Plastic Design of Continuous Composite Slabs

J.W. B. Stark, Prof.

Delft University of Technology and TNO. Deift. The Netherlands
J. W P. M. Brekelmans, Civil Eng.
TNO Building and Construction Research, Rijswijk. The Netherlands

Summary supports may then be reduced by up

to 30% and corresponding increases
Most current regulations for continuous composite slabs contain rules that limit
made to the positive bending mo-
the application of plastic analysis in the design process. In this paper. results of ments. Rigid plastic global analysis
numerical studies for positive and negative bending and experimental results for
may be used if it can be shown that
the plastic hinges have sufficient
negative bending are presented.
rotation capacity to allow for the redis-
From these investigations conclusions can be drawn on the possibilities of using tribution of moments. In Eurocode 4
plastic analysis for the determination of the bending moments and shear force this is deemed to be satisfied if rein-
distribution in a continuous slab. Background information for the rules in forcing steel of class H (high ductility:
Eurocode 4 on the moment resistance of cross sections is also presented. Eur> 5%) is used and the span is less
than 3.0 m.

Introduction
Composite slabs have been proven to
be competitive and efficient for use as
floors in modern steel framed con-
struction for buildings [1]. This floor-
ing system consists of a cold-formed,
profiled steel sheet with an in-situ cast
concrete slab on top.
The steel deck must perform three
functions, each in different phases of
the construction process. First the steel
deck, after being fastened in place,
provides a working platform to sup-
port workers and materials. At the
same time, it acts as a safety screen for
the floor below. The second function
of the steel deck is to act as a perma-
nent shuttering for the concrete slab.
Finally, the steel decking acts as sag-
ging reinforcement for the slab.
The steel deck is normally placed to
span three or more supports and the
concrete is cast continuously over the
supports without joints. Therefore, the
flooring system is actually a continu-
ous slab and negative bending will
occur over the supports. If elastic
analysis is used to determine the mo-
ment distribution, much hogging rein-
forcement is required. However, this
hogging reinforcement is often not
really required for strength. The di-
mensions of the steel sheet are normal-
lv determined by platform and shutter-
ing requirements and the slab depth
is usually controlled by serviceability
requirements or fire rating. There-
fore. most standards also allow the
design of a continuous slab as a series
of simply supported spans. Only nomi-
nal reinforcement is then required
Structural Engineering International 1/96
for crack control. According to Eu-
rocode 4 (EC4). the cross-sectional
area of this anti-crack reinforcement
should not be less than 0.2 % of the
cross-sectional area of the concrete
for unpropped construction [2]. For
propped construction a minimum of
0.4 % is required.
However, there are situations where
it is advantageous to consider the com-
posite slab as also structurally continu-
ous. This can arise in the following
cases:
when the composite slab is propped
during construction
when no props are used in the con-
struction phase and the load on the
composite slab is so high in compar-
ison with the self weight that this is
decisive for the choice of the steel
deck
when such a slender slab is required
that the deflection is the governing
factor. The deflection of a continu-
ous slab is less than the deflection of
a simply supported slab. For this a
structural hogging reinforcement is
required
when the hogging reinforcement is
important for fire rating.
According to most standards, these
continuous structural slabs must be
designed with the linear elastic theory,
although in some standards a limited
redistribution of moments is allowed.
For example. in Eurocode 4 the basis
for the analysis is the moment distribu-
tion determined with linear elastic
theory and using the uncracked flexur-
al stiffness over the total span of the
slab. The bending moments at internal
For the traditional methods of analysis
(series of simply supported spans and
LE analysis with redistribution) the
following remarks can be made:
These two methods do not result in
the same hogging reinforcement. If
a structural reinforcement has been
chosen, usually considerably more
reinforcement is necessary than the
nominal crack-reinforcement.
When the nominal crack-reinforce-
ment accomplishes its function, it
causes negative bending moments
which will consequently have a
favourable effect on the deflection.
If this crack-reinforcement were to
break before ultimate limit state.
the deflections would suddenly in-
crease considerably. It needs to be
considered whether this is accept-
able or whether additional rules
need to be given for the ductility of
the reinforcement to avoid this pos-
sible shock effect.
If plastic analysis is used for rein-
forced concrete structures, the
depth of the concrete in compres-
sion need to be limited (e.g.. half
the depth of the slab) to obtain suf-
ficient rotation capacity of the cross
section. It has been suggested that a
similar rule should be adopted for
composite slabs. However, the be-
haviour of a composite slab section
differs from a reinforced concrete
section. In this paper. the moment-
curvature characteristic of compos-
ite slabs under both positive and
negative bending will be discussed.
The main objection against the two
given methods is that they are not
based upon an idealization of the
Reports 47
 true behaviour of composite slabs. The parametric calculations have been
This can be a drawback, especially carried out for the three sheeting pro-
for applications not covered by files shown in Fig. 2. The following
practical experience. parameters have also been varied:
Therefore, this paper presents an ap- concrete cover varying from 50 to
proach to the description of the real 150 mm thick
load-deformation behaviour of contin- S.
S. concrete strength ft = 14. 18 and
uous composite slabs.
S. 24 N/mm2
yield strength of the sheet: /, = 280,
Moment-Curvature Relation 2.5 E=3.5
320 and 500 N/mm2
under Positive Bending Fig. 1: Strain-stress diagram for concrete propped or unpropped method of
used in the parameter study construction.
If a reinforced concrete slab is "over-
reinforced." the rotation capacity may In Fig. 3. the calculated moment-cur-
be too small. This is caused by prema- vature relations for type II. with fh =
ture crushing of the concrete before 18 Nrnni2 and f = 500 N/mm2. are
the reinforcement yields. Therefore. given for different heights of the con-
the amount of reinforcement should .1
crete cover hh. This is a rather extreme
be limited. In concrete codes this is case with a relatively low concrete
achieved indirectly by setting a maxi- strength and an unusually high yield
mum for the height of the compression type I: PSV 73 strength of the steel sheet. The results
zone of the concrete. Often, the same for other cases are similar.
rule is also adopted or referred to in A=165 mm/m t = 0.70 mm

