The benefits of using shear connectors to join wood beams to a concrete slab in a composite floor or deck system are many. Studies throughout the world have demonstrated significantly improved strength, stiffness, and ductility properties from such connection systems as well as citing practical building advantages such as durability, sound insulation, and fire resistance. In this study, one relatively new shear connector system that originated in Germany has been experimentally investigated for use with U.S. manufactured products. The connector system consists of a continuous steel mesh of which one half is glued into a southern pine Parallam® Parallel Strand Lumber beam and the other half embedded into a concrete slab to provide minimal interlayer slip. A variety of commercial epoxies were tested for shear strength and stiffness in standard shear or “push out” tests. The various epoxies resulted in a variety of shear constitutive behaviors; however, for two glue types,shear failure occurred in the steel connector resulting in relatively high initial stiffness and ductility as well as good repeatability. Slip moduli and ultimate strength values are presented and discussed. Full-scale bending tests, using the best performing adhesive as determined from the shear tests, were also conducted. Results indicate consistent, near-full composite action system behavior.
Innovative Engineered Timber Building Systems for Non-Residential Applications, Utilising Timber Concrete Composite Flooring Capable of Spanning Up to 8 to 10m
This project has developed technologies for prefabricated structural systems constructed from engineered wood products for floors and building frames, suitable for buildings up to eight stories in height. The project included the design of a virtual multi-storey timber building, a review of commercial flooring systems, and the development of interim design procedures for timber concrete composite (TCC) floors. Compared with either solid concrete or timber floors, TCC floors provide an excellent balance between increased stiffness, reduced weight, better acoustic separation and good thermal mass.
Outcomes from the project have confirmed TCC floors as a viable alternative to conventional flooring systems. The life cycle analysis of the virtual timber building has highlighted the potential advantages of timber-based building systems for commercial applications. The project also resulted in the formation of the Structural Timber Innovation Company, a research company that will continue to develop timber building systems in non-residential buildings in Australia and New Zealand.
This paper describes the design of a novel semi-prefabricated LVL-concrete composite floor that has been developed in New Zealand. In this solution, the floor units made from LVL joists and plywood are prefabricated in the factory and transported to the building site. The units are then lifted onto the supports and connected to the main frames of the building and to the adjacent units. Finally, a concrete topping is poured on top of the units in order to form a continuous slab connecting all the units. Rectangular notches cut from the LVL joists and reinforced with coach screws provide the composite action between the concrete slab and the LVL joists. This system proved to be an effective modular solution that ensures rapid construction. A design procedure based on the use of the effective flexural stiffness method, also known as the “gamma method” is proposed for the design of the composite floor at ultimate and serviceability limit states, in the short and long term. By comparison with the experimental results, it is shown that the proposed method leads to conservative design. A step-by-step design worked example of this novel semi-prefabricated composite floor concludes the paper.
This paper reports the results of experimental push-out tests on three different types of timber–concrete composite (TCC) connections, including normal screw, SFS and bird-mouth. The load-slip diagrams obtained from lab tests are employed to calculate the slip modulus of the connections for serviceability, ultimate and near collapse cases based on Eurocode 5 recommendations. Additionally, four full-scale TCC beams with normal screw, SFS and bird-mouth are constructed and tested under four-point bending within the serviceability load range to verify the slip modulus of connections which derived from the push-out tests. Further, based on the experimental results and using nonlinear regression, an analytical model each one of the connections is derived which can be easily incorporated into nonlinear FE analyses of TCC beams.
This paper describes numerical modelling to predict the fire resistance of engineered timber floor systems. The floor systems under investigation are timber composite floors (various timber joist and box floor cross sections), and timber-concrete composite floors. The paper describes 3D numerical modelling of the floor systems using finite element software, carried out as a sequential thermo-mechanical analysis. Experimental testing of these floor assemblies is also being undertaken to calibrate and validate the models, with a number of full scale tests to determine the failure mechanisms for each floor type and assess fire damage to the respective system components. The final outcome of this research will be simplified design methods for calculating the fire resistance of a wide range of engineered timber floor systems.
