Shear transfer capacity along pumice aggregate concrete and high-performance concrete interfaces

This paper aims to present an experimental investigation on the behaviour of interfaces between pumice LWAC (lightweight aggregate concrete) and HPC (high-performance concrete - high-strength and fibre-reinforced), typically found in the faces and core, respectively, of hybrid precast structural sandwich panels. The evaluation of the experimental data resulted in the derivation of a semi-empirical relationship that relates the interface strength with materials strength, interface geometry and loading parameters. A brief overview of existing shear friction theories and proposed relationships, as well as a comparison among existing models and that proposed by the authors, are also outlined in the paper.