specifications for the design of com- I-.

posite slabs. For example, BS 5950
part 4 [3] states: "Unless the slab has
compression reinforcement, the depth Ta,t
of the stress block for the concrete c7
u-;I
should not exceed 0.5 di." Ti..?'
However, it can be intuitively expect-
ed that with the same reinforcement
ratio, the rotation capacity of the com- A=2928 mm2/m
posite cross sections considered is
more favourable than that of rein-
a
> 175
forced concrete, based on the follow-
ing facts:
The bending strength of the profiled
rt T
It may be noted from Fig. 3 that at
maximum moment the concrete strain
>J is greater than 3.5%. This means that
although the concrete strength de-
creases (falling branch in Ediagram)
the moment still increases. The fact
1.0 250 that both the curvature at Eb' = 0.35%,
type U FISCHER 150/250 and the curvature at are greater
for the smaller values of hb is very
1.50 mm
important. For the parameters con-
sidered in Fig. 3 the plastic neutral
L25
axis is in the sheeting (x > hb) when
hb < 100 mm.

This leads to the conclusion that, re-

steel sheet (reinforcement) itself is ('.1 - garding rotation capacity. there seems
considerable, especially in case of 600
to be no reason to put restrictions on
deeper decks where this restriction the application of deep sections with
type rn CF 210
could be critical minimal concrete cover, nor to limit
A=229h mm2/m t= 1.50 mm the depth of concrete in compression.
The yield stress (strain) of sheet ma-
terial is normally smaller than for A further conclusion from this part of
rebars Fig. 2: Cross sections considered the research project is that the

In case of unpropped construction.

the self weight of the structure is sheet
carried by the sheet alone, leading hb 50mm
.100mm
to considerable stresses in the sheet hb=lSO mm
before composite action is effective.
E
To verify whether this holds true, a nu- z M if
-S o Mmox
merical parameter study has been car-
C
ried out [4. 5]. Moment-curvature rela- S
E
tions have been determined for a num- 0
10
ber of cross sections with a specially -C
-L
developed computer program based
2928 mm2/m
on nonlinear analysis. Because the nu- In

merical calculations should simulate = 18 N/mm2

physical tests as closely as possible. a 1.0, 250
500 N/mm2
realistic strain-stress diagram with a FISCHER 150/250
falling branch is considered (Fig. 1). curvature (.2_I
This diagram is based on physical tests
given in [6]. Fig. 3: Effect of variation of concrete cover h,, on moment-curvature relation

