Resumen
Structural elements of composite materials are widely used as themallow conceiving stronger as well as economic structures. In the caseof wood-concrete composite slabs, the high compressive strength ofconcrete, together with the great performance and behavior of woodunder traction, allows to obtain a resistance, weight and stiffnesseffective structure; features widely proven in indoor environments. Theobjective of this research is to model the behavior of wood-concreteslabs at an outdoor environment conditions in order to study its usagein walkways. To achieve this goal, the behavior of the wood-concreteslabs will be conducted through the use of finite element models thatare going to be validated with the experimental data previously obtainedfrom tests performed in two composite slabs, which were subjected todiverse loading configurations for 1250 days in outdoor environment(Peña, Fuentes, Fournely, Navarrete, & Pinto, 2015). According to theresults, it was possible to conclude that real moisture is greater than thetheoretical one, which promotes the decay of wood, nevertheless, thisvariation did not produce a significant change in the overall mechanicalcharacteristics of composite slabs; in the other hand, numerical modelingdemonstrated the importance of the connection transverse stiffness,besides enabling the incorporation of wood moisture effect over itsmechanical properties, allowing to quantify the effect of the connectionstiffness.