Refined and Simplified Simulations for Steel–Concrete–Steel Structures

Steel–concrete–steel (SCS) sandwich structures have gained increasing interest in new constructions. The external steel plates increase the stiffness, the sustainability, and the strength of the structures under some extreme solicitations. Moreover, the use of these plates as lost prefabricated formwork makes SCS structures modular, enabling higher construction rates. However, for a better understanding of the complex behavior of these structures up to failure, refined numerical simulations are needed to consider various local phenomena, such as concrete crushing in compression and interface interactions. Indeed, the highly non-linear steel–concrete interaction around the dowels is the key point of the composite action. In this contribution, a refined methodology is first proposed and applied on a push-out test. It is especially demonstrated that a regularization technique in compression is needed for the concrete model. Interface elements are also developed and associated with a nonlinear constitutive law between steel connectors and external plates. From this refined methodology, simplified numerical modeling is then deduced and validated. Directly applied to an SCS wall-to-wall junction, this simplified strategy enables the reproduction of the overall behavior, including the elastic phase, the degradation of the system, and the failure mode. The response of each component is particularly analyzed, and the key points of the behavior are highlighted.