Experimental and Numerical Study on Shear Resistance of Notched Perfobond Shear Connector

In steel and concrete composite bridges, it is difficult to perforate the reinforcing bars through the circular holes of conventional perfobond shear connectors with multi-ribs. To ease the installation of perforating rebars, an alternative notched perfobond shear connector was proposed by cutting out the edge of the circular hole. This paper presents the push-out test results of six specimens which were fabricated and loaded to failure. The main purpose was to compare the failure mode, shear capacity and slip behavior of perfobond shear connectors using circular holes and notched holes. Furthermore, 43 nonlinear finite element simulations were performed to further study the effects of several variables, including the hole diameter, the hole distance, the hole number, the cut width, the perfobond thickness, the concrete strength, the rebar diameter, the rebar strength, and the steel strength. The parametric results were generated to evaluate the shear capacity equations for perfobond shear connectors. Finally, an analytical model was developed to estimate the shear capacity of notched perfobond shear connectors.