Experimental and analytical investigation of short-term behaviour of LVL–concrete composite connections and beams

This paper reports the results of experimental push-out tests on three different types of timber–concrete composite (TCC) connections, including normal screw, SFS and bird-mouth. The load-slip diagrams obtained from lab tests are employed to calculate the slip modulus of the connections for serviceability, ultimate and near collapse cases based on Eurocode 5 recommendations. Additionally, four full-scale TCC beams with normal screw, SFS and bird-mouth are constructed and tested under four-point bending within the serviceability load range to verify the slip modulus of connections which derived from the push-out tests. Further, based on the experimental results and using nonlinear regression, an analytical model each one of the connections is derived which can be easily incorporated into nonlinear FE analyses of TCC beams.

► Experimental and analytical investigation of three types of TCC connections.
► Testing four full-scale TCC beams within the serviceability load range.
► Deriving an analytical model for each one of the connections.
► SFS connection shows more consistent results with good performance in TCC beams.
► The analytical models can be easily used in existing nonlinear FE programs.