NUMERICAL ASSESSMENT FOR NONMONOLITHIC SLAB-COLUMN CONNECTIONS CONNECTED BY DOWELS

It is common practice to use a flat slab system not just in new construction buildings but also for adding extra stories like mezzanine floors for existing buildings. As such, non-monolithic connections are used, however, few literature either experimentally or numerically, addresses the behavior of such connections. In this respect, this paper numerically investigated the behavior of two non-monolithic connection (using dowel and weld systems) validated against experimental work conducted in the concrete laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. In this context, a parametric investigation for the influencing parameters is presented. The investigated parameters were related to dowels number, diameter, impeded length inside the slab, the height difference between the dowels in X & Y directions, welding length, and slab thickness. The results illustrate the impact of the tested parameters on the performance of the proposed connections. This paper is considered a gate opening for a numerical database that facilitates the formulation of design equations for the proposed non-monolithic connection.