LAUSR

Abstract In this study, the combined bending action of pairs of laminated unequal channel beams with different interfacial connections were introduced into corner-supported modular steel buildings with the aim of enhancing the interactions between the adjacent beams and modules in modular buildings. These laminated beams consist of C sections acting together by bolts through their flanges. First, a series of experiments were conducted on three laminated beams, i.e. a channel beam with simple interfacial contact interactions (LB-C), a channel beam with four additional shear bolt connections (LB-C-4B) and a channel beam with eight shear bolt connections (LB-C-8B). Mechanical testing on an independent bending channel beam (ICB) was also performed as a control specimen to evaluate the structural performance of LB-C, LB-C-4B and LB-C-8B, respectively. To further understand the flexural behaviour of the laminated unequal channel beams, finite element models of the beams were developed and validated by using the experimental results. The results show that mechanical performance of LB-C, LB-C-4B and LB-C-8B is significantly better than that of ICB. In addition, the failure modes of the laminated beams are largely dependent on the stiffness of the interfacial connection between the floor and ceiling beams. Strengthening the interfacial interactions could enhance the flexural performance of the laminated beams. Most importantly, this study presents an analytical procedure for rapid prediction of the initial bending stiffnesses of the laminated beams.