Fatigue energy dissipation and failure analysis of angle shear connectors embedded in high strength concrete

To inspect the fatigue energy dissipation of angle shear connectors under fully reversed cyclic fatigue loading while embedded in a high strength concrete (HSC) slab, a series of experimental push-out tests was conducted. The experimental tests comprised eight push-out test specimens with different geometries of angle connector. The failure of the angle connector under monotonic and low cyclic fatigue loading was tested and the observations were discussed. The results show that the ductility performance for angle shear connectors embedded in HSC was inadequate. However, reasonable strength resistance under monotonic loading and a small amount of fatigue energy dissipation under cyclic fatigue loading for connector was detected. All push-out test specimens experienced connector fracture failure with very low energy dissipation when subjected to fatigue loading. Details of the failure analysis and fatigue energy dissipation of the angles in HSC are fully described in the results.