Experimental investigation on the structural response of T, T-block and T-Perfobond shear connectors at elevated temperatures

• Experimental research on T, T-block and T-Perfobond connectors at elevated temperatures.
• Geometric and construction details influence on connector’s structural performance.
• Elevated temperatures shear resistance capacity depends on connector’s arrangement.
• Holes on connectors enhance very a few its shear resistance at high temperatures.
• Rebars on connectors have lower influence on high temperatures shear resistance.

The structural performance of different connectors at ambient temperature is already known in contrast to the structural response of some connectors at high temperatures. An example of this is the T, T-block and T-Perfobond connectors. This paper reports a research study on the structural behaviour of T, T-block and T-Perfobond shear connectors under fire conditions for assessing the connector shear resistance, its ductility and collapse modes at elevated temperatures.The main purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of the number of holes in the connector, the presence of transversal reinforcement bars passing through these holes, the connector arrangement and the connector height, among others, on the structural performance of the connector at different levels of elevated temperature. It was also compared the behaviour of these connectors at ambient and elevated temperatures. Finally, the experimental results were compared with the predictions from available analytical models, taking into account changes in the shear strength of the T, T-block and T-Perfobond connectors at elevated temperatures.The results of this research showed mainly that the shear resistance capacity at elevated temperatures of these connectors depends extremely on their shape in relation to the steel beam.