• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.763-773
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• 2014

The recently developed Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) displays outstanding compressive strength and ductility but is also subjected to very large autogenous shrinkage. In addition, the use of forms and reinforcement to confine this autogenous shrinkage increases the risk of shrinkage cracking. Accordingly, this study adopts a combination of shrinkage reducing admixture and expansive admixture as a solution to reduce the shrinkage of UHPC and estimates its appropriateness by evaluating the compressive and flexural strengths as well as the autogenous shrinkage according to the age. Moreover, the coefficient of thermal expansion known to experience sudden variations at early age is measured in order to evaluate exactly the autogenous shrinkage and the thermal expansion is compensated considering these measurements. The experimental results show that the compressive and flexural strengths decreased slightly at early age when mixing 7.5% of expansive admixture and 1% of shrinkage reducing admixture but that this decrease becomes insignificant after 7 days. The use of expansive admixture tended to premature the setting of UHPC and the start of sudden increase of autogenous shrinkage. Finally, the combined use of shrinkage reducing admixture and expansive admixture appeared to reduce effectively the autogenous shrinkage by about 47% at 15 days.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.319-336
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• 2024

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has attracted increasing attention in prefabricated steel-concrete composite beams as achieving the onsite construction time savings and structural performance improvement. The inferior replacement and removal efficiency of conventional prefabricated steel-UHPC composite beams (PSUCBs) has thwarted its sustainable applications because of the widely used welded-connectors. Single embedded nut bolted shear connectors (SENBs) have recently introduced as an attempt to enhance demountability of PSUCBs. An in-depth exploration of the mechanical behavior of SENBs in UHPC is necessary to evidence feasibilities of corresponding PSUCBs. However, existing research has been limited to SENB arrangement impacts and lacked considerations on SENB geometric configuration counterparts. To this end, this paper performed twenty push-out tests and theoretical analyses on the shear performance and design recommendation of SENBs. Key test parameters comprised the diameter and grade of SENBs, degree and sequence of pretension, concrete casting method and connector type. Test results indicated that both diameters and grades of bolts exerted remarkable impacts on the SENB shear performance with respect to the shear and frictional responses. Also, there was limited influence of the bolt preload degrees on the shear capacity and ductility of SENBs, but non-negligible contributions to their corresponding frictional resistance and initial shear stiffness. Moreover, inverse pretension sequences or monolithic cast slabs presented slight improvements in the ultimate shear and slip capacity. Finally, design-oriented models with higher accuracy were introduced for predictions of the ultimate shear resistance and load-slip relationship of SENBs in PSUCBs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.463-474
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• 2020

In this paper, the influence of adding multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on the pull behavior of steel and GFRP bars in ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) was examined experimentally and numerically. For numerical analysis, 3D nonlinear finite element modeling (FEM) with the help of ABAQUS software was used. Mechanical properties of the specimens, including Young's modulus, tensile strength and compressive strength, were extracted from the experimental results of the tests performed on standard cube specimens and for different values of weight percent of MWCNTs. In order to consider more realistic assumptions, the bond between concrete and bar was simulated using adhesive surfaces and Cohesive Zone Model (CZM), whose parameters were obtained by calibrating the results of the finite element model with the experimental results of pullout tests. The accuracy of the results of the finite element model was proved with conducting the pullout experimental test which showed high accuracy of the proposed model. Then, the effect of different parameters such as the material of bar, the diameter of the bar, as well as the weight percent of MWCNT on the bond behavior of bar and UHPC were studied. The results suggest that modifying UHPC with MWCNT improves bond strength between concrete and bar. In MWCNT per 0.01 and 0.3 wt% of MWCNT, the maximum pullout strength of steel bar with a diameter of 16 mm increased by 52.5% and 58.7% compared to the control specimen (UHPC without nanoparticle). Also, this increase in GFRP bars with a diameter of 16 mm was 34.3% and 45%.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.81-88
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• 2021

