Flexural behavior of different types of steel-concrete composite decks with perfobond rib or head stud shear connectors

With the advent of long-span bridges, steel-concrete composite decks are increasingly concerning structures to address the fatigue problem, wear of the surfacing, and corrosion of the steel decks. The different types of ribs result in the variety of the cross-sections of the composite decks. Thus, the flexural behavior of different types of steel-concrete composite decks with perfobond rib (PBL) or head stud shear connectors was investigated in this study. The different types of composite decks included steel-concrete composite decks (SCCDs), open-rib stiffened steel-concrete composite decks (OSCCDs), and U-rib stiffened steel-concrete composite decks (USCCDs). For this purpose, the static flexural tests of two USCCDs with PBL or head stud shear connectors were conducted. Parametric analyses were also carried out via finite element models to investigate the effects of the number of ribs, the thickness of the ribs, the thickness of the steel plate, the thickness of the concrete slab, and the spacing of the shear connectors on the flexural behavior of the SCCDs, OSCCDs, and USCCDs with PBL or head stud shear connectors. The results indicated that the types of ribs showed significant influence on the flexural behavior of the composite decks. For the same type of shear connector, the flexural behavior of the USCCDs was significantly higher than that of the SCCDs and OSCCDs. Compared with the SCCDs with PBL or head stud shear connectors, the initial stiffness and ultimate load of the USCCDs with PBL or head stud shear connectors were increased by 314.2% and 354.5%, 62.2%, and 89.3%, respectively. The flexural behavior of the composite decks with PBL connections was larger than that of the composite decks with head stud shear connectors for one type of composite deck. The thickness of the concrete slab showed the highest impact on the flexural behavior of the composite decks, followed by the thickness of the rib, the number of ribs, and the spacing of the shear connector. The thickness of the steel plate showed a slight influence on the flexural behavior of the composite decks. The ultimate load of three types of composite decks with PBL or head stud shear connectors was increased by more than 46.5% when the thickness of the concrete slab increased from 80 mm to 120 mm. The reduction stiffness method considering the slip effect was proposed to accurately predict the elastic deflections of three types of composite decks. This study can provide some reference for the design and engineering application of the different types of composite decks.