Moisture effect on compressive behavior of concrete under dynamic loading

The effect of moisture content upon compressive mechanical behavior of concrete under impact loading was studied. The axial rapid compressive loading tests of over 50 specimens with five different saturations were executed. The technique "split Hopkinson pressure bar"(SHPB) was used. The impact velocity was 10 m/s with corresponding strain rate of 50 s-1. The compressive behavior of materials was measured in terms of stress-strain curves, dynamic compressive strength, dynamic increase factor(DIF) and critical strain at a maximum stress. The data obtained from test indicate that both ascending and descending portions of stress-stain curves are affected by moisture content. However, the effect is noted to be more significant in ascending portion of the stress-strain curves. Dynamic compressive strength is higher at lower moisture content and weaker at higher moisture content.Furthermore, under nearly saturated condition, an increase in compressive strength can be found. The effect of moisture content on the average DIF of concrete is not significant. The critical compressive strain of concrete does not change with moisture content.

Lagged strain of laminates in RC beams strengthened with fiber-reinforced polymer

Based on the theory of concrete structure, a new expression was derived for lagged strain of fiber-reinforced polymer （FLIP） laminates in reinforced concrete （RC） beams strengthened with FRP. The influence of different preloaded states and nonlinear stress-strain relationship of compressed concrete were both taken into account in this approach. Then a simplified expression was given by ignoring tensile resistance of concrete. Comparison of analytical predictions with experimental results indicates satisfactory accuracy of the procedures. The errors are less than 8% and 10% respectively when the tensile resistance of concrete is or not considered. While the maximum error of existing procedures is up to 60%.

Meso-mechanical Interfacial Behavior of Elbow Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

The strain distributions near the interface when the elbow steel fiber is pulled out from the half-mould concrete matrix are directly measured using a combined method of single fiber pull-out test and digital image correlation. Meanwhile, the real-time processes of the bonding, debonding and sliding at the interface are observed. The micro-mechanism of the strain localization in the failure process of interface when debonding occurs and the strengthening mechanism at the imbedded fiber are discussed. The experimental results show that the meso-scale strain localization gives rise to the localization of shear damage near the fiber interface. This strain localization characterized by the debonding process near the interface occurs, develops and moves gradually at an apparently regular interval. At the elbow part of the imbedded fiber, the peak value of the shearing stress occurs. But the primary debonding does not occur at this place because the strength of the shear damage is increased at the local area of the elbow part in the concrete, displaying an apparent reinforced effect at the end of the fiber.

Identification of Connection Flexibility Effects Based on Load Testing of a Steel-Concrete Bridge

In the case of composite girders, an effective cooperation of both parts of the section is influenced by deformability of connectors. Limited flexural stiffness of welded studs, used commonly in bridge structures, does not provide full interaction of a steel beam and a concrete slab. This changes strain distribution in cross-sections of a composite girder and results in redistribution of internal forces in steel and concrete element. In the paper partial interaction index defined on the basis of a neutral axis position, which can be used for verification of steel-concrete interaction in real bridge structures rather than in specimens is proposed. The range of the index value changes, obtained during load testing of a typical steel-concrete composite beam bridge, is presented. The investigation was carried out on a motorway viaduct, consisting of two parallel structures. During the testing values of strains in girders under static and quasi-static loads were measured. The readings from the gauges were used to determine the index, characterizing composite action of the girders. Results of bridge testing under movable load, changing position along the bridge span is presented and obtained in-situ influence functions of strains and index values are commented in the paper.

Evaluation of early-age strains and stresses in roller-compacted concrete pavement

In the structural design of a roller-compacted concrete pavement(RCCP), it is crucial to estimate strain and stress developments in the RCCP slab realistically. Since the RCCP mix uses less cement and lower amount of water, shrinkage strain and concrete temperature during the hardening stage are expected to be reduced as compared to those of conventional concrete mixture, resulting in a reduction of the concrete early-age deformation and stress developments in the RCCP slab. In this paper, early-age concrete strain and stress developments in RCCP slab subjected to environmental loads were evaluated. A full-scale test section of RCCP under real climatic conditions was monitored. The early-age total strains,stress-independent strains, shrinkage strains, and coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) of the RCCP were measured and analyzed. Using the results of measured strains, in-situ CTE and shrinkage strain, and temperature, the early-age concrete stress development is computed by incorporating a viscoelastic property of the early-age concrete. The results revealed that the shrinkage strain of the RCCP is quite low as compared to that of conventional concrete. The early-age stress developments in the RCCP slab are strongly governed by the thermal-induced stresses. Shrinkage-induced stresses were quite small and might be negligible in a preliminary estimation of early-age stress developments in the RCCP slab.