48 Reports Structural Engineering International 1/96

midspan cross sections of the normally kf kf
slender (hb small) composite slab have t .01

a relatively large rotation capacity due

to the contribution of the flexural stiff-
! I
ness of the sheet. This is important
with regard to the force distribution in
a continuous floor, which will be con- S 'as
sidered in the discussion of load-de-
flection behaviour of continuous com- X.cZhb x>hb
posite slabs. below. structure stress distri but ion
Fig. 4: Assumptions for a simplified calculation method
Simplified Calculation Method
for the Positive
Bending Resistance
Use of nonlinear analysis, as described
above in the discussion of moment cur-
vature under positive bending, is not
suitable for everyday practical design.
Therefore a simplified method has
been developed. Fig. 5: Model for flrther simplification
Two simplifications are introduced
(Fig. 4): The curves can be approximated by
the expression:
The structural form is simplified by
1.2
neglecting the concrete rib M' = 1.25 M1, (1 N1IAf)
It is assumed that both steel and where M is the unreduced plastic mo- w
concrete are ideally plastic materi- ment.
als. This leads to the use of rectan-
The only unknown value is now the
gular stress blocks. For steel, this lever arm z. If N = Afas (x hh), the
0.8

is the usual procedure and it is

line of application of Va goes through
also consistent with the design 0.6

methods for beams and columns in

the centre of gravity. However for
smaller values of N, the line of appli-
Eurocode 4. For concrete, the effect
cation shifts from the centre of gravity
of this in principal unsafe simplifica-
to the plastic neutral axis. as illustrated
tion is compensated by the reduc-
in Fig. 7.
tion of the design strength of the 02

concrete fb' by a factor k. If it is assumed as a rough approxima-

tion that this shift is linearly propor- 0
There are two cases to be considered. 02 0.h 05 0$ 1.0
tional to iVa/Afas, the distance e1r,, from
depending upon the height x of the to the bottom fibre is obtained
compression stress block. Although from the expression:
now much simplified, the calculation Fig. 6: Yield contours for combined effect of
for this case is still elaborate if x is e1 = e (e e) Na/A fas V and M on sheeting sections
greater than hh or, in other words, if
the plastic neutral axis is in the steel
sheeting. Therefore, a further simplifi- ostic neutral axis
cation is introduced for this case.
MM
As shown in Fig. 5. the stress distribu- N0
tion is divided into two parts, leading
to two components of the ultimate plastic neutral axis
moment. From equilibrium conditions, centre of gravity
it follows that the normal force in a
the sheet is equal to Nb'. In this case,
Nb' <Afas so that the steel section can 0<N0<A.f,5
resist an additional reduced plastic 4
Ca

moment Mi,'. The value of M' can be of gravity

determined from the yield contour for
the combined effect of .\ and M on the
M0
INC

cross-section. The yield contours have
been calculated for eight different N0 ___entre
types of sections. It has been found
that the curves form a narrow band, as
approximation =e (epe) "r N0

shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 7: Position of N, for various values of M

Structural Engineering International 1/96 Reports 49

 discrete t tjC\
NIrnm2 k.
crack interface

I support

full contribution of steel deck steel deck neglected

I 1i
FISCHER 150/250 moment in kNm
fas=28 N/mm2 Cu- mature in urn

20.

