Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC

Xiao, Lin; He, Yawen; Wang, Hongjuan; Wei, Xing; Liao, Xuan; Wang, Yingliang; Dai, Xiaochun

doi:10.3390/jcs9100547

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Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC

by

Lin Xiao

^1,2

,

Yawen He

^1,2,

Hongjuan Wang

^1,2,

Xing Wei

^1,2,*

,

Xuan Liao

^2,3,

Yingliang Wang

⁴ and

Xiaochun Dai

⁴

¹

Department of Bridge Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

²

National Key Laboratory of Bridge Intelligent and Green Construction, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China

³

China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430056, China

⁴

China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610031, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

J. Compos. Sci. 2025, 9(10), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs9100547 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 14 August 2025 / Revised: 18 September 2025 / Accepted: 29 September 2025 / Published: 5 October 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theoretical and Computational Investigation on Composite Materials)

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Abstract

This paper investigates the mechanical behavior of PBL shear connectors in UHPC during the elastic stage, utilizing push-out experiments and numerical simulation. This study simplifies the mechanical behavior of PBL shear connectors in UHPC under normal service conditions as a plane strain problem for the UHPC dowel and a Winkler’s Elastic foundation beam theory for the transverse reinforcement. The UHPC dowel is a thick-walled cylindrical shell subjected to non-axisymmetric loads inside and outside simultaneously in the plane-strain state. The stress solution is derived by assuming the contact stress distribution function and using the Airy stress function. The displacement solution is subsequently determined from the stresses by differentiating between elastic and rigid body displacements. By modeling the transverse reinforcement as an infinitely long elastic foundation beam, its displacement solution and stress solution are obtained. We obtain the load–slip curve calculation method by superimposing the displacement of UHPC with the transverse reinforcement in the direction of shear action. The proposed analytical solutions for stress and slip, as well as the method for calculating load–slip, are shown to be reliable by comparing them to the numerical simulation analysis results.

Keywords: composite structure; UHPC; PBL connectors; analytical solution; airy stress function; Winkler foundation beam

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MDPI and ACS Style

Xiao, L.; He, Y.; Wang, H.; Wei, X.; Liao, X.; Wang, Y.; Dai, X. Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC. J. Compos. Sci. 2025, 9, 547. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs9100547

AMA Style

Xiao L, He Y, Wang H, Wei X, Liao X, Wang Y, Dai X. Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC. Journal of Composites Science. 2025; 9(10):547. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs9100547

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xiao, Lin, Yawen He, Hongjuan Wang, Xing Wei, Xuan Liao, Yingliang Wang, and Xiaochun Dai. 2025. "Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC" Journal of Composites Science 9, no. 10: 547. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs9100547

APA Style

Xiao, L., He, Y., Wang, H., Wei, X., Liao, X., Wang, Y., & Dai, X. (2025). Analysis of Elastic-Stage Mechanical Behavior of PBL Shear Connector in UHPC. Journal of Composites Science, 9(10), 547. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs9100547

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