Reliability-based evaluation of design guidelines for cold-formed steel-concrete composite beams

This paper presents an analysis of design guidelines for steel-concrete composite beams, formed by concrete-filled cold-formed steel sections. The study is based on experimental results for connector resistance (push-out) and for four full-scale beam bending tests. The accuracy of analytical design equations is evaluated by comparing their predictions with experimental results. Model bias and model uncertainty of analytical design equations are evaluated. The uncertainty in design variables (steel and concrete resistance, dead and live loads, model errors) is taken into account, and reliability index of code-compliant beams is evaluated. Results show that the models for shear connector and for beam bending resistance are fairly accurate, and represent very little contribution to problem uncertainty and failure probabilities. Results show that for practical beam lengths, full material interaction is guaranteed, and failure is dominated by bending. Reliability indexes of the order of 2.2 to 2.8 are obtained, reflecting reliability of the design procedures studied. These values are low, in comparison to target reliability levels of 3.0 used in code calibration, and should be interpreted carefully in future code revisions