C- isp
-._.....,,non-linear elastic support
am
150 mm -'50mm imposed
E
0 12: L. deflection
hbDSOmm ./ .h1,050mm
/
785 mm2
: Io:2 Fig. 9: Element nesh for FE.tI simulation
us d'. ..io C23

curvature ,- cu'.ture
a. influence of the percentage
major crack will initiate, a first predic-
tion is made using the smeared crack
C- I-
150mm
approach. Then, to investigate the
strain localisation in one or two cracks,
E h15Omm bo = 100mm
a discrete crack model is adopted. The
1:of 4 5a =785mm 40
n,. 50mm

0 0.05
e'curvature in 1/rn
influence of the position o tne -en 'orcern ent.
Fig. 8: Some resuhs of the numerical study
The value of ./1,, can now be calculated
with the following expressions:
= .V,'
+ Experimental Verification
where
= II(O.211hC,, + (ee) .\'AL.
M,,' = 1.21 tip (1 .Vb7AJU5)Mp
=
For the same case, as discussed above
in the discussion of moment curvature
under positive bending, the values of
have been calculated for k = 1.0,
0.9. 0.8 and 0.7. These values were
compared with M10 as determined
with the nonlinear analysis. The fol-
lowing conclusions can be made:
A value of k = 0.8 gives the best
average correlation
A 755mm2
.C OJ5 020 D 005
Cur v a lure
For k = 0.8 the average difference
between *l and M,,jax \\1S 1.6%
and the standard deviation 1.5%.
Moment-Curvature Relation
under Negative Bending
Numerical studies
Nonlinear analysis is used. with the
same assumptions as for positive bend-
ing discussed above [7,8]. The results
are given in Fig. 8 for two cases: sheet-
ing neglected and full contribution of
the sheeting.
Recently, some new numerical studies
have been carried out with a finite ele-
ment program. To determine where a
Nor --V
discrete crack is modelled with special
interface elements. In order to simu-
late the bond-slip behaviour of the re-
- inforcement bar near the discrete
crack, special interface elements are
used. For the load-slip relation, the
model suggested in [10] is used. Fur-
thermore, tension stiffness has been
taken into account. The element mesh
is shown in Fig. 9. for a case with only
one major crack.
To verify the results of the nonlinear
analysis described, a test program has
been carried out. The test specimens
consisted of trapezoidal sheeting PMF
CF6O/0.90 with concrete on top and
provided with hogging reinforcement
in the shape of mesh reinforcement.
The specimens were loaded in hogging
bending up to failure by means of a
three point knife-edge load test. This
test was to simulate the negative mo-
ment area of a continuous slab. Table I
presents an overview is of the test pro-
gram. Some test results will be pre-
sented in the following sections of this
paper. In Table 2 the properties of the
reinforcement in tests P3. P4 and P9
are given.
Nor

2I Simplified Calculation Method

'C
I
'C'
4' r
fos
N0 for the Negative
Bending Resistance
-C

For the calculation of the negative

0,8 f 0,8 f bending resistance, the same assump-
a. Steet sheet neglected b. FuLL contribution of steel sheet tion is made as for positive bending.
For concrete, reinforcement and pro-
Fig. 10: Two extreme possible stress distributions filed steel, an ideally plastic behaviour
(a) steel sheet neglected: (b) full contribution of steel sheet is assumed. The stress distributions for

50 Reports Structural Engineering International 1/96

 _____________________
____________
_______________________
_____________
________
_______ _______________ _____________________
______ ____________
_______________________
_____________
________

Specimen Reinforce-
ment ratio
Slab
depth
Bearing
width
Sheeting Note Speci-
men
diam.
(mm)
fvr
I/mm2 N/mm2
f e01 %

(%) (mm) (mm)

P3 + P9 8.04 576 650 12
P1 0.211 160 100 overlap P9
P2 0.380 160 100 cont. P4 6.01 500 805 3.66
P3 + P9 0.211 160 100 cont. standard
P4 0.095 160 100 cont. Table 2: Reinforcement properties
P5 0.202 220 100 cont.
P6 0.211 160 200 cont.
250 56.25
P7 0.380 160 200 cont.
P8 0.380 160 100 overlap P2:M .1.6.5 .

