Resistance and ductility of shear

connection: Full-scale beam and

push tests

Stephen Hicks
 Standard push test

P
Cover 15

150 P Rk

Load per stud P (kN)

250

250

u
Slip  (mm)
150 260 150 6 mm

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 2

scale beam and push tests
Position of studs in trapezoidal decking with a shallow central stiffening rib on
their crests and reduction factor formulae according to BS5950-3.1
Compression e
in slab

hsc
hp,g hp,n

Force from stud bo

Edge of
beam

(a) Central C (b) Favourable F (c) Unfavourable U

For one stud per rib (nr = 1)
• k = 0.85 (b0 / hp) {(hsc / hp) – 1} but k ≤ 1.0
For two studs per rib (nr = 2)
• k = 0.60 (b0 / hp) {(hsc / hp) – 1} but k ≤ 0.8
For three or more studs per rib (nr = 3 or more)
• k = 0.50 (b0 / hp) {(hsc / hp) – 1} but k ≤ 0.6
where b0 is the average breadth of the concrete rib (taken as 2e in BS5950-3.1 for studs in the
‘weak’ position), hp is the height of the concrete rib, hsc is the height of the stud and e is the
distance to the nearer side of the rib ( 25 mm)

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 3

scale beam and push tests
Statement of problem

Push tests undertaken in Australia imply that for cases

when the deck is positioned perpendicular to the
longitudinal axis of a beam (i.e. a ‘secondary beam’),
the current Standards are unconservative for situations
when studs are welded within trapezoidal decks.

Reductions in both resistance and ductility implied by

the Australian studies have been shown to be
considerable (failure at slips less than a millimetre).

Solutions, such as special reinforcement, are proposed

to overcome these problems.

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 4

scale beam and push tests
Initial 21 push tests on slabs with trapezoidal profiles with
a shallow central stiffening rib on their crests
A

All 12 specimens with nr = 2 failed

from artificial back-breaking mode.

Resistances in remaining 9 specimens P T C

with nr =1, were low at 60 to 70% of
predictions given by BS5950-3.1 &
EC4 respectively using net height.

Using overall height resulted in

unrealistically low predictions that
were over a factor of 2 lower than test
resistances.
30 recess
Provision of an unstudded rib at the 150 260 150 250 250 250
optional

top of specimen appears to eliminate Bedded in mortar or gypsum

back-breaking failure caused by the

rotation of the last studded rib at the
top of the specimen. Steel section:
254 x 254 89 UC
or HE 260 B
4d minimum 750

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 5

scale beam and push tests
Composite beam and companion push test specimens

Main intention in the design of the beam specimens was

to provide the most unfavourable combination of factors
that may occur in current practice to:

Investigate the ductility of shear studs in modern

trapezoidal decks.
Quantify the level of enhancement, if any, to the stud
resistance when compared to shear connectors in
push specimens.
Demonstrate the level of safety that exists within
current composite construction.

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 6

scale beam and push tests
10 m span test Specimen (nr = 2 and nr = 1)
Load C
L Load
2438 2438
1175 1175 1175 1175

C
L
50 331 7 pairs of studs @ 2 per every other trough 669 400 14 No studs @ 1 per trough 277 50
646 677 677 646 677 677 25 323 354 323 323 354 (Typ)

A Single stud B

305 x 165 UB46 (S355)

South 7 5A 3 S1 N1 3 5
B 7 North

450 Span = 10000 150 300

10900 o/a

106
Denotes
length removed
prior to testing
for coupon
samples

A-A B-B

16 instrumented cross-sections along entire length of beam comprising 48

strain gauges and 30 displacement transducers.
Deflection monitored by vertical transducers at third points and mid-span

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 7

scale beam and push tests
10 m span test specimen

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 8

scale beam and push tests
 5 m span test Specimen (nr = 1)

