Abstract
An analytical investigation focusing on the concrete damage progress of the PBL shear connector under the influence of various lateral pressures, employing a coupled RBSM and solid FEM model was carried out. The analytical model succeeded in simulating the test shear capacities and the failure modes adequately. The internal failure process was also clarified; the two horizontal cracks occurred near the top of the concrete dowels through the hole of the perforated steel plate, and afterward, the two vertical cracks also initiated and propagated along with the shear surface. In a low lateral pressure case, the shear strength was determined by the vertical cracks propagated along the shear surface. While as the amount of applied lateral pressure increased, the shear strength of the two vertical cracked surfaces was enhanced, and the shear strength of the PBL was characterized by the occurrence of the splitting cracks and caused the splitting failure into the side concrete blocks. Moreover, the combined effects of lateral pressure and hole diameters were also evaluated numerically, and it was found that the increase in shear strength was more in a large diameter case subjected to high lateral pressure because of the wide compressive regions generated around the concrete dowel.
Highlights
In recent years, the use of concrete-steel composite construction has been adopted widely and extensively, contributing toward the superior structural response and the ease of construction
The current research aims to investigate the effect of lateral pressures on the shear strength of the Perfobond Leiste in German (PBL) shear connector and highlights the detailed failure process of concrete, especially the internal crack propagation behavior and stress distributions, through simulation analyses, which has not been discussed efficiently in past research studies, using a coupled Rigid Body Spring Model (RBSM)
The analytical approach based on a coupled RBSM and solid finite-element method (FEM) model is presented; the validation of the numerical model is carried out for the test shear capacities and the failure modes of the PBL shear connector under the influence of the various amounts of the lateral pressures applied to the surrounding concrete of the PBL
Summary
The use of concrete-steel composite construction has been adopted widely and extensively, contributing toward the superior structural response (strength, stiffness, resistance against seismic and monotonic loadings, and provision of reduced member sizes, etc.) and the ease of construction. The perfobond rib shear connector [Perfobond Leiste in German (PBL)], firstly introduced and developed by the German consultants, was being practiced in concrete–steel composite structures (hybrid girder joints, hybrid truss joints, the hybrid pylon joints, and the anchorage joints between the suspenders and the girders) [1,2,3,4,5,6]. It behaved as a key and transferred the large internal forces between concrete and steel; it provided advantages related to ease of installation, economic reliability, Crystals 2020, 10, 743; doi:10.3390/cryst10090743 www.mdpi.com/journal/crystals.
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