Shrinkage-Induced Response of Composite Steel–Concrete Slabs: A State-of-the-Art Review

Composite steel–concrete slab is a floor typology widely used for building applications. Their design is usually governed by serviceability limit state requirements associated with the time-dependent response of the concrete. In this context, this paper presents a state-of-the-art review of research carried out to date on the long-term behavior of composite steel–concrete slabs. The particularity of this time-dependent response relies on the fact that the concrete cannot dry from the underside of the slab due to the presence of the profiled sheeting while it can dry from its upper surface. In the first part of the paper, a review of the work carried out on the identification of the time-dependent response of the concrete is presented by considering the peculiarities that occur due to the non-symmetric drying condition related to composite slabs. Particular attention is given to shrinkage effects and to the occurrence and influence of the non-uniform shrinkage gradient that develops in this form of construction over time. This is followed by the description and discussion of the experimental work performed on both simply-supported and continuous static configurations of composite slabs. In particular, the work published to date is summarized while highlighting the key parameters of the test samples and of the testing protocols adopted in the experiments. In the last part of the paper, available theoretical and design models proposed for the predictions of the shrinkage-induced behavior of composite slabs are presented and discussed.