Experimental and numerical study on restrained composite slab during heating and cooling

In this paper, a series of fire tests on restrained composite slabs, carried out at the University of Manchester, is presented. A total of six composite slabs were tested under different fire scenarios, with different load ratios. The tests were particularly concerned with the variation of internal forces within the slabs during both heating and cooling phases. In addition to the testing programme, two separate nonlinear finite element models have been developed to simulate the thermal and mechanical behaviour of composite slabs during heating and cooling, which is introduced in detail in this paper. In the thermal analysis model, plane elements were adopted to obtain a detailed thermal behaviour. In the structural analysis model, the concrete, steel deck and mesh were simulated by solid elements, shell elements and truss elements respectively. The interaction between the concrete and steel sheet was simplified to spring elements. According to the experimental results and FE modelling, the behaviour of composite slabs was analysed in detail. At last, the parametric study was performed where the effect of concrete strength, steel deck thickness and mesh size was analysed.

► Experimental and numerical study on composite slabs in fire was carried out.
► The tests were particularly concerned with the variation of internal forces.
► The fire scenario has a significant effect.
► The reaction force of composite slabs varies greatly during heating and cooling.
► The parametric study shows that the thickness of steel deck has a significant effect.