No abstract

This work presents the experimental tests carried out to evaluate the behaviour of different types of shear connectors proposed for cold formed steel (CFS) section integrated with ferrocement slab as potential used for composite beam. Ten push-out test specimens of cold-formed steel lipped channel sections connected with ferrocement slab were tested. Three types of shear connectors were studied comprised of bolts, self-drilling-screw and bar angle. The connection behavior is analysed in terms of its load-slip relationship and the failure mode. The parametric studies were performed to investigate the effect on the shear connector’s capacity by varying the number of layers of wire mesh used in ferrocement slab and types of shear connector used. A theoretical analysis (Eurocode 4) was carried out to verify the experiment results. The results show that the experimental and theoretical proved to have good agreement with each other.

The application of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) as a structural member in buildings as composite associate was rarely demonstrated due to limited technical information available about its usage in the system, despite the prospects of the CFS section in the composite system of construction in buildings as well as in light weight industrial applications as nowadays proven. Therefore, this paper aimed at demonstrating the potentials of using CFS section as a structural member in a composite beam system. Four-point bending test was used to determine the flexural strength capacities of the composite system. Results of flexural tests conducted on the composite specimens incorporating the CFS coupled with bolted shear connector proved it to be structurally feasible. In conclusion, the CFS can be employed as a structural member to eliminate the use of Hot Rolled Steel (HRS) section in small and medium size buildings and in lightweight industrial composite constructions as demonstrated.

In conventional composite construction for buildings and bridges, Hot-Rolled Steel (HRS) section is well known to be used. The composite action is usually achieved by using conventional headed stud shear connectors. However, for Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) section, the use of headed stud shear connectors is not feasible as the section is very thin and incapable to be weld. Therefore, a suitable shear connection system of bolt and nut is proposed in this study by varying the size of the bolted shear connectors. This paper presents the prospect of using a bolt and nut as shear connector that could be well-suited with CFS section when integrated in Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). The experimental test comprised of push-out and was conducted to determine the strength and ductility of the proposed bolted shear connectors as used in composite construction. Eight push-out test specimens of bolted shear connector size consist of M12, M14 and M16 of grade 8.8 were fabricated and tested to failure. The experimental results show that the bolted shear connectors used to possess good shear resistance capacity. Influence of varying the size of the bolted shear connectors was investigated. The results show that the size of bolted shear connectors influenced the ultimate strength capacity of the shear connectors significantly.

Carbonation process is regarded as one of the most critical durability problem in concrete. As a result of carbonation process, the pH level in concrete is reduced and corrosion of reinforcements initiates, yielding significant damage both in reinforcements and concrete. This study, aimed to investigate experimentally on evaluation performance of existing reinforced-concrete structures prone to carbonation in North Cyprus. Five inland and five coastal concrete structures of ages varying between 10 and 41 years were selected as the focus of this study. The compressive strength was determined by testing concrete core samples extracted from the selected structures. Same core samples used for determination of carbonation depth, carbonation in the samples was measured by using phenolphthalein indicator test. A contribution to the related literature on carbonation resistance performance of concrete structures under varying exposure conditions of North Cyprus was made for the very first time with the results obtained from this study. Results shows that inland structures have more carbonation depths when compared with structures located in coastal areas. The result also shows that the final carbonation depths observed in the structures are highly depended on the age, initial quality of the concrete as well as the exact local exposure conditions.