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have attracted considerable interest owing to the frequent earthquakes over the last decade. Smart concrete is a technology that can analyze the state of structures based on their electro-mechanical behavior. On the other hand, most research on the self-sensing response of smart concrete generally investigated the electro-mechanical behavior of smart concrete under a static loading rate, even though the loading rate under an earthquake would be much faster than the static rate. Thus, this study evaluated the electro-mechanical behavior of smart ultra-high-performance concrete (S-UHPC) at three different loading rates (1, 4, and 8 mm/min) using a Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The stress-sensitive coefficient (SC) at the maximum compressive strength of S-UHPC was -0.140 %/MPa based on a loading rate of 1 mm/min but decreased by 42.8% and 72.7% as the loading rate was increased to 4 and 8 mm/min, respectively. Although the sensing capability of S-UHPC decreased with increased load speed due to the reduced deformation of conductive materials and increased microcrack, it was available for SHM systems for earthquake detection in structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.139-154
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• 2016

Since the concrete strength around the reinforcement rebar affects the tension stiffening, the tension stiffening effect of ultra high performance concrete on the concrete members reinforced by steel rebar is examined by testing the specimens with circular cross section with the length 850 mm reinforced by a steel rebar at the center of a specimen's cross section in this research. Conducting a tensile test on the specimens, the cracking behavior is evaluated and a curve with an exponential descending branch is obtained to explain the post-cracking zone. In addition, this paper proposes an equation for this branch and parameters of equation is obtained based on the ratio of cover thickness to rebar diameter (c/d) and reinforcement percentage (${\rho}$).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.417-430
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• 2017

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has aroused interest around the world owing to superior mechanical and durability properties over conventional concrete. However, the application of UHPC in practice poses difficulties due to its inherent brittleness. UHPC filled in steel tube columns (UHPC-FSTCs) are capable of restricting the brittle failure of non-reinforced UHPC columns and forming a high performance member with enhancement of strength and ductility. Currently, research on UHPC-FSTCs remains very limited and there is relatively little information about the mechanical behavior of these columns. Therefore, this study presents a review of past experimental studies to have a deeper insight into the compressive behavior of UHPC-FSTCs under axial loading on entire section and on concrete core. Based on the test results obtained from Schneider (2006) and Xiong (2012), an analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of the confinement index (${\xi}$) and diameter to steel tube thickness ratio (D/t) on the strength and the ductility in short circular UHPC-FSTCs. Furthermore, the appropriateness of current design codes including EC4, AISC, AIJ and previous analytical models for estimating the ultimate loads of composite columns was also examined by the comparison between the predictions and the test results. Finally, simplified formulae for predicting the ultimate loads in two types of loading pattern were proposed and verified.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.281-295
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• 2022

Tensile property is one of the excellent properties of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), and uniaxial tensile test is an important and challenging mechanical performance test of UHPC. Traditional uniaxial tensile tests of concrete materials have inherent defects such as initial eccentricity, which often lead to cracks and failure in non-test zone, and affect the testing accuracy of tensile properties of materials. In this paper, an original integrated design scheme of mould and end fixture is proposed, which achieves seamless matching between the tension end of specimen and the test fixture, and minimizes the cumulative eccentricity caused by the difference in the matching between the tension end of specimen and the local stress concentration at the end. The stress analysis and optimization design are carried out by finite element method. The curve transition in the end of specimen is preferred compared to straight line transition. The rationality of the new integrated design is verified by uniaxial tensile test of strain hardening UHPC, in which the whole stress-strain curve was measured, including the elastic behavior before cracking,strain hardening behavior after cracking and strain softening behavior.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.493-496
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• 2006

Ultra high performance concrete(UHPC) has an excellent strength, toughness, and durability. It seems that it is very efficiently applicable for various structures such as bridge, building. When it is used to bridge girder, It is possible to reduce the amount of concrete and steel, to cut down costs for construction. This paper estimated whether it was applicable and how it was efficient. It was confirmed that the height of girder could be reduced by 40% or more in using UHPC. We can also think that the stirrups can be removed considering the ductile tensile behavior of UHPC and that its very high compressive strength make the anchor plate smaller from this study.

• 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.