ABSTRACT
Adequate ductility in composite slabs is a requirement for the robustness of composite buildings in fire. Existing analytical techniques do not adequately address the effect of cracking in the slab at these locations. In order to investigate the influence of the concrete slab on the joint performance, a method to allow for the development of discrete cracks in the concrete slab, largely as a result of the hogging bending moments over supporting steel beams and connections, has been developed. The approach has been implemented in the Vulcan software, which is capable of modelling geometrical non-linearity, and non-linear material behaviour at elevated temperature. The model is capable of predicting the occurrence of the initial cracks, tracing the behaviour of the mesh reinforcement represented at each break element and the sequence of failure of the reinforcement in the composite slab.
