Steel failure mode of composite dowel shear connector with rectangular regular cutoff

Abstract In this work, a study was carried out on the steel failure behavior of composite dowel shear connectors with regular rectangular cutoff. The bearing capacity equation related to the steel failure is normally treated in the literature as a function of the thickness, yield strength, geometric repetition and shape coefficient. The connector with regular rectangular cutoff study comprised the deduction of the steel failure equation according to von Mises criterion and the comparison of the results obtained from numerical analysis produced for this work and experimental results from literature. The shape coefficient found in each phase of the study is presented. Furthermore, from the numerical results it was possible to evaluate the stress distribution on the steel dowel and verify the coherence of the mechanical model that considers a straight critical section and a uniformly distributed load due to the concrete pressure on the steel dowel.