• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.317-328
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• 2016

This research intends to understand the impact of super-absorbent polymer (SAP) as an internal curing agent in Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). Two different types of SAPs of acrylic acid (SAP_AA) and acrylic acid-co-acrylamide (SAP_AM) were examined with UHPC formulation. Isothermal calorimetry and x-ray diffraction experiments revealed the impact of polymers with the different chemical bonds on cement hydration. To test its feasibility as a shrinkage reducing admixture for UHPC, a series of experiments including flowability, compressive strength, rapid chloride permeability and autogenous shrinkage profile was performed. While both SAPs showed a reduction in autogenous shrinkage, it has been concluded that the SAP size and chemical form significantly affect the performance as an internal curing agent in UHPC by controlling cement hydration and porosity modification. Between the tested SAPs, SAP_AM which absorbs more water in UHPC than SAP_AA, shows better mechanical and durability performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4146-4158
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• 2022

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has been widely utilized in military and civil protective structures to resist intensive loadings attributed to its excellent properties, e.g., high tensile/compressive strength, high dynamic toughness and impact resistance. At present, aiming to improve the defects of the traditional vertical concrete cask (VCC), i.e., the external storage facility of spent fuel, with normal strength concrete (NSC) shield, e.g., heavy weight and difficult to fabricate/transform, the feasibility of UHPC applied in the shield of VCC is numerically examined considering its high radiation and corrosion resistance. Firstly, the finite element (FE) analyses approach and material model parameters of NSC and UHPC are verified based on the 1/3 scaled VCC tip-over test and drop hammer test on UHPC members, respectively. Then, the refined FE model of prototypical VCC is established and utilized to examine its dynamic behaviors and damage distribution in accidental tip-over and end-drop events, in which the various influential factors, e.g., UHPC shield thickness, concrete ground thickness, and sealing methods of steel container are considered. In conclusion, by quantitatively evaluating the safety of VCC in terms of the shield damage and vibrations, it is found that adopting the 300 mm-thick UHPC shield instead of the conventional 650 mm-thick NSC shield can reduce about 1/3 of the total weight of VCC, i.e., about 50 t, and 37% floor space, as well as guarantee the structural integrity of VCC during the accidental drop simultaneously. Besides, based on the parametric analyses, the thickness of concrete ground in the VCC storage site is recommended as less than 500 mm, and the welded connection is recommended for the sealing method of steel containers.

• 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.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.487-498
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• 2023

The present study investigated the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with an ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) panel having various thicknesses. Two fabrication methods were introduced in this study; one was the direct casting of UHPC onto the bottom surface of the RC beams (I-series), and the other was the attachment of a prefabricated UHPC panel using an adhesive (E-series). UHPC panels having thicknesses of 10, 30, 50, and 70 mm were applied to RC beams, and these specimens were subjected to four-point loading to assess the effect of the UHPC thickness on the flexural strengthening of RC beams. The test results indicated that the peak strength and initial stiffness were vastly enhanced with an increase in the thickness of the UHPC panel, showing an improved energy dissipation capacity. In particular, the peak strength of the E-series specimens was higher than that of I-series specimens, showing high compatibility between the RC beam and the UHPC panel. The experimental test results were comparatively explored with a discussion of numerical analysis. Numerical analysis results showed that the predictions are in fair agreement with experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.275-276
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• 2018

Ultra high performance concrete(UHPC) represents high early age autogenous shrinkage strain due to its low water-to-binder ratio(W/B) and high fineness admixture usage. It has been reported that fiber can control restrained tensile stress and crack. The purpose of the present study is, therefore, to investigate the autogenous shrinkage as well as mechanical properties including compressive strength, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity on the UHPC with fiber type and pre-mix of binder.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.389-401
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• 2022

This study investigated the flowability and mechanical properties of cost-effective steel fiber reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) by using locally available materials for field-cast application. To examine the effect of mixture constituents, five mixtures with different fractions of silica fume, silica powder, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), silica sand, and crushed natural sand were proportionally prepared. Comprehensive experiments for different mixture designs were conducted to evaluate the fresh- and hardened-state properties of self-consolidating UHPC. The results showed that the proposed UHPC had similar mechanical properties compared with conventional UHPC while the flow retention over time was enhanced so that the field-cast application seemed appropriately cost-effective. The self-consolidating UHPC with high flowability and low viscosity takes less total mixing time than conventional UHPC up to 6.7 times. The X-ray computed tomographic imaging was performed to investigate the steel fiber distribution inside the UHPC by visualizing the spatial distribution of steel fibers well. Finally, the tensile stress-strain curve for the proposed UHPC was proposed for the implementation to the structural analysis and design.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.433-439
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• 2023

