Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether timber-concrete composite (TCC) floors made of a CLT-deck and casted concrete could be used as a method for increasing the use of wood as a building material. Method: The methods used in this degree project were a literature study, in which a number of laws of construction and different connector systems were studied, as well as an experiment consisting of bending tests on CLT-decks with casted concrete where SFS VB-screws were used as shear connectors. Results: The TCC-beams in the experiment behaved as expected and went to bending failure. The beams displayed an almost invisible slip between the materials despite the low composite action of 40,2 %. In addition, the beams had a higher bending stiffness on average than CLT-beams of the same height would have. Conclusions: Compared to floors made entirely of wood, TCC-floors with CLT add extra mass, stiffness, and better acoustic properties to the construction while maintaining a low floor height. The three main types of connectors used in TCC floors are mechanical, notched and glued-in connectors, where the latter two generates higher composite action and stiffness. Adhesive connection is another method with great potential, but there is still more research needed for this type of connection to be used.

Thermal bowing, often referred as bulging or out-of-plane wall deflection, is a common issue on sandwich panel walls caused by a temperature differential between a building interior temperature and the environment. The stresses caused by temperature changes in concrete members are widely known in the practice of bridge design, but not on sandwich wall panels. For sandwich wall panel applications, it is common to have non-composite panels when the designer expects a high temperature gradient, what yields a less economical design, but reduces the bowing. This project aimed to validate current assumptions regarding the heat flow in sandwich wall panels and to perform a parametric study of panels subject to thermal loads, varying the concrete layer thickness, panel length, type of shear connector and separation using a commercial finite element analysis software. This study concluded that current design practices either underestimate, in the case of multiplying the classical mechanics values by the reported degree of composite behavior, or overestimate the real value of bowing, by using classical mechanics. A method for determining the percentage of composite action and compute bowing was developed and recommendations addressing the importance of this type of loading were given.

No / In composite beam design, headed stud shear connectors are commonly used to transfer longitudinal shear forces across the steel¿concrete interface. Present knowledge of the load¿slip behavior and the shear capacity of the shear stud in composite beam are limited to data obtained from the experimental push-off tests. For this purpose, an effective numerical model using the finite element method to simulate the push-off test was proposed. The model has been validated against test results and compared with data given in the current Code of Practices, i.e., BS5950, EC4, and AISC. Parametric studies using this model were preformed to investigate variations in concrete strength and shear stud diameter. The finite element model provided a better understanding to the different modes of failure observed during experimental testing and hence shear capacity of headed shear studs in solid concrete slabs