Shear behavior and analytical model of perfobond connectors

In steel and concrete composite girders, the load transfer between the steel beam and the concrete slab is commonly ensured by installing shear connectors. In this paper, to investigate the nonlinear behavior of perfobond connectors, a total of 60 push-out specimens were fabricated and tested with the variables for the hole diameter, the concrete strength, the thickness of concrete slab, the diameter, strength and existence of perforating rebar, the thickness, height and distance of perfobond ribs. The failure mode and the load-slip behavior of perfobond connectors were obtained. A theoretical model was put forward to express the load-slip relationship. Analytical formulas of shear capacity and peak slip were also proposed considering the interaction between the concrete dowel and the perforating rebar. The calculation results of the proposals agreed well with the experimental values.