the effect of ductile connectors on the behaviour of timber–concrete composite beams

furthermore, the connection ductility required to achieve the maximum load capacity depends on the mechanical properties of the connection as well as on the geometric and mechanical properties of the composite system. there are certain types of connections, such as notched connections, with a very brittle behaviour, for which the failure of the composite structure might be significantly influenced by connection failure, unless very small spacing between the fasteners is used. on the other hand, ductile connections such as dowel-type fasteners can be used with large spacing since their high ultimate deformation capacity is unlikely to be reached before the failure of either the concrete or the timber member. with the aim of identifying the maximum spacing that should be allowed for each specific connector type, numerical analyses were performed with the aim of identifying the maximum spacing that should be allowed for each specific connector type so as to maximize the load-carrying capacity and possibly increase the ultimate deformation capacity.