Finite element model for interlayer behavior of double skin steel-concrete-steel sandwich structure with corrugated-strip shear connectors

Steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich composite structure with corrugated-strip connectors (CSC) has the potential to be used in buildings and offshore structures. In this structure, CSCs are used to bond steel face plates and concrete. To overcome executive problems, in the proposed system by the authors, shear connectors are one end welded as double skin composites. Hence, this system double skin with corrugated-strip connectors (DSCS) is named. In this paper, finite element model (FEM) of push-out test was presented for the basic component of DSCS. ABAQUS/Explicit solver in ABAQUS was used due to the geometrical complexity of the model, especially in the interaction of the shear connectors with concrete. In order that the explicit analysis has a quasi-static behavior with a proper approximation, the kinetic energy (ALLKE) did not exceed 5% to 10% of the internal energy (ALLIE) using mass-scaling. The FE analysis (FEA) was validated against those from the push-out tests in the previous work of the authors published in this journal. By comparing load-slip curves and failure modes, FEMs with suitable analysis speed were consistent with test results.