This paper is concerned with the behaviour of beam ¿ column connections of steel ¿ concrete composite beams with precast hollow core slabs. Experiments were carried out to investigate the joint rotation characteristics and ultimate moment capacity of these connections. Details of the test specimens, instrumentation, test set-up and test procedures are described. Results obtained for the connection moment capacity, rotation capacity and failure modes are presented. It is found that through proper design and detailing, these simple steel connections display the characteristics of a semi-rigid connection with very little extra cost.

No / The chapter describes the ongoing work on modeling the semi-rigid composite beam-column connections of composite beams with precast hollow core slabs. Using the finite element (FE) software ABAQUS, a three-dimensional (3D) model of a composite joint is set up. The technique of simulating bolt force, endplate, concrete elements, reinforcement, and shear connectors, and the interaction between slabs and steel beams is presented in the chapter. Preliminary results on the steel joint and simplify composite joint are also presented in the chapter. FE model for the bare steel joints and the simplified composite joints are presented, and the result of the simplified composite model showed good agreement with the experimental result but with lower joint stiffness. Further work on the full finite element model of composite joints is still going on.

no / Precast concrete floors are widely used in building construction, but there is little detailed design guidance on their application in steel-framed buildings. Traditionally the steel beams have been designed to support the precast slabs on their top flange. However, there are an increasing number of composite frames and slim floor constructions where the precast slabs are designed to interact structurally with the steel frame. Composite action can be developed by welded shear connectors attached to the steel beams and by transverse reinforcement; however, this form of construction is currently outside the provisions of the current codes of practice. This paper discusses some of the particular issues that affect this form of construction, and presents design guidance using the Eurocode methodology.

The use of concrete-filled tubular composite members and composite beams has been implemented in many structural systems due to their robust structural performance, constructability, and inherent synergy when the steel and concrete components are properly designed and detailed together. While extensive research has been conducted on concrete-filled steel structural members, relatively little has been done regarding similar composite connections. Understanding how composite connections behave in structures and how they should be modeled during the design process is crucial to predict the actual structural behavior of these types of elements when subjected to different loading conditions. The goal of this research is to numerically evaluate CFTs or SRCs members and their connections subjected to axial, shear, and flexural load. Predicting composite connection behavior is exceptionally challenging due to the coupled behavior of the steel and concrete, the residual stresses in the steel, local buckling of the connection, and the sensitivity of the stress-strain response to the steel-concrete contact and confinement performance. To address these issues, a thorough literature search has been carried out and a state-of-the-art report on experimental and numerical models for composite connections is presented. The selected tests represent a range of geometries, materials, and governing failure modes. Initially, a generic connection modeling process was developed and calibrated against a classical test, then three more connections were modeled. To further the understanding of composite behavior, shear studs in steel-concrete composite beams were modeled next, taking as reference a recent experimental program that resulted in an unusual failure. Results indicate that the model can reproduce the most important behavioral aspects observed in the tests, tracking well the strength and stiffness of the samples up to ultimate. The load-deformation curves of the experimental specimens and the analytical models show very good agreement in their transitions and indicate that the behavior of the composite joints is controlled mainly by both the strength of the concrete and the confining effect of the steel tube in the joint. A data appendix containing 135 tests is described and the main characteristics of these tests are summarized in the text. / Doctor of Philosophy / Every day the population increase is more evident, and the main cities of the world are densifying. This implies the accelerated construction of all types of structures, especially tall residential buildings. For the design of these structures, architects design increasingly slender structures, which must be resilient under all types of forces. The foregoing is exerting pressure on structural engineers to design structures that have the capacity to be built in the shortest possible time without losing their functionality and safety. This is where steel and concrete composite construction plays an important role. The main advantage of composite construction is the synergy of both materials. Concrete is inexpensive and provides high stiffness, mass, and fire resistance. Structural steel has high strength, ductility, lightweight, and ease of construction. Composite construction has been used for a long time in tall buildings, and experimental and numerical research has been carried out, especially on the beam and column elements. However, comparatively little research has been done on composite connection behavior and design. This dissertation proposes a numerical evaluation of the composite connections in beams and columns under different types of loads in order to establish modeling parameters that facilitate the analysis and structural design of these elements. The important numerical models are validated with experimental investigations. The results show that the numerical models are capable of simulating the structural behavior of the tests, especially the damage mechanisms and the modeling of local behavior. This study contributes to the development of simulations of composite connections, determining modeling parameters, such as the contact resistance between steel and concrete and the distribution of shear studs in composite beams, among others.

