Structural Behavior of Steel-Concrete Composite Beam using Bolted Shear Connectors: A Review

Abstract

Conventional steel-concrete composite beams have been recognized to exhibit stronger structural characteristics, in terms of strength and stiffness, when compared to pure steel or reinforced concrete beams. However, currently most steel beam is fully attached to the concrete slab; this means that the shear connectors are welded through the steel decking on to the steel beam and cast into concrete slab to fulfill the necessary shear connection. Recently, the deconstruction and reuse of the components almost impossible. In order to achieve a sustainable structural system, precast concrete slabs are attached to a steel beam using bolted shear connectors in prefabricated holes have been introduced as an alternative to the conventional connectors in steel - concrete composite beam system. This paper reviews the structural behavior of composite beam system such as the strength, stiffness, slip behavior, failure mode and sustainability obtained by experiment and numerical studies in order to address the applicability and efficiency of the composite beams having precast concrete slabs and bolted shear connectors.