Experimental study on stud shear connectors subjected to cyclic loading

Steel and concrete composite beams with deformable connections subjected to repeated loads may force the studs during unloading to a reverse shear load. In order to investigate the behavior of connectors in structures subjected to shear there is a need of a test that can simulate as confidently as possible the actual behavior of studs under reverse cyclic loading. For this purpose a direct shear test is herein proposed and discussed in detail. The test was used to study the behavior of the connectors in four specimens: two of them were subjected to monotonically increasing lending while the others were submitted to cyclic loading. The results of monotonic tests were compared with those obtained with a standard push-out test and showed good agreement. Cyclic tests were performed subjecting the specimens to various blocks of cycles between two load values. These tests gave useful information both on the shape of the load-slip curves and on the damage accumulation at the end of each cycle. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.