An Experimental Study on the Behavior of Shear Keys According to the Curing Time of UHPC

Precast segmental construction has been recently developed to reduce the construction cost and shorten the construction term as compared to the cast-in-place method in a will to establish the design and erection system of structures using Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC). However, this method requires the presence of segmental joints to transfer the loads between neighboring segments, which stresses the importance of securing structural safety and serviceability. Therefore, need is for research on the behavior of the segmental joint for the structures erected by the precast segmental construction method. To that goal, this paper presents an experimental study on the behavior of shear keys with respect to the curing time of UHPC in the segmental joint. Analysis is done on the load-displacement relation according to the curing time of the shear keys and on the failure modes of the shear keys according to the cracking pattern at failure.

Conceptual Design of Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridge with Central Span of 1000 m Using UHPC

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is featured by a compressive strength 5 times higher than that of ordinary concrete and by a high durability owing to the control of the chloride penetration speed by its dense structure. The high strength characteristics of UHPC offer numerous advantages like the reduction of the quantities of cables and foundations by the design of a lightweight superstructure in the case of the long-span bridge preserving its structural performance through axial forces and structures governed by compression. This study conducted the conceptual design of a hybrid cable-stayed bridge with central span of 1000 m and exploiting 200 MPa-class UHPC. The economic efficiency of the conceptual design results of the hybrid cable-stayed bridge with central span of 1000 m and of Sutong Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, was analyzed.

Development of Optimal Structural System for Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridges Using Ultra High Performance Concrete

This study developed an optimal structural system for the hybrid cable-stayed bridge expected to have a durable lifetime of 200 years and of which major structural members are made of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) with 200 MPa-class compressive strength. This innovative cable-stayed bridge system makes it possible to reduce each of the construction and maintenance costs by 20% compared to the conventional concrete cable-stayed bridge by improving significantly the weight and durability of the bridge. Therefore, detail design is carried out considering a real 800 m cable-stayed bridge and the optimal structure of the hybrid cable-stayed bridge is proposed and verified.

Development of Highly Efficient Construction Technologies for Super Long Span Bridge

This paper presents highly efficient cable erection equipments and methods related to the construction of super-long-span bridges, construction technology of high towers and, technology for offshore foundations currently developed through a R&D on accelerated and cost-saving construction technology for long-span cable bridges to secure our international competitiveness. In the field of cable erection technology, AS and PPWS equipments for highly efficient erection of cable longer than 2000 m, world-class clamping bolt tensioning equipment and shape control system for super-long cable are under development. The technologies developed in the domain of construction of towers are tapered slip form system for the construction of 400 m high tower, shape and erection precision control of elevated tower and, lightweight and modular formwork for slip form system. In the domain of foundation construction, remote controlled survey equipment and analysis system for water-depth of 100 m and depth of 50 m, prediction and evaluation technology of optimal load carrying capacity and settlement complying with international standard and, highly efficient hybrid foundation construction technology suitable for ground acceleration of 0.5 g and deep soft soil are currently developed.

Experimental Study on Innovative Slip Form Method for the Construction of Tapered Concrete Pylon of Long-Span Cable Bridge

The construction of the three-dimensionally shaped pylons higher than 400 m requires a very high technological degree. It is known that the application of the tapered slip form method for the erection of the concrete pylon of long-span cable bridges offers the advantage of being significantly faster than applying the auto-climbing system (ACS) form method. Therefore, this study presents the development of an innovative slip form system for pylons with tapered cross-section. Surface wave inspection system is applied for the determination of slip-up time, wireless hydraulic control system is applied for auto rising, GPS system is used to manage the pylon configuration, and lightweight GFRP (Grass Fiber Reinforced Plastic) panels are applied in the slip form system. Small-scale tests were conducted three times to validate the performance of the developed core technologies, and full-scale tests were conducted twice to validate and verify the developed innovative slip form. The full-scale tapered concrete pylons have hollow shafts and a height of 10 m. The sectional dimensions are varied according to the construction height. The experimental constructions of the tapered pylons using the innovative slip form were conducted successfully. This system is the world’s first application of GFRP slip form panel.

