Experimental Study on the Flexural Behavior of Steel–Concrete Composite Bridge Decks with Stud–PBL Shear Connectors

To investigate the flexural behavior of steel–concrete composite bridge decks with stud–perfobond leist (PBL) shear connectors, two specimens were designed with the stud spacing as the main variable, and static bending tests were conducted. Additionally, refined finite element models were constructed for evaluating the influence of shear connector types, concrete strength, stud diameter, stud height, and PBL hole diameter on the performance and flexural capacity of the structure. The results show that, under bending loads, the failure of the composite bridge deck is mainly concrete crushing and steel plate yielding. When the spacing of the stud decreases, both the flexural behavior of the composite bridge decks and the shear resistance at the steel–concrete interface are enhanced. The steel–concrete composite bridge decks with stud–PBL shear connectors showed higher overall flexural stiffness and flexural capacity than the steel–concrete composite bridge decks with single-type shear connectors. Concrete strength had a pronounced influence on the flexural capacity of the deck system, while the effects of stud diameter and height were minor. As the PBL hole diameter increased, the flexural capacity of the specimens exhibited a decreasing tendency.