Effect of location of load on shear lag behavior of bonded steel-concrete flexural members

Shear lag is one of the governing phenomena considered in the design of flanged flexural members. The effect of the location of load on shear lag is not well understood yet. This paper presents a study to understand the shear lag behavior in the concrete slab of bonded steel-concrete composite flexural members, conducted with the help of a developed three-dimensional finite element model. The effect of the location of load on shear lag behavior is studied with the help of twelve loading arrangements at the service and the ultimate loads. Three effective widths based on different design criteria are used to understand the effect of the location of load on effective width. These effective widths are effective width for deflection at the service load, effective width for maximum stress at the service load, and effective width for bending moment capacity at the ultimate load. The shear lag behavior is found to be significantly affected by the location of the load. Increase in scaled eccentricity causes shear lag to vary from positive to negative.