Predicting the long-term behavior of steel-concrete composite structures is a very complex systems problem, both because obtaining reliable information on material properties related to creep and shrinkage is not straightforward and because it is not easy to clearly determine the correlation between the effects of creep and shrinkage and the resultant structural response. Slip occurring at the interface between the steel and concrete may also make prediction more complicated. While the short-term deflection of composite beams may be easily predicted from fundamental theories of structural mechanics, calculating the long-term deflection is complicated by creep and shrinkage effects on the concrete deck varying over time. There are as yet no comprehensive ways for engineers to reliably deal with these issues, and the development of a set of justifiable numerical standards and equations for composite structures that goes beyond a simple commentary is well overdue. As the first step towards meeting this objective, this research is designed to identify a simple method for calculating the long-term deformations of steel-concrete composite members based on existing models to predict concrete creep and shrinkage and to estimate the time-varying deflection of steel-composite beams for design purposes. A brief reexamination of four existing models to predict creep and shrinkage was first conducted, after which an analytical approach using the age-adjusted effective modulus method (AEMM) was used to calculate the long-term deflection of a simply-supported steel-concrete composite beam. The ACI 209R-92 and CEB MC90-99 models, which adopt the concept of an ultimate coefficient, formed the basis of the models developed and examples of the application of the two models are included to provide a better understanding of the process involved. For the analytical approach using the AEMM, the entire process of calculating the long-term deflections with respect to both full and partial shear interactions is presented here, and the accuracy of the calculation validated by comparing the model predictions with experimental data. Lastly, the way the time-dependent deflection varies with various combinations of creep coefficient, shrinkage strain, the size of the beam, and the span length, was analyzed in a parametric study. The results indicate that the long-term deflection due to creep and shrinkage is generally 1.5 ~ 2.5 times its short-term deflection, and the effects of shrinkage may contribute much more to the time-dependent deformation than the effect of creep for cases where the sustained live load is quite small. In addition, the composite beam with a partial interaction exhibits a larger mid-span deflection for both the short- and long-term deflections than a beam with a full shear interaction. When it comes to the deflection limitations, it turned out that although the short-term deflections due to immediate design live load satisfy the deflection criteria well, its long-term deflections can exceed the deflection limitations. / Master of Science

Yes / A full-scale composite floor plate was tested to investigate the flexural behavior and in-plane effects of the floor slab in a grillage of composite beams that reduces the tendency for longitudinal splitting of the concrete slab along the line of the primary beams. This is important in cases where the steel decking is discontinuous when it is orientated parallel to the beams. In this case, it is important to demonstrate that the amount of transverse reinforcement required to transfer local forces from the shear connectors can be reduced relative to the requirements of Eurocode 4. The mechanism under study involved in-plane compression forces being developed in the slab due to the restraining action of the floor plate, which was held in position by the peripheral composite beams; while the secondary beams acted as transverse ties to resist the forces in the floor plate that would otherwise lead to splitting of the slab along the line of the primary beams. The tendency for cracking along the center line of the primary beam and at the peripheral beams was closely monitored. This is the first large floor plate test that has been carried out under laboratory conditions since the Cardington tests in the early 1990s, although those tests were not carried out to failure. This floor plate test was designed so that the longitudinal force transferred by the primary beams was relatively high (i.e., it was designed for full shear connection), but the transverse reinforcement was taken as the minimum of 0.2% of the concrete area. The test confirmed that the primary beams reached their plastic bending resistance despite the discontinuous decking and transverse reinforcement at the minimum percentage given in Eurocode 4. Based on this test, a reduction factor due to shear connectors at edge beams without U-bars is proposed.

