Finite Element Study on Cyclic Behavior of Composite Beam Subjected to Fully Reversed Cyclic Loading

Steel-concrete composites are frequently employed as the primary structural components of floors or as the primary carrying girders in bridge engineering. Due to limited research on composite structural steel sections, the effect of some parameters is not well documented on the current building codes. This thesis considered the effects of aspect ratio (ln/h), doubler plate thickness and different shear stud arrangements in a numerical research conducted using ABAQUS/Standard to investigate the performance of composite structural beam sections under cyclic loading. Experimental results from other researchers validated the accuracy of the numerical model. A total of ten specimens including a control specimen were simulated by varying the aspect ratio, doubler plate thickness and shear stud configuration of the composite structural beam sections. Finite-element analysis results showed that use of lower aspect ratio and higher doubler plate thickness improved the peak load carrying capacity by 97.71% and 60.72% respectively. Using cross arrangement of the shear stud showed better load carrying capacity compared to the horizontal and vertical arrangements. The stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of the composite beam improved by using lower span to depth ratio, higher doubler plate thickness and crossly arranged shear stud arrangements.