Experimental Investigation of Composite Steel-Concrete Arches

Abstract

This research is concerned with behavior of composite steel-concrete archesunder static load. For this purpose, eight models of composite steel-concrete archesare fabricated as test specimens.According to their supporting systems, the eightfabricated specimens are equally divided into Hinge-Roller and Hinge-Hingesupported arches in which varied numbers of shear connectors are used to investigatethe effects of support conditions and degree of shear connection on the behavior ofthe composite arches. The specimens are tested under monotonically increasing pointload applied on their crowns (on the top of concrete slabs).The mechanical properties of the used materials are determined by laboratorytests. Push-out tests on three specimens, fabricated for this purpose, are also carriedout to determine the properties of the stud shear connectors.It is concluded that increasing the number of connectors tends to increase theultimate load capacity and decrease both displacement and slip in the compositearches. This trend is considerably satisfied when the horizontal movements ofsupports are constrained (Hinge-Hinge supported arches).