Large wind turbine blades, manufactured from fibre reinforced laminated composite materials, are key structural components of wind turbine systems. The demands for efficient and accurate modelling techniques of these composite blades have significantly increased. Over past decades, although complex computational models have been widely developed, more analytically based models are still very much desired to drive the design and optimization of these composite blades forward to be lighter, stronger, efficient and durable. The research work in this thesis aims to develop such more analytically based aerodynamic, structural and aero-elasticity models for large wind turbine blades manufactured from fibre reinforced laminated composite materials. Firstly, an improved blade element momentum (BEM) model has been developed by collectively integrating the individual corrections with the classic BEM model. Compared to other existing models, present BEM model accounts for blade tip and root losses more accurately. For laminar flow, the 3-D cross-flow is negligibly small. In this case, present BEM model with statically measured 2-D aerodynamic coefficients agrees closely to experimental measurements. However, stall delay correction is required for a 3-D rotating blade in stall. A new stall delay model is developed based on Snel s stall delay model. Verifications are performed and discussed for the extensively studied NREL UAE phase-VI test. The predictions of distributive and collective factors, e.g. normalised force coefficients, shaft torque and etc. have been compared to experimental measurements. The present BEM model and stall delay model are original and more accurate than existing models. Secondly, significant deficiency is discovered in the analytical thin-walled closed-section composite beam (TWCSCB) model proposed by Librescu and Vo, which is widely used by others for structural modelling of wind turbine blades. To correct such deficiency, an improved TWCSCB model is developed in a novel manner that is applicable to both single-cell and multi-cell closed sections made of arbitrary composite laminates. The present TWCSCB model has been validated for a variety of geometries and arbitrary laminate layups. The numerical verifications are also performed on a realistic wind turbine blade (NPS-100) for structural analysis. Consistently accurate correlations are found between present TWCSCB model and the ABAQUS finite element (FE) shell model. Finally, the static aero-elasticity model is developed by combining the developed BEM model and TWCSCB model. The interactions are accounted through an iterative process. The numerical applications are carried out on NPS-100 wind turbine. The numerical results show some significant corrections by modelling wind turbine blades with elastic coupling.

No Brasil, o emprego de estruturas de aço constituídas por perfis formados a frio tem crescido consideravelmente, em virtude da ampla disponibilidade de laminados planos no mercado (chapas finas), bem como pela busca de soluções estruturais mais competitivas. Nesse cenário, pode-se destacar as estruturas mistas de aço e concreto destinadas aos edifícios habitacionais de pequeno porte, em que os tradicionais perfis laminados são substituídos por perfis formados a frio tanto nas vigas como nos pilares. Embora o sistema de vigas mistas possa ser considerado consolidado no campo dos perfis laminados e soldados, o comportamento estrutural no caso de perfis formados a frio necessita de investigação mais aprofundada, de modo a verificar os modos de ruína e a viabilidade do emprego dos modelos teóricos clássicos. Nesse trabalho foi desenvolvido um estudo teórico e experimental sobre as vigas mistas em perfis formados a frio duplo U enrijecido, focalizando a ligação mista (ligação viga-pilar) e consequentemente a resposta estrutural da região de momento fletor negativo. O programa experimental consistiu da análise de dois protótipos cruciformes para determinar a curva momento-rotação, o momento resistente, a rigidez, a capacidade de rotação e identificar modos de falha. Foi possível constatar maior capacidade de rotação da ligação com cantoneiras de assento e de alma quando comparada a uma ligação totalmente soldada. Comparando com o modelo experimental o método dos componentes avaliou de forma razoável a rigidez em serviço, já o método proposto por Leon et. al. superestimou muito esse parâmetro, a capacidade de rotação foi avaliada de forma satisfatória pelos dois métodos. O momento resistente negativo da viga mista obtido experimentalmente apresentou um valor intermediário entre os valores teóricos obtidos por processo plástico e elástico. / In Brazil, the cold-formed steel structures have been widely used justified by the large availability of steel sheets in the market (thin sheets) and the search for more competitive structural solutions. Thus as steel and concrete composite structures are applied in small constructions the traditional hot-rolled one is replaced by cold-formed members in the beams and columns. Even though the composite beams system is known in the hot-rolled and welded shapes field, the structural behavior of the cold-formed steel still needs more accurate investigation to verify the failure modes and the viability of the classic theoretical models. In this work a theoretical and experimental study about cold-formed steel and concrete composite beams was developed, focusing on the beam-to-column connection and the structural behavior on the region of hogging bending. For the experimental program two cruciform models of beam-column connections were analyzed to obtain the moment-rotation curves, the stiffness, and the rotation capacity. It was possible to verify the largest rotation capacity of the connection with the steel seat and web angle when compared with the totally welded connection. In the case of connection the method of the components estimates well the secant stiffness and the rotation capacity presenting a value closer to the ones obtained experimentally, Leon et al. procedures estimated well the initial stiffness and the rotation capacity, but the value of the secant stiffness is much larger than the experimental one. In the case of composite beam the ultimate strength (Mmax) experimentally obtained presented an intermediate value to the ones obtained by the plastic and elastic method.

