The Plastic Behaviour of Composite Floor Systems in Relation to Multi-Storey Structures

Abstract

The work described in this thesis is concerned with the ultimate load
behaviour of beam and slab floor systems, using steel beams and reinforced
concrete slabs, Three main areas of study have been attempted within this
general heading.

Firstly, upper-bound plastic solutions were developed for floor
systems, involving either non-composite design or composite design, These
solutions were then used to design model beam and slab floor systems to
fail by a pre-chosen mode, The agreement with experimental results confirmed
the validity of the theoretical methods for both composite and non-composite
design.

Subsequently, five different sets of assumption on degree of composite
action were taken, These were shown theoretically to give very significant
differences in structural and economic efficiency, An experimental program
was then used to establish which of the five sets of theoretical assumptions
on degree of composite action gave the best agreement with the results of
the experiments.

Finally, a theoretical investigation was made of the advantage to be
gained by including the composite floor system, rather than just the steel
beams, when designing a multi-storey steel frame, The inclusion of the
floor system was found to be particularly significant as the stiffness of
the beam or floor system plays a significant part in the stability criteria
for a multi-storey building,

Date of Award	1972
Original language	English