Computation of Impact Factor of High-Speed Railway Bridge by KTX Train Riding Test

The design live load of railway is divided into common railway and high-speed railway separately inKorea. Accordingly, the Korean design specification of railway specifies the impact factor for common railway and high-speed railway respectively. The impact factor for high-speed railway is based on Eurocode. Since the impact factor criteria inKoreawere established by adopting those of the Eurocode and without dedicated investigation relying on research results reflecting the domestic circumstances, thorough examination should be implemented on these criteria. Therefore the evaluation of impact factor based on field tests is required. Both dynamic and static vertical displacements are necessary to compute the impact factor. The dynamic response can be obtained from the measurement of deflection of the bridge slab crossed by the firstKoreahigh-speed train (KTX, Korea Train eXpress) running at high-speed. The main difficulties encountered are in obtaining static response because static response corresponds to the response of the bridge when the train remains immobile on the bridge or crosses the bridge at speed slower than5 km/hr. This study introduces the static response derived by applying the moving average method on the dynamic response signal. To that goal, field measurements was conducted under train speeds of5 km/hr and ranging from100 km/hr to300 km/hr on Yeonjae Bridge located in the trial section of the Gyeonbu High-Speed Railway Line before its opening. The validity of the application of the moving average method is verified from comparison of measured static response and derived static response by moving average method. Moreover, evaluation is conducted on the impact factor computed for a bridge crossed by the KTX train running at operational speed.

Development of an Efficient Tapered Slip-Form System Applying BIM Technology

Slip-form system constitutes the latest technology for the erection of elevated concrete pylons. This paper investigates the design of slip-form system applying BIM technology for the efficient development of the slip-form system. The considered pylon has a height of 10 m and presents the rectangular hollow section generally adopted in cable-supported bridges. The slip-form was thus designed to accommodate the tapered cross-section and changing thickness considering the continuous placing of concrete. In addition, the safety of the system was examined with regard to the various loads applied on the slip form along the construction. The design results could be verified visually through BIM and the applicability of the designed slip-form was validated in advance through virtual assembly and construction.

A Study on the Quality Control of Concrete during the Slip Form Erection of Pylon

The construction market of super-high-rise buildings and long-span bridges has recognized unprecedented expansion owing to the development of high performance and high strength materials and the advances achieved in the design and construction technologies. In parallel to the lengthening and enlargement in scale of the structures, securing quality control technology of concrete while reducing the construction duration using improved construction methods emerges as a critical problem for concrete structures. In the erection of concrete pylons, slip forming represents the latest method offering the advantage of reducing drastically the construction duration compared to other methods by adopting automated slip-up of the forms and enabling 24-hour continuous placing. This study determines the slip-up time of the slip form by evaluating the early strength through the surface wave velocity and develops lightweight GFRP form in order to secure the quality of concrete during the slip form erection of pylons. A slip form system is fabricated and mockup test is conducted to verify the performances of the developed techniques through the construction of 10 m-high pylon with a hollow section.

Experimental Study on the Ultimate Shear Performance of Elastomeric Bearings of Doublefold Elastomeric Layer

The elastomeric bearings shall not fail nor degrade the durability of the bridge due to the loss of its properties during its service life. Since the elastomeric bearings can be used in the seismic design complementarily to seismic devices, even if it is not a seismic isolator, they particularly should secure high shear performance. For elastomeric bearings to behave monolithically, the internal rubber which is located between the steel plates should be single rubber layer. In this study, a series of elastomeric bearings were fabricated and ultimate shear performance was investigated. Some specimens are of single elastomeric layer, the other are of doublefold elastomeric layer. Shear fatigue tests and ultimate shear tests were carried out. Tests results show that the elastomeric bearings whose internal rubber layer is formed by agglomeration of several rubber pads is likely to experience significant loss of its shear performance or early failure.

Comparison of Measured and Dynamic Analysis Vertical Accelerations of High-Speed Railway Bridges Crossed by KTX Train

Since high-speed railway bridges are subjected to cyclic loading by the continuous wheel loads traveling at high speed and regular spacing, their dynamic behavior is of extreme importance and has significant influence on the riding safety of the trains. To secure the riding safety of the trains, advanced railway countries have limited the vertical acceleration of the bridge slab below critical values at specific frequency domains. Since these limitations of the vertical acceleration constitute the most important factors in securing the dynamic safety of the bridges, these countries have opted for a conservative approach. However, the Korean specifications limit only the size of the peak acceleration without considering the frequency domain, which impede significantly rational evaluation of the high-speed railway bridges in Korea. In addition, the evaluation of the acceleration without consideration of the frequency domain is the cause of disagreement between the dynamic analysis and measurement results. This study conducts field monitoring and dynamic analysis on high-speed railway bridges to gather the acceleration signals and compare them. Significant difference in the size of the vertical acceleration was observed between the measured and dynamic analysis accelerations when discarding the frequency domain as done in the current specifications. The comparison of the accelerations considering only low frequencies below 30 Hz showed that the dynamic analysis reflected accurately the measured vertical acceleration.