Influence of shear connection distributions on the behaviour of continuous steel-concrete composite beams

For this purpose a finite element model specifically developed for the nonlinear analysis of steel-concrete composite beams is adopted. This finite element model includes material nonlinearity of slab concrete, reinforcement steel, beam steel as well as slabbeam nonlinear partial interaction due to the deformable shear connection. The inclusion of the partial interaction in the composite beam model provides information on the slab-beam interface slip and shear force and enables to model the failure of the shear connectors.