Experimental and finite element flexural performance study of HPEC beam

Abstract

To improve the force-bearing performance and material utilization rate of steel-concrete composite structure and reduce the self-weight of the structure, a hollow-core partially-encased concrete composite (HPEC) beam was proposed. Four-point static loading experiments were performed on three HPEC beams and one fully-filled concrete composite beam to examine the bending damage mechanism and load-deflection curve of HPEC beams. The results show that the HPEC beams have more reasonable force-bearing performance under normal service conditions and can fully utilize the material properties than the fully filled concrete beams. Enhancing the concrete strength as well as increasing the concrete thickness would reduce the utilization of steel. To find out the factors which have the greatest impact on the bending performance of HPEC beams, the orthogonal test design was carried out by the finite element analysis software ABAQUS on the parameters of the HPEC beam such as section flange width, section flange thickness, web height, web thickness, and concrete filling thickness. The best parameter design solution was determined. The deflection formula of HPEC beams was derived based on the slip theory. The results of the deflection formula had an error of less than 8% compared with the test results, which verified the reasonableness of the formula.