Abstract
Timber-concrete composite (TCC) solutions are not a novelty. They were scientifically referred to at the beginning of the 20th century and they have proven their value in recent decades. Regarding a TCC floor at the design stage, there are some assumptions, at the standard level, concerning the action of concentrated loads which may be far from reality, specifically those associating the entire load to the beam over which it is applied. This naturally oversizes the beam and affects how the load is distributed transversally, affecting the TCC solution economically and mechanically. Efforts have been made to clarify how concentrated loads are distributed, in the transverse direction, on TCC floors. Real-scale floor specimens were produced and tested subjected to concentrated (point and line) loads. Moreover, a Finite Element (FE)-based model was developed and validated and the results were collected. These results show that the “loaded beam” can receive less than 50% of the concentrated point load (when concerning the inner beams of a medium-span floor, 4.00 m). Aiming at reproducing these findings on the design of these floors, a simplified equation to predict the percentage of load received by each beam as a function of the floor span, the transversal position of the beam, and the thickness of the concrete layer was suggested.
Highlights
Since its first scientific reference in the early decades of the last century [1], the use of a composite solution gathering timber beams with a thin concrete layer through an efficient connection has been spreading either for new or rehabilitation applications, on building floors or on bridge decks [2].Timber-concrete composite (TCC) solutions may be as versatile as needed, by using different materials: different concrete strengths or densities, different timber species or engineered products, and different connection systems; or different sections [3,4,5,6,7,8]
This paper aimed to present a simplified approach to be applied at a design stage in order to help to obtain an optimized TCC floor solution in terms of mechanical behavior and expenses
When considering the extreme load locations, B1 vs. B4, the maximum deviation of received share is associated with this beam location
Summary
Since its first scientific reference in the early decades of the last century [1], the use of a composite solution gathering timber beams with a thin concrete layer through an efficient connection has been spreading either for new or rehabilitation applications, on building floors or on bridge decks [2]. Timber-concrete composite (TCC) solutions may be as versatile as needed, by using different materials: different concrete strengths or densities, different timber species or engineered products, and different connection systems; or different sections (thicknesses and shape) [3,4,5,6,7,8] They were initially developed with the aim of rehabilitating or strengthening timber floors [9]. This computation considers the association of the entire load, point or line load aligned with the length of the timber beam, with the beam under consideration, but it can be far from the real behavior. An experimental set of results obtained from real-scale TCC floors tested under concentrated loads, together with the results of a parametric study using a Finite Element Method (FEM) model developed and validated by the authors was proposed
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