• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.677-685
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• 2015

In a will to subdue the brittleness as well as the low tensile and flexural strengths of ordinary concrete, researches are being actively watched worldwide on steel fiber-reinforced Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) obtained by admixing steel fibers in ultra high strength concrete. For the purpose of maximizing advantage of UHPC, this study removes the upper flange of the steel girder to apply an inverted T-shape girder for the formation of the composite beam. This paper intends to evaluate the behavior of the shear connectors and the flexural characteristics of the composite beam made of the inverted T-shape girder and UHPC slab using 16 specimens considering the compressive strength of concrete, the mixing ratio of steel fiber, the spacing of shear connectors and the thickness of the slab as variables. In view of the test results, it seemed that the appropriate stud spacing should range between 100 mm and 2 or 4 times the thickness of the slab. Moreover, the relative displacement observed in the specimens showed that ductile behavior was secured to a certain extent with reference to the criteria for ductile behavior suggested in Eurocode-4. The specimens with large stud spacing exhibited larger values than given by the design formula and revealed that the shear connectors developed larger ultimate strength than predicted owing to the action of UHPC and steel after non-composite behavior. Besides, the specimens with narrow stud spacing failed suddenly through compression at the upper chord of UHPC before reaching the full capacity of the shear connectors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.387-398
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• 2016

In order to evaluate the effects of U shape ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) permanent form on the behaviors of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beam, a full scale RC composite beam is designed and tested with U shape UHPC permanent form and a reference RC beam with same parameters is tested simultaneously for comparison. The effects of the permanent form on the failure mode, cracking strength, ultimate capacity and deformation are studied. Test results shows that the contributions of the U shape UHPC permanent form to the flexural cracking behaviors of RC beam are significant. This study may provide a reference for the design of sustainable RC beam with high durable UHPC permanent form.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 2016

In this paper, when the composite beam is made with UHPC deck and steel girder, the steel girder takes the form of the inverted-T shape without top flange because of high strength and stiffness of UHPC deck. There is no evaluation by experiment and analysis about the shear connector behavior on the web of steel girder and flexural behavior of inverted-T shape composite beam. By this reason, this study compares between experiment and analysis by using tension softening model of UHPC on the basis of flexural test results of 16 members considering compressive strength of UHPC, spacing of stud and thickness of deck as variables. The results of tensile strength of UHPC by inverse analysis were 6.57 MPa(in case of 120 MPa) and 9.57 MPa(in case of 150 MPa). In case of the test members with small stud spacing, the results of analysis and test were close clearly, and the test members with thick deck and low UHPC compressive strength also similar, but effects were small. As it compared between analysis and experiment totally, the results of analysis and experiment agree well. So the tension softening model of UHPC is reasonably reflected on the real behavior of composite beam of UHPC.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.761-769
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• 2014

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has been developed to overcome the low strengths and brittleness of conventional concrete. Considering that UHPC, owing to its composition and the use of steel fibers, develops a compressive strength of 180 MPa as well as high stiffness, the top flange of the steel girder may be superfluous in the composite beam combining a slab made of UHPC and the steel girder. In such composite beam, the steel girder takes the form of an inverted-T shaped structure without top flange in which the studs needed for the composition of the steel girder with the UHPC slab are disposed in the web of the steel girder. This study investigates experimentally and analytically the flexural behavior of this new type of composite beam to propose details like stud spacing and slab thickness for further design recommendations. To that goal, eight composite beams with varying stud spacing and slab thickness were fabricated and tested. The test results indicated that stud spacing running from 100 mm to 2 to 3 times the slab thickness can be recommended. In view of the relative characteristic slip limit of Eurocode-4, the results showed that the composite beam developed ductile behavior. Moreover, except for the members with thin slab and large stud spacing, most of the specimens exhibited results different to those predicted by AASHTO LRFD and Eurocode-4 because of the high performance developed by UHPC.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.185-193
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• 2015

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has been developed to overcome the low tensile strengths and brittleness of conventional concrete. Considering that UHPC, owing to its composition and the use of steel fibers, develops a compressive strength of 180 MPa as well as high stiffness, the top flange of the steel girder may be superfluous in the composite beam combining a slab made of UHPC and the steel girder. In such composite beam, the steel girder takes the form of an inverted-T shaped structure without top flange in which the studs needed for the composition of the steel girder with the UHPC slab are disposed in the web of the steel girder. This study investigates experimentally and analytically the flexural behavior of this new type of composite beam to propose details like stud spacing and slab thickness for further design recommendations. To that goal, eight composite beams with varying stud spacing and slab thickness were fabricated and tested. The test results indicated that stud spacing running from 100 mm to 2 to 3 times the slab thickness can be recommended. In view of the relative characteristic slip limit of Eurocode-4, the results showed that the composite beam developed ductile behavior. Moreover, except for the members with thin slab and large stud spacing, most of the specimens exhibited results different to those predicted by AASHTO LRFD and Eurocode-4 because of the high performance developed by UHPC.

