Shear performance of single steel-plate concrete composite beams with various transverse reinforcement configurations

Single steel-plate concrete (SSC) composite structure is a novel kind of steel-plate concrete (SC) composite structure consisting of single steel exterior faceplate, concrete core, reinforcing bars and shear connectors. It has the advantages of good mechanical properties and construction efficiency, and shows great application potential in nuclear structures. This paper focuses on shear performance of large-scale SSC composite structure applied in nuclear containment dome. The conventional configuration that the shear rebars and the bottom steel plate are connected by welding will cause much in-site manual work, which becomes a significant obstacle for the application of SSC structures. Indirect connections are designed and tested in this paper with great construction convenience. A series of shear experiment of eleven SSC beams under three-point loading condition was con-ducted to investigate the influence of parameters including shear span-to-depth ratio, shear reinforcement ratio and the shear reinforcement configurations. The shear failure modes, load-deflection curves, distribution and development of cracks and strains were reported and analyzed. The shear capacity was calculated based on equations provided by design codes including ACI 349-06, AISC 690-18, JEAC 4618-2009, and GB/T 51340-2018 and compared with the experimental results. It is demonstrated that the anchorage connection and J-stud hooking connection, which is much more convenient, are equivalent to the welded connection in terms of shear performance. The shear capacity calculated by the codes tend to be conservative generally, especially for the specimens with low shear span-to-depth ratio.