International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Current design assumptions for precast prestressed concrete piles embedded in cast-in-place (CIP) pile caps or footings vary across states, leading to inconsistencies in engineering practices. Previous studies suggest that short embedment lengths (0.5 to 1.0 times the pile diameter) can develop approximately 60% of the bending capacity of the pile, with full fixity potentially achieved at shorter embedment lengths than current design specifications due to confinement stresses1. This study experimentally evaluates 10 full-scale pile-to-cap connection specimens with varying embedment lengths, aiming to investigate the required development length for full bending capacity. The findings demonstrate that full bending capacity can be achieved at the of pile-to-pile cap connection with shallower embedment than code provisions, challenging existing design standards and highlighting the need for more accurate guidelines for bridge foundation design.

Laboratory tests of deep, lightly reinforced concrete members without shear reinforcement demonstrate that the nominal shear stress at failure decreases with increasing depth and with decreasing tension longitudinal reinforcement ratio. Design procedures for one-way shear strength in ACI 318-19 incorporate these effects but result in relatively low design shear strengths for members with both large depth and low reinforcement ratio. To better understand the effects of depth and longitudinal reinforcement on shear strength, tests were conducted on beams with varying depth, a relatively low ratio of high-strength longitudinal reinforcement, and with either no shear reinforcement or minimum shear reinforcement. Loads were applied slowly and monotonically and included concentrated loads plus self-weight. Beam supports were either point supports, as in a beam, or