Flexural behavior of cold-formed steel concrete composite beams

Flexural behavior of thin walled steel-concrete composite sections as cross sections for beams is investigated by conducting an experimental study supported by applicable analytical predictions. The experimental study consists of testing up to failure, simply supported beams of effective span 1440 mm under two point loading. The test specimens consisted of composite box and channel (with lip placed on tension side and compression side) sections, the behavior of which was compared with companion empty sections. To understand the role of shear connectors in developing the composite action, some of the composite sections were provided with novel simple bar type and conventional bolt type shear connectors in the shear zone of beams. Two RCC beams having equivalent ultimate moment carrying capacities as that of composite channel and box sections were also considered in the study. The study showed that the strength to weight ratio of composite beams is much higher than RCC beams and ductility index is also more than RCC and empty beams. The analytical predictions were found to compare fairly well with the experimental results, thereby validating the applicability of rigid plastic theory to cold-formed steel concrete composite beams.