Effective flange width provisions for composite steel bridges

Long-term analysis of steel–concrete composite beams: FE modelling for effective width evaluation

“…In the case of thin concrete flanges, however, this assumption leads to negligible errors. Conversely a different effective flange width definition has to be used if the slab is thick, as outlined by Ahn et al [16] and by Chiewanichakorn et al [17]. As far as the concrete is concerned, the variation of the effective width is quite similar to that obtained through a linear visco-elastic analysis (Fig.…”

“…This corresponds to the wellknown phenomenon of shear lag, which is complex to study for realistic composite beam systems even in the elastic range. For practical design, a simplified approach is typically introduced, which is based on the introduction of an effective value for the slab width, as suggested by different regulations [1,2,[15][16][17]. The simple theory of bending may, therefore, be employed in order to evaluate both maximum stresses and deflections in some cross-sections of the composite beam, with only small differences from the results evaluated through rigorous methods.…”

Assessment of effective slab widths in composite beams

“…A detailed summary and comparison of these proposals can be found elsewhere [4,18]. It is worth mentioning that most provisions propose the effective width as a function of the span length and limited by the distance between adjacent beams.…”

Analytical model for composite joints under sagging moment

“…Ahn et al [13] compared different codes from USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and Japan. Through a numerical example of a simply supported beam, the authors found that under some limits of length span to slab width ratio, EC4 and British code give the largest value for the effective width.…”