Investigation on shear behavior of studs and PBL shear connectors in steel-concrete hybrid bridge girder

Due to the excellent properties of concrete and steel, steel-concrete composite structures have a wide range of applications in civil engineering. The most common shear connectors are the stud and perfobond rib (PBL) shear connectors, and there are a lot of studies on the shear behavior of stud and PBL shear connectors, respectively. But fewer studies were conducted on the combined shear behavior of both. This research presents experimental and numerical studies on the shear behavior of stud and PBL shear connectors. Test results show that the primary failure of the specimens is that the studs were sheared off, accompanied by concrete damage. The number of rows of shear connectors and the diameter of the transverse rebar can significantly affect the shear capacity. In contrast, the concrete dowel diameter has a limited impact on the shear capacity. Based on the validated finite element (FE) analysis, the effects of concrete strength, perforated plate thickness, and stud diameter on the shear capacity were parametrically investigated. The test and FE analysis results are compared with the existing equations of stud and PBL shear connectors. A combination most consistent with test and FE analysis results with discrepancies less than 5% is suggested for predicting the shear capacity of stud and PBL shear connectors.