• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.6
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• pp.617-626
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• 2024

The study investigated the behavior of plain and fibered Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) beams under varying loading conditions using integrated analysis of the flexure and acoustic emission tests. The loading rate of testing is -0.25 -2 mm/min. It is observed that on increasing loading rate, flexural strength increases, and toughness decreases. The acoustic emission testing revealed that higher loading rates accelerate crack propagation. Fiber effect and matrix cracking are identified as significant contributors to the release of acoustic emission energy, with fiber rupture/failure and matrix cracking showing rate-dependent behavior. Crack classification analysis indicated that the rise angle (RA) value decreased under quasi-static loading. The average frequency (AF) value increased with the loading rate, but this trend reversed under rate-dependent conditions. K-means analysis identified distinct clusters of crack types with unique frequency and duration characteristics at different loading rates. Furthermore, the historic index and signal strength decreased with increasing loading rate after peak capacity, while the severity index increased in the post-peak zone, indicating more severe damage. The sudden rise in the historic index and cumulative signal strength indicates the possibility of several occurrences, such as the emergence of a significant crack, shifts in cracking modes, abrupt failure, or notable fiber debonding/pull-out. Moreover, there is a distinct rise in the number of AE knees corresponding to the increase in loading rate. The crack mapping from acoustic emission testing aligned with observed failure patterns, validating its use in structural health monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.282-289
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• 2017

The flexural behavior tests of UHPC segmental Box girder which has 160MPa compressive strength and 15.4m length were carried out. The test variables are area of prestressing wires, volume fraction of steel fibers and longitudinal reinforcing bars in upper flange and web. PS tendons which has 32 strands of 15.2mm diameter in lower flange, 24 strands and 14 strands in lower flange were arranged and volume fraction of 2%, 1.5% and 1.0% is used in box girder concrete. UHPFRC box girder which has 32 strands in lower flange showed the over reinforcement and brittle behavior. UHPFRC box girder which has 24 strands showed the similar peak load as 32 strands girder and ductile behavior as large deflection. UHPFRC box girder which has 14 strands showed half of the peak load of 24 strands box girder and ductile behavior. After the application of the formular for the reinforcement index to the behavior of the UHPFRC box girders, reinforcement index does not determine the characteristic of behavior of UHPFRC box girder exactly. So the index should consider the dimension precisely and modify the reference value corresponding to the 0.005 strain of the prestressing strands.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.290-297
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• 2017

The flexural behavior tests of UHPC segmental U-girder and composite U-girder which has 160MPa compressive strength and 15.4m length were carried out. The test variables are volume fraction of steel fibers and slab over the U-girder. Each U-girder has longitudinal re-bars in web and lower flange. PS tendons which has 2 of 15.2mm diameter in upper flange and PS tendons which has 7 of 15.2mm diameter in lower flange were arranged and prestressed at onetime in U-girder connection stage. Enough strong prestressing force which applied to U-girder due to ultra high performance concrete strength can withstand the self weight and dead load in U-girder stage. By comparison with the brittle behavior of U-girder, composite U-girder showed the stable and ductile behavior. After the construction of slab over U-girder, flexural load capacity of composite U-girder can bear the design load in final construction stage with only one time prestressing operation which already carried out in U-girder stage. This simple prestressing method due to the ultra high strength concrete have the advantage in construction step and cost. The shear key which has narrow space has the strong composite connection between ultra high strength concrete U-girder and high strength concrete slab didn't show any slip and opening right before failure load.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.365-373
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• 2016

Ultra-High-Performance Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (SUPER Concrete) exhibits improved compressive and tensile strengths far superior to those of conventional concrete. These characteristics can significantly reduce the cross sectional area of the member and the anchorage strength of a headed bar is expected to be improved. In this study, the anchorage strengths of headed bars with $4d_b$ or $6d_b$ embedment length were evaluated by simulated exterior beam-column joint tests where the headed bars were used as beam bars and the joints were cast of 120 or 180 MPa SUPER Concrete. In all specimens, the actual yield strengths of the headed bars over 600 MPa were developed. Some headed bars were fractured due to the high anchorage capacity in SUPER Concrete. Therefore, the headed bar with only $4d_b$ embedment length in 120 MPa SUPER Concrete can develop a yield strength of 600 MPa which is the highest design yield strength permitted by the KCI design code. The previous model derived from tests with normal concrete and the current design code underestimate the anchorage capacity of the headed bar anchored in SUPER Concrete. Because the previous model and the current design code do not consider the effects of the high tensile strength of SUPER Concrete. From a regression analysis assuming that the anchorage strength is proportional to $(f_{ck})^{\alpha}$, the model for predicting anchorage strength of headed bars in SUPER Concrete is developed. The average and coefficient of variation of the test-to-prediction values are 1.01 and 5%, respectively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.553-568
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• 2020

Steel-concrete composite structures have been extensively used in building, bridges, and other civil engineering infrastructure. Shear stud connectors between steel and concrete are essential in composite members to guarantee the effectiveness of their behavior in terms of strength and deformability. This study focuses on investigating the shear stiffness of headed studs embedded in several types of concrete with wide range of compressive strength, and their effects on the elastic behavior of steel-concrete composite girders were evaluated. Firstly, totally 206 monotonic push-out tests from the literature were reviewed to investigate the shear stiffness of headed studs embedded in various types of concrete (NC, HPC, UHPC etc.). Shear stiffness of studs is defined as the secant stiffness of the load-slip curve at 0.5V_u, and a formulation for predicting defined shear stiffness in elastic state was proposed, indicating that the stud diameter and the elastic modulus of steel and concrete are the main factors. And the shear stiffness predicted by the new formula agree well with test results for studs with a diameter ranging from 10 to 30 mm in the concrete with compressive strength ranging from 22.0 to 200.0MPa. Then, the effects of shear stiffness on the elastic behaviors of composite girders with different sizes and under different loading conditions were analyzed, the equations for calculating the stress and deformation of simply supported composite girders considering the influence of connection's shear stiffness were derived under different loading conditions using classical linear partial-interaction theory. As the increasing of shear stiffness, the stress and deflection at the most unfavorable section under partial connected condition tend to be those under full connected condition, but the approaching speed decreases gradually. Finally, the connector's shear stiffness was recommended for fully connection in composite girders with different dimensions under different loading conditions. The findings from present study may provide a reference for the prediction of shear stiffness for headed studs and the elastic design of steel-concrete composite girder.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.205-214
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• 2012

Crack widths play an important role in the serviceability limit state. When crack widths are controlled sufficiently, the reinforcement corrosion can be reduced using only existing concrete cover thickness due to low permeability in the region of finely distributed hair-cracks. Thus, the knowledge about the tensile crack opening is essential in designing more durable concrete structures. Therefore, numerous researches related to the topic have been performed. Nevertheless accurate measurement of a crack width is not a simple task due to several reasons such as unknown potential crack formation location and crack opening damaging strain gages. In order to overcome these difficulties and measure precise crack widths, a displacement measurement system was developed using digital image correlation. Accuracy calibration tests gave an average measurement error of 0.069 pixels and a standard deviation of 0.050 pixels. Direct tensile test was performed using ultra high performance concrete specimens. Crack widths at both notched and unnotched locations were measured and compared with clip-in gages at various loading steps to obtain crack opening profile. Tensile deformation characteristics of concrete were well visualized using displacement vectors and full-field displacement contour maps. The proposed technique made it possible to measure crack widths at arbitrary locations, which is difficult with conventional gages such as clip-in gages or displacement transducers.