Table I: Overview of specimens

i 100
the two possible extreme contributions tive bending resistance M,1. This is a
of the steel sheet are given in Fig. 10. realistic assumption for composite I
1125
slabs.
A numerical parameter study has been
10 15 20 25
carried out to compare the moments The moment distribution at the ulti- 0 5

'' displuciment (mm)

determined by the simplified method,
with the results of a nonlinear analysis.
The assumption of a reduction factor
of 0.8 for the concrete strength leads in
general to a conservative result. How-
ever the difference is normally small,
between 0.5 and 1.0%.
In Fig. 11 the measured load-deflection
diagrams are given for test P3 with a
continuous sheet and for test P1 with
overlapping sheeting. The influence of
mate limit state, when a mechanism test P2, ,, .0.38 16
has formed, differs strongly from the test P3, a, .0.211 16
test P1.. a, .0.095%
elastic moment distribution. To make
this redistribution possible, consider- Fig. 12: Influence of reinforcement ratio
able plastic rotations must occur above
the support.
For the example of Fig. 13, the re-
quired rotation capacity is easy to de-
termine (see Fig. 14). In Fig. 14 the re-
quired rotation capacity has also been
derived for an interior span of a con-
elastic
/ TM 0125
M5.0.071Q(2

the steel sheet on the maximum mo-

ment is clearly evident. In the figure,

(2025
the calculated values of M16 (stress dis- .28.3 kNm
plastic
tributions according Fig. 10) are given. 12P 2700 E Mu,.
2
0.5 M5
From Fig. 11, the conclusion can be I
eqs 2

drawn that if the steel sheet is continu-

ous the stress distribution of Fig. lOb .' 33.50 0.5 M,, Of55. j
is applicable. This is also confirmed by q,. -13-(8M5, s 4M5)
t
the results of the other tests. 32. 6.75

Finally, in Fig. 12 the test results of 0 -

5 10
-- 15 20 250
/
three more specimens with different . drsptccnment (mm)
reinforcement ratios are compared. test P1.omrlapping
t.st P3 euntinunut
The influence of the amount of rein-
forcement on the maximum moment Of,, O
Fig. 11: Comparison of tests with continu-
redistribution of moments
as well as the rotation capacity is clear- ous and overlapping steel sheeting
deflection

ly evident. In the figure, the calculated = calculated resistance with sheet-

values of M according to the stress ing fully effective Fig.13: Redistribution of moments in a
distribution of Fig. 10 are also given. M1 = calculated resistance with steel composite slab using a bi-linear M,c-
sheeting neglected diagram

Load-Deflection Behaviour
of Continuous Composite Slabs
Fig. 13 qualitatively shows the redistri
Il'I II
bution of moments in a two span con
tinuous slab after a plastic hinge has
formed above the support.
MUSL
In this example. for simplicity, the Mic
relation is taken as bi-linear, without a 2/. El 3 El
e 2 M M00 2 El 2M0 Mus
El
limit to the rotation capacity (ic eo). -M5+M5. qu' J 2
+ M0 - q
The negative bending resistance M1, is
assumed to be equal to half the posi- Fig. 14: Required rotation capacity 6

Structural Engineering International 1196 Reports 51

 The failure load for the elementary With the FEM simulations the strain in
p3 M=28.3 kNrn
mechanism is: the reinforcement can be calculated.
E= 0.125 q1112 = M,, + 0.5 = 1.25 M1 In Fig. 16 for test P9 the calculated
%1 ! values of the strain in the rebars are
= 10
plotted against the deflection (scale
If. for simplification, the slab is consid- top side) and the rotation (scale bot-
3C
ered as two simply supported spans the tom side).
failure load and also the design resis-
tance is:
At a deflection of S = 17.5 mm.
clispLocem.nt (mm) (0 = 0.039) the calculated strain is
PMF CF5O/0.gmm = 8 IvI, /(2 10.5%. The average strain at maxi-
w 0.211% mum stress for the rebars used in P9
hb 1O0mm From this example, the contradiction was 12 %. So it is well possible that
h0 140mm
600 N/mm2
between both simplified methods is one of the rebars failed at the deflec-
ar
rntasured
evident (compare ed and q). tion of 5= 17.5 mm.
FEM calcuLation In the example discussed before, bi- The FEM simulation was repeated
linear moment-curvature diagrams with the ae diagram for HKN steel.
Fig. 15: Measured and calculated load-de-
have been used. Due to elastic-plastic The calculated relation between strain
flection diagrams for rest P9
deformations, the required rotation and deformation is also plotted in
deflection (mm)
will be greater. For simplicity it is safe- Fig. 16. According to the Dutch stan-
9.0 13.5 '8.0 22.5
ly assumed that the required rotation dard NEN 6008 for HKN steel, the
'5 - capacity is twice as calculated above; specified minimum value er,. = 3.25%.
so: In the FEM simulation this value was
2%/ 14 reached at a rotation of 0,!, = 0.025. If
1
0reg = 2

the available rotation capacity were

10.5 - 6E1 based on this value, the maximum span
I

would be reduced to 1 2.35 m.

