Experiments on composite steel beams with precast concrete hollow core floor slabs

Precast concrete hollow core floor units are frequently used in multistorey steel-framed buildings where they bear on to the top flanges of universal beams. The steel beam is normally designed in bending in isolation from the concrete slab and no account is taken of the composite beam action available with the precast units. Although some commercial data are available, there is no general design guidance to cover the wide range of material and geometric variables found in this form of construction. This paper summarizes research carried out at the University of Nottingham on this form of construction and presents the results of three full-scale bending tests of steel beams acting compositely with proprietary precast hollow core slabs. The 150 mm deep units were attached to the universal beams through 19 mm diameter headed shear studs, and tested in four-point bending over a span of 6 m. For typical geometry and serial sizes the composite beams were found to be twice as strong and nearly three times as stiff as the equivalent isolated steel beams. The failure mode was ductile, and may be controlled by the correct use of small quantities of tie steel and in situ infill concrete placed between the precast units. To generalize the findings, isolated push-off tests and eccentric compression tests were used to study the horizontal interface shear resistance of the headed studs and the strength of the slab, respectively.