• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

Bolted connector could be an alternative to replace the conventional welded headed stud in steel-ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite structures. In this paper, a novel demountable bolted shear connector, consisting of a high-strength bolt (HSB) and a specially-designed nut which is pre-embedded in a thin UHPC slab, is proposed, which may result in the quick installation and disassembly, due to the mountable, demountable and reusable features. In order to study the shear behavior of the new type of bolted shear connector, static push-out tests were conducted on five groups of the novel demountable bolted shear connector specimens and one group of conventional welded headed stud specimen for comparison. The effect of the bolt shank diameter and aspect ratio of bolt on failure mode, shear stiffness, peak slip at the steel-UHPC interface, shear strength and ductility of novel bolted connectors is investigated. Additionally, design formula for the shear strength is proposed to check the suitability for assessment of the novel demountable bolted shear connectors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.531-545
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• 2023

Composite dowels are implemented as a powerful alternative to headed studs for the efficient combination of Ultra High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) with high-strength steel in novel composite structures. They are required to provide sufficient shear resistance and ensure the transmission of tensile forces in the composite connection in order to prevent lifting of the concrete slab. In this paper, the load bearing capacity of puzzle-shaped and clothoidal-shaped dowels encased in UHPC specimen were investigated based on validated experimental test data. Considering the influence of the embedment depth and the spacing width of shear dowels, the characteristics of UHPC square plate on the load bearing capacity of composite structure, 240 numeric models have been constructed and analyzed. Three artificial intelligence approaches have been implemented to learn the discipline from collected experimental data and then make prediction, which includes Artificial Neural Network-Particle Swarm Optimization (ANN-PSO), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). Among the factors, the embedment depth of composite dowel is proved to be the most influential parameter on the load bearing capacity. Furthermore, the results of the prediction models reveal that ELM is capable to achieve more accurate prediction.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.221-231
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• 2011

Thinner and lighter structural members can be designed by utilizing the high stiffness and toughness, and high compressive strength of UHPC(ultra high performance concrete), which reaches up to 200MPa. The punching shear capacity of UHPC was investigated in this paper aiming for the application of UHPC to bridge decks. Six square slabs were fabricated and punching shear test was performed under fixed boundary condition. Different thicknesses of test slabs, which were 40mm and 70mm, were selected. The shape ratio of loading plates were ranged between 1.0~2.5. 40mm thickness slabs showed longer softening region after the peak load and, on the other hand, 70mm thickness slabs revealed a more brittle shear failure. Experimental results were analyzed using various existing punching shear predicting equations. Ductal$^{(R)}$ equation and JSCE equation better predicted for 40mm slabs, and Harajli et al. equation and ACI-Ductal$^{(R)}$ equation better suited for 70mm slabs. Nevertheless generally they didn't well predict the test results. A new punching shear equation which was derived based on the actual failure mechanism was proposed. The proposed equation appeared to better predict the punching shear strength of UHPC than other available equations.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2022

To study the working mechanism and size effect of an innovative dovetail UHPC joint originated from the 5th Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a large-scale testing subject to negative bending moment was conducted and compared with the previous scaled specimens. The static responses, i.e., the crack pattern, failure mode, ductility and stiffness degradation were analyzed. It was found that the scaled specimens presented similar working stages and working mechanism with the large-scale ones. However, the post-cracking ductility and relative stiffness degradation all decrease with the enlarged length/scale, apart from the relative stiffness after flexural cracking. The slab stiffness at the flexural cracking stage is 90% of the initial stiffness while only 24% of the initial stiffness reserved in the ultimate stage. Finite element model (FEM) was established and compared with the experiments to verify its effectiveness in exploring the working mechanism of the innovative joint. Based on this effective method, a series of FEMs were established to further study the influence of material strength, pre-stressing level and ratio of reinforcement on its deflection-load relationship. It is found that the ratio of reinforcement can significantly improve its load-carrying capacity among the three major-influenced factors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.571-585
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• 2023

The application of relatively low volumes of fibres in normal strength concrete has been shown to be of significant benefit when applied to composite slabs with profiled sheet decking. This paper reports on an experimental study aimed at quantifying further potential benefits that may arise from applying ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete. To assess performance six simply supported beams were tested under hogging and sagging loading configurations along with three two span continuous beams. Fibre contents are varied from 0% to 2% and changes in strength, deformation, crack width and moment redistribution are measured. At the serviceability limit state, it is shown that the addition of high fibre volumes can significantly enhance member stiffness and reduce crack widths in all beams. At the ultimate limit state it is observed that a transition from 0% to 1% fibres significantly increases strength but that there is a maximum fibre volume beyond which no further increases in strength are possible. Conversely, member ductility and moment redistribution are shown to be strongly proportional to fibre volume.

• 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.