Behaviour of shear connectors in composite constructions

Abstract

Composite Construction accounts for the contribution of two or more materials provided a composite action exists between them. In steel-concrete composite constructions, composite action can be achieved by reducing or preventing the relative displacement of concrete and steel sections at their interface and transmission of longitudinal shear between them. The strength and stiffness of the composite section depends on the degree of composite action between concrete and steel components. This degree of composite action between concrete and steel is made possible by the part played by the steel devices called shear connectors. Shear connectors are unique in their behavior to ensure composite action by making use of the mutual benefits of the steel and concrete. Hence it is proposed to study the Behavior of Shear connectors in Composite constructions. An extensive literature survey is carried out to study the behavior of shear connectors. From the literatures, it was observed that a 19 mm diameter headed stud shear connector is the most popularly employed connector, and the same is adopted in this study. Various researchers have studied the behavior of connectors by considering different aspects like shank diameter, shank height, the diameter of the connector, the shape of the connector, steel flange depth, thickness of the steel plate, thickness of the concrete, the strength of the concrete, etc. However, little is studied with the effect of spacing of headed stud connectors and their arrangement. There were various codes regarding the composite construction all over the world. In India, two codes have been published regarding composite construction, namely IS 11384: 1985 (reaffirmed 2003), Indian standard code of practice for composite construction in structural steel and concrete and IRC: 22-2015, code for construction in steel-concrete composite structures for road bridges . newline