O emprego de uma estrutura mista de aço – concreto (laje em concreto e vigas em perfis de aço) representa a priori uma solução mais eficiente para estruturas de pontes do que a consideração de uma estrutura toda em concreto ou toda em aço. No entanto para que isto ocorra na prática é necessário um dimensionamento criterioso desta estrutura, o que deve ser feito tendo como apoio softwares de simulação numérica. No CEMACOM tem sido desenvolvidos vários trabalhos nesse tema, os quais resultaram num código computacional com capacidade para simular vigas mistas submetidas a cargas de curta duração ou cargas de longa duração. Em contraponto, nesse trabalho a proposta é customizar um software comercial de elementos finitos (ANSYS) para realizar as mesmas tarefas. Depois do modelo construído tem se vantagens pois se dispõe da plataforma do ANSYS que permite analisar vários problemas associados ao assunto. Fez-se uma proposta de modelo numérico para se analisar vigas mistas no ANSYS. Tendo como ponto de partida os trabalhos de Lazzari (2015) e Lazzari et al. (2016) para a implementação do comportamento do concreto, fez-se algumas implementações numa rotina tipo usermat para fazer análises de cargas de curta duração. Os efeitos de longa duração, fluência e retração, foram implementados na rotina usermat tendo como base os trabalhos de Dias (2013) e Moreno (2016). O código customizado foi comparado contra resultados experimentais e numéricos que demonstraram o adequado funcionamento do mesmo. Finalmente o ANSYS customizado foi aplicado para modelar uma estrutura de ponte que havia sido previamente calculada por Schmitz (2014) empregando procedimentos de projeto normalizados. Os resultados obtidos são comparados contra o processo normalizado e são apresentadas as vantagens deste processo. / The use of composite steel and concrete structures (concrete deck and steel profile beams) represents a priori a more efficient solution for bridges structure than the consideration of a whole structure with concrete or whole with steel. However for this to occur in practice it is necessary a consistent design of this structure, and this should be done with the support of softwares of numerical simulations. In CEMACOM have been developed many works in this theme, which resulted on a computational code with the capacity for simulate composite beams submitted to loads with short duration or loads with long duration. In counterpoint, in this work the proposal was to customize a commercial software of finite elements (ANSYS) to do the same tasks. After the construction of the model it have advantages because it is able to use the ANSYS platform, which permit to analyze various problems associated with this subject. It was done a numerical model for analysis of composite beams in ANSYS. Considering as the start point the works of Lazzari (2015) and Lazzari et al. (2016) for the implementation of concrete behavior, some implementations were done in a routine of the type usermat to make analysis with loads with short duration. The effects of long duration, creep and shrinkage, were implemented on the usermat routine considering the jobs of Dias (2013) and Moreno (2016). The customized code was compared with experimental and numerical results that demonstrated a proper functioning. Finally, the customized ANSYS was applied to modeling a bridge structure, which was previously designed in Schmitz (2014) using standard proceedings. The obtained results are compared with the standard procedure and it is presented the advantages of this more complex proceeding.

Le travail présenté dans ce manuscrit est une contribution à l’étude des vibrations non-linéaires des poutres isotropes et en composite, en mouvement de rotation. Le modèle mathématique utilisé est basé sur la formulation intrinsèque et géométriquement exacte de Hodges, dédiée au traitement des poutres ayant des grands déplacements et de petites déformations. La résolution est faite dans le domaine fréquentiel suite à une discrétisation spatio-temporelle, en utilisant l’approximation de Galerkin et la méthode de l’équilibrage harmonique, avec des conditions aux limites correspondantes aux poutres encastrées-libres. Le systéme dynamique final est traité par des méthodes de continuation : la méthode asymptotique numérique et la méthode pseudo-longueur d’arc. Des algorithmes basés sur ces méthodes de continuation ont été développés et une étude comparative de convergence a été menée. Cette étude a cerné les aspects : statique, analyse modale linéaire, vibrations libres non-linéaires et les vibrations forcées non-linéaires des poutres rotatives. Ces algorithmes de continuations ont été testés pour le calculs des courbes de réponse sur des cas traités dans la littérature. La résonance interne et la stabilité des solutions obtenues sont étudiées / The work presented in this manuscript is a contribution to the non-linear vibrations of the isotropic beams and composite rotating beams study. The mathematical model used is based on the intrinsic formulation and geometrically exact of Hodges, developped for beams subjected to large displacements and small deformations. The resolution is done in the frequency domain after a spatial-temporal dicretisation, by using the Galerkin approximation and the the harmonic balance method, with boundary conditions corresponding to the clamped-free. The final dynamic system is treated by continuation methods : asymptotic numerical method and the pseudo-arc length method, whose algorithms based on these continuation methods were developed and a convergence study was carried out. This study surround the aspects : statics, linear modal analysis, non-linear free vibrations and the non-linear forced vibrations of the rotating beams. These continuation algorithms were tested for the response curves calculations on cases elaborated in the literature. Internal resonance and the stability of the solutions obtained are studied