Design and behaviour of double skin composite beams with novel enhanced C-channels

This paper firstly developed a new type of Double Skin Composite (DSC) beams using novel enhanced C-channels (ECs). The shear behaviour of novel ECs was firstly studied through two push-out tests. Eleven full-scale DSC beams with ECs (DSCB-ECs) were tested under four-point loading to study their ultimate strength behaviours, and the studied parameters were thickness of steel faceplate, spacing of ECs, shear span, and strength of concrete core. Test results showed that all the DSCB-ECs failed in flexure-governed mode, which confirmed the effective bonding of ECs. The working mechanisms of DSCB-ECs with different parameters were reported, analysed and discussed. The load-deflection (or strain) behaviour of DSCB-ECs were also detailed reported. The effects of studied parameters on ultimate strength behaviour of DSCB-ECs have been discussed and analysed. Including the experimental studies, this paper also developed theoretical models to predict the initial stiffness, elastic stiffness, cracking, yielding, and ultimate loads of DSCB-ECs. Validations of predictions against 11 test results proved the reasonable estimations of the developed theoretical models on those stiffness and strength indexes. Finally, conclusions were given based on these tests and analysis.