Double-skin steel-concrete composite cores as an alternative to traditional RC core
Building use
Office building
Country/Region
Luxembourg
Overview
The research presented here is aimed to support the request for research grants filed at the EU RESEARCH funding agencies. The overall idea was to transfer to the European standards, some of the most recent achievements that happened in the US, predominantly for the construction of composite shear wall systems, adopted for the erection of tall building structural cores.
Issue and/or innovation
The behavior of composite shear walls is not thoroughly described in the Eurocode. Applications such as the SPEEDCORE solution developed in the US is therefore not directly applicable in the European context. However, this solution evidenced that it can lead to significant savings both in terms of construction time and in terms of occupation of floor area, thus leading to more profitable investments from an economic point of view. The proposed research, presented in short version in the paper, is aimed at supporting the need for further research in this field. It also introduces an innovation: instead of using large steel plates with inward-facing shear studs, the proposed assembly only uses got rolled steel profiles, welded longitudinally to create a confined space for concrete.
Technical details
This contribution presents some interesting features concerning the use of Double-Skin Composite Cores (DSCC) as an alternative to RC cores for Tall buildings. A recent realization in US showed how this solution is not only technically possible but also intervenes as a game-changer, enabling a substantially shorter construction time, therefore ensuring a significant gain on the total financial operation. Relevant research has been performed worldwide on the topic, highlighting the major features and detailing possibilities. Nevertheless, some main points remain open for the adoption of this solution in the European construction practice and standard. The paper presented will discuss the major steps in the development of this solution, presenting two case studies aimed at highlighting the potential of this new technology. The proposed solutions aims to further reduce the construction times by allowing the adoption of larger pieces with a lower fabrication and installation time. The innovation, instead of large steel plates with inward-looking shear studs like in SPEEDCORE solution, is based on a sequence of hot rolled steel profiles, welded side by side in their longitudinal direction. The profiles can be HEA or HEB of different sizes and the steel considered here is S355. Profiles up to 3 story in height can be assembled on site, with a significant increase of the construction speed if compared to the single-floor elements of the SPEEDCORE system. Large pieces composed of multiple hot rolled profiles welded in the shop are installed on site. Vertical connection to join multiple sections is done with a fillet welding instead of full-penetration transversal welding. Only the flanges are welded to join the previous tier of the assembly, as it would be technically impossible to weld the webs too. These are thus excluded from the contribution.
References / Technical Papers Content
Cont M., Tondini N., Trabucco D., Zanon R., “Double-skin steel- concrete composite cores as an alternative to traditional RC cores. State of the Art and Future Perspectives” Costruzioni Metalliche, Jan-Feb 2021 p. 10-28
Categories
Building, Wall