A design method for walls with encased steel profiles

The design of walls or columns with several encased steel profiles as reinforcement has similarities with classical reinforced concrete, but also original aspects which need specific design approaches. Until now there has been experimental research and numerical models, but simple design methods are lacking. In the proposed method, the classical truss model used to design reinforced concrete for shear is extended to bring in the encased profiles contribution to shear stiffness. This allows to distinguish the action effects in the steel profiles and in concrete and to make separate checks for shear of the steel profiles and the concrete section with transverse reinforcements. A method to evaluate longitudinal shear action effects and the compression stresses at the steel profile – concrete interface is developed. Design checks in the format of Eurocodes 2 and 4 are proposed.