Experimental investigation on corroded stud connectors under strain rates effect

Abstract

Shear connectors have been widely used in bridge and steel engineering to transfer the dynamic load effect between the neighbour elements. The shear connectors are exposed to moist air, and corrosion is unavoidable. An experimental investigation was conducted on the shear behaviour of corroded stud connectors with growing strain rates to study the effects of corrosion and strain rate on the shear capacity. Four series of specimens with different corrosion rates were tested. The electronic accelerating method was used to fabricate corroded studs with target corrosion rates. The corroded studs were loaded with five loading speeds to investigate the strain rate effects on the shear capacity. The fractured surfaces show that the corroded stud connectors have more tensile deformation in the loading process and a higher strain rate enhances the shear fracture other than tensile fracture. Based on the statistics of load-slip curves, we found that stud connectors with higher corrosion rates are more sensitive to dynamic load. However, corrosion cannot decrease the ultimate shear stress based on the minimum cross-section. For all corrosion rates, the relative ultimate shear strength grows with strain rate with a fixed growth rate.

Keywords

• Shear connectors
• Corrosion
• Strain rate effect
• Ultimate strength