Experimental study on steel-concrete composite beams curved in plan

This paper is concerned with experimental study on the ultimate load behaviour of steel-concrete composite beams curved in plan. Five beams of realistic dimensions built from rolled steel beam and concrete slab were tested to failure. Extensive measurements of strain in both concrete and steel, and of displacements were made in order to obtain a complete picture of elastic and ultimate load behaviour. Each of the beams was simply supported at the ends and was subjected to a concentrated load applied at mid-span. All the beams tested were analyzed by using the finite element method and the results were compared with those obtained experimentally. The test results indicate that the load-carrying capacity decreases with the increase in the “span/radius of curvature” ratio. The experimental results for deformations, for stress distributions and for ultimate strengths were found to be in good agreement with the corresponding values predicted by finite element analysis.