Study on mechanical behavior of rubber-sleeved studs for steel and concrete composite structures

•Headed stud wrapped with rubber sleeve, “rubber-sleeved stud”, was proposed.•Eighteen push-out specimens of stud connectors were prepared and tested.•Failure process of the shear connectors was simulated through 3D finite element models.•Advice for rubber-sleeved stud design was given.

The stiffness of headed stud is sometimes so large that it causes non-uniform distribution of shear forces at interface between steel and concrete members in composite structures. To solve this problem, headed stud wrapped with rubber sleeve, named “rubber-sleeved stud”, was proposed. Eighteen push-out specimens were performed. Furthermore, numerical simulation on nonlinear behavior of the shear connectors was conducted. The results show that, compared with ordinary stud, the variation of shear strength for rubber-sleeved stud is negligible, but the stiffness markedly decreases and the shear mechanism changes. Based on these results, advice in designing rubber-sleeved stud was given.