Advisory Desk Notes - AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams Discuss me ...

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AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams

Following some recent questions on the requirements given in BS 5950-3: 1990 for the design of the shear connection in composite beams, a clarification of three major issues is given in this advisory desk article. These issues are: Effective breadth of the concrete flange (BS 5950-3: 1990 Clause 4.6) Partial shear connection (BS 5950-3: 1990 Clause 5.5) Transverse reinforcement (BS 5950-3: 1990 Clause 5.6)

Effective breadth of the concrete flange (BS 5950-3: 1990 Clause 4.6)
In normal composite construction, a relatively thin concrete floor slab acts as the compression flange of the composite beam. The longitudinal compressive bending stresses in the slab cause shear stresses in the plane of the slab as shown in Figure 1.

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b B

Figure 1 Shear stresses in a composite beam

The shear stresses cause shear strains in the plane of the slab. One effect of these shear strains is that the areas of slab further from the steel beams are not as effective at resisting longitudinal bending stresses as the areas close to the steel beams. This effect is called shear lag. As a result, the longitudinal bending stress across the width of the slab is not constant, see Figure 2. The longitudinal stress tends to be a maximum over the web of the steel section, and reduces non-uniformly away from the centre-line of the beam. In order that simple engineers bending theory may be applied (i.e., plane sections remain plain in bending), the effective width concept is introduced. The section properties are calculated using the effective width, Be, which is assumed to carry a uniform stress across the width Be. The value of the stress in the concrete calculated using these effective section properties is equal to the maximum stress resulting from the effects of shear lag in the actual slab.

AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams

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Advisory Desk Notes - AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams Discuss me ...

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H

xmax J
D E K Be F

Mean bending stress in concrete flange, x O

C A G

b B

Figure 2 Use of effective width to allow for shear lag

The effective width is defined mathematically by the following equation:

Be = 2

x x max

dy

(1)

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The above equation allows the actual flange width B to be replaced by an effective width Be, such that the area GHJK equals the area ACDEF. Previous research, based on elastic theory, has shown that the ratio of Be/B depends in a complex way on:

the ratio of B to the span L the type of loading the boundary conditions at the supports other variables.

The results of this work have been simplified and incorporated in BS5950-3:1990 Clause 4.6. According to this code of practice, the total effective breadth of the concrete flange Be should be taken as the sum of the effective breadths of the portions of flange be each side of the centre-line of the steel beam. In the absence of any more accurate determination, the effective breadth of each portion may be taken to be: a) for a slab spanning perpendicular to the beam, be = Lz / 8 > b / b) for a slab spanning parallel to the beam be = Lz / 8 > 0.8 b / where Lz is the distance between points of zero moment (taken as the span L for simplysupported beams) and b is the actual breadth of each portion of the concrete flange (taken as the lesser of half the beam spacing and, when the beam is adjacent to a free edge, the distance between the centre-line of the web and the free edge).

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It should be noted that unless a reduction in composite action has been justified by tests or numerical analyses, it is not appropriate to consider a smaller effective width than given by the expressions shown above. This is because an underestimate of the effective width of the concrete flange will result in unsafe designs for the shear connectors. For this particular reason, the values of the effective breadth given in Eurocode 4 are generally higher than those in Eurocode 2 for reinforced concrete T-beams.

Partial shear connection (BS 5950-3: 1990 Clause 5.5)

The basic requirement for shear connectors is that they are capable of maintaining their design resistance to shear at large slips, to enable the composite beam to have sufficient rotation capacity to develop its full design bending resistance. The ductility of a shear connector is defined by its slip capacity, which is established from a standard push test, and is defined by the maximum slip that the connector can resist while still maintaining its design resistance. Provided that studs have a slip capacity greater than required in a beam design, they are considered to be ductile, allowing a plastic distribution of force to be assumed at the shear connection. This means that the studs may be spaced equally along the beam and assumed to be equally loaded under flexural failure of the beam. Note that the deformations of the connectors will not be equal, but will be much greater at the ends of the beam than at midspan. From extensive numerical analyses and full-scale beam tests, it has been shown that, to enable a beam to develop its full bending resistance, the slip required increases with the beam span and the degree of shear connection. In addition, for steel sections that have a bottom flange area greater than the top flange (i.e., asymmetric sections), the slip required increases further, due to the neutral axis lying further down within the steel section. Rather than stating slip capacities directly, the current codes of practice allow designers to assume a plastic distribution of force at the shear connection by specifying minimum degrees of shear connection in terms of the beam span and, in the case of Eurocode 4, the degree of asymmetry of the steel section. These code rules are based on numerical studies of composite beams that considered the slip capacity of the shear connection explicitly. According to BS5950-3:1990, for a steel beam with equal flanges, the following relationship for the degree of shear connection should be satisfied: For spans up to 10 m For spans between 10 and 16 m

