Predicting Effective Flexural Stiffness of Timber Concrete Composite Floors with Different Connection Systems
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Date
2024
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Abstract
Timber concrete composite (TCC) floors are increasingly becoming popular in the construction of mass timber buildings due to their enhanced flexural stiffness and improved vibration performance compared to timber floors. Predicting the effective flexural stiffness of TCC floors is vital to calculate the floor deflection or frequency accurately. The most popular method in predicting the effective flexural stiffness of TCC floors is the Gamma method outlined in Eurocode 5–Annex B. Although the Gamma method is generally recommended for predicting the effective flexural stiffness of timber composite floors, its accuracy for TCC floors with various connection systems has not been well established. The current study aims to assess the accuracy of the Gamma method for predicting the effective flexural stiffness of TCC floors by conducting a comprehensive literature review. The measured flexural stiffness values, extracted from the literature, show that the Gamma method can predict the flexural stiffness of TCC floors with an average error of approximately 14% if the shear stiffness of the connection has already been determined experimentally. Since shear tests cannot always be conducted to measure the shear stiffness of a specific connection, engineers resort to analytical equations to estimate it. Some commonly used analytical equations to estimate the shear stiffness of a range of connection systems (e.g., screw, glued, and notched connections) are discussed for this purpose. Experiments under different loading conditions are recommended to determine the accuracy of the Gamma method in predicting the flexural stiffness of TCC floors using the shear stiffness estimated by commonly used analytical equations.
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Connections, Effective flexural stiffness, Eurocode 5, Gamma method, Mass timber products, Timber concrete composite (TCC)