A method of calculating the deflections of steel plate-concrete composite beams is proposed. In the hybrid work of such beams the properties of reinforced concrete and composite structures are combined. This convention should be followed in considering their ultimate capacity and serviceability limit state. The proposed solution has been verified in experimental studies performed by the authors. Good compatibility of theoretical calculations and experimental results has been obtained. It allows the theoretical solution to be used in the analysis of other cases with parameters different than those of the discussed beams. In the experiments done by the author six beams of total length of 5.20 m and theoretical length of 5,00 m were used. The cross section was rectangular, 0.24 m in width and 0.49 m in height. The steel plate 4.74 m long was 6.10 and 16 mm thick. The diameter of the flexible connectors was 13 mm. Their spacing varied between 80 and 200 mm. Owing to the flexibility of the connectors the interface slip between the steel and concrete parts was included in the theoretical solutions. The results of an in-depth analysis indicate that the deflections of steel plate-concrete composite beams are affected by the compressive strength of concrete and the yield point of steel as well as connectors’ diameter and spacing. This impact varies, that of the yield point of the steel from which the plate is made being the highest.

The aim of the paper was to assess the bending strength of steel plate - concrete composite members, based on an experimental study performed by the authors together with theoretical and numerical analyses. The values of the mechanical parameters of the materials the beams were made from were adopted on the basis of the tests results. The proposed solutions have been verified by experiment. For this purpose the results of tests performed by the authors and other researchers have been used. The former ones are original, and the way of their presentation makes them applicable by other researchers. Following the results it can be stated that with respect to bending strengths from the experimental study the results obtained from the theoretical analysis are underestimated 6,6 % on average. The results based on the numerical analysis, on the other hand, are overestimated by - 7,5 % on average. The results of the theoretical and numerical analyses indicate that the interface slip between the steel plate and concrete part affect the bending strength of steel plate-concrete composite beams only slightly (about 2% on average).