• 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.45 no.6
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• pp.797-818
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• 2022

Steel-precast ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) composite beams with demountable high-strength friction-grip bolt (HSFGB) shear connectors can be used for accelerated bridge construction (ABC) and achieve excellent structural performance, which is expected to be dismantled and recycled at the end of the service life. However, no investigation focuses on the demountability and reusability of such composite beams, as well as the installation difficulties during construction. To address this issue, this study conducted twelve push-out tests to investigate the effects of assembly condition, bolt grade, bolt-hole clearance, infilling grout and pretension on the crack pattern, failure mode, load-slip/uplift relationship, and the structural performance in terms of ultimate shear strength, friction resistance, shear stiffness and slip capacity. The experimental results demonstrated that the presented composite beams exhibited favorable demountability and reusability, in which no significant reduction in strength (less than 3%) and stiffness (less than 5%), but a slight improvement in ductility was observed for the reassembled specimens. Employing oversized preformed holes could ease the fabrication and installation process, yet led to a considerable degradation in both strength and stiffness. With filling the oversized holes with grout, an effective enhancement of the strength and stiffness can be achieved, while causing a difficulty in the demounting of shear connectors. On the basis of the experimental results, more accurate formulations, which considered the effect of bolt-hole clearance, were proposed to predict the shear strength as well as the load-slip relationship of HSFGBs in steel-precast UHPC composite beams.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.573-579
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• 2014

Typical composite girder has been composed with conventional concrete deck and steel girder. Recently, ultrahigh-performance-concrete (UHPC) deck is proposed in order to enhance durability and reduce weight of deck as well as to increase stiffness and strength of the composite girder. This study investigates that a headed stud is still compatible as a shear connector for the UHPC deck and steel girder composite beam. Twelve push-out specimens are prepared to evaluate the static strength of stud shear connectors embedded in the UHPC deck. The test program proves that the static strength of the stud shear connectors embedded in UHPC well meets with design codes described in AASHTO LRFD. Chosen experimental variables are aspect ratio of height to diameter of stud, thickness of deck and thickness of concrete cover over the head of stud. From the test program, aspect ratio and cover thickness are investigated to mitigate the regulations of the existing design codes. The minimum aspect ratio and the minimum cover thickness given in AASHTO LRFD are four and 50mm, respectively. This limitation hinders to lower the thickness of the UHPC deck. The results of the experiment program give that the aspect ratio and the cover thickness can be lower down to three and 25mm, respectively. Eurocode-4 regulates characteristic relative slip at least 6mm. However, test results show that stud shear connectors embedded in UHPC provide the characteristic relative slip only about 4mm. Therefore, another measures to increase ductility of stud should be prepared.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2014

Since recently developed Ultra-High-Performance-Concrete (UHPC) provides very high strength, stiffness, and durability, many studies have been made on the application of the UHPC to bridge decks. Due to high strength and stiffness of UHPC bridge deck, the structural contribution of top flange of steel girder composite to UHPC deck would be much lower than that of conventional concrete deck. At this point of view, this study proposes a inverted-T shaped steel girder composite to UHPC deck. This girder requires a new type of shear connector because conventional shear connectors are welded on top flange. This study also proposes three different types of shear connectors, and evaluate their ultimate strength via push-out static test. The first one is a stud shear connector welded directly to the web of the girder in the transverse direction. The second one is a puzzle-strip type shear connector developed by the European Commission, and the last one is the combination of the stud and the puzzle-strip shear connectors. Experimental results showed that the ultimate strength of the transverse stud was 26% larger than that given in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, but a splitting crack observed in the UHPC deck was so severe that another measure needs to be developed to prevent the splitting crack. The ultimate strength of the puzzle-strip specimen was 40% larger than that evaluated by the equation of European Commission. The specimens combined with stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors provided less strength than arithmetical sum of those. Based on the experimental observations, there appears to be no advantage of combining transverse stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors.