• 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.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.437-440
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• 2006

Generally, the strength of concrete depends on factors of materials, mix proportions, compaction, manufacturing methods and curing and so on. And recently, it has increased the using of crushed sand for concrete due to the exhaustion of good natural aggregate. This is an experimental study to compare and analyze the fluidity and compressive strength of ultra-high strength concrete according to the replacement ratio of crushed sand. For this purpose, the mix proportions of concrete according to the W/B ratio and replacement ratio of crushed sand was selected. And then air content, slump-flow, O-lot, compressive strength test were performed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.361-377
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• 2020

In the present research work, the effectiveness and the efficiency of a retrofitting approach using a layer of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) jacket for damaged substandard exterior beam-column joints (BCJs) is experimentally investigated. The main objective of this study is to rehabilitate the already damaged BCJs to meet the serviceability requirements without compromising safety. According to the proposed strengthening technique, a chipped surface, lightly brushed with a dry condition was selected for making a successful bond between normal concrete substrate surface (NCSS) and UHPFRC. Then a fresh UHPFRC jacket with a thickness of 30 mm was cast around the damaged specimens. The entire test matrix was comprised of three 1/3 scale damaged exterior BCJs with a different column axial load (CAL). These specimens were repaired with UHPFRC and retested under monotonic loading. Based on the experimental results, repaired specimens showed an excellent performance in terms of their load-displacement response, maximum strength, displacement ductility, initial stiffness, secant stiffness and energy dissipation capacity when compared with the corresponding values registered when these specimens were tested in their virgin state. This rehabilitative intervention not only restored the strength, stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of severely damaged specimens but also improved their performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-219
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• 2022

This paper firstly proposed high performance composite columns for cold-region infrastructures using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) Q960E. Then, 24 square UHPC-filled UHSS tubes (UHSTCs) at low temperatures of -80, -60, -30, and 30℃ were performed under axial loads. The key influencing parameters on axial compression performance of UHSS were studied, i.e., temperature level and UHSS-tube wall thickness (t). In addition, mechanical properties of Q960E at low temperatures were also studied. Test results revealed low temperatures improved the yield/ultimate strength of Q960E. Axial compression tests on UHSTCs revealed that the dropping environmental temperature increased the compression strength and stiffness, but compromised the ductility of UHSTCs; increasing t significantly increased the strength, stiffness, and ductility of UHSTCs. This study developed numerical and theoretical models to reproduce axial compression performances of UHSTCs at low temperatures. Validations against 24 tests proved that both two methods provided reasonable simulations on axial compression performance of UHSTCs. Finally, simplified theoretical models (STMs) and modified prediction equations in AISC 360, ACI 318, and Eurocode 4 were developed to estimate the axial load capacity of UHSTCs at low temperatures.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.651-654
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• 2005

Fast-setting cement is usually used for emergency repair construction of roads, bridges, buildings and so on. In this study, we tried to develop fast-setting ultra early strength mortar for prepacked concrete and evaluated the properties of fresh and hardened concrete with it. The flowability of the mortar was high enough to be easily poured into coarse aggregates. It showed high early strength development which can make it possible to use newly constructed structures within $3\~4$ hours regardless of curing conditions such as curing temperature and curing environment. And it also showed good resistance to drying shrinkage and chemical attack.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2011

The effect of steel-fiber contents on the compressive behavior of ultra high performance cementitious composites (UHPCC) was studied to propose a compressive behavior model for UHPCC. The experiments considered fiber contents of 0~5 vol.% and the results indicated that compressive strength and corresponding strain as well as elastic modulus were improved as the fiber contents increased. Compared to the previous study results obtained from concrete with compressive strength of 100MPa or less, the reinforcement effect on strength showed similar tendency, while the effect on the strain and elastic modulus were much less. Strength, strain, and elastic modulus according to the fiber contents were presented as a linear function of fiber reinforcement index (RI). Fiber reinforcement in UHPCC had no influence on the shape of compressive behavioral curve. Considering its effect on compressive strength, strain, and elastic modulus, a compressive stress-strain relation for UHPCC was proposed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.229-237
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• 2019

This study examines the estimation of strength through a ultra-high strength concrete mock-up specimen using the rock compressive strength test hammer. According to the test result, the commonly used strength estimation formulae showed differences among them when the data of this test were applied. In additional, it show that these formulae underestimated the actual measurements further when the compressive strength was 30MPa or greater and deviated the distribution range of actual measurements in all strength ranges. The rock test hammer showed a higher correlation than type N Schmidt hammer regardless of the direction of hit for each type of W/B and the inclusion of coarse aggregate, and mortar showed a little higher correlation than concrete. As a result, it can be suggested that the coefficient of variation and the standard deviation of the mortar(2.26%/1.36) are lower than those of the concrete(4.06%/2.5), and the smaller the size of the coarse aggregate, the smaller the coefficient of variation and the more accurate the value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.63-64
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• 2019

Due to the rapid deterioration of the domestic atmosphere, people are suffering from inconveniences such as wearing fine dust masks all the time during outdoor activities. In this study, light transmitting concrete, LEFC(Light Emotion Friendly Concrete), using TiO2 photocatalyst was produced. Since the characteristics of LEFC where acrylic rods are inserted require self-consolidating performance, the purpose was to utilize UHPC(Ultra High Performance Concrete) materials to obtain high-flowability. Further, the compressive strength and flexural strength were evaluated to prevent the reduction of epidemiological performance by utilizing UHPC materials. As such, a basic study was carried out to develop LEFC materials using photocatalyst that can purify the air and stimulate human sensibility.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.135-142
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• 2022

In this study, lap spliced ultra-high strength reinforced concrete beams were tested and the code criteria for calculating the lap splice length which was affected by the transverse reinforcement and concrete covering performance were reviewed. The main variables for test were set as fiber volume fraction and transverse reinforcing bar arrangement to improve the confining performance of the concrete cover. The change of the confining performance of concrete cover according to the increase in the fiber mixing amount at 1% and 2% volume ratio was examined, and D10 stirrups with a spacing of 100 mm were placed in the lap spliced region. As a result of the test, the specimens confined by the stirrups showed a sudden drop of load bearing capacity with horizontal cracking at the position of tensile longitudinal reinforcement. However, horizontal cracks were not appeared at the location of longitudinal reinforcement for the specimens with steel fiber. And these specimens showed gradual decrease of load bearing capacity after experiencing peak load. In particular, it was found that the strain at the position of the tensile longitudinal reinforcements of the specimens to which the mixing ratio of 2% was applied exceeds the yield strain. As a result of measuring the strain on the concrete surface, it was found that the fiber was more effective in preventing damage to the concrete surface than the stirrups for short lap spliced region.