Shear resistance of novel perforated shaped steel-engineered cementitious composite (ECC) connectors

Abstract

A novel perforated shaped steel-engineered cementitious composite connector (PSSEC) is proposed in this paper based on the advantages of perforated plate connectors and engineered cementitious composite (ECC) materials. Eight short columns were designed to thoroughly investigate the mechanical mechanism, bearing capacity, and failure mode. Additionally, an equation for calculating the bearing capacity of PSSECs is presented. The results demonstrate that all eight short columns show splitting failure of the ECC or concrete. Moreover, it is determined that the cracks associated with the ECC specimens are smaller than those of the concrete specimen. Due to the effect of the perforated steel reinforcements, the PSSECs exhibit the characteristics of ductile failure. The load-slip curves of the PSSEC short columns can be divided into five stages: the no-slip, slip, yield, falling, and load residual stages. The load-slip curves of the perforated shaped steel-ECC connector without perforated steel reinforcement (PSSECW), perforated shaped steel-concrete connector (PSSCC), and shaped steel reinforced ECC (SSRE) possess no yield stage because of the absence of the perforated steel reinforcement or ECC. Except for the ultra-high-strength ECC90, the theoretical results obtained for the bearing capacity equation of the PSSECs are generally consistent with the test results.