Experimental study and numerical modelling of a novel two-way steel-concrete composite slab

Abstract

This study proposes a new innovative two-way steel-concrete composite slab system. The experimental work investigates the structural capacity, shear behaviour and two-way load distribution of the proposed composite slabs consisting of a new profiled steel deck and concrete. The innovative deck is developed by providing 90° bends in corrugated steel sheets to form hat sections, which then are placed on a corrugated base sheet in the perpendicular direction. Five composite slabs were tested under uniform loading, in which three slabs contained shear studs, and the remaining two were tested without shear studs. The slabs failed by flexural failure and shear bond failure, and the composite slabs with and without studs showed comparable load-carrying capacity and two-way action. The unique geometry of the deck profile provides good longitudinal shear capacity in the main direction. The slip is absent in the main longitudinal direction of the slab due to the corrugated top-hats. The provided shear studs further complement the role of the top-hats by resisting interface shear failure in the perpendicular direction. Therefore, the new deck type can be used effectively in two-way composite slabs for shear and load capacity by reducing the quantity of additional shear connectors, which is a significant advantage of the proposed deck compared to conventional deck types. A finite element (FE) model of the composite slabs with and without shear connectors is developed and validated against the experimental results and then used to investigate the slab's performance in two-way load distribution.