STEEL-CONCRETE COMPOSITE BEAMS CURVED IN PLAN

Abstract

The thesis deals with the behaviour analysis of steel-concrete composite beams curved in plan. Both theoretical and experimental investigations have been carried out. The theoretical method involves the use of finite element software package ABAQUS to carry out nonlinear analysis on models for steel-concrete composite beams curved in plan. Based on comparison with experimental results it is found that the three dimensional model can predict ultimate load capacity of composite beams curved in plan and that it can be used for tracing the response. After verifying the accuracy of this finite element model, studies on the effect of L/R ratio on ultimate strength of composite beams curved in plan have been carried out. In the experimental work, five large-scale composite beams (one straight and four curved in plan) have been tested in order to verify the accuracy of the finite element analysis model and to investigate in detail the load-carrying behaviour of such beams. The specimens with span-length to radius of curvature ratio (L/R) varying from 0.0 to 0.5 have been adopted in this experimental program and tested to failure under a point load applied at midspan. The experimental results have shown that the behaviour and failure mode of composite beams curved in plan changes with the variation in the value of L/R ratio, and the ultimate load of beams decreases with increase of L/R ratio.