Full and Partial Interaction Analysis of Single Span Double Skin Composite Beams with Frictional Force

Abstract

Double skin composite (DSC) construction consists of a layer of a plain concrete, sandwiched between two layers of relatively thin steel plate, connected to the concrete by welded stud shear connectors. This construction acts in a similar way to doubly reinforced concrete elements but the flexibility of connection between the steel plates and concrete gives rise to interface slip and additional overall element deflection. This results in a strong and efficient structure with certain potential advantages over conventional forms of construction. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the behavior of simply supported single span DSC beams, assuming both full and partial interaction. The partial interaction analysis takes into account the flexibility of connection on both tension and compression faces. The partial interaction analysis is extended to cover the influence of frictional forces between the concrete and external steel plates, at the supports and load points. The theoretical solutions based on partial interaction theory, assuming realistic material and shear connector properties and incorporating the influence of interface frictional forces between the concrete and external steel plates, at the supports and load points, are compared with the results of tests on DSC beams. It is concluded that the proposed method shows good correlation with real behavior and may be reliably used for the analysis of simply supported single span DSC beams.