Static and cyclic behaviour of a steel–concrete composite beam with horizontal shear connections

A steel–concrete composite beam built with a new horizontal shear connector was tested under cyclic loading and does not present any sign of fatigue damage after more than 2 million cycles. The beam was then statically loaded up to failure. Its behaviour within the elastic and plastic domain, was very similar to that of the same beam previously subjected to static loading only. The shear failure occurred in the steel beam web indicating that the rounded corners of each tooth connector should be increased. Therefore bending test results show that this new connector device allows satisfactory behaviour under static and cyclic loading in accordance with structural modern codes requirements. Numerical simulations were also performed on beams at failure and within the elastic domain accounting for perfect bond or partial interaction. The results are close to the measurements and show that this innovative connection device could be designed according Eurocode prescriptions.