• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.49-56
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• 2015

Ultra-High Strength Concrete(UHPC) has ultra-high material performance including high strength and high flowability. On the other hand it is less ductile than high ductile fiber reinforced cementitious composite. This study investigated the effect of combination of steel fiber and micro fiber on the tensile behavior of UHPC. Four types of UHPC containing combination of steel fiber, polyethylene(PE), polyvinyl alcohol(PVA), and basalt fiber were designed. And then uniaxial tension tests were performed to evaluate the tensile behavior of UHPC according to combination of fibers. And density was measured to evaluate whether micro fiber induces unintentional high pore or not. From the test results, it was exhibited that PE fiber with high strength is effective to improve the tensile behavior of UHPC and basalt fiber is effective to increase the cracking and tensile strength of UHPC. Furthermore, it was also verified that micro fiber does not make high pore.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.221-232
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• 2019

Material non-linearity of Reinforced Concrete (RC) framed structures is studied by modelling concrete using the Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) theory. The stress-strain data of concrete in compression is modelled using the Hsu model. The structures are analyzed using a finite element approach by modelling them in ABAQUS / CAE. Single bay single storey RC frames, designed according to Indian Standard (IS):456:2000 and IS:13920:2016 are considered for assessing their maximum load carrying capacity and failure behavior under the influence of gravity loads and lateral loads. It is found that the CDP model is effective in predicting the failure behaviors of RC frame structures. Under the influence of the lateral load, the structure designed according to IS:13920 had a higher load carrying capacity when compared with the structure designed according to IS:456. Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) strip is used for strengthening the columns and beam column joints of the RC frame individually against lateral loads. 10mm and 20mm thick strips are adopted for the numerical simulation of RC column and beam-column joint. Results obtained from the study indicated that UHPFRC with two different thickness strips acts as a very good strengthening material in increasing the load carrying capacity of columns and beam-column joint by more than 5%. UHPFRC also improved the performance of the RC frames against lateral loads with an increase of more than 3.5% with the two different strips adopted. 20 mm thick strip is found to be an ideal size to enhance the load carrying capacity of the columns and beam-column joints. Among the strengthening locations adopted in the study, column strengthening is found to be more efficient when compared with the beam column joint strengthening.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.305-316
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• 2022

Externally bonded ultrahigh performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is commonly used as a strengthening material for reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This study reports the results of an experimental program investigating the bonding behavior between concrete and prefabricated UHPFRC plates. The overall experimental program is consisting of five RC specimens, which are strengthened using the different lengths and widths of prefabricated UHPFRC plates. These specimens were analyzed using the pull-pull double-shear test. The performance of each strengthened specimen is presented, discussed and compared in terms of failure mode, maximum load, load-slip relationship, fracture energy and strain distribution. Specimen C-25-160-300 which bonded along the whole width of 160 mm recorded the highest maximum load (109.2 kN) among all the analysed specimens. Moreover, a 3D numerical finite element model (FEM) is proposed to simulate the bond behavior between concrete and UHPFRC plates. Moreover, this study reviews the analytical models that can predict the relationship between the maximum bond stress and slip for strengthened concrete elements. The proposed FEM is verified against the experimental program and then used to test 36 RC specimens strengthened with prefabricated UHPFRC plates with different concrete grades and UHPFRC plate widths. The obtained results together with the review of analytical models helped in the formation of a design equation for estimating the bond stress between concrete and prefabricated UHPFRC plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.709-722
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• 2014

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is an innovative new material that, in comparison to conventional concretes, has high compressive strength and excellent ductility properties achieved through the addition of randomly dispersed short fibers to the concrete mix. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation on the behavior of axially loaded UHPC short circular columns wrapped with Carbon-FRP (CFRP), Glass-FRP (GFRP), and Aramid-FRP (AFRP) sheets. Six plain and 36 different types of FRP-wrapped UHPC columns with a diameter of 100 mm and a length of 200 mm were tested under monotonic axial compression. To predict the ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns, a simple confinement model is presented and compared with four selected confinement models from the literature that have been developed for low and normal strength concrete columns. The results show that the FRP sheets can significantly enhance the ultimate strength and strain capacity of the UHPC columns. The average greatest increase in the ultimate strength and strain for the CFRP- and GFRP-wrapped UHPC columns was 48% and 128%, respectively, compared to that of their unconfined counterparts. All the selected confinement models overestimated the ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.211-227
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• 2020

To explore the feasibility of eliminating the longitudinal rebars and stirrups by using ultra-high-performance fiber reinforcement concrete (UHPFRC) in concrete encased steel composite stub column, compressive behavior of UHPFRC encased steel stub column has been experimentally investigated. Effect of concrete types (normal strength concrete, high strength concrete and UHPFRC), fiber fractions, and transverse reinforcement ratio on failure mode, ductility behavior and axial compressive resistance of composite columns have been quantified through axial compression tests. The experimental results show that concrete encased composite columns with NSC and HSC exhibit concrete crushing and spalling failure, respectively, while composite columns using UHPFRC exhibit concrete spitting and no concrete spalling is observed after failure. The incorporation of steel fiber as micro reinforcement significantly improves the concrete toughness, restrains the crack propagation and thus avoids the concrete spalling. No evidence of local buckling of rebars or yielding of stirrups has been detected in composite columns using UHPFRC. Steel fibers improve the bond strength between the concrete and, rebars and core shaped steel which contribute to the improvement of confining pressure on concrete. Three prediction models in Eurocode 4, AISC 360 and JGJ 138 and a proposed toughness index (T.I.) are employed to evaluate the compressive resistance and post peak ductility of the composite columns. It is found that all these three models predict close the compressive resistance of UHPFRC encased composite columns with/without the transverse reinforcement. UHPFRC encased composite columns can achieve a comparable level of ductility with the reinforced concrete (RC) columns using normal strength concrete. In terms of compressive resistance behavior, the feasibility of UHPFRC encased steel composite stub columns with lesser longitudinal reinforcement and stirrups has been verified in this study.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.152-163
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• 2019

