Behavior of composite cellular beams formed by double-symmetrical steel i-profiles and precast concrete hollow-core slabs

Abstract

Steel-concrete composite cellular beams are characterized by steel profile with web openings associated with floor slab, resulting in an element with greater strength, greater capacity to overcome large spans with own weight reduction and increase in the constructive speed. The composite cellular beams are little studied in Brazil, and the studies already carried out were restricted to numerical modeling. International studies have contemplated the investigation of failure modes and bending behavior in composite cellular beams usually constituted by steel-concrete composite slabs. Furthermore, there are no technical standards for predicting the bending resistant capacity of composite cellular beams. The present project has as objective the study of composite cellular beams formed by steel profiles with web openings and precast concrete slabs, aiming to evaluate the structural feasibility of this structural element, the forces transfer mechanisms with emphasis on the shear connectors behavior and failure modes. For this task, experimental analysis and numerical modeling using the ABAQUS computational package will be performed. Numerical modeling will be the tool used to characterize and investigate the possible failure modes that dominate the composite cellular beams, to evaluate the influence of local instabilities on behavior and resistant capacity, to evaluate the influence of residual stresses on the flexural response of beams subjected to bending moment and shear force, and to evaluate the presence of the web openings produces changes in the degree of steel-concrete interaction. It is hoped to provide subsidies to assess the viability, in terms of structural behavior of composite cellular beams with precast hollow core slab, departing from evaluation of bending behavior. It is also hoped to contribute to increase the degree of industrialization of Brazilian civil construction.