Testing procedures in evaluation of resistance of innovative shear connection with composite dowels

The article constitutes an introduction to the issue associated with modern steel-concrete composite girders having open continuous connectors of the composite dowels type. The way of fabrication of the steel portion of the composite girders has been presented as well as the details connected with experimental investigations on the new type of composition which demands broader approach of researches than attempts of determining the load-bearing capacity used so far, known as POST. The steel connector constitutes an integral part of the steel part of composite beam, in which it is subjected apart from the local longitudinal shear acting between steel and concrete, to the global effects of bending and axial loading as well. Thus, the stress criteria describing the composite dowel's behaviour have to be established and it is much more than pure load-bearing capacity criteria used in present. The test procedures combining the concept of the load-bearing capacity for the concrete part of the connector and the elasticity of its steel part lead to an efficient designing of the composite structures.