Development of an innovative U-shaped steel-concrete composite beam solution: Experimental and numerical studies on the mechanical behaviour

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. In the construction phase, the beam is supporting the slab and constitutes a formwork for the 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-saving 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. A literature review focuses on modern solutions that fulfils the criteria of the thesis is performed in order to develop an innovative solution optimised. In construction stage, the U-shaped steel beam without restraints is prone to lateral torsional buckling instability. In order to characterise the stability of the beam, a full-scale test is carried out at the Laboratory of the University of Luxembourg. The test clearly showed the lateral torsional buckling of the steel beam. The test results are compared to numerical simulations and analytical studies. A parametrical study, covering 200 geometrical configurations of the U-shaped beam, is carried out to validate the use of the curve "b" for the design of the steel beam for lateral torsional buckling according to Eurocodes 3. In the exploitation phase, once the concrete hardens, the beam has a steel-concrete composite behaviour provided by the shear connection between the two materials. For manufacturing reasons, the connection is located in a zone where the concrete is subjected to tension forces induced by the bending of the beam. The concrete in this zone is potentially cracked, thus the efficiency of the connection and therefore the mechanical steel-concrete composite behaviour is investigated. Another test is therefore carried out in the Laboratory of the University of Luxembourg, this time the specimen tested is made of concrete and steel. The failure mode is a shear mechanism of the composite beam at very large displacements. However, the beam specimen exhibited a real steel-concrete composite behaviour with high ductility, the connection is therefore very efficient. The test results are compared to numerical simulations in order to validate the finite element model developed. From numerical results and test results, an analytical method, based on EN 1994-1-1, is proposed to find the bending resistant of this composite beam by taking into account the partial yield of the side plates of the U-shaped steel section. A global analytical design method is proposed for the developed solution based on the Eurocodes with additional considerations and constructional guidelines.