In this paper, effect of steel fiber inclusion, compressive strength of matrix, shear reinforcement and shear span to depth ratio on the flexural behavior of UHPFRC(Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete) were investigated with test of 10-UHPFRC beam specimens. All test specimens were subjected to the flexural static loading. It was shown that steel fiber significantly improve the shear strength of UHPFRC beams. 2% volume fraction of steel fiber change the mode of failure from shear failure to flexural failure and delayed the failure of compressive strut with comparatively short shear span to depth ratio. UHPFRC beams without steel fiber had a 45-degree crack angle and fiber reinforced one had lower crack angle. Shear reinforcement contribution on shear strength of beams can be calculated by 45-degree truss model with acceptable conservatism. Using test results, French and Korean UHPFRC design recommendations were evaluated. French recommendation have shown conservative results on flexural behavior but Korean recommendation have shown overestimation for flexural strength. Both recommendations have shown the conservatism on the flexural ductility and shear strength either.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.405-417
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• 2023

While ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is commonly reinforced with micro straight steel fibers in existing applications, studies have indicated that the use of deformed steel macro-fibers leads to enhanced ductility and post-peak responses for UHPC structural elements, which is of particular importance for earthquake-resistant structures. However, there are potential concerns regarding the use of UHPC reinforced with macro-fibers due to the issues of workability and fiber distribution. The objective of this study was to address these issues by extensively investigating the restricted and non-restricted deformability, filling ability, horizontal and vertical velocities, and passing ability of UHPC containing macro hooked-end steel fibers. A new approach is suggested to examine the homogeneity of fiber distribution in UHPC. The influences of ultra-fine fillers and steel macro-fibers on the workability of fresh UHPC and the mechanics of hardened UHPC were examined. It was found that although increasing the ratio of quartz powder to cement led to an improvement in the workability and tensile strain hardening behavior of UHPC, it reduced the fiber distribution homogeneity. The addition of 1% volume fraction of macro-fibers in UHPC improved workability, but reduced its compressive strength, which is contrary to the effect of micro-fiber inclusion in UHPC.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2022

In this article, the flexural and shear capacity of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete beams (UHPFRC) using two kinds of rebars, including GFRP and steel rebars, are experimentally investigated. For this purpose, six UHPFRC beams (250 × 300 × 1650 mm) with three reinforcement ratios (ρ) of 0.64, 1.05, and 1.45 were constructed using 2% steel fibers by volume. Half of the specimens were made of UHPFRC reinforced with GFRP rebars, while the other half were reinforced with conventional steel rebars. All specimens were tested to failure in four-point bending. Both the load-deformation at mid-span and the failure pattern were studied. The results showed that utilizing GFRP bars increases the flexural strength of UHPFRC beams in comparison to those made of steel bars, but at the same time, it reduces the post-cracking strain hardening. Furthermore, by increasing the percentage of longitudinal bars, both the post-cracking strain hardening and load-bearing capacity increase. Comparing the experiment results with some of the available equations and provisions cited in the valid design codes reveals that some of the equations to predict the flexural strength of UHPFRC beams reinforced with conventional steel and GFRP bars are reasonably conservative, while Khalil and Tayfur model is un-conservative. This issue makes it essential to modify the presented equations in this research for predicting the flexural strength of UHPFRC beams using GFRP bars.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

The flexural behavior of the UHPFRC rectangular beam which has 100 MPa, 140 MPa compressive strength were compared with that of the typical RPC rectangular beam which has same geometrical shape, prestressd force and 160 MPa compressive strength. UHPFRC beam was not reinforced at all and the variable of test is fraction of steel fiber, compressive strength of concrete, method of prestressing and ratio of prestressing bar. The behavior of UHPFRC beam was analysed by relationship of moment - curvature and load - deflection. Simple modeling of stress-strain of UHPFRC was proposed. Based on the proposed constituted, the flexural moment-curvature relationship was calculated and compared with experimental data on prestressed UHPFRC beams. Good agreement between calculated strengths and experimental data is obtained.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.223-234
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• 2016

In this study, direct tension test for hybrid steel fiber reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) containing two different steel fibers with a length of 16 and 19 mm was performed to investigate the fracture behavior of UHPC. Test results showed that crack strength and tensile strength, and fracture energy increased with increasing the fiber volume ratio. Based on the test results, the peak cohesive stress at the crack tip, tensile strength, and fracture energy depending on the fiber volume ratio were proposed. The proposed tensile strength of UHPC was suggested as a function of the fiber volume ratio and compressive strength. The peak cohesive stress at the crack tip and fracture energy were also proposed as a function of the tensile strength. The predicted values were relatively agree well with the test results. Thus, the proposed equations is expected to be applicable to UHPC with a compressive strength of 140~170 MPa and a fiber volume ratio of less than 2%.