Hydro-mechanical analysis of non-uniform shrinkage development and its effects on steel-concrete composite slabs

Drying shrinkage in concrete caused by drying and the associated decrease in moisture content is one of the most important factors influencing the long-term deflection of steel-concrete composite slabs. The presence of profiled steel decking at the bottom of the composite slab causes non-uniform drying from top and bottom of the slab resulting non-uniform drying shrinkage. In this paper, a hydro-mechanical analysis method is proposed to simulate the development of non-uniform shrinkage through the depth of the composite slab. It also demonstrates how this proposed analysis method can be used in conjunction with previously presented structural analysis model to calculate the effects of non-uniform shrinkage on the long-term deflection of the slab. The method uses concrete moisture diffusion model to simulate the non-uniform drying of composite slab. Then mechanical models are used to calculate resulting shrinkage strain from non-uniform drying and its effect on the long-term behaviour of the composite slabs. The performance of the proposed analysis method is validated against experimental data.