Partial shear connections in demountable cold-formed composite beams with profiled steel sheeting

The use of bolts as shear connectors in cold-formed steel composite beams allows a deconstructed assembly to be fabricated, in addition to being compatible with other components. This makes it easier to demolish and create less waste, as well as being able to repair and replace steel beams during structure life if necessary. To design a safe and economical composite beam, a minimum degree of shear connection must be provided. For some specific sections such as steel beam sections with equal flanges or with different flanges, this coefficient is prescribed by the design codes. Also, the bending resistance of composite beams with different degrees of shear connection can be estimated using the equilibrium method within the composite section. However, there are very few studies investigating the minimum degree of shear connection for cold-formed composite beams with profiled steel sheeting. In this paper, numerical simulation results are presented highlighting parameters that affect the structural performance of partial shear connections in the composite beams with profiled steel sheeting. Some available experimental results were taken into account to validate the numerical modeling. Then, the influences of load configuration, span length, geometry, and cross-section of composite beams were investigated. Finally, a minimum required degree of shear connection is formulated for this type of composite beam and ranges from 0.1 to 0.7, depending on the beam span.