Innovative slim floor system for composite constructions

Composite floor systems are widely used in multi-storey buildings. Conventional composite beams consist of a concrete slab on top of a steel section have been extensively used in current engineering practice. Slim floor beam is a variant of the conventional composite floor beam in which the steel section is embedded in the concrete slab. This offers the advantage of reducing the depth of the overall floor. Currently the design rules for conventional composite beams cannot be applied to slim floor beams. To fill this gap, research is needed for composite slim floor systems.

Research aims & objectives

The project will be the first to address the requirements for design of composite slim floor beams and to provide a holistic design approach with planned composite action between the steel profile and the concrete slab, considering all aspects of the technical design. The planned design rules will be based on adaptation of the current design principles and rules of Eurocodes. However specific parametric tests on the structural behaviour will lead to new design rules regarding the specifications of slim floor beam solutions. In addition to the design rules, recommendations and guidelines for practical application of slim floor systems will be developed.