Effect of filling steel tube chords by concrete on the structural behaviour of composite truss girders

Abstract

In this study, three specimens of Warren truss girders composite with concrete deck slab were tested experimentally under a central monotonic load to study the effect of the existence of concrete inside the chords. The load capacity, deflection, slip between the concrete slab and steel tube, and failure modes were reported. Both chords were filled with concrete to the first specimen, only the lower chord was filled with concrete and the upper chord remained hollow to the second specimen and both chords were kept hollow in the third specimen. The result indicated that the existence of concrete inside the chords has a significant effect on the load capacity, failure pattern, and the slip. The steel tubes of the upper chord filled by concrete prevent surface plasticity failure of the upper chord under loading and increase the ultimate load by 6.68 %. Also, filling the lower chord with concrete prevents the surface plasticity failure in the supports zone and caused an increase in the ultimate load by 39.59 %. The slip at the end of the specimen of two chords filled with concrete is less by 71% than the end slip of specimen of hollow top chord and higher by 46.8 % than the specimen of two hollow chords.