ICO-SHEAR

Self-bearing composite steel truss and concrete beams are widely used in construction applications thanks to their ease of installation and their good structural performance. To guarantee the composite action of the members, the longitudinal shear force shall be appropriately transferred from the steel elements to the concrete slab along the span length. However, it is not yet clear how the shear force is transferred from the steel elements to the concrete in such composite beams.

The research project ICO-SHEAR aims to address this issue by means of a large experimental campaign of around 40 push-out tests and full-scale beam tests. In addition, further numerical analyses will be carried out to investigate the local transfer of the shear force between the web rebars and the surrounding concrete. The mechanical understanding of the longitudinal shear transfer would allow to identify the key variables involved and to provide safe and optimized design guidelines for supporting the practical use and future development of this composite system.