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(Asce) 0733-9445 (2003) 129 6
(Asce) 0733-9445 (2003) 129 6
Abstract: A series of tests is performed on composite beams with web openings. The beams have ribbed slabs with the ribs oriented
transversely. The effects of slab width and moment-shear ratio on failure mode and strength are studied. Failure mode of concrete slabs
depends on the slab width. Pullout failure around the shear connectors at the high-moment end occurs in the beams with wide slab width,
while diagonal tension-type failure occurs in a beam with narrow slab width. Based on the test results, a strength model is developed. The
maximum shear capacity is approximated as the sum of the individual shear capacity of the steel beam and the concrete slab. The shear
contribution of the concrete slab is taken as the lesser of the shear strength of the slab and the pullout capacity of the studs. Strength
predictions of the proposed model are compared with test results and predictions of other strength models. The proposed model is easy to
use and gives satisfactory predictions.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0733-9445共2003兲129:6共810兲
CE Database subject headings: Composite beams; Slabs; Failure modes; Ultimate strength; Webs.
Introduction rect solution for the capacity and has proven to be accurate and
conservative 共Darwin and Lucas 1990兲, it has been adopted by the
It has been a common practice to use composite beams with American Institute of Steel Construction in the Steel Design
formed steel deck as the floor system in steel frame structures. Guide series 共Darwin 1990兲 and the American Society of Civil
Providing openings in the webs of steel beams for the passage of Engineers/Structural Engineering Institute 共SEI/ASCE 1998兲.
the utility ducts reduces the overall construction depth. However, Cho and Redwood observed that the failure of concrete slabs
the presence of such openings may significantly reduce the was dominated by diagonal tension crack in solid slabs and by rib
strength at the openings in high-shear regions. Test results have
separation in ribbed slabs. They used a truss analogy to consider
shown that in composite beams the contribution of the concrete
the rib separation failure 共Cho and Redwood 1992a兲. In their
slabs to both flexural and shear strength at web openings can be
model, the shear studs in the opening region are considered as
significant 共Redwood and Wong 1982; Redwood and Poumbouras
vertical tension-carrying members, and the shear contribution of
1983; Donahey and Darwin 1988; Cho and Redwood 1992b兲.
the slabs is governed by the pulling-out capacity of the shear
Darwin and Donahey developed a method to generate the
studs. However, the truss model does not consider the size effect
moment-shear interaction diagram for member capacity at open-
of the ribbed slabs by assuming that diagonal tension crack does
ings subjected to both bending and shear 共Darwin and Donahey
not occur prior to the pulling-out failure.
1988兲. In the method, the pure moment capacity and the pure
Narayanan et al. conducted a series of tests on short-span com-
shear capacity are calculated separately, and the two points are
connected using a cubic interaction curve to represent the inter- posite plate girders with solid slabs and web openings, loaded
action between moment and shear. The simplified axial stress dis- predominantly in shear 共Narayanan et al.1989兲. The test results
tributions assumed in the calculation of the maximum pure shear indicated that the concrete slabs exhibited two main types of
capacity do not represent the failure modes of the concrete slabs shear failure, diagonal tension crack and pulling-out of the shear
clearly. However, since the interaction provides a simple and di- studs. Roberts and Al-Amery conducted a supplementary series of
tests and developed a simple analytical model for predicting the
1 shear strength of composite plate girders with web openings
Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering, Hong
Ik Univ., Chochiwon, Chungnam 339-701, Korea. E-mail:
共Roberts and Al-Amery 1991兲. In this method, the shear strength
jwp@wow.hongik.ac.kr of a composite plate girder at the web opening is approximated as
2
President, CH Structural Engineering Co. LTD., 705-23 Yuksam- the sum of the shear strength of the plate girder alone and the
dong, Gangnamgu, Seoul 135-922, Korea. contribution of the concrete slab. The contribution of the concrete
3
Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering, Hong Ik Univ., slab was taken as the lesser of the shear strength of the slab and
Chochiwon, Chungnam 339-701, Korea. the pulling-out capacity of the shear studs.
