Effect of different RC slab widths on the behavior of reinforced concrete column and steel beam-slab subassemblies

Abstract

In this paper, a total of three reinforced concrete column-steel beam (RCS) subassemblies with different RC slab widths following the strong column-weak beam criterion were tested under the reversed cyclic to investigate the influence of the RC slab on the load transfer mechanism and failure feature of composite connections. With appropriate joint detail, the tested specimens fully developed a desirable beam plastic hinge mechanism with stable and ductile hysteretic response. It was found that the effect of the composite beam-slab sections constrained the core concrete in the connection region was able to obviously improve the seismic performance of composite connections. Additionally, results from this research presented that the RC slabs made a limited contribution to the strength and stiffness of the connections beyond a certain limiting value for the RCS composite moment resisting frame. By analyzing the mechanic mechanism of reinforced concrete column and steel beam-slab connection, it was indicated that effective flange width of the composite beam-slab sections has a significant effect on the capacity of beam moment and equivalent elastic moment of inertia values. Based on the test results, some suggestions are presented for the design of the RCS frame systems, which demonstrates a viable alternative structures in high seismic risk zones.