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N a / N p 0.4

(2) (3)

N a / N p ( L 6) / 10 but N a / N p 0.4

where Na is the actual number of shear connectors provided, Np is the number of shear connectors required for full shear connection and L is the beam span in metres. The partial shear connection rules given in Eurocode 4 are applicable for much larger spans and additional guidance is given for steel sections with unequal flanges (provided that the bottom flange area does not exceed 3-times the upper flange area). In these cases, ductile connectors are defined as those with a characteristic slip capacity of 6 mm. Although BS5950-3: 1990 and Eurocode 4 give different expressions for partial shear connection, they
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are identical in one respect viz. the degree of shear connection provided in a composite beam should not be less than 0.4.

Transverse reinforcement (BS 5950-3:1990 Clause 5.6)

In composite beams, the longitudinal shear force that has to be transferred between the steel beam and the concrete flange is dependent on whether full shear connection or partial shear connection is provided. If the shear connectors are ductile (see requirements for partial shear connection above), a plastic distribution of force may be assumed at the shear connection. For full shear connection, the magnitude of this longitudinal shear force V is equal to lesser of either the cross-sectional resistance of the concrete flange or the crosssectional resistance steel section. For partial shear connection, the longitudinal shear force is equal to the resistance of the shear connection (i.e., the design resistance of the stud multiplied by the number of connectors provided between the support and the critical section under consideration). For composite beams using composite or solid slabs, BS5950-3:1990 requires that sufficient transverse reinforcement should be provided to resist the longitudinal shear force V, to prevent longitudinal splitting of the concrete flange along the potential shear planes shown in Figure 3.
a
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At

At

a a) Solid slab
At

Ab

Sheeting

b) Composite slab with the sheeting spanning perpendicular to the beam e e

Lap joint in sheeting

c) Composite slab with the sheeting spanning parallel to the beam

Figure 3 Potential shear planes according to BS5950-3:1990

For typical internal composite beams that are equally spaced, the effective breadth of each portion of the concrete flange be is equal. In this case, the longitudinal shear force in each portion of the concrete flange is equal, and the longitudinal shear force that has to be transferred along potential shear planes such as a-a and e-e has a value of V/2. Due to the fact that it is normal to assume a plastic distribution of force at the shear connection, it is often more convenient to work in terms of a longitudinal shear force per unit length v, in which case the following equation may be used:

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Advisory Desk Notes - AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams Discuss me ...

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v = V / 2s
(4)

where V is the longitudinal shear force, and is:

and

for full shear connection, taken as either the lesser of resistance of the concrete flange or the steel section, for partial shear connection, taken as the resistance of the shear connection s is the spacing of the shear connectors.

However, for cases when composite beams are not spaced equally, or when a beam is adjacent to a free edge (such as at a hole in the slab), the longitudinal shear force per unit length along potential shear planes either side of the beam is no longer equal. This design case is illustrated in Figure 4.
Be f

b1

b2 g

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Figure 4 Composite beam with an unsymmetrical concrete flange

For the special case shown in Figure 4, the longitudinal shear force per unit length along shear planes f-f and g-g may be calculated from the following expressions:

v f f = Vb2 / B e s v g g = Vb1 / Be s

(5) (6)

For further information contact: Dr Stephen Hicks, SCI. Tel.: 01344 623345 E-mail: s.hicks@steel-sci.com

AD 266: Shear Connection in composite beams

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