Investigation of the Behaviour of Steel-Concrete-Steel Sandwich Slabs with Bi-Directional Corrugated-Strip Connectors

The most researches on steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich slabs are to control the cracking of concrete core along with losing weight, and shear connector type. In this study, the behaviour of SCS slabs with bi-directional corrugated-strip shear connectors (CSC) was investigated. One of the most important practical problems of CSCs in SCS slabs is lack of access for another end welding to the second steel faceplate. In this research, plug weld was proposed to provide partial welding of the other end of CSCs to a steel plate. For this reason, three slabs were manufactured using the normal concrete core as a control sample and lightweight concrete (LWC) core with and without steel fibres. The behaviour of these slabs was compared with the behaviour of SCS slabs with J-hook and stud bolt connectors from previous researches. The specimens were tested under a concentrated block load as quasi-statically. Based on the load-displacement relationship at the centre, failure modes, loading capacity, energy absorption, and ductility showed acceptable behaviour for CSC system slabs. There was also a good agreement between the ultimate flexural strength based on experiments and previous research relationships.