Steel–concrete composite plate girders subject to combined shear and bending

Abstract Details of an experimental investigation on steel–concrete composite plate girders subject to the combined action of shear and bending are presented in this paper. Six composite plate girders have been tested to failure in order to study their ultimate load behaviour. Two different web-depth to thickness (d/t) ratios and two different moment/shear ratios have been considered. Attention is focused on the variation in tension field action in web panels due to composite action between the steel girder and concrete slab. Extensive strain measurements have been made on the web panels in order to obtain a detailed picture of tension field action. The ultimate load carrying capacity and the tension field width of composite plate girders are found to increase significantly compared to the bare steel girders.