Development of an innovative U-shaped steel-concrete composite beam solution: Experimental and numerical studies (COMINO)

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Sep 2016
Duration in months:

48
Funding:

CIFRE, France in combination with CTICM, Paris and Université de Lorraine
Principal Investigator(s):

Christoph ODENBREIT

About

An innovative solution of steel-concrete composite beam was developed taking into consideration the fire situation and the construction stage. The beam is composed of a U-shaped steel part connected to a reinforced concrete part. The U-shaped beam withstands the construction loads without any temporary propping system. When casting concrete, the steel beam is filled at the same time as the slab, this allows considerable time savings on site. In exploitation stage, the beam behaves as a steel-concrete composite beam. The connection between the two materials is made by welded headed studs on the lower part of the U-shaped beam. In fire situations, the composite beam satisfies conventional fire stability durations due to the longitudinal reinforcements inside the concrete downstand part with sufficient covers. Two experimental tests were carried out at the Laboratory of the University of Luxembourg; one with the steel beam only to show the lateral torsional buckling of the beam and a second with the steel-concrete composite beam to characterize its mechanical behaviour. Analytical methods of design based on EN 1993 and EN 1994 were proposed. Numerical models were validated with the tests and simulations were performed with different geometries to validate the analytical methods of design. Research Assistant: Maxime TURETTA PhD-Thesis Title: Development of an innovative U-shaped steel-concrete composite beam solution: Experimental and numerical studies on the mechanical behaviour PhD-Thesis URL: https://orbilu.uni.lu/handle/10993/41361