Developments in sandwich construction

Bi-Steel is a form of steel/concrete/steel sandwich construction in which the plates are connected by bars, which are friction welded at both ends simultaneously. Manufactured units are taken to site, joined by welding, and filled with concrete. The bar/plate connections are subject to bar tension, bar shear, bar bending and plate tension. The concrete acts with the compression plate and resists shear. The paper outlines research undertaken to establish design methods of Bi-Steel beams under static and fatigue loading.