Impact of UHPC Tensile Behavior on Steel Reinforced UHPC Flexural Behavior
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 1
Abstract
Ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) typically contains short steel fibers with a fiber volume of 2% or larger. This relatively high fiber volume leads to high UHPC tensile strength, typically larger than 8 MPa, and constitutes 30%–40% of the UHPC material cost. Recent studies show that if the reinforcing ratio is low, the high tensile strength of UHPC results in a low structural drift capacity (e.g., less than 2.5%). To lower the cost and improve the ductility of steel-reinforced UHPC (R/UHPC), this study experimentally and numerically explores the relationship between R/UHPC flexural behavior and UHPC material tensile behavior, which is affected by the fiber volume. Experimental variables include reinforcing ratios (0.96% and 2.10%), fiber volumes (0.5%, 1%, and 2%), and two proprietary UHPC materials. Seven simply supported R/UHPC beams are tested. Experimental results show that (1) reducing the fiber volume has little impact on the maximum crack width at the service limit state and the crushing resistance at the ultimate limit state; and (2) with a low reinforcing ratio, reducing fiber volume increases the structural member ductility and provides more failure warnings at the peak load. To understand the relationship between R/UHPC flexural behavior and more possible variations of material properties, a two-level, five-factor factorial experiment was conducted numerically with different combinations of reinforcing ratios, reinforcing steel properties, and UHPC tensile properties. Numerical results show that higher reinforcing ratios, higher steel postyield hardening strength, and lower UHPC tensile strength lead to a more ductile flexural failure. Finally, a minimum reinforcing ratio is validated to mitigate the possibility of low structural drift capacity (e.g., less than 2.5%).
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Charles H. Leavell fellowship and the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University. The authors also gratefully appreciate the material support from LafargeHolcim (US), Inc., Chicago, Illinois and King Packaged Materials Company, Boisbriand, QC, Canada. The authors thank Gregory Nault and Julian Cruz for their help and advice. The authors also thank James Bicamumpaka, Katie Tich, and Sandro Boaro for their assistance with the lab work.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 1 • January 2022
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2020
Accepted: Aug 27, 2021
Published online: Oct 26, 2021
Published in print: Jan 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 26, 2022
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