Partial shear connection design of composite slabs

Abstract

A new partial shear connection strength model has been developed which considers the equilibrium of a segment of a simply-supported composite slab under any loading condition. The model incorporates shear connection performance derived from a new test called the slip block test. This small-scale test shows that shear connection performance is affected by factors such as profile geometry, base metal thickness and concrete compressive strength. Full-scale slab tests have proved that it is a reliable physical model which can readily account for the effects of changes in shear connection performance, loading pattern, sheeting end support conditions, end anchorage devices, conventional reinforcement etc., and is being developed for possible use in an Australian Standard on the design of composite slabs. The ease with which the model can be used in design is demonstrated in a worked example. Another new ultimate strength method of design, published by the Steel Deck Institute in America, is examined in the worked example, and shown to give erratic, sometimes overly conservative but often very unsafe predictions for the particular profiled sheet and design situations studied.