A Novel Steel-Concrete Composite Flooring System: Development and Preliminary Experimental Investigation

A new steel-concrete composite system is herein proposed to achieve a stronger, more ductile, and more economical flooring solution. The system consists of a smooth cold-formed steel profile fully embedded into a concrete pouring; Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) or hollow blocks are interposed between the steel profiles in order to lighten the slab weight. The system relies on particular shape and web holes only to achieve vertical interlocking and bonding resistance between concrete and cold-formed profile. The profile's shape has been properly designed through a multi-objective optimization process considering flexural performance, self-supporting capacity, manufacturability, ease of installation, and compatibility with existing technologies. An experimental testing campaign on full-scale specimens has been carried out to investigate the flexural capacity of the system up to failure.