• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

Bolted connector could be an alternative to replace the conventional welded headed stud in steel-ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite structures. In this paper, a novel demountable bolted shear connector, consisting of a high-strength bolt (HSB) and a specially-designed nut which is pre-embedded in a thin UHPC slab, is proposed, which may result in the quick installation and disassembly, due to the mountable, demountable and reusable features. In order to study the shear behavior of the new type of bolted shear connector, static push-out tests were conducted on five groups of the novel demountable bolted shear connector specimens and one group of conventional welded headed stud specimen for comparison. The effect of the bolt shank diameter and aspect ratio of bolt on failure mode, shear stiffness, peak slip at the steel-UHPC interface, shear strength and ductility of novel bolted connectors is investigated. Additionally, design formula for the shear strength is proposed to check the suitability for assessment of the novel demountable bolted shear connectors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.419-429
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• 2022

In response to the sustainability requirements set in the EU Commission's "Green Deal" towards reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions, it is estimated that the structural design for deconstruction is going to contribute considerably to the sustainable development of the built environment. The demountability of multi-material structural systems basically depends on the shear connectors used in the structural system. This paper focuses on a type of demountable injected shear connector with an injected steel-reinforced resin (iSRR) which consists of spherical steel particles embedded in a resin. Its application to steel-to-concrete and steel-to-Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) decks is presented along with its benefits. In parallel, an overview of the experimental and numerical research on the evaluation of the mechanical properties of the demountable bolted connectors with iSRR is discussed. Last, detailed finite element (FE) models and a parametric study are performed to quantify the confinement level of the SRR material influenced by the oversized hole diameter.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.751-762
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• 2022

Welded head studs are mainly used as shear connectors to bond steel girders and concrete slabs in steel-concrete composite bridges. For welded shear connectors, environmental problems include noise and scattering dust which are generated during the removal of damaged or aged slabs. Therefore, it is necessary to develop demountable shear connectors that can easily replace aged concrete slabs for efficient maintenance and thus for better management of environmental problems and life cycle costs. The buried nut method is commonly studied in relation to bolted shear connectors, but this method is not used in civil structures such as bridges due to low rigidity, low shear resistance, and increased initial slip. In this study, in order to mitigate these problems, a demountable bolted shear connector is proposed in which the buried nut is integrated into the stud column and has a tapered shape at the bottom of an enlarged column shank. To verify the performance of the proposed demountable stud bolts in terms of static shear strength and slip displacement, a horizontal shear test was conducted, with the performance outcomes compared to those of conventional welded studs. It was confirmed that the proposed demountable bolted shear connector is capable of excellent shear performance and that it satisfies the slip displacement and ductility design criteria, meaning that it is feasible as a replacement for existing welding studs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.797-818
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• 2022

Steel-precast ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) composite beams with demountable high-strength friction-grip bolt (HSFGB) shear connectors can be used for accelerated bridge construction (ABC) and achieve excellent structural performance, which is expected to be dismantled and recycled at the end of the service life. However, no investigation focuses on the demountability and reusability of such composite beams, as well as the installation difficulties during construction. To address this issue, this study conducted twelve push-out tests to investigate the effects of assembly condition, bolt grade, bolt-hole clearance, infilling grout and pretension on the crack pattern, failure mode, load-slip/uplift relationship, and the structural performance in terms of ultimate shear strength, friction resistance, shear stiffness and slip capacity. The experimental results demonstrated that the presented composite beams exhibited favorable demountability and reusability, in which no significant reduction in strength (less than 3%) and stiffness (less than 5%), but a slight improvement in ductility was observed for the reassembled specimens. Employing oversized preformed holes could ease the fabrication and installation process, yet led to a considerable degradation in both strength and stiffness. With filling the oversized holes with grout, an effective enhancement of the strength and stiffness can be achieved, while causing a difficulty in the demounting of shear connectors. On the basis of the experimental results, more accurate formulations, which considered the effect of bolt-hole clearance, were proposed to predict the shear strength as well as the load-slip relationship of HSFGBs in steel-precast UHPC composite beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.321-337
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• 2020

Contemporary design and construction of steel-concrete composite structures employs the use of prefabricated concrete elements and demountable shear connectors in order to reduce the construction time and costs and enable dismantling of elements for their potential reuse at the end of life of buildings. Bolted shear connector with mechanical coupler is presented in this paper. The connector is assembled from mechanical coupler and rebar anchor, embedded in concrete, and steel bolt, used for connecting steel to concrete members. The behaviour and ultimate resistance of bolted connector with mechanical coupler in wide and narrow members were analysed based on push-out tests and FE analyses conducted in Abaqus software, with focus on concrete edge breakout and bolt shear failure modes. The effect of concrete strength, concrete edge distance and diameter and strength of bolts on failure modes and shear resistance was analysed. It was demonstrated that premature failure by breakout of concrete edge occurs when connectors are located 100 mm or closer from the edge in low-strength and normal-strength reinforced concrete. Furthermore, the paper presents a relatively simple model for hand calculation of concrete edge breakout resistance when bolted connectors with mechanical coupler are used. The model is based on the modification of prediction model used for cast-in and post-installed anchors loaded parallel to the edge, by implementing equivalent influence length of connector with variable diameter. Good agreement with test and FE results was obtained, thus confirming the validity of the proposed method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.381-392
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• 2023

This study experimentally investigates the flexural behavior of steel-UHPC composite slabs composed of an innovative negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) steel plate and Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) slab connected via demountable high-strength bolt shear connectors. Eight demountable composite slab specimens were fabricated and tested under traditional four-point bending method. The effects of loading histories (positive and negative bending moment), types of steel plate (NPR steel plate and Q355 steel plate) and spacings of high-strength bolts (150 mm, 200 mm and 250 mm) on the flexural behavior of demountable composite slab, including failure mode, load-deflection curve, interface relative slip, crack width and sectional strain distribution, were evaluated. The results revealed that under positive bending moment, the failure mode of composite slabs employing NPR steel plate was distinct from that with Q355 steel plate, which exhibited that part of high-strength bolts was cut off, part of pre-embedded padded extension nuts was pulled out, and UHPC collapsed due to instantaneous instability and etc. Besides, under the same spacing of high-strength bolts, NPR steel plate availably delayed and restrained the relative slip between steel plate and UHPC plate, thus significantly enhanced the cooperative deformation capacity, flexural stiffness and load capacity for composite slabs further. While under negative bending moment, NPR steel plate effectively improved the flexural capacity and deformation characteristics of composite slabs, but it has no obvious effect on the initial flexural stiffness of composite slabs. Meanwhile, the excellent crack-width control ability for UHPC endowed composite members with better durability. Furthermore, according to the sectional strain distribution analysis, due to the negative Poisson's ratio effect and high yield strength of NPR steel plate, the tensile strain between NPR steel plate and UHPC layer held strain compatibility during the whole loading process, and the magnitude of upward movement for sectional plastic neutral axis could be ignored with the increase of positive bending moment.