The widely used orthotropic steel deck system is subject to several durability problems: fatigue cracking of the steel, wearing of the surfacing, and corrosion. Thus, the composite deck system composed of an orthotropic steel deck and an ultrathin reactive-powder concrete (RPC) layer was proposed. In a prefabricated composite deck system, joints formed between the prefabricated RPC layer and the cast-in-situ RPC layer are defined as wet joints. The experimental study was conducted on the tensile behavior of RPC wet joints to ensure the integrity of the prefabricated deck system and the serviceability and durability of the RPC layer. Two series of tests were conducted, including seven tensile tests on panels and four negative bending tests on beams. In these tests, five types of new wet joint details were designed in addition to the integral casting detail and the conventional wet joint with a vertical, plane interface. To study the mechanical properties and crack resistance performance of differen...

Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the vertical load-carrying behavior and seismic performance of a composite frame structure with an innovative composite transfer beam, which was proposed to overcome the disadvantages of traditional reinforced concrete or steel reinforced concrete transfer beams. In the experimental study, a vertical monotonic loading test and a lateral cyclic loading test were conducted. The test observations, load–displacement curves, and strain measurements were discussed to investigate the structural performance and failure mechanism. The experimental results demonstrated the excellent vertical load-carrying behavior and seismic performance of the composite transfer frame. The characteristics of the plastic hinge distribution were investigated based on extensive data of the steel strains measured to reveal the typical failure mechanism of the composite transfer frame. In the numerical simulation analysis, a multiscale modeling scheme was developed to make full use of the fiber beam–column elements and multilayer shell elements. Comparisons with the experimental results showed that the developed model predicted the overall structural behavior, the individual story and component behavior, and the failure mechanism with a reasonable level of accuracy. In addition, both the experimental tests and numerical analyses indicated that the shear deformation mode and the energy dissipation in the composite joint core were also significant mechanical characteristics of the composite transfer frame.