Flexural behaviour of reinforced slab panel system with embedded cold-formed steel frames as reinforcement

This paper presents the experimental investigation on flexural characteristic of slab panels with embedded cold-formed steel frame as reinforcement. Perforated cold-formed steel channel sections are formed into steel frames as replacement to the conventional reinforcement bars inside precast concrete slab panels. A series of six experimental specimens for precast slab panels were tested. The specimens with 3 configurations namely control sample (CS) with conventional reinforcement bars, single horizontal C-channel section (SH) and double horizontal C-channel sections (DH) formed into rectangular hollow section. Results show that the tested slab specimens failed at the flexural crack at mid-span, under loading point and shear at the support. Tearing of shear connector in the cold-formed steel section was found to be the main factor for the structural failure. SH specimens achieved the highest ultimate load capacity, with average value of 138.5 kN, followed by DH specimens, 116.5 kN, and the control samples, 59.0 kN. The results showed that the proposed reinforced slab panel with embedded cold-formed steel frame was more effective compared to conventional reinforced sla