BOND STRENGTH OF STEEL-CONCRETE COMPOSITE ELEMENTS USING A CEMENTITIOUS ADHESIVE

Steel-concrete composite slabs have been used for bridge deck construction in Japan because of several advantages, e.g., safety construction and high fatigue durability. On the other hand, these slabs may cause negative influences such as overweight, increasing costs and low constructability, due to many mechanical shear connectors. The quantities of shear connectors may be reduced by gluing steel-plate and concrete with a cementitious adhesive. The present study aims at examining shear bond strength and quantifying the dispersion of the strength. To investigate the dispersion, a double-lap shear test is conducted, in addition to a simple direct shear test, to examine surface treatment. A Monte Carlo Simulation using the Weibull distribution of the strength is performed to evaluate the effect of dispersion. The simulation implies that the shear stress due to the traffic load may be negligible, indicating the applicability of the composite system for highway bridge decks.