Flexible shear connectors in a tapered composite beam optimized for reuse

Abstract

Composite beams are frequently used because of their competitive combination of a steel beam and a concrete deck. Further optimization of composite beams is possible through use of tapered steel beams. In terms of material reuse, composite structures generally underperform, because of the concrete casted in-situ. The most common shear connector is the welded headed stud embedded in the concrete. An alternative to welded headed studs is a bolted shear connector, which allows for demountability of the composite floor system and subsequent reuse of it. The goal of this paper is to propose a method to determine the deflection of tapered composite beams with flexible shear connectors. Starting point is the theory available in literature for straight (i.e. prismatic) composite beams with flexible shear connectors. The proposed method is used in a case study to optimize the design of a composite beam in a multistorey car park. Validation of the derived hand-calculation method is carried out through finite element analysis. An approximation is derived based on which the deflection of tapered composite beams can be estimated through hand calculation, with a deviation less than 5%.