Longitudinal shear strength design of composite slabs by fullscale FE modelling considering the embossments
Composite slab, steel deck, longitudinal shear, numerical study, finite element method
Slabs with cast-in-place steel formwork are composite structural elements composed of
concrete and steel. The horizontal shear failure mode is the most common in composite slabs
based on numerous experimental studies. This failure mode consists of loss of adherence and
mechanical contact at the interface of the composite system and often occurs before the system
reaches its full bending capacity. Thus, the design of this constructive system is determined by
the value of the longitudinal shear strength, which can be computed by the semi-empirical socalled
traditional m-k method based on the four-point bending test proposed by several
standards. One of the most known factors to influence the longitudinal shear strength is the
geometry of embossments present in the steel work. Calibrated computational simulation using
the finite element method can be an alternative way to simulate this type of test. The present
work modified and adapted a methodology explicitly including the geometry of embossments
in the analysis in order to use materials and products with characteristics available to structural
engineers in Brazil and used this methodology to derive m-k coefficients. This is being made
with the objective of numerically simulating the effect of relevant parameters for determining
the longitudinal shear strength at the concrete-steel interface of composite slabs. Force versus
slip, force versus displacement graphs were obtained and the m-k coefficient values found were
compared with those of other authors in the literature. The simulations presented values
consistent with the literature and in relation to the rupture mode by longitudinal shear, the
numerical simulations performed presented ultimate strengths with goodness-of-fit measured
by the conventional coefficient of determination, reaching a good value for the semi-empirical
relation using the results of the finite element data. In order to extend these results, a total of
36 structural models were simulated and a parametric analysis was developed, whose results
were in agreement with the works found in the literature.