Structural behaviour of composite slab with high performance concretes

Composite slabs with profiled steel deck and concrete toping have gained wide acceptance as they lead to faster, lighter and economical construction. Extensive research works have been conducted on the behaviour of composite slabs to study their structural behavior and steel-concrete interface shear bond resistance which primarily governs the failure. However, the use of emerging highly durable engineered cementitous composite (ECC) in composite slab is new and no research has been conducted yet. High strain hardening and intrinsic crack width characteristics of ECC can significantly improve structural performance of composite slabs through enhancing ductility, energy absorbing capacity and steel-concrete shear bond. In this study, experimental investigations are conducted to evaluate the shear bond characteristics of composite slabs made with ECC and conventional self-consolidating concrete (SCC) using Code based m-k method. Twelve slab specimens having variable shear span and two types of profiled steel deck were tested under four point loading. The performance of ECC and SCC composite slabs are compered based on load-deflection response, stress-strain development in concrete and steel, failure modes, energy absorbing capacity and steel-concrete shear bond parameters (m and k) and bond stress.