Stiffness of Concrete-Filled Steel Deck Diaphragms
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Date
2022-01
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Abstract
In structural analysis of building structures, the in-plane stiffness diaphragms is needed so that lateral loads will be properly distributed to elements of the lateral-force resisting system. In US building codes, diaphragm stiffness is used to determine whether a diaphragm can be assumed rigid or flexible and is also used in semi-rigid diaphragm analysis. For concrete-filled steel deck diaphragms, methods provided in AISI S310 (AISI, 2020) to calculate stiffness have relied on empirical formulas while past research by Porter and Easterling (1988) suggests that mechanical models and theoretical formulas can accurately capture stiffness.
Recently, eight cantilever diaphragm specimens were tested with variations in depth of concrete cover, deck depth, perimeter stud anchor configuration, concrete type (normal weight (NW) and lightweight (LW)), and the presence of either welded wire mesh or reinforcing steel. This report summarizes the results of this testing program as they relate to initial stiffness. The initial stiffness results of this testing program are used in conjunction with the results of a testing program performed Porter and Easterling (1988) to form a set of 25 specimens that are then used to validate a proposed prediction model for the initial stiffness of concrete-filled steel deck diaphragms.
The proposed prediction model is based on a theoretical framework proposed by Porter and Easterling (1988) which concluded that the initial stiffness of a concrete-filled steel deck diaphragm is a combination of 1) the diaphragm shear stiffness, 2) the bending stiffness of the concrete-filled steel deck diaphragm combined with the chords, and 3) the stiffness of the shear transfer connections between the concrete-filled steel deck diaphragm and the supporting steel frame. The proposed stiffness predictions using this approach resulted in an average ratio of predicted stiffness to measured stiffness equal to 0.95 with a standard deviation of 0.21. Based on this comparison for 25 cantilever diaphragm specimens, it was deemed that the prediction model accurately represents the initial shear stiffness of concrete-filled steel deck diaphragms.
This report also includes two examples to illustrate of how the proposed prediction model can be used to calculate diaphragm deflections for two different diaphragm configurations. The results of these examples showed that for the cantilever diaphragm configuration, the deflection of the free end is mostly due to the shear deformation of the concrete-filled steel deck diaphragm or to the deformation of the shear transfer connection, depending on the spacing of headed stud anchors, with the bending deformations contributing the least to the total deflection. For the case of a simply supported diaphragm, the mid-span deflection was attributed primarily to bending deformations of the diaphragm (78% of total deflection), with shear deformations contributing to approximately 25% of the total deflection and the deformation of the shear transfer connections contributing less than 1% of the total deflection.
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Keywords
cantilever diaphragm test, composite diaphragm, concrete-filled steel deck diaphragm, diaphragm stiffness