Testing of composite beam with demountable shear connectors

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on an innovative composite floor system that can be demounted and deconstructed. In this system, the composite slab, formed with profiled metal decking, was connected to a steel beam via demountable shear connectors. A full-scale demountable composite floor system specimen was tested to ultimate load bearing capacity and compared with a similar non-demountable composite floor system specimen using conventional welded headed stud connectors. The experimental results and observations showed that the structural behaviour and load bearing capacity of both composite floor systems are very similar. However, the composite floor system with demountable shear connectors could be deconstructed after testing and the composite slab could be easily detached from the steel beam. The comparison and analysis presented in this paper indicated that the simple design methods currently provided in the Eurocode 4 for the welded shear connections could be used to assess the ultimate moment capacity of demountable composite floor systems.