In this paper, the flexural performance of a new type of composite beam comprised of High Strength Steel (HSS) section encased by polyvinyl alcohol-engineered cementitious composite (PVA-ECC) and lightweight concrete (LWC) is studied. An experimental investigation on the flexural performance of HSS beams encased by different thickness of ECC is conducted and their performances are compared with bare HSS beam and normal strength concrete (NSC) encased HSS beam. Four-point bending tests are carried out on simply supported beams including one bare HSS beam, one NSC encased HSS (NSC-HSS) beam and two ECC-LWC encased HSS (ECC-HSS) beams. For ECC-HSS beams, both top and bottom flanges of the HSS sections are encased with PVA-ECC while the web was encased by LWC. The test results showed a significant improvement in loadcarrying capacity, ductility and failure modes for ECC-HSS beams when comparing with bare HSS and NSC-HSS beam.

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