Behaviour of Corroded Stud Shear Connectors under Fatigue Loading

Experimental investigation was conducted on corroded composite push-out specimens to study the behavior of shear studs subjected to fatigue loading. A total of eight standard EC4 push-out specimens were tested. The expected corrosion rate of test specimens ranged from 0 to 50%. The main purpose of these tests was to determine the fatigue life and the reduction effect caused by the corrosion on the fatigue life. The effect of corrosion on the fatigue crack, load-slip curves, and failure modes was also studied. In addition, the test results were compared with current Eurocode design predictions, which is only for specimen without corrosion. It is shown that the current Eurocode design predictions are quite conservative for the test specimens in this study. Design equations were also proposed for fatigue life of corroded composite push-out specimens.