Note. Associate Editor: Joseph M. Bracci. Discussion open until No- Herein, a series of tests on composite beams with ribbed slabs
vember 1, 2003. Separate discussions must be submitted for individual and web openings is described. The test beams were designed to
papers. To extend the closing date by one month, a written request must
represent different failure modes of concrete slabs. The test re-
be filed with the ASCE Managing Editor. The manuscript for this paper
was submitted for review and possible publication on January 25, 2002; sults were used in the development of a simple analytical model
approved August 27, 2002. This paper is part of the Journal of Structural for predicting the ultimate strength of composite beams with
Engineering, Vol. 129, No. 6, June 1, 2003. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445/ ribbed slabs and web openings subjected to combined bending
2003/6-810– 817/$18.00. and shear.
Test Program A36 steel兲. Openings had the same size of 260⫻460 mm and
centered at the mid-depth. 22-mm diameter headed studs with
Test Specimens 110-mm length were used for shear connection. The studs were
placed in pair in a rib staggered at 38 mm longitudinally and 100
A total of nine tests were performed on eight composite beams
and one steel beam. The composite beams had ribbed slabs with mm transversely. The test specimens are shown in Fig. 1. Three
the ribs oriented transversely. 1.2-mm decking with 75-mm deep tests 共RB1, RB2, and RB3兲 were used to investigate the influence
ribs on 230-mm centers was selected. The average rib width was of the size of the concrete slabs on the failure modes under pure
10.3 mm. A single layer of wire mesh of 5.5-mm diameter spaced shear condition. In these tests, the slab width was changed. Three
at 150 mm was placed at the mid-depth of the concrete slabs tests 共RB6, RB7, and RB8兲 were used to investigate the effect of
providing a reinforcement of 0.0021 based on the slab thickness moment-shear ratio 共M/V兲 at the opening. In one test 共RB4兲, three
above the deck ribs. All test beams used a wide-flange section of reinforcing bars of 10-mm diameter were placed in the rib at the
400 mm 共beam depth兲 ⫻200 mm 共flange width兲 ⫻ 8 mm 共web high-moment end of the opening. This test was used to study the
thickness兲 ⫻ 12 mm 共flange thickness兲 of SS 400 steel 共similar to effect of the reinforcement on the pulling-out capacity of the
shear connectors. One test 共RB5兲 was used to study the effect of
stud configuration along the opening. One steel beam 共RB9兲 was
tested as a reference beam. Beam cross-sectional properties are Instrumentation
summarized in Table 1.
The beams were instrumented with electrical resistance strain
gauges and linear variable differential transformers 共LVDT’s兲.
Materials Strain gauges were placed on the top and bottom tees at the ends
and center of the opening. Strain gauges were also placed on the
Two pairs of tensile coupons taken from the web and the flange
studs at the high-moment end and the studs in the adjacent ribs to
were tested. American Society for Testing and Materials 共ASTM兲
measure the tension force induced in the studs. LVDT’s were
A108 Grade 1015 studs used for shear connection were tested
installed at the point of maximum moment and at the ends and
under direct tension. Normal-weight portland cement concrete
center of the opening. Whitewash was applied to the steel beams
with 20-mm maximum aggregate was used. Concrete cylinders
around the web opening and diluted latex paint was applied to the
were cast as the beam slabs were cast. The cylinders were cured
concrete slab.
under the same condition as the test beam slabs and tested at the
same time. The results of material strength tests are listed in Table
2.
Test Results
Loading Most of the test beams with wide slabs showed ductile behavior.
All test beams were simply supported at their ends or interior The load-deflection curve of Beam RB1 is presented in Fig. 2. In
supports and loaded at one or two points as shown in Fig. 1. The Fig. 3, load-deflection curves of the beams with different slab
beams were first cyclically loaded up to about 10% of the esti- widths are compared. This figure shows that the failure of the
mated ultimate loads to seat the loading system and then loaded composite beams may become less ductile than the steel beam as
monotonically to failure. Load was applied in increments of about the slab width is reduced. At relatively low levels of loading,
20 kN first, and then in smaller increments as the beams were transverse cracks occurred on the top surface of the slabs at the
close to failure. The applied loads were monitored using elec- low-moment end of the openings. Transverse cracks were fol-
tronic load cells. The concrete slabs were laterally restrained at lowed by the yielding of the beam web at the opening corners. As
the ends of the beams to prevent any lateral movement. loading increased, longitudinal cracks occurred in the slabs di-
rectly above the steel beam. All the beams except for Beam RB3
exhibited a rib separation type of cracks at the high-moment end
of the openings. The applied loads at first yield and at the first
occurrence of transverse, longitudinal, and rib separation cracks
are summarized in Table 3. Peak loads were governed by the
failure of the concrete slabs.
