Abstract:
To investigate the influence of the configurations of novel composite dowel connectors on the flexural performance of steel-UHPC composite beams, flexural failure tests were designed and performed on six steel-UHPC composite test beams incorporating novel composite dowel connectors for interface connection. The whole process of damage and destruction of the new composite dowels connecter is analyzed by ABAQUS finite element numerical simulation. Numerical simulations using the ABAQUS finite element method were performed to analyze the entire process of damage and failure of the novel composite dowel connectors. The flexural bearing capacity of steel-UHPC composite beams was calculated using the elastic design method and the simplified plastic theory, respectively. The research results show that the failure modes of six steel-UHPC composite beams include normal section bending failure and longitudinal shear failure, that is, the structural form of composite dowels affects the failure mode of steel-UHPC composite beams. The steel dowel-stud connector can effectively improve the horizontal shear capacity of the connector. Increasing the thickness of the lower flange of the test beam can significantly improve the flexural bearing capacity of the test beam, but the ductility is reduced. Under the ultimate limit state, the calculation method based on the plastic theory is more accurate for determining the bearing capacity of steel-UHPC composite beams, and the discrepancies between the aforementioned theoretical values and both the finite element simulation results and experimental values are all within 5%.