Experimental Study and Finite Element Analysis of PBL Shear Connectors with Additional Steel Pipes

In order to cope with the complicated stress state at the material interface of the composite open-web sandwich plate and to improve the performance of the combined action of the structure, the paper proposed a PBL shear connectors with additional steel pipes and carried out experimental analyses and finite element simulation studies on it. The push-out tests of PBL shear connectors specimens with additional steel pipes and traditional PBL shear connectors specimens were carried out respectively. By analyzing the failure phenomenon, load-slip curves and shear stiffness of the two groups of specimens, it was found that the additional steel pipes can significantly improve the shear performance of PBL shear connectors. The stress distribution of each member of this type of PBL shear connectors and the influence of additional steel pipe parameters on the shear stiffness of this new type of PBL shear connectors were further revealed through the finite element parameter expansion analysis. It was found that the existence of additional steel pipe could avoid the phenomenon of stress concentration in the internal component and protect the internal component. The study showed that steel pipe parameters such as pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness and pipe length had different degrees of influence on the bearing capacity of this type of shear connector, with the most significant effect of pipe diameter.