LIGHTWEIGHT STEEL FIBRE-REINFORCED CONCRETE COMPOSITE FLOOR SYSTEM FOR MODULAR BUILDINGS

Abstract

In this study, a lightweight composite floor system for modular buildings is proposed and investigated. The floor system consists of a lightweight steel fibre-reinforced concrete (LW-SFRC) slab, a steel-concrete composite beam, and an SFRC dowel connection. First, the material properties of lightweight SFRC were investigated. The lightweight SFRC was then used to replace reinforcing bars for the modular unit slab. Next, a novel SFRC dowel connection was investigated and applied as a shear connector between the SFRC slab and the composite beam. Finally, a full-scale model of the composite beam-and-floor system for modular buildings was tested under four-point bending. It was found that the proposed floor system is capable of achieving a full shear connectivity using the proposed SFRC dowel connection. The resulting composite floor system with SFRC slab and SFRC dowel connection is lighter, more efficient, and can be built faster compared to traditional floor system for modular units.