Analytical study of triangular perfobond shear connectors

This paper elucidates the structural response of perfobond shear connectors with triangular holes which are connected to composite structures. The reason for use of triangular holes in those connectors was owing to better structural interaction. An analytical study has been carried out due to the reduction of material wastage. Moreover, an analytical study performs the method of finite element analysis, a keen numerical analysis that demonstrates each node's behaviour so that even minute deformations can be captured evidently. One of the reliable software for performing finite element analysis is the ABAQUS software. Using Abaqus software, a setup of structural assembly comprising of a couple of perforated plates with triangular holes affixed on a couple of CFS channel sections welded back-to-back each other and through the triangular holes in the perforated plate, the shear reinforcement of a reinforced concrete beam has been created and analysed. The required results have been correlated in the form of graphs, and the simulation has also been clearly rendered for better understanding. In this paper, the stress–strain behaviour and load–displacement behaviour of perfobond rib shear connectors have been studied. Here the ultimate load at which the perfoplate fails was found to be around 600 KN, which is almost 130% more than conventional stud connectors, which fail at an ultimate load of 260 kN. Moreover, among finite element analysis software, ABAQUS prevails to be the best as it performs analysis on every node, which tends to improvise the accuracy to a greater extent and it is capable of performing both implicit and explicit analysis, whereas similar software required a separate package for explicit analysis.