Numerical investigation on steel‐timber‐concrete composite (STCC) connections

Abstract

This paper investigates numerically the mechanical behavior of steel‐CLT‐concrete composite connections. The cross‐laminated timber (CLT) significantly reduces the carbon footprint of buildings, while steel provides the necessary load‐bearing capacity and the concrete layer enhances vibrational comfort as well as fire and acoustic performances. A welded stud inserted into a round notch cut into a five‐layer CLT panel filled with concrete ensures the connection between the three materials. Push‐out tests performed by the authors to characterize this new solution are modeled with a finite element model developed in ANSYS using solid and contact elements. The force‐displacement curves and failure modes are in good agreement. This model also provides deeper insights into force distributions between components, the internal forces in the studs, contact pressure distributions, damage that could not be measured experimentally.