Mechanical Behavior of Steel–HFRC Composite Girders

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental and analytical results of a new composite girder that consists of a steel girder and hybrid fiber–reinforced concrete (HFRC) slab. First, six push-out tests were performed, and the test results were used to verify the interface behaviors of two composite girders. Then, the composite behavior between the steel girder and HFRC slab was investigated under sagging moment. It was found that the composite girder with HFRC slab exhibited a much greater ductility and a slightly smaller ultimate moment capacity, and the probability of cracking was also significantly reduced compared with the normal concrete (NC) slab. Finally, equations introducing the reinforcement indexes to determine the capacity, degree of shear connector, and effective moment of inertia of the steel–HFRC composite girders with partial interaction were proposed. It was found that the analytical results of the equations had a fairly good agreement with experimental results.