Behaviour of headed stud shear connectors for composite steel–concrete beams at elevated temperatures

The behaviour of composite steel–concrete beams at elevated temperatures is an important problem. A three-dimensional push test model is developed herein with a two-dimensional temperature distribution field based on the finite element method (FEM) and which may be applied to steel–concrete composite beams. The motivation for this paper is to increase the awareness of the structural engineering community to the concepts behind composite steel–concrete structural design for fire exposure. The behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs under fire conditions strongly depends on the interaction of the slabs with the surrounding elements which include the structural steel beam, steel reinforcing and shear connectors. This study was carried out to consider the effects of elevated temperatures on the behaviour of composite steel–concrete beams for both solid and profiled steel sheeting slabs. This investigation considers the load–slip relationship and ultimate load behaviour for push tests with a three-dimensional non-linear finite element program ABAQUS. As a result of elevated temperatures, the material properties change with temperature. The studies were compared with experimental tests under both ambient and elevated temperatures. Furthermore, for the elevated temperature study, the models were loaded progressively up to the ultimate load to illustrate the capability of the structure to withstand load during a fire. It is concluded that finite element analysis showed that the shear connector strength under fire exposure was very sensitive. It is also shown that profiled steel sheeting slabs exhibit greater fire resistance when compared with that of a solid slab as a function of their ambient temperature strength.