In this study, the bonding performance of repair materials was evaluated on concrete repair surface to develop concrete repair materials based on UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete) which has high mechanical and durability performance. The ten test variables were applied considering the roughness and wet condition of the concrete surface subject to repair, the addition of polymer, and the use PP and PVA fibers in repair materials. The addition of the polymer caused a significant decrease in strength, which was thought to be due to the effect of the additional super plasticizer used to adjust workability. Also, flow was reduced by up to 13.8 % with the use of plastic-based fibers. As a result of evaluating the bond strength of the repair material considering the condition of the surface subject to repair, it was thought that in the case of using UHPC-based repair material, high bonding performance could be secured without any additional surface treatment as long as the surface of the base material was sound. In addition, UHPC-based repair materials showed high bonding performance even when the attachment surface was wet. In the future, research will be conducted on shot-crete application and gradient pouring for the development of UHPC-based repair materials, and continuous improvement in the repair material mixing property will be carried out to ensure economic efficiency and performance as a concrete structural repair material.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.295-304
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• 2013

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) has recently been one of the most active research fields in Korea as well as in foreign countries, because it can contribute to a longer life and economic efficiency of structures. Although precast-type UHPC fabricated in a factory is preferable in terms of quality control and reduction of construction period, there exist, even in the precast structure, some parts that need to be cast in-place such as the joints between precast segments. In the cast-in-place UHPC, however, it is probable that an optimum curing condition can hardly be realized in contrast to the factory production. In this study, therefore, the trend of compressive strength development of UHPC was experimentally investigated by assuming various inferior curing conditions that may be anticipated at a construction site. Concrete specimens were fabricated and cured under different conditions with the variables such as curing temperature, delay time before the initiation of curing, duration of curing time and moisture condition. The strengths were compared with those of the specimens cured by standard high temperature steam. Through the analysis of the test results, some minimum requirements for curing have been proposed that are required when the UHPC is cast in-place. It is expected, through this study, that practical use of UHPC in construction sites can be increased.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.605-617
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• 2020

In this study, the experimental tests for the direct tensile strength measurement of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) were numerically modeled by using the discrete element method (circle type element) and Finite Element Method (FEM). The experimental tests used for the laboratory tensile strength measurement is the Compressive-to-Tensile Load Conversion (CTLC) device. In this paper, the failure process including the cracks initiation, propagation and coalescence studied and then the direct tensile strength of the UHPC specimens measured by the novel apparatus i.e., CTLC device. For this purpose, the UHPC member (each containing a central hole) prepared, and situated in the CTLC device which in turn placed in the universal testing machine. The direct tensile strength of the member is measured due to the direct tensile stress which is applied to this specimen by the CTLC device. This novel device transferring the applied compressive load to that of the tensile during the testing process. The UHPC beam specimen of size 150 × 60 × 190 mm and internal hole of 75 × 60 mm was used in this study. The rate of the applied compressive load to CTLC device through the universal testing machine was 0.02 MPa/s. The direct tensile strength of UHPC was found using a new formula based on the present analyses. The numerical simulation given in this study gives the tensile strength and failure behavior of the UHPC very close to those obtained experimentally by the CTLC device implemented in the universal testing machine. The percent variation between experimental results and numerical results was found as nearly 2%. PFC2D simulations of the direct tensile strength measuring specimen and ABAQUS simulation of the tested CTLC specimens both demonstrate the validity and capability of the proposed testing procedure for the direct tensile strength measurement of UHPC specimens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2023.11a
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• pp.149-150
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• 2023

This study proposes the most suitable strength prediction model equation for UHPC by calculating the apparent activation energy of UHPC according to the curing temperature and deriving the integrated temperature and compressive strength prediction equation. The results are summarized as follows. The apparent activation energy was calculated using the Arrhenius function, which was calculated as 21.09 KJ/mol. A model equation suitable for UHPC was calculated, and when the Flowman model equation was used, it was confirmed that it was suitable for the properties of UHPC using a condensation promoting super plasticizing agent.