The bearing capacity of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab throughout fire process

To investigate the failure form, bending stiffness, and residual bearing capacity of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab throughout the fire process, fire tests of four monolithic composite beams with laminated slab were performed under constant load and temperature increase. Different factors such as post-pouring layer thickness, lap length of the prefabricated bottom slab, and stud spacing were considered in the fire test. The test results demonstrate that, under the same fire time and external load, the post-pouring layer thickness and stud spacing are important parameters that affect the fire resistance of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab. Similarly, the post-pouring layer thickness and stud spacing are the predominant factors affecting the bending stiffness of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after fire exposure. The failure forms of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after the fire are approximately the same as those at room temperature. In both cases, the beams underwent bending failure. However, after exposure to the high-temperature fire, cracks appeared earlier in the monolithic composite beams with laminated slab, and both the residual bearing capacity and bending stiffness were reduced by varying degrees. In this test, the bending bearing capacity and ductility of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after fire exposure were reduced by 23.3% and 55.4%, respectively, compared with those tested at room temperature. Calculation methods for the residual bearing capacity and bending stiffness of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab in and after the fire are proposed, which demonstrated good accuracy.