Experimental Behavior of Steel-Concrete Composite Girders with UHPC-Grout Strip Shear Connection

Abstract

This paper develops a new type of shear connection for steel-concrete composite bridges using Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) as the connection grout. The UHPC-grout strip shear connection is fabricated by preforming a roughened slot in the concrete deck slab, welding an embossed steel rib longitudinally to the upper flange of the steel girder, and casting the strip void between the slot and the steel rib with UHPC grout. The structural performance of the new connection was validated by two sets of experimental tests, including push-out testing of shear connectors and static and fatigue testing of composite beams. The results of push-out testing indicate that the UHPC-grout strip shear connection exhibits a significant improvement of ductility, ultimate capacity, and fatigue performance. The interface shear strength of the UHPC-grout strip connection is beyond 15 MPa, which is about three times that of the strip connection using traditional cementitious grouts. The ultimate capacity of the connection is dominated by the interface failure between the embossed steel and the UHPC grout. The results of composite-beam testing indicate that full composite action is developed between the precast decks and the steel beams, and the composite action remained intact after testing for two million load cycles. Finally, the trail design of a prototype bridge shows that this new connection has the potential to meet the requirements for horizontal shear.