Load
2500
833 833

7 No. studs in the unfavourable position 7 No. studs in the favourable position
1 No. stud in
central position

S1 N1 3 5 7 North
South

Span = 5000

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 9

scale beam and push tests
Concrete pull-out failure around pairs of studs revealed
after separating the slab from the deck

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 10

scale beam and push tests
 Load-slip curve for pairs of studs (nrc = 2) Cycles 1 to 5
180

160
Point at which deck Point at which maximum
delamination was moment was applied
140 observed in Cycle 5

120
Shear force (kN)

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Slip (mm)

7th pair 6th pair

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 11

scale beam and push tests
 Load-slip curves for single studs in the F, C and U position

140

120

100

80
Shear force (kN)

60

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-20

-40
Slip (mm)

Favourable Central Unfavourable

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 12

scale beam and push tests
Companion push tests

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 13

scale beam and push tests
Load-slip curve for nr = 2 F – Push test versus beam test

90

80

70

60
Load per stud (kN)

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Slip (mm)

Push test Beam test

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 14

scale beam and push tests
Load-slip curve for nr = 1F – Push test versus beam test

140

120

100

80
Load per stud (kN)

60

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-20

-40
Slip (mm)

Push test Beam test

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 15

scale beam and push tests
 Properties of studs from tests
Beam test
nr Position Pe PRk uk BS5950 BS5950 EC4 EC4
(mm) PRk / PRk,n PRk / PRk,g PRk / PRk,n PRk / PRk,g
1 F 123 111 9.6 1.27 1.94 2.19 2.88
1 C 107 96 11.9 1.10 1.68 1.90 2.49
1 U 89 76* 6.0 1.32 2.36 - -
2 F 80 49* 6.0 0.70 1.21 1.18 1.80
Notes: * down-rated to achieve 6 mm slip capacity

Push tests
nr Position Pe PRk uk BS5950 BS5950 EC4 EC4
(mm) PRk / PRk,n PRk / PRk,g PRk / PRk,n PRk / PRk,g
1 F 84.7 76.2 2.6 0.87 1.33 1.51 1.98
2 F 51.2 46.1 2.4 0.66 1.14 1.11 1.69

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 16

scale beam and push tests
Proposed revision for BS5950-3.1

For one stud per rib (nr = 1)

• k = 0.85 (b0 / hp,n) {(hsc / hp,n) – 1} but k ≤ 1.0
For two studs per rib (nr = 2)
• k = 0.37 (b0 / hp,n) {(hsc / hp,n) – 1} but k ≤ 0.75

where hp,n is the ‘shoulder’ or net height of the deck, providing that
certain geometrical details are achieved e

h sc
hp,g hp,n

bo

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 17

scale beam and push tests
Conclusions
Behaviour of studs in push specimens may provide conservative estimates of strength, but they
do not reflect the ductility that would be achieved in a beam; they should, therefore, be viewed as
comparative, not as direct evidence of stud behaviour in beams.

Composite beam specimens in current research exhibited very ductile behaviour, with failure
being caused by a plastic hinge forming in the weaker shear connector span (on the side with
pairs of studs for the 10 m span beam and on the side with unfavourable single studs for the 5 m
span beam).

The load-slip curves indicate that the stud performance was ductile; this is particularly true for
single studs which achieved characteristic slips of 10 to 12 mm for F and C studs (which far
surpassed the levels of slip assumed in the development of the partial shear connection rules in
current Standards).

For trapezoidal profiles, the net or ‘shoulder height’ should be used when considering trapezoidal
decks, and an amendment to existing BS5950-3.1 design equation has been proposed for nr =2

From failure surfaces, it is recommended that for nr =2, the studs should not be arranged in line
(i.e., in the favourable and unfavourable position within the same trough). A more beneficial
arrangement is to have the studs arranged side-by-side, with the maximum transverse spacing
that may be practically achieved.

For the future, it would be beneficial to develop a small-scale test that better reflects the
behaviour of studs in a beam.

Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 18

scale beam and push tests
Resistance and ductility of shear connection: Full- 19
scale beam and push tests