Experimental studies of headed stud shear connectors in UHPC Steel composite slabs

Due to the high compressive and tensile strength of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), UHPC used in steel concrete composite structures provided thinner concrete layer compared to ordinary concrete. This leaded to the headed stud shear connectors embedded in UHPC had a low aspect ratio. In order to systematic investigate the effect of headed stud with low aspect ratio on the structural behaviors of steel UHPC composite structure s this paper firstly carried out a test program consisted of twelve push out specimens. The effects of stud height, aspect ratio and reinforcement bars in UHPC on the structural behaviors of headed studs were investigated. The push out test results shows that the increasing of stud height did not obviously influence the structural behaviors of headed studs and the aspect ratio of 2.16 was proved enough to take full advantage of the headed stud strength. Based on the test results, the equation considering the contribution of weld collar was modified to predict the shear strength of headed stud embedded in UHPC. The modified equation could accurately predict the shear strength of headed stud by comparing with the experimental results. On the basis of push out test results, bending tests consisted of three steel UHPC composite slabs were conducted to investigate the effect of shear connection degree on the structural behaviors of composite slabs. The bending test results revealed that the shear connection degree had a significantly influence on the failure modes and ultimate resistance of composite slabs and composite slab with connection degree of 96% in s hear span exhibited a ductile failure accompanied by the tensile yield of steel plate and crushing of UHPC. Finally, analytical model based on the failure mode of composite slabs was proposed to predict the ultimate resistance of steel UHPC composite slabs with different shear connection degrees at the interface.