Experimental and Numerical Study on the Shear Performance of Short Stud Shear Connectors in Steel–UHPC Composite Beams

Steel–ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) composite beams offer numerous advantages, such as structural self-weight reduction, bending stiffness improvement, and tensile cracking limitation in slabs. However, few studies have focused on the shear performance of short stud shear connectors in steel–UHPC composite structures. To this end, push-out tests were carried out to evaluate the effect of slab thickness, stud diameter, and casting method on the failure mode, load–slip relationship, ultimate shear strength, shear stiffness, and ductility. The test results indicate that by increasing the slab thickness from 50 to 75 mm, the stud shear capacity and initial shear stiffness were improved by 11.38% and 23.28%, respectively. The stud shear capacity and initial shear stiffness for specimens with stud diameters of 25 mm were 1.29 and 1.23 times that of their 22-mm-diameter counterparts. In addition, adopting precast UHPC slabs could achieve comparative shear resistance (94.91%) but a better slip capacity (108.94%) than those containing conventional monolithic cast slabs. Based on the experimental results, a finite element (FE) model was established to reflect the plastic behavior of the tests and the damage process in the short stud shear connectors. Based on the validated FE model, a parameter study was then performed to further explore the influence of the stud diameter, stud tensile strength, steel beam tensile strength, monolithic slab concrete strength, precast slab concrete strength, and shear pocket concrete strength on the shear performance of short studs in steel–UHPC composite structures.