Performance of dovetail profiled steel concrete composite sandwich walls under axial compression

Abstract

Using dovetail profiled steel sheets (DPSs) as exterior faceplates of composite sandwich walls, an innovative thin-walled walling system with potential as bearing members in low and medium-rise building structures, namely dovetail profiled steel concrete composite sandwich wall (DSCW), is formed. The dovetailed ribs of DPS not only enhance the stability performance of steel sheets, but can also be used as the inherent connector to achieve the composite action between steel sheets and infilled concrete. This paper presents the results of experimental and numerical investigations on DSCWs under axial compression. Fourteen DSCW specimens are tested to failure, the variables considered included the types of DPS, the thickness of DPS, concrete grade and wall thickness. The effects of these variables on the steel sheet buckling, specimen failure mode, axial load vs. deformation responses, initial stiffness and DPS' strain development and distribution around the buckling wave are critically evaluated. The results show that the dovetailed ribs can function as solid anchorage to DPS and separate the DPS into multiple strips, only local buckling occurred on the strips between dovetailed ribs. Both the strain measurement and VIC-3D imaging results confirmed the specimen failed by infill concrete crushing while DPSs were in the post-buckling stage. The width to thickness ratio of the strip and corrugations on strips are the key factors affecting the DPS buckling behavior. Furthermore, the finite element analysis model using the commercial software package ABAQUS is established to perform work mechanism analysis of DSCW, including the axial load vs. strain response, failure mode, buckling behavior of DPS and composite interaction between DPS and concrete. In addition, the critical buckling strength of DPS was derived by using orthotropic plate theory based on energy methods, and the effect of the corrugation height on the critical buckling strength of DPS was also discussed. Finally, suggestions for predicting the axial load capacity of DSCW are proposed, in which the post-buckling strength of DPS' strip can be calculated by the effective width method suggested in AISI S201-2007 and GB50018-2013.