# Experimental Study of Perfobond Rib Shear Connector under Lateral Force
## 2 Literature Review  
There have been abundant studies on Perfobond rib shear connectors. The key question to answer is what configurations of the perforated holes and steel reinforcement bars would provide the optimum capacity and ductility. The superior and reliable bond of Perfobond rib shear connectors distinguishes them from other types of connectors, and there are a number of sources from which bond comes. Namely, the concrete and reinforcement mechanical dowel action, the cohesive and frictional bond at the concrete and steel rib interface, and the concrete at the end of the connector as bearing. The mechanical dowel action bond is unique to the Perfobond rib shear connector and significantly increases connector's ductility. It has been studied through the comparison between specimens with and without rib holes and lateral reinforcement [2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23]. The cohesive bond and end concrete bearing effect are not unique to the Perfobond rib shear connector, and are characteristics shared by most shear connectors. However, for the continuous or very dense Perfobond rib arrangement, the end bearing concrete may well be negligible owing to the limited amount of concrete between connectors as bearing [4]. The behavior of the Perfobond rib shear connectors is primarily studied through the push-out tests. [PERSON] et al. focused on the mechanical dowel effect of various sizes of holes and reinforcement by eliminating the concrete bearing effect and the cohesive and frictional bond through foam layers [4]. [PERSON] et al. studied the influences of concrete strength, rib spacing of double rib specimens, concrete bearing, and lateral reinforcement, and reported a significant increase in strength due to lateral reinforcement in addition to the conclusions that the specimen fails primarily because of the concrete instead of the steel rib, and the strength and ductility of the specimens are more associated with the concrete strength [12]. In [PERSON]'s tests, a cohesive and frictional bond is also eliminated by adding grease at the concrete steel interface. [PERSON] et al. studied the influence of the perforated rib holes and the lateral reinforcement, and reported that, for 120 mm specimens, the existence of rib holes and lateral reinforcement would noticeably increase the Perfobond rib shear connector's strength as well as the ductility, but, as for the thicker 200 mm specimens, the influence may be limited to only a few percentages because of the closely spaced rib holes [20]. [PERSON] et al. in another study compared conventional Perfobond shear connectors with new T-Perfobond shear connectors and reported a significant improvement in capacity in T-Perfobond shear connectors over conventional ones [18]. [PERSON] et al. studied a new Y-Perfobond rib shear connector of different configurations and compared it with the conventional Perfobond rib shear connector, and finally concluded that the Y-Perfobond rib shear connector has better performance than the conventional Perfobond rib shear connector [3]. [PERSON] et al. experimentally compared T-Perfobond, I-Perfobond, 2T-perfobond, and conventional Perfobond rib shear connectors and reported a significant improvement in the performance of those new types of connectors [9]. [PERSON] et al. conducted tests and carried out a nonlinear finite element analysis of Perfobond shear connectors with different shapes and sizes of holes, and found out that the hole shape and direction have a negligible difference in the push-out tests [2]. [PERSON] et al. compared various Perfobond shear connectors at both room and elevated temperatures and observed a reduced capacity at higher temperatures [7]. [PERSON] et al. (2004) studied the Perfobond shear connector on lightweight concrete [8] and, like in [PERSON]'s and [PERSON]'s tests of conventional concrete [2; 12], also reported no damage to the shear connector at failure.