Behaviour and design of composite beams with composite slabs at elevated temperatures

Abstract

This article presents an extensive experimental and numerical study aimed at the evaluation of the thermo-structural response of composite beams with composite slabs. Two full-scale fire tests were carried out on simply supported composite steel-concrete beams with steel sheeting perpendicular and parallel to the steel joist, respectively. Both specimens were observed to fail by developing large displacements. Concrete crushing at the mid-span, debonding of the profiled sheeting and spalling of the fire protection were observed during both tests. A three-dimensional finite element model was developed in ABAQUS, and its accuracy was validated against the experimental measurements collected as part of this study. The model was then used to perform a parametric study to determine the influence of the degree of shear connection, load ratio and design fire rate on the structural response of composite beams at elevated temperatures. These results, together with experimental data available in the literature, were used to evaluate the ability of European guidelines to predict the critical temperature of composite beams. It was shown that predictions from Eurocode 4 were safe and provided conservative estimates for most cases.