Composite Beams - Understanding Minimum Design Limits

By: Susan B. Burmeister, P.E.

Design of composite beams for floor framing systems is one of the most common approaches in the structural steel industry. Composite beams utilize both steel and concrete materials, taking advantage of the strengths of each material type to optimize the member design. In order to ensure composite behavior, we need to provide a mechanism to allow the disparate materials to work together. The AISC Specification provides guidance required to achieve this joint material interaction and the interaction performance is referred to as “percent composite.” This presentation will delve into the minimum requirements for “percent composite” and review some of the confusion found surrounding this topic with the intent to dispel certain myths.

Speaker Bio:

Susan Burmeister began her career in Atlanta, GA before coming to the Metropolitan Washington DC area in 2004. She graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. She has extensive experience with concrete and steel structural design and began contributing to AISC Task Committee 5, Composite Design almost 20 years ago. She co-authored the recent AISC Design Guide 36 on Camber, and she has given presentations on composite design at several NASCC Conferences as well as AISC Night School and SEI University.