C
9

---- Now that the required rotation capaci-

ty is known, the available rotation ca- With the FEM simulation, the influ-
I

,
/ pacity in negative bending remains to
be determined. The numerical and ex-
ence of the reinforcement ratio and
the form of the stress-strain diagram of
I
I perimental studies presented above in the rebars was also investigated. Both
the discussion of moment-curvature parameters have a considerable influ-
under negative bending, also provide ence on the rotation capacity. For ex-
information on this aspect. ample, reducing the reinforcement ra-
2 2.5 3 3.9

In Fig. 15 the relation between the load

test P9 v, r 0,2%
rebor HWL
Fig. 16: Relation betiveen strain in rebars
and deformation fro,n FEM simulation
tinuous slab. Surprisingly, the same ro-
tation capacity is found for both cases.
For the case of Fig. 13, (M,, = 0.5 M,,)
the required rotation capacity is
equal to:
= 0.5M,,,
o ( = 0.25
6E1
In Fig. 13 the relation between load
and deflection has also been given.
The plastic hinge at the support occurs
for load qe:
0.125 q,.( 2 = 'l-1., = 0.5 .%-I
q. = 4 1tut I'4
With the allowable negative moment
reduction of 30%, the design resis-
tio to 0.1% in test P4 leads to a maxi-
rotation (rod/iQO) mum rotation of 0., = 0.016. The FEM
(or moment) and the deflection 6 of
----_ test p9C 0.2%
the tests P3 and P9 is given. The nomi-
simulation model offers a strong in-
rebar l4kN
nal reinforcement ratio was 0.2%. In strument to further investigate the
the diagram, the measured relation parameters influencing the rotation
capacity.
and the relations calculated with non-
linear analysis and the FEM are given.
The correlation is good.
Conclusions
For the determination of the avail-
able rotation capacity, the deflection The main conclusions from the re-
S = 17.5 mm is chosen. This is the search project are:
deflection where the load drops off in
A limitation for the depth of the
test P3.
concrete compression area is not
Available rotation capacity: necessary.
El 9=17.5/450=0.039
With the nonlinear analysis (NLE
Bending resistance: M1 = 28.3 kNm method), the relation between mo-
Flexural stiffness: El = 2.3 10 kNm
ment and curvature for positive
(calculation not given) bending as well as negative bending
can be reliably predicted.
By equating the required and the With these M,c relations, the non-
available rotation capacity the range
linear relation between the load and
of spans can be calculated, where plas-
tic analysis may be used.
the deflection can be determined
analytically.
2M1,r M,1 The determination of the bending
2 e = Op

tance according to the elastic theory is: 6E1 resistance in positive as well as
0.70 (0.125 q,(2) = negative bending with rectangular
M,,5 = 0.5 M,, 2-(43.3)28.3 stress blocks and a reduction factor
M1 1(2 2 1=0039=9fmax =4.60m
ed = 5.7 6-(2.3)-1O for the concrete strength k = 0.8 is
52 Reports Structural Engineering International 1/96
 --

