Behaviour of Adhesive Bonded and Mechanically Connected Steel-concrete Composite under Impact Loading

Abstract

The aim of the study was to observe and provide a qualitative comparison of the behaviour of mechanically connected and adhesively bonded steel-concrete composite connections under impact load. For this, steel-concrete composites connections were subjected to drop-weight impact test. The number of blows required for crack initiation and final failure (serviceability failure in case of the stud connection) were noticed. It was found that the adhesively bonded connection can resist comparatively higher number (twice) of blows for crack initiation but, the number of blows required for final failure were relatively less. The adhesively bonded connection showed a brittle failure in concrete near the adhesive concrete interface whereas the mechanically connected specimen showed ductile failure due to concrete crushing in composite specimen nearby the studs.