Ductility of Profiled Composite Beams. Part II: Analytical Study

Abstract

A simple cross-sectional analysis is developed based on the routine mechanics of materials to study the moment-curvature response and hence the ductility of a profiled composite beam. The material nonlinearities of the cold-formed steel and the concrete are used to determine an accurate description of the moment-curvature response. Parametric studies are made of the influence of material strengths and various cross-section geometries. The ramifications of these on the stiffness, strength, and ductility of profiled composite beams are discussed. The member behavior is then analyzed by using a simple numerical integration technique to obtain deflections throughout a beam. The theoretical model developed herein was verified for its accuracy against experimental data presented in the companion paper. The model was shown to agree well for both the linear and nonlinear ranges of loading with the experimental results recorded for the full-scale testing of two profiled composite beams to failure in a flexural mode.