simple, sufficiently accurate and
safe.
If the sheeting is continuous over
the support. its contribution to the
negative bending resistance may be
taken into account.
The reinforcement is critical for the
rotation capacity in negative bend-
ing. The experiments showed that
localisation of deformations oc-
curred, especially for normal and
low reinforcement ratios. The (plas-
tic) rotations concentrated in one or
two major cracks. A diffuse crack
pattern only occurred in the case
of a relatively high reinforcement
ratio.
With FEM simulations, based on
the discrete crack approach, it is
possible to predict the development
of strains in the (hogging) reinforce-
ment.
At the ultimate limit state, a consid-
erable redistribution of moments
can occur, if the reinforcement has
sufficient ductility. Plastic analysis
may be used up to spans of approxi-
mately 5 m for a type of floor in
regular use, as chosen for the illus-
trative example.
References
[1] STARK J. W. B. Designof Composite
Floors with Profiled Steel Sheet. Proceed-
ing of the 4th International Specialty
Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Struc-
tures, University of Missouri-Rolla, MO,
USA. 1978.
[2] ENV 1994-1-1:1992. (Adopted Euro-
pean pre-standard for) Design of Compos-
ite Steel and Concrete Structures Part 1-1:
General Rules and Rules for Buildings.
European Committee for Standardization,
Brussels. October 1992.
[3] BS 5950 Part 4: Structural Use of
Steelwork in Building Code of Practice
for Design of Floors with Profiled Steel
Sheeting. BSI. London, 1981.
[4] BOONSTRA S.J.; VERSCHUREN D.
Composite Decks (in Dutch). Eindhoven
Technical University. Report BKO-KO-S-
85-02. April 1985.
[5] STARK J. W. B. Long Span Composite
Slabs. IABSE Colloquium Stockholm.
1986. IABSE REPORTS Vol. 49. Zurich.
1986.
[61 MIER J. V. Strain-Softening of Con-
crete under Multiaxial Loading Conditions.
Ph.D. Thesis, Eindhoven Technical Univer-
sity. September 1984.
[7] VLIEGEN J. P. EM. Behaviour of Con-
tinuous Composite Slabs, Part 1, Numerical
Study (in Dutch). Eindhoven Technical
University, October 1988.
[8] VLIEGEN J. P. E M. ibid. Part 2. Test
Program.
[9] DIANA Users Manual. Vol. 4C. Non-
linear Analysis. TNO Building and Con-
struction Research. Delft. 1993.
[10] BIGAJ A.: WALRAVEN J. C. Bond
Behaviour of Deformed Bars in NSC And
HSC Experimental Study. Progress in
Concrete Research. Vol. 4. Delft Univer-
sity of Technology. 1995.
[11] BOTH C. Numerical Simulation of the
Behaviour of Cantilever Composite Steel!
Concrete Slabs under Ambient Conditions.
TNO Report 95-CVB-R1343. TU-Delft
report TUD-6.95.06. August 1995.

Partial Connection Design of Composite Slabs

Helmut Bode, Dr Ing.
Frank Minas, ('lvii Eng.
Ingeborg Sauerborn, Civil Eng.
University of Kaiserslautern. Germany

Introduction strate clearly and realistically the be- __v

1p L
-

haviour and failure of composite floor-

Composite slabs consist of special pro-
filed metal decking and a concrete top-
ping. After the concrete has hardened
the profiled steel sheet acts as part or
all of the tensile reinforcement in the
finished slab. In continuous slabs the
sheeting contributes additionally to
the bending resistance over interior
supports.
The steel-concrete interaction may be
achieved either by frictional interlock,
mechanical interlock, end anchorage
or by combinations of these means.
Pure bond (adhesion) is not consid-
ered effective for composite action.
Behaviour of Composite Slabs
Full-scale slab tests are preferred to
pull-out tests, because they demon-
3c:
ing, including influences such as
clamping forces, curvature and crack-
ing of the concrete.
Fig. 1 illustrates the behaviour of a
composite slab with re-entrant shape
and additional embossments. The de-
velopment of midspan deflection and
end slip during the loading procedure
can be observed. First end slip was
measured during the cyclic loading (up
to 5000 load cycles between 0.5 and 1.5
times the anticipated service loading).
Before initial slip occurs. rigid interac-
tion with full connection exists be-
tween the profiled steel sheeting and
the concrete due to adhesion bond.
Slip leads to an incomplete interaction.
Nevertheless, the test loading can be
increased considerably until the load-
carrying capacity is reached. This be- Fig. 1: Load-dejlectionlslip-deflection
haviour is classified as ductile. curves .for a slab wit!? ductile behaviour

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