• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.425-438
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• 2013

A new-styrofoam-concrete composite sandwich slab with function of heat insulation is designed. Four full-scale simply supported composite sandwich slabs with different shear connectors are tested. Parameters under study are the thickness of the concrete, the height of profiled steel sheeting, the influence of shear connectors including the steel bars and self-drilling screws. Experimental results showing that four specimens mainly failed in bending failure mode; the shear connectors can limit the longitudinal slippery between the steel profiled sheeting and the concrete effectively and thus guarantee the good composite action and cooperative behavior of two materials. The ultimate sagging bending resistance can be determined based on plastic theory. This new composite sandwich slab has high sagging bending resistance and good ductility. Additionally, these test results help the design and application of this new type of composite sandwich slab.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.169-181
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• 2011

The behavior of connections between open sandwich slabs and double steel skin composite walls in steel plate-concrete(SC) structure is investigated by a series of experimental programs to identify the roles of components in the transfer of forces. Such connections are supposed to transfer shear by the action of friction on the interface between the steel surface and the concrete surface, as well as the shear resistance of the bottom steel plate attached to the wall. Experimental observation showed that shear transfer in slabs subjected to shear in short spans is explained by direct force transfer via diagonal struts and indirect force transfer via truss actions. Shear resistance at the interface is enhanced by the shear capacity of the shear plate as well as friction caused by the compressive force along the wall plate. Shear friction resistance along the wall plate was deduced from experimental observation. Finally, the appropriate design strength of the connection is proposed for a practical design purpose.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.369-373
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• 2019

Construction industry is one of the largest markets for composite materials. Composite materials are mostly utilized as surface coatings or concrete reinforcements, and they can hardly be found as a load bearing member in buildings. The three-dimensional composite structures with considerable bending, compressive and shear strengths are capable to be used as construction load bearing members. However, these composites cannot compete with other materials due to higher manufacturing costs. If the cost issue is resolved or their excellent performance is taken into consideration to overcome disadvantages related to economic-competitive challenges, these 3D composites can significantly reduce the construction time and result in lighter and safer buildings. Sandwich composite panels reinforced with 3D woven glass fabrics are amongst composites with highest bending strength. The current study investigates the possibility of utilizing these composite materials to construct ceilings and their application as slabs. One-to-one scale experimental loading of these composite panels shows a remarkable bending strength. Simulation results using ABAQUS software, also indicate that theoretical predictions of bending behavior of these panels are in good agreement with the observed experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.361-376
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• 2019

In this research, bending analysis of a micro sandwich skew plate with isotropic core and piezoelectric composite face sheets reinforced by carbon nanotube on the elastic foundations are studied. The classical plate theory (CPT) are used to model micro sandwich skew plate and to apply size dependent effects based on modified strain gradient theory. Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach is considered for the effective mechanical properties of the nanocomposite face sheets. The governing equations of equilibrium are derived using minimum principle of total potential energy and then solved by extended Kantorovich method (EKM). The effects of width to thickness ratio and length to width of the sandwich plate, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, the material length scale parameters, volume fraction of CNT, the angle of skew plate, different boundary conditions and types of cores on the deflection of micro sandwich skew plate are investigated. One of the most important results is the reduction of the deflection by increasing the angle of the micro sandwich skew plate and decreasing the deflection by decreasing the thickness of the structural core. The results of this research can be used in modern construction in the form of reinforced slabs or stiffened plates and also used in construction of bridges, the wing of airplane.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.333-346
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• 2019

Foam ceramic materials contribute to the explosion effect weakening on concrete structures, due to the corresponding excellent energy absorption ability. The blast resistance of concrete members could be improved through steel-foam ceramics as protective cladding layers. An approach for the modeling of dynamic response of steel-foam ceramic protected reinforced concrete (Steel-FC-RC) slabs under blast loading was presented with the LS-DYNA software. The orthogonal analysis (five factors with five levels) under three degrees of blast loads was conducted. The influence rankings and trend laws were further analyzed. The dynamic displacement of the slab bottom was significantly reduced by increasing the thickness of steel plate, foam ceramic and RC slab, while the displacement decreased slightly as the steel yield strength and the compressive strength of concrete increased. However, the optimized efficiency of blast resistance decreases with factors increase to higher level. Moreover, an efficient design method was reported based on the orthogonal analysis.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.126-133
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• 1997

For each construction material used, there is certain theoretical limit in sizes. For tall building construction, the reduction in slab weight is the first step to take in order to break such size limits. In this paper, the feasibility of such objective is proven and given by numerical analysis result. For a typical building slab, both concrete and advanced composite sandwich panels are considered. The concrete slab is treated as a special orthotropic plate to obtain more accurate result. For each panel, the deflection under the dead and live loads is compared, since both tensile and compressive strengths of the composites are far more higher than those of concrete. All types of sandwich panels considered, except one case, have weights less than one tenth of that of reinforced concrete slab, with deflections less than that of the concrete slab. The cost analysis result and manufacturing methods will be reported later.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.219-230
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• 2022

The aim of this paper is to study the mechanical behaviors of the cold-formed thin-walled steel and reinforced concrete sandwich composite slab (CTS&RC-SCS) under vertical loads and to develop the calculation methods of its flexural bearing capacity and section stiffness. Two CTS&RC-SCS specimens were designed and manufactured to carry out the static loading test, and meanwhile, the numerical simulation analyses based on finite element method were implemented. The comparison between experimental results and numerical analysis results shows that the CTS&RC-SCS has good flexural capacity and ductility, and the accuracy and rationality of the numerical simulation analysis are verified. Further, the variable parameter analysis results indicate that neither increasing the concrete strength grade nor increasing the thickness of C-sections can significantly improve the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS. With the increase of the ratio of longitudinal bars and the thickness of the composite slab, the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS will be significantly increased. On the basis of experimental research and numerical analysis above, the calculation formula of the flexural capacity of CTS&RC-SCS was deduced according to the plastic section design theory, and section stiffness calculation formula was proposed according to the theory of transformed section. In terms of the ultimate flexural capacity and mid-span deflection, the calculated values based on the formulas and the experimental values are in good agreement.