An Innovative Shear Connector for Composite Beam with Cold-Formed Steel

In steel construction, it is well established that composite construction is very popular in the construction of buildings and bridges with hot-rolled steel (HRS) and headed stud connectors. Due to the composite action of concrete and steel, composite beams are more cost-effective to be constructed in buildings than conventional hot-rolled steel beams. This is due to shallower beam depth, very stiff and significantly reduces the steel's weight. The increasing in demand of residential and housing construction necessitates the development of low-cost, simple, and rapid construction systems to meet the growing demand for housing. As a result, using cold-formed steel sections as an alternative to the conventional hot-rolled steel sections could contribute to better cost-effective construction to the total cost of the building and could lead to better sustainable construction requirements. Typically, the composite action is accomplished through the use of conventional headed shear stud connectors. However, the use of headed studs is impractical for cold-formed steel (CFS) sections due to their extremely thin section, which results in welding difficulty. The behaviour of novel shear connectors used in cold-formed steel–concrete composite beams comprised lipped C-channels with profiled metal decking was investigated experimentally in this study. The purpose of the experimental work is to ascertain the maximum resistance of the proposed shear connectors. Two push-out test specimens in accordance with Eurocode 4 were prepared and tested. It was discovered that the strength capacity of a shear connector is highly dependent on its deformation and the crushing of concrete. The ductility of the shear connectors tested met the Eurocode 4 requirements for ductility. The proposed shear connectors are found to be suitable for construction of composite beams with CFS because they are stronger than standard headed studs.