Innovative Applications of Steel Fibres on Composite Beam with Profiled Plain Concrete Flange Subjected to Combined Negative Bending and Axial Tension

Abstract

The introduction of profiled steel sheet is a mature application nowadays on composite construction. A major concern is that there should be an improvement in the degree of shear connection in the negative bending region nearby internal supports due to the unfavourable failure criteria of concrete such that additional shear studs are wanted. Further, such shear studs may be possible to be functioning in insufficient spaces of the troughs owing to the profiled flange. In addition, axial tension will be induced in the steel section based on various cases, which will form an unfavourable failure phenomenon by induced excessive slip. In order to represent all of these criteria, the concern of profiled steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) flange instead of plain concrete flange against the forming of concrete cracks, which results a potential application in postponing the failure mode, is executed and discussed in this paper. The finite element (FE) models were developed to each component in various cases with non-linear material behaviours and validated against the experimental analysis available. It was found that the application of steel fibres in the profiled plain concrete flange can improve the performance of the composite beam subjected to combined negative bending and negative bending such that it would not only postpone the cracking of concrete but also control the propagation of the cracks.