Behavior of shear connectors in composite column of cold-formed steel with lipped C-channel assembled with ferro-cement jacket

•Compressive capacity enhancement in cold-formed steel composite column.•Composite assembled with ferro-cement jacket and bolts.•Three types of bolts with four diameter sizes.•Higher column ultimate load capacity with higher wire mesh layers and bolts diameter.

The use of cold-formed steel (CFS) is very popular in the construction of steel truss system. The research in CFS is also getting more attention in wall panel and column structure. However, an assemblage of CFS with lipped C-channel section into a column alone does not provide significant increase in the compression capacity. Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to enhance the compressive capacity of composite column of CFS with lipped C-channel assembled with ferro-cement jacket by means of shear connectors. Tests were carried out to evaluate the behavior of shear connectors of the proposed composite column assembled together as precast member. Eight push-out test specimens of CFS with lipped C-channel sections assembled with ferro-cement jacket were prepared and tested. In addition, three types of shear connectors namely, bolts (10 mm and 12 mm in diameters), bar angle bolts (10 mm in diameter), and self-drilling screw (6.3 mm in diameter × 12 mm long) were evaluated. Their behavior was analyzed in terms of load–slip relationship and failure mode. The results and discussion are presented by varying the number of wire meshes used and types of installed shear connector. The results showed that as the number of layers of wire mesh and the diameter of bolts increased the ultimate load carrying capacity of composite section also increased. The tested results show that the shear connector with 12 mm diameter bolt showed the highest shear capacity. The behavior of shear connectors was also simulated by finite element modeling (FEM) and when compared with the experimental results, they showed a close agreement.