April 14-16, 2011, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Summary
Wood-concrete composite systems are well established, structurally efficient building systems for both new construction and rehabilitation of old timber structures. Composite action is achieved through a mechanical device to integrally connect in shear the two material components, wood and concrete. Depending on the device, different levels of composite action and thus efficiency are achieved. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural feasibility and effectiveness of using truss plates, typically used in the making of metal-plate-connected wood trusses, as shear connectors for laminated veneer lumber (LVL)-concrete composite systems. The experimental program consisted of two studies. The first study established slip-modulus and ultimate shear capacity of the truss plates when used in an LVL-concrete push out assembly. The second study evaluated overall composite bending stiffness and strength in two full size T-beams when subjected to four-point bending. One beam employed two continuous rows of truss plates and the other employed one row. It was found that the initial stiffness of both T-beams was similar for one and two rows of truss plates but that the ultimate capacity was approximately 20% less with the use of only one row.
The authors present an experimental and theoretical study on a composite or hybrid element used in residential and agricultural buildings. The composite wall element consists of timber studs connected to a concrete plate by means of nail plate shear connectors. Experimental results are presented and compared with an analytical model for partial composite action. A good agreement is obtained between the analytical and experimental results. Also, some suggestions to improve the design of the composite element are discussed.
Timber-concrete composite structures were originally developed for upgrading existing timber oors, but during last decades, they have new applications in multistorey buildings. Most of the research performed on these structures has focused on systems in which wet concrete is cast on top of timber beams with mounted connectors. Recently investigations on composite systems were performed at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden, in which the concrete slab is prefabricated off-site with the connectors already embedded and then connected on-site to the timber joists. Similar studies have been carried out also on timber-concrete composite structures with prefabricated FRC slabs at Lund University in Sweden. Two kinds of shear connectors were incorporated in the prefabricated FRC concrete slabs. These last systems can be considered globally as partially prefabricated structures because only the slabs were cast off-site with already inserted shear connectors and then the connection with the timber beams is done on the building site. An innovative composite system for floor applications is presented in this thesis. The entire structure is prefabricated off-side, transported and direct mounted to the building on site, that can be seen as full prefabricated structures. Noticeable benefits of a full prefabricated structure are that the moving work from the building site to the workshop reduces construction costs, is more simple and fast of manufacture and erect, and of sure, has better quality, that means more durability. Self-tapping full-threaded screws to connect concrete slabs to timber beam were used. Dimensions of the composite beams and the spacing between the screws has been chosen by discussing different FE model in order to reach the optimal solution. The experimental campaign included:
(i) two short-time bending tests carried out on two dierent full-scale specimens,
(ii) dynamic tests conducted on one full-scale specimen,
(iii) long-time bending test carried out on one full-scale specimen,
(iv) compression tests on three cubes of concrete,
(v) nine withdrawal tests of the screws with different depth in the concrete.
The results of the experimental tests show that the composite beams have a very high level of resistance and stiffness and also allow to reach a high degree of efficiency. Last, comparisons between FE results, analytical calculations and experimental values have been performed and from them it can be concluded that FE model and theoretical calculations well interpret the behavior of the composite structure and provide reliable results.
This review article presents a state-of-the-art survey on timber-concrete composite (TCC) bridges. It starts with a presentation of a sample of relevant TCC bridges, offering a global perspective on the use of this type of bridge. The number of TCC bridges has clearly increased in the past few years, and some of the reasons for this trend are explored. Next, an extensive literature review is presented regarding the most significant technological innovations and recent developments in the application of TCC structures to bridge construction. Firstly, the engineering specificities and the advantages of TCC bridge structural systems are enumerated. Afterwards, the importance of proper mechanical connection for optimal performance of TCC structures is explained, and a thorough description of the connection systems suitable for bridge construction is provided. Some research into the structural behavior of TCC bridges under service conditions is then presented and discussed. Finally, possible areas of future research regarding the development of TCC bridges are suggested.
An effort to use renewable materials leads to broader utilization of timber structures also for multi-storey buildings. However, wider application of timber floor structures in multi-storey buildings is limited by lower lateral rigidity, worse acoustic and fire safety parameters in comparison to concrete floor structures. The composite floor structures based on high performance silicates and wood represent the beneficial alternative to the modern timber floor structures. Proposed timber-concrete composite floor structure benefits from lower weight of slender HPC or UHPC deck (compared to common RC slab) while improving acoustic parameters and ifre safety of the structure (compared to timber floor structure). Experimental verification proved that effective mechanical connection can be ensured by gluing.
