Modelling of flange-stud-slab interactions and numerical study on bottom-flange-bolted composite-beam connections

The composite beam connections often encountered fracture failure in the welded bottom flange joint, and a bottom flange bolted connection has been proposed to increase the deformation ability of the bottom flange joint. The seismic performance of the bottom flange bolted composite beam connection was suffered from both the composite action of concrete slab and the asymmetric load transfer mechanisms between top and bottom beam flange joints. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the working mechanism of the bottom flange bolted composite beam connections. Three available modelling methods and a new modelling method on the flange-stud-slab interactions were compared. The efficient numerical modeling method was selected and then applied to the parametric study. The influence of the composite slab, the bottom flange bolts, the shear composite ratio and the web hole shape on the seismic performance of the bottom flange bolted composite beam connections were investigated. A hogging strength calculation method was then proposed based on numerical results.