Abstract
Trapezoidal-shaped thin-walled metallic profiled sheets are used in composite floor construction to enable rapid construction and reduce reinforcement and formwork requirements in concrete casting. However, relevant literature reported the early failure of steel sections due to the buckling and shear of existing trapezoidal and re-entrant decking profiles. There are also limitations regarding design rules for composite flooring systems. Current work aims to develop a new type of composite top-hat section for possible use in composite slim-floor construction. Sinusoidal metallic corrugated sheets that are widely used in building construction were utilized and a new bending technique was used to produce deck components, in which transverse corrugations were introduced along the main direction of the corrugated profile. This paper investigates the structural response of these new sections for several loading and support conditions using a pilot experimental scheme. The developed top-hat sections demonstrated considerable resistance to bending as well as buckling through effective stress re-distributions under considered construction stage loading for single span and continuous span conditions. Currently available design equations recommended by Australian Standards for a similar type of corrugated decks were used to predict the design strength and to compare it with those obtained experimentally. It was concluded that the expressions proposed by the code were inadequate for single span loading cases and would require modifications before being applied to the new profile.
Highlights
Composite construction is the usage of different materials to act in unison to provide enhanced resistance under varying loading conditions
When fl mber blocks were used for testing B2, a steady increase in load was observed with large deflection
Geometric deformations were visible as the sheets splayed decks outwards and the outer flanges undone due showed to excessive deformation
Summary
Composite construction is the usage of different materials to act in unison to provide enhanced resistance under varying loading conditions. Steel–concrete composite construction has been in practice for over a century [1,2], and has been widely adopted in major structures in Australia since 1965 [3]. Cold-formed steel decking profiles have gained popularity in steel–concrete composite flooring systems as they can offer significant savings in cost and construction time by not relying on formwork during construction. ‘Slimflor’ and ‘Slimdek’ construction [5] introduced in the 1990s in Europe have proved to be highly efficient in their performance and have gained popularity.
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