Shear Connector Design for Composite Flexural Members

Abstract

Composite flexural members with vertical laminations are sometimes loaded in such a manner that individual components of the composite member tend to deflect unevenly. A simple procedure is presented for determining the longitudinal spacing of shear connectors that ensures uniform deflection of vertically laminated composite flexural members. The so-called ``deflection compatibility shear connectors'' are designed to provide a uniform load that opposes uneven deflection assuming the conservative case where total design loads are placed on the most flexible component of the composite member.