Beams RB1 through RB5 were tested with the pure shear load-
ing condition at the centerline of the opening. Beams RB1, RB2,
and RB3 were almost identical in every aspect except for the
width of the concrete slab. Beam RB3 with a narrow slab width
failed by a diagonal tension crack through the slab thickness as
shown in Fig. 4. The diagonal tension crack started at the corner
of the rib at the high-moment end of the opening, and propagated
through the slab to the loading point as the load was increased.
Beam RB1 with a wide slab width failed by the pulling-out of the
shear studs from the slab. The pulling-out of the studs occurred at
the high-moment end, and then at the adjacent rib resulting in
bridging of the slab over the opening. Fig. 5 shows the rib sepa-
Fig. 2. Load-deflection curves 共RB1兲
ration of RB1 after the test. After the test, the concrete slab por
tion at the high-moment end of the opening was removed from RB5 was identical to RB1 except that the studs are placed away
RB1 using a diamond saw as shown in Fig. 6. In this figure, the from the high-moment end of the opening. The maximum applied
cone of concrete around the studs indicates that the studs failed by load was less than that of RB1. However, the reduction was not
pulling-out from the slab. significant.
The average readings of the strain gauges applied to the studs The shear strains measured from the rectangular rosette strain
are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. These figures show that the studs at gauges applied to the top and bottom tees at the center of the
the high-moment ends were subjected to the highest-tension opening length are presented in Fig. 9. This figure shows that
force. Fig. 7 shows that as the studs at the high-moment end there is no big difference between the shear forces resisted by the
reached close to the pulling-out capacity, the tension force of the top and bottom tees, though the top flange is connected to the
studs in the adjacent rib in the opening length increased rapidly. concrete slab through the studs. This indicates that the shear
Fig. 8 indicates that the diagonal tension crack occurred before strength of a composite beam at the web opening might be ap-
the pulling-out capacity was reached. Beam RB2, whose slab proximated as the sum of the shear strength of the steel beam
width is half way between those of RB1 and RB3, exhibited alone and the shear contribution of the concrete slab.
pulling-out failure. However, the pulling-out of the studs at the Beams RB6, RB7, and RB8 had the same slab width as RB1,
high-moment end was followed by the diagonal tension crack at but different values of moment-shear ratio. As the moment-shear
the adjacent rib close to the loading point. Ultimate strength of ratio increased, smaller differential deformations across the open-
RB2 was lower than that of RB1. ing were observed, and the mode of failure of the beams was
Beam RB4 was identical to RB1 except that three reinforcing closer to flexure type. Nevertheless, concrete slabs exhibited
bars of 10 mm diameter were placed below the heads of the studs pulling-out failure in all three beams. The test results of compos-
at the high-moment end. The bars were at the height of half the
ite beams are summarized in Table 3.
stud length. Beam RB4 failed by pulling-out of the shear studs
from the slab as RB1. The reinforcing bars did not contribute to
the pulling-out capacity of the studs. On the contrary, the maxi- Formulation of Ultimate Strength
mum applied load of RB4 was slightly less than that of RB1. A
possible explanation is that the bars interfered with the concrete Based on the test results, a simple analytical model for determin-
filling around the studs reducing the pulling-out capacity. Beam ing the strength of composite beams with web openings is pro-
Fig. 6. Pulling-out failure of studs 共RB1兲 unreinforced openings 共Darwin 1990兲. The maximum shear ca-
pacity of the steel beam is equal to the sum of the individual shear
capacity of the top and bottom tees
posed. This model applies to composite beams with unreinforced
openings and ribbed slabs 共transverse ribs兲 as shown in Fig. 10. In V s ⫽V t ⫹V b (3)
developing the moment-shear interaction diagram, the procedures The maximum shear capacity of the top tee is
冉 冊
proposed by Darwin and Donahey were followed 共Darwin and
Donahey 1988兲. The maximum pure moment capacity and the 冑6
maximum pure shear capacity are calculated separately, and these V t ⫽V pt ⭐V pt (4)
ao
two points are connected using a cubic interaction curve 冑3⫹
st
冉 冊 冉 冊
Mn
Mm
3
⫹
Vn
Vm
3
⫽1 (1) in which V pt ⫽F yw / 冑3s t t w ⫽plastic shear capacity of top tee;
a 0 ⫽ length of opening; s t ⫽depth of top tee; F yw ⫽yield stress of
in which M m and V m ⫽pure moment and shear capacities, respec- web; and t w ⫽thickness of web.
tively; and M n and V n ⫽nominal moment and shear strengths to The maximum shear capacity of the bottom tee is
be calculated for a particular moment-shear ratio
共M/V兲, respectively.
