A Study on the Flexural Performance of UHPC Precast Deck-Joint Interface by the Exposure of Steel Fiber

As a solution against the serviceability problem caused by the cracks occurring at the UHPC precast deck-joint interface, this study proposes a method exposing the steel fiber at the interface and evaluates the corresponding flexural performance of the lap spliced construction joint. After having slowed down the strength development of the concrete placed in the joint of the precast deck by means of a curing retardant, the concrete at the interface is crushed so as to expose the steel fibers and the change in the flexural performance is observed experimentally according to the exposure of the steel fibers. The results show that, even if the ultimate strength and stiffness of the UHPC precast deck including the joint are mostly determined by the arrangement details of the rebar lap splice, the exposure of the steel fibers can secure stable ductile behavior and reduce the width of the cracks generated at the precast deck-joint interface under service load.

Freeze-Thaw Effect on Coarse Sand Coated Interface between FRP and Concrete

This paper examines the effect of freezing and thawing on the coarse sand coating chosen to achieve the composition of FRP and concrete in FRP-concrete composite deck. Push-out test specimens with dimensions of 100 × 100 × 450 mm were subjected to repeated freeze-thaw cycles under wet conditions ranging from -18℃± 2℃ to 4℃ ± 2℃. The failure strength of the interface and the deformation of FRP at failure exhibited by the specimens that experienced 300 freezing-thawing cycles showed a difference of merely 5% compared to those of the specimens that were not subjected to freeze-thaw. This indicates that coarse sand coating is not affected by freezing-thawing cycles and the FRP-concrete composite deck owns sufficient applicability in terms of durability against freezing-thawing.

Load-Measuring Pot Bearing with Built-In Load Cell —Part II: Fatigue Performance and Experimental Temperature Correction

This paper presents the results of fatigue performance tests performed up to 10 million cycles on a load-measuring pot bearing with built-in load cell to verify its field applicability and proposes an empirical temperature correction formula. In Part I of this work, various measurement performances of the load-measuring pot bearing were evaluated through static and dynamic loading tests. Bridge bearings are subjected to the effect of fatigue caused by the repeated application of moving loads and exposed to harsh site conditions including cold and hot weathers differently to laboratory conditions. Accordingly, the durability of the load-measuring pot bearing with built-in load cell shall be secured and the environmental effects like temperature shall be minimized for its application on field. This study conducted fatigue tests up to 10 million cycles on a load-measuring pot bearing with the capacity of 1000 kN to examine eventual degradation of the measurement accuracy with respect to the number of fatigue loading cycles. In addition, the experimental temperature correction procedure is proposed to obtain the temperature correction formula enabling to correct the effect of temperature on the load measurement.

Fatigue Performance of Precast FRP-Concrete Composite Deck with Long Span

The fatigue performance of precast FRP-concrete composite (PFC) deck is evaluated. This type of deck enables a reduction of the weight by 30% compared to conventional reinforced concrete decks owing to the composition of a hollow FRP panel with concrete. Therefore, the application of such deck in cable-stayed bridge will reduce effectively the weight of the superstructure leading also to substantial savings in the materials required for the superstructure and substructure and, therefore, achieve significant improvement of the economic efficiency. Static, pulsating fatigue and rolling fatigue tests were carried out on 4 m × 4 m precast FRP-concrete composite decks. All the specimens did not fail even after 2 million fatigue cycles, and the subsequent static tests conducted on these specimens verified that all the design criteria were satisfied. These experimental results demonstrated that the PFC deck developed in this research secures sufficient performances for future applications for cable-stayed bridges.

Load-Measuring Pot Bearing with Built-In Load Cell —Part I: Design and Performance

This paper presents the underlying principle and the results of various performance evaluations for a load-measuring pot bearing with built-in load cell. The pot bearing composed of a pot made of steel in which an elastomer disk is inserted is a bearing supporting larger loads than the elastomeric bearing and accommodating rotational movement. Owing to a Poisson’s ratio close to 0.5, elastomer withstands hydrostatic pressure when confined in a rigid body. Accounting for this principle, the vertical load applied on the pot bearing can be obtained by converting the pressure acting on the elastomer. Therefore, a load-measuring pot bearing is developed in this study by embedding a load cell exhibiting remarkable durability in the base plate of the bearing. The details for the insertion of the load cell in the base plate of the pot were improved through finite element analysis to secure sufficient measurement accuracy. The evaluation of the static performance of the pot bearing applying these improved details verified that the bearing exhibited sufficient accuracy for the intended measurement purpose. The dynamic performance evaluation results indicated that accurate measurement of the dynamic load was also achieved without time lag.