Response of steel-concrete composite panels to in-plane loading

Steel-Concrete Composite (SCC) panels consist of steel faceplates with welded shear studs and concrete infill. The shear studs, which perform a similar function to bond of rebars in reinforced concrete, act as springs resisting the shear slip between the faceplates and concrete. In spite of extensive research in the 1980s and 1990s due to the interest in using SCC in offshore construction and in nuclear power plants, and recently related Codes, there is no analytical method to-date to predict the shear studs response to in-plane loading. Shear connectors are sized according to various criteria unrelated to their actual forces under in-plane loads, such as prevention of faceplate buckling or out-of-plane shear resistance. This paper presents a closed analytical solution of the equilibrium and compatibility differential equations for steel and concrete displacements of SCC panels, based on distributed shear springs idealization. Analytical results presented in this paper are validated by test results of SCC panels loaded by pure shear forces and can be used as practical design formulas for the in-plane portion of the design loads.