The maximum pure moment capacity is calculated following
the usual procedures in the design for composite members. In
determining the concrete force, the total shear connector capacity
is calculated using the number of connectors between the support
and the high-moment end of the opening 共Darwin 2000兲. The
maximum pure shear capacity is approximated as the sum of the
individual shear capacity of the steel beam and the concrete slab
V m ⫽V s ⫹V c (2)
in which V s ⫽shear capacity of the steel beam and V c ⫽contri-
bution of the concrete slab.
Calculations of the maximum shear capacity of the steel beam
are based on the procedures for noncomposite steel beams with
Fig. 9. Load-shear strain curves
Fig. 7. Load-stud strain curves 共RB1兲 Fig. 10. Beam and opening configuration
V b ⫽V pb
冉 冊
冑3⫹
冑6
ao
sb
⭐V pb (5)
in which A c ⫽ pulling-out cone surface area. The expressions for
A c are presented in Fig. 11 共Hawkins and Mitchell 1984兲.
in which V pb ⫽F yw / 冑3s b t w ⫽ plastic shear capacity of bottom Comparison with Test Results
tee and s b ⫽ depth of bottom tee.
Based on the failure modes observed in the test, the shear Theoretical predictions based on the proposed method are com-
contribution of the concrete slab V c is taken as the lesser of the pared with test results of this study in Table 4. In Table 5, the tests
shear strength of the slab V r and the pulling-out capacity of the of this study and the previous tests are compared with the predic-
studs T r . The shear strength of a concrete slab 共ACI 1999兲 is tions of the proposed method, the strength model of Darwin 共Dar-
defined as win 2000兲, and the truss model of Cho and Redwood 共Cho and
冑 f c⬘ Redwood 1992a兲. The previous tests include five beams reported
V r⫽ rlbt s (6) by Cho and Redwood 共Cho and Redwood 1992b兲, CH Series; ten
6 beams reported by Donahey and Darwin 共Donahey and Darwin
in which f ⬘c ⫽ cylinder compressive strength of concrete in MPa 1988兲, D Series; and nine beams reported by Redwood and Wong
and b and t s ⫽ slab width and concrete cover thickness, respec- 共1982兲 and Redwood and Poumbouras 共1983兲, R Series. The
tively. beams which did not have ribbed slabs with the ribs oriented
In the calculation of the shear strength of the slab, actual slab transversely were excluded from the comparisons.
width is used in place of the effective slab width, which is used to For D and R Series beams, the ratios of test to predicted
calculate the maximum pure moment capacity of the composite strength by the model of Darwin were quoted from the report by
section. Lucas and Darwin 共Lucas and Darwin 1990兲. The ratios for CH,
The pulling-out capacity of the studs can be expressed as D, and R Series by the truss model of Cho and Redwood were
quoted from their paper 共Cho and Redwood 1992b兲. The other
T r ⫽0.33冑 f ⬘c A c (7) ratios were calculated by the writers.
RB1 0 170.7 70.8 116.6 77.9 77.9 148.7 432.3 148.7 1.148
RB2 0 135.9 70.8 82.3 75.0 75.0 145.7 431.6 145.7 0.933
RB3 0 103.2 63.8 49.7 71.1 49.7 113.5 420.9 113.5 0.909
RB4 0 154.8 63.8 108.4 72.4 72.4 136.2 421.3 136.2 1.137
RB5 0 158.0 65.1 112.9 75.4 75.4 140.5 395.8 140.5 1.124
RB6 919 159.0 65.3 112.9 75.4 75.4 140.7 450.6 139.6 1.139
RB7 2,330 174.3 65.3 116.1 77.6 77.6 142.9 528.7 132.6 1.314
RB8 5,659 106.6 63.9 117.3 78.3 78.3 142.2 520.5 84.9 1.255
Constr. Steel Res., 12, 151–166. web openings 共SEI/ASCE兲 No. 97-023.’’ ASCE, Reston, Va.