Structural behaviour of composite panels made of profiled steel sheets and foam rubberised concrete under monotonic and cyclic shearing loads

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the effect of using lightweight foam rubberised concrete as an infill material for double-skinned profiled composite panels under pure shear load through experimental and analytical modelling. Three concrete mixes were used as infill materials in this study: one control foam concrete (FC), and two foam rubberised concrete (FRC) with rubber contents of 8.5% and 17% by total mix volume. The pure shear behaviours of the profiled concrete and profiled steel-concrete composite panels were investigated by testing nine small-scale square panels. Three profiled concrete panels and three profiled steel-concrete composite panels were tested under monotonic pure shear load. In addition, three profiled steel-concrete composite panels were tested under repeated cyclic pure shear load. The monotonic test results showed comparable ultimate loads for both FRC and FC panels. Moreover, the FRC panels experienced a higher number of cracks and higher ductility. The cyclic shearing behaviour of FRC composite panels with 8.5% and 17% rubber contents outperformed the FC panels through increased capacities of about 10.3% and 8%, respectively. The increase in ductility of FRC panels with 8.5% and 17% rubber contents over that of FC panels was about 19.5% and 2.4%, respectively. The cumulative energy dissipation for FRC panels also showed a distinct increase over that of FC panels.