Name: André Vasconcelos Soares Gomes
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 29/07/2020
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Adenilcia Fernanda Grobério Calenzani | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Adenilcia Fernanda Grobério Calenzani | Advisor * |
| Macksuel Soares de Azevedo | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: Structural systems comprised by prefabricated flooring systems and/or cold-formed
steel members are frequently employed in the construction industry due to their
versatility, high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of prefabrication, transportation and
assembly on site. The unification of these structural systems motivated the creation of
composite ribbed slabs, which were defined in this research as ribbed floor systems in
which cold-formed steel members are used as joists, and the space between them is
filled with inert elements. During concrete casting, the cold-formed steel members are
solely responsible for bearing the construction loads, and, after this phase, the steel
elements work partially or completely as rebar reinforcement. As part of this structural
system, the Trelifácil® solution is the object of study of this research, which is a
prefabricated element comprising a trussed girder coupled to a cold-formed steel
formwork by plastic spacers. Although these prefabricated joists have already been
used to replace reinforced concrete lattice girders, it was only recently that researchers
started looking into the design of these structural elements as well as into the feasibility
of considering the composite action between components to achieve an economical
design. Therefore, the focus of this research is to develop finite element models using
ANSYS® 2020R1 capable of predicting the flexural behaviour of the Trelifácil® solution
with and without the trussed girder attached to it. Additionally, the outcome of the finite
element analyses aims to support the design of physical tests to validate the modelling
techniques employed herein. To develop the finite element models, a variety of studies
are conducted to assess the main parameters found in the literature review that may
influence finite element predictions. The results indicated that the collapse analyses of
the cold-formed steel member are sensitive to boundary conditions, loading position,
element choice, mesh density, plasticity model and solution scheme. Based on the
literature review, this research presented possible modelling techniques for each of
these major issues. In addition, the gains in strength and stiffness found with the
suggested finite element model for the entire configuration of the Trelifácil® solution
reinforced the potential of this structural system that can be derived through the
consideration of composite action between its components.
Keywords: Numerical analysis. Cold-formed steel structures. Trelifácil® solution. Composite ribbed slab.
