Behaviour of novel stiffened angle shear connectors at ambient and elevated temperatures

This paper presents experimental studies to investigate the behaviour of stiffened angle shear connectors subjected to isothermal fire loading. Push-out tests were conducted on 48 specimens covering various geometries of stiffened angle shear. The specimens were initially heated at room temperature, which gradually increased to target temperatures, and loaded up to failure for the assessment of their shear resistance at high temperatures. The behaviour of these connectors at ambient and high temperatures was compared. Results showed that the full-length stiffened angle shear connectors exhibited higher shear resistance compared with the half-length ones, whereas the ductility of the half-length stiffened shear connectors was greater than that of the full-length ones; the connector fracture governed the failure mode. Although heating exerted a substantially destructive effect on the resistance of the shear connectors, it led to increased ductile behaviour.