The use of PREM beams, consisting of a steel joist partially or totally embedded in the concrete, represents an effective alternative with respect to more traditional structural systems. While a lot of effort has been devoted to understand flexural behaviour of such structures, to date shear strength is an open issue.
In this work, an experimental and numerical study on shear response of PREM girders is presented, based on a preliminary test campaign. Nine beams are tested until collapse, which has occurred due to shear failure. Numerical models obtained through the use of ABAQUS software are created, in which different steel bottom-concrete interfaces are used.
An analytical model is also presented, which allows to estimate shear strength in such structural elements. Application of the model to tested beams shows a good agreement with real collapse values.
