Experimental and numerical studies of concrete bridge decks using ultra high-performance concrete and reinforced concrete

This paper numerically investigates the effect of changes in the mechanical properties (displacement, strain, and stress) of the ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) without rebar and the reinforced concrete (RC) using steel re-bars. This reinforced concrete is mostly used in the concrete bridge decks. A mixture of sand, gravel, cement, water, steel fiber, superplasticizer, and micro silica was used to fabricate UHPC specimens. The extended finite element method as used in the ABAQUS software is applied for considering the mechanical properties of UHPC, RC, and ordinary concrete specimens. To calibrate the ABAQUS, some experimental tests have been carried out in the laboratory to measure the direct tensile strength of UHPC by the compressive-to-tensile load converting (CTLC) device. This device contains a concrete specimen and is mounted on a universal tensile testing apparatus. In the experiments, three types of mixed concrete were used for UHPC specimens. The tensile strength of these specimens ranges from 9.24 to 11.4 MPa, which is relatively high compared with ordinary concrete specimens, which have a tensile strength ranging from 2 to 5 MPa. In the experimental tests, the UHPC specimen of size 150??60??190 mm with a central hole of 75 mm (in diameter)??60 mm (in thickness) was specially made in the laboratory, and its direct tensile strength was measured by the CTLC device. However, the numerical simulation results for the tensile strength and failure mechanism of the UHPC were very close to those measured experimentally. From comparing the numerical and experimental results obtained in this study, it has been concluded that UHPC can be effectively used for bridge decks.

Automated summary

This paper numerically investigates the effect of changes in the mechanical properties of UHPC and RC on concrete bridge decks, and the results indicate that UHPC can be effectively used for bridge decks.