Inelastic assessment of hybrid RC beams to steel column configurations using structural steel shear-keys

Abstract

This study describes experimental and numerical investigations into the inelastic behaviour of hybrid reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The RC beams are connected to steel columns by means of fully embedded structural steel profiles. Observations from a series of ten full-scale hybrid Steel/RC specimens are presented. Nonlinear finite element procedures are carried out and validated against the experimental results from the hybrid tests in this paper. The ability of the numerical models to provide faithful prediction, using a consistent set of material modelling parameters, provides a high level of confidence in the reliability of the simulation techniques. Finally, some simplified analytical representations of the failure surfaces are proposed in which potential failure conditions are predicted and classified in reference to a suggested hybrid Mode Index.