ORIGINAL ARTICLE Bi-dimensional numerical modeling of timber–concrete slab- type structures Sandra R. S. Monteiro • Alfredo M. P. G. Dias • Se ´rgio M. R. Lopes Received: 14 January 2014 / Accepted: 19 August 2014 Ó RILEM 2014 Abstract The behavior of timber–concrete slab-type structures is not fully understood yet. This is the case of the transversal load distribution in composite floors under concentrated loads. Included in a broader investigation, this article presents the findings for the specific case of a timber–concrete composite floor under the action of a concentrated load. This article aims at studying such transversal load distribution by means of some theoretical methods, which were compared with experimental results. Different finite elements (FE) and analytical models were used. Numerical models using different types of FE were validated based on numerical and experimental results. The analytical model used distribution coef- ficients. From the study, it was possible to conclude that all the methods were able to detect a non-linear transversal distribution, but there were some devia- tions when comparing the methods with each other. The analytical method, based on several simplifica- tions presented a larger deviation from the numerical ones. This is discussed in more detail within this article and some practical considerations were added. Keywords Timber–concrete slabs  Transversal load distribution  Concentrated loads  Numerical modeling  Analytical modeling  Guyon-Massonnet method 1 Introduction Besides the use in the construction of new buildings [1, 34, 47, 48], timber–concrete composite floors are common solutions in the rehabilitation of buildings when old timber floors need some improvements in terms of strength and deformability [45, 46]. Either timber or concrete can be the sole material of a floor slab. However, when compared with such solutions, the combination of timber beams with concrete slabs to form a composite floor presents some well-known advantages: lower deformations, higher load carrying capacity, less vibrations, and lower noise transmission [4, 11]. These solutions may also benefit from the existing timber floorboards, if in good conditions, creating an interlayer and a permanent formwork at the same time. The use of timber–concrete composite structures is relatively recent, with almost no scientific studies published before the last couple of decades of the last century. The increasing use of this type of structures S. R. S. Monteiro (&)  A. M. P. G. Dias  S. M. R. Lopes Departamento de Engenharia Civil (DEC) da Faculdade de Cie ˆncias e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra (FCTUC), Rua Luı ´s Reis Santos, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal e-mail: sandra@dec.uc.pt A. M. P. G. Dias e-mail: alfgdias@dec.uc.pt S. M. R. Lopes e-mail: sergio@dec.uc.pt Materials and Structures DOI 10.1617/s11527-014-0407-3