Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 461-470 (2026)
STUDY ON SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF FOUR-CORNER BENT BAR CONNECTORS IN
PREFABRICATED CONCRETE COMPOSITE FLOOR SLAB
Zeng-Mei Qiu, Wen-Zhuang Pei, Guo-Chang Li, Meng-Ge Li * and Xiao Li
School of Civil Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, China
*(Corresponding author: E-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Received: 16 June 2026; Revised: 19 July 2026; Accepted: 22 July 2026
DOI:10.18057/IJASC.2026.22.4.9
View Article |
Export Citation: Plain Text | RIS | Endnote |
ABSTRACT
The four-corner bent bar connectors are used to connect the prefabricated concrete composite floor slab with the H-shaped steel beam, aiming to ensure working performance of the floor system. To investigate shear behavior of the four-corner bent bar connectors, a push-out test was conducted with the diameter of steel bar as a variable parameter. Additionally, a push-out specimen model was established using ABAQUS, and the accuracy of models was verified through comparison with test results. On this basis, the entire force process and key parameters of the shear behavior of the four-corner bent bar connectors were analyzed. The results indicate that the four-corner bent bar connector exhibits high initial stiffness and bearing capacity. Moreover, the characteristic displacements of four-corner bent bar connectors comply with the requirement that the lower slip limit for flexible connectors is 6mm, as stipulated in Eurocode 4. Therefore, the four-corner bent bar connector belongs to flexible connectors, demonstrating good ductility. Among the factors, the diameter of steel bars has the most significant influence on its shear bearing capacity, followed by the compressive strength of cast-in-place concrete, while the compressive strength of prefabricated concrete has the least influence. It is recommended that the diameter of steel bars for the four-corner bent bar connector should be set at 14mm, and the strength of steel bars should be HRB400. Based on the numerical simulation results, a calculation formula for the shear bearing capacity applicable to four-corner bent bar connectors was proposed using the method of multiple linear regression.
KEYWORDS
Prefabricated concrete composite floor slabs, Four-corner bent bar connector, Shear behavior, Push-out test, Bearing capacity
REFERENCES
[1] Yu S, Liu Y, Wang D, et al. "Review of thermal and environmental performance of prefabricated buildings: Implications to emission reductions in China." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021, 137: 110472.
[2] Li X J , Xie W , Yang T ,et al. "Carbon emission evaluation of prefabricated concrete composite plates during the building materialization stage." Building and Environment, 2023, 232: 110045.
[3] Yossef M, Chen A, Elsayad M, et al. "Deconstructable variable stiffness shear connectors in FRP deck resting on multigirder bridge system: Analytical model." Engineering Structures, 2024, 307: 117932.
[4] He J, Wang Z, He Y, et al. "Research review on demountable shear connectors for prefabricated steel-concrete composite beams." Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 2025, 25, pp. 180-207.
[5] Xu Q, Sebastian W, Lu K, et al. "Development and performance of innovative steel wedge block–crossed inclined stud–UHPC connections for composite bridge." Journal of Structural Engineering, 2022, 148(9): 04022128.
[6] Lei Y, Liu G D, Shun X H, et al. "Acoustic emission characteristic signal analysis based on push-out tests of shear nail cluster connectors." Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 2026, 43(01), pp. 35-47.
[7] Bouchair A, Bujnak J, Duratna P." Connection in steel-concrete composite truss." Procedia Engineering, 2012, 40, pp. 96-101.
[8] Shariati A T A. "Monotonic behavior of C and L shaped angle shear connectors within steel-concrete composite beams: an experimental investigation." Steel & Composite Structures: An International Journal, 2020, 35(2), pp. 237-247.
[9] Dhanush S, Rao K B. "Truss type shear connectors used in segmental composite slab" Proceedings of The International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering Materials and Processes, Coimbatore. 2015.
[10] Bezerra L M, Barbosa W C S, Bonilla J, et al. "Truss-type shear connector for composite steel-concrete beams." Construction and Building Materials, 2018, 167, pp. 757-767.
[11] Lima J M, Bezerra L M, Bonilla J, et al. "Study of the behavior and resistance of right-angle truss shear connector for composite steel concrete beams." Engineering Structures, 2022, 253: 113778.
[12] Barbosa W C S, Bezerra L M, Chater L, et al. "Experimental evaluation on the structural behavior of truss shear connectors in composite steel-concrete beams." Revista IBRACON de Estruturas e Materiais, 2019, 12(5), pp. 1157-1182.
[13] Kanchanadevi A K, Ramanjaneyulu K, Srinivas V. "Behaviour of concrete composite slabs with truss type shear connectors of different orientation angle." Advances in Structural Engineering, 2021, 24(13), pp. 3070-3084.
[14] Li T Q, Zhu Q, Zhu P R, et al. "Shear resistance of the bent reinforcement shear connectors in steel-concrete composite beam." Industrial Construction, 1985(10), pp. 6-12.
[15] Zhou W D, Bai F, Zheng D Y, et al. "Experimental study on grid-type push-out of reverse-bending tie connector-Part 3 of the series study on steel-concrete composite truss." Journal of Hefei University of Technology (Natural Science Edition), 1994(1), pp. 81-86.
[16] Zhang Z Y, Li Q Q, Jiang W S." Shear capacity research on bend bar connectors of steel-concrete composite beams." Sichaun Building Science, 2013, 39(3), pp.4-7.
[17] Zhang H W, Shao X D, Cao J H, et al. "Preliminary study on shear performance of Ultra thin lightweight composite bridge deck with short rebar connestions." Highway Engineering, 2019, 44(2), pp. 8-13, 35.
[18] Shao X D, Zhang H W, Li J, et al. "Research on shear performance of short rebar connectors in steel-ultra thin UHPC lightweight composite deck." China Civil Engineering Journal, 2020, 53(1), pp. 39-51.
[19] Yu Z, Liu F Q, Lu W, et al. "Experimental study on shear behavior of tie-bar connectors in corrugated steel-concrete composite panels." Journal of Building Structures, 2024, 45(S1), pp. 284-290.
[20] BSI. Eurocode4: Design of composite steel and concrete structures. London: BSI, 2004.
[21] Qiu Z M. "Development and performance study of new connection between precast concrete laminated floor slab and beam." Shenyang, Shenyang Jianzhu University, 2014.
[22] Yan Y H, Deng P, Hou H T, et al. "Experimental study on shear resistance of bolt connector in steel-concrete composite beam." Journal of Shandong University of Science and Technology (Natural Science), 2021, 40(02), pp.51-59.
[23] GB/T 50010-2010, Code for design of concrete structures. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2024.
[24] Li G C, Wang Z Y, Yang Z J, et al. "Experimental study on shear behavior of π-type crestbond shear connrctors ." Journal of Building Structures, 2022, 43(06), pp. 75-86.
[25] Li G C, Shi X S, Xu W, et al." Finite element analysis of shear-capacity of T-CR shear connectors." Journal of Shenyang Jianzhu University(Natural Science), 2019, 35(01), pp. 30-38.
[26] ACI. Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete. Farmington Hills, MI: American Concrete Institute, 2019.
[27] Li K C. "Calculation suggestions of flexible connection of steel-concrete composite beams." Industrial Construction, 1987, 17(6), pp. 14-19.
[28] GB50017-2017, Standard for design of steel structures. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2018.
