Exploration on the Cracking Resistance of Steel-Concrete Composite Beams with Perforated Stiffening Rib Plates

To prevent or limit flexural cracking in the negative moment region normally with a spiky rise and rapid reversal, a stiffened steel-concrete composite section (SCPR) was proposed The proposed section was composed of concrete and steel plate with perforated stiffening rib plate to reduce the dependency of shear transfer on interfacial bond. Eight scale specimens were tested for comparison. Six specimens were reinforced using steel plate with perforated stiffening rib plates, one specimen was reinforced using conventional reinforcing bars and one specimen was reinforced using epoxy-bonded steel plate for comparison. All beam specimens were tested to failure. The test results indicated the steel plate with rib stiffeners can offer a pronounced improvement to the cracking resistance of the concrete. The cracking load for the SCPR specimen with stiffening rib plate is three times higher than the specimen reinforced with conventional steel, and two and a half times higher than specimen reinforced with epoxy-bonded steel plate. The cracking mechanism of the SCPR beams was discussed in the paper.