The ever changing moods of composite slabs

There has been significant interest recently in the vertical shear resistance of composite slabs. This is partly due to different values offered by manufacturers of products that are physically very similar. It has also been of interest because of the work that has been undertaken to evolve EN 1994 into its Generation 2 version (SCI has produced a so-called Eurocode Nugget that presents the revised rules for vertical shear resistance of slabs). In this article Graham Couchman takes a broader look at the work that has been done, and raises some practical issues for designers to consider. Composite slabs are also discussed in a more general context, in particular how their behaviour apparently changes depending on loading and other conditions.

In order to retain the accurate formatting of the equations in this technical paper, this article is available as a pdf download only.

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