Experimental studies on composite beams with high-strength steel and concrete

This paper presents the experimental studies of the flexural behavior of steel-concrete composite beams. Herein, steel-concrete composite beams were constructed with a welded steel I section beam and concrete slab with different material strength. Four simply supported composite beams subjected to two-point concentrated loads were tested and compared to investigate the effect of high strength engineering materials on the overall flexural response, including failure modes, load deflection behavior, strain response and interface slip. The experimental results show that the moment capacity of composite beams has been improved effectively when high-strength steel and concrete are used. Comparisons of the ultimate flexural strength of beams tested are then made with the calculated results according to the methods specified in guideline Eurocode 4. The ultimate flexural strength based on current codes may be slightly unconservative for predicating the moment capacity of composite beams with high-strength steel or concrete.