Shear resistance of channel shear connectors in plain, reinforced and lightweight concrete

This paper presents an experimental study on determining shear resistance of channel shear connectors in a solid concrete material slab under monotonic loading. The solid concrete slab is of different types of concrete including plain, reinforced and lightweight concrete. The channel shear connector length is varied as well. A series of push-out specimens were tested for this study. The results verified using channel shear connectors embedded in lightweight concrete in composite structures and shows that lightweight concrete has a slight effect on the ductility and load-displacement performance of the specimens. However, using reinforcement in concrete causes considerable increase in ultimate strength and ductility of channel shear connectors and using channels embedded in unconfined normal concrete has a brittle performance of them. In general, the channel shear connector showed a ductile behaviour.</p