sheeting in cold-formed composite beams reduces construction time and costs by acting as a permanent formwork in the composite beams. The current study presents a 3D finite element model of cold-formed steel composite beam specimens comprising a cold-formed double-lipped channel section, profiled steel sheeting, concrete slab, and bolted shear connector. Employing bolted shear connectors, structural components can be deconstructed and replaced after their service life expires or if they are damaged. The characteristics of the materials obtained from an experimental program were assigned to the finite element model. Geometric characteristics, material nonlinearities, and loading procedures were attentively simulated, and a dynamic explicit procedure was employed for the numerical analyses. A comparison of the results obtained from the finite element models and the available experimental results validated the precision of the models. Then, numerical studies were conducted to investigate the effects of various parameters, including compressive strength of concrete, thickness of concrete slab, height and grade of cold-formed steel section, thickness of profiled steel sheeting, number and diameter of shear connectors, on the behavior of the composite beam. The results showed that the height and grade of the cold-formed steel section and compressive strength and thickness of the concrete slab have a significant effect on increasing the capacity of the composite beam.