Behavior of steel-concrete composite cantilever box beams under negative moment

Four steel-concrete composite cantilever beam specimens were tested to investigate their mechanical behavior under negative moment induced by concentrated loads at the ends of the beams. The failure modes, serviceability and ultimate bearing capacities of the composite beams with full shear connection were studied. The crack initiation and propagation were investigated with consideration of two types of shear connectors. Three kinds of longitudinal reinforcement ratios were also examined. The experimental results indicate that an increase in the reinforcement ratio is beneficial to the bearing capacity of the composite beams to some extent and that the shear stud connector is superior to the steel block connector with regards to the serviceability of the beams. Two numerical models, which were based on a concrete material model and an elasto-plastic material model, were employed to simulate the behavior of steel-concrete composite beams. The numerical calculation results show that the combination of the two models can be used to predict the longitudinal cracking load and ultimate bearing capacity of composite cantilever beams. Based on the experimental and numerical results, it was found that the ultimate bearing capacity of a steel-concrete composite beam under negative moment can be significantly affected by longitudinal cracks in the concrete slabs. An equation to predict the longitudinal cracking load of a composite cantilever beam under negative moment by concentrated load was proposed and found to have good accuracy.