Experimental Study on Timber-Lightweight Concrete Composite Beams with Ductile Bolt Connectors

A timber-lightweight-concrete (TLC) composite beam connected with a ductile connector in which the ductile connector is made of a stainless-steel bolt anchored with nuts at both ends was proposed. The push-out results and bending performance of the TLC composite specimens were investigated by experimental testing. The push-out results of the shear specimens show that shear-slip curves exhibit good ductility and that their failure can be attributed to bolt buckling accompanied by lightweight concrete cracking. Through the bending tests of ten TLC composite beams and two contrast (pure timber) beams, the effects of different bolt diameters on the strengthening effect of the TLC composite beams were studied. The results show that the TLC composite beams and contrast timber beams break on the timber fiber at the lowest edge of the TLC composite beam, and the failure mode is attributed to bending failure, whereas the bolt connectors and lightweight concrete have no obvious breakage; moreover, the ductile bolt connectors show a good connection performance until the TLC composite beams fail. The ultimate bearing capacities of the TLC composite beams increase 2.03-3.5 times compared to those of the contrast beams, while the mid-span maximum deformation decrease nearly doubled.