Thin-Walled, Cold-Formed Steel Composite Beams

An experimental investigation is conducted to study the structural behavior of composite beams made of thin-walled, cold-formed, steel-stiffened channels and concrete subjected to shear and bending both individually and combined. On the basis of the results from 32 full-size beam specimens, it is found that by replacing the conventional steel reinforcing bars with thin-walled, cold-formed steel sections of equal cross-sectional areas, the ultimate strength of the composite beams in bending and shear can be achieved. In addition, preliminary empirical formulas are developed to compute the ultimate shear bond capacity of the composite thin-walled, cold-formed steel-concrete beams and to predict the behavior of these beams under bending and combined bending and shear stresses. Additional tests will be conducted to verify the reliability of these equations.