Profiled sandwich composite wall with high performance concrete subjected to monotonic shear

Abstract

This research investigated the behavior of a composite shear wall system consisting of two skins of profiled steel sheeting and an infill of concrete under in-plane monotonic loading. Three sets of double skin composite wall (DSCW) specimens with overall wall dimensions of 1626mm high by 720mm wide were tested. Steel sheet–concrete connections were provided by intermediate fasteners along the height and width of the wall to generate composite action. Two types of concrete namely self-consolidating concrete (SCC) and highly ductile engineered cementitious composite (ECC) as well as cold formed profiled steel sheet having same geometry but with two different yield strengths were incorporated to investigate their influence on the composite wall behavior. Analytical models for the shear resistance of the composite wall were developed based on existing models taking into account the shear capacity of steel sheet, concrete core and steel sheet–concrete interaction. The advantage of using ECC over SCC was exhibited through more ductile wall behavior and energy absorbing capacity. The benefit of using mild over high strength steel was also demonstrated through more ductile failure. The steel–concrete intermediate fasteners along the height and width of the wall provided sufficient steel–concrete composite action to prevent early elastic buckling of the profiled steel sheets. Experimental and analytical shear resistance of composite walls showed very good agreement. The proposed analytical models can be used for the prediction of shear resistance of composite walls with reasonable accuracy.