Flexural Capacity of Steel-Concrete Composite Beams under Hogging Moment

This study investigates the flexural strength of simply supported steel-concrete composite beams under hogging moment. A total of 24 composite beams are included in the experiments, and ABAQUS software is used to establish finite element (FE) models that can simulate the mechanical properties of composite beams. In a parametric study, the influences of several major parameters, such as shear connection degree, stud arrangement and diameter, longitudinal and transverse reinforcement ratios, loading manner, and beam length, on flexural strength were investigated. Thereafter, three standards, namely, GB 50017, Eurocode 4, and BS 5950, were used to estimate the flexural strength of the composite beams. These codes were also compared with experimental and numerical results. Results indicate that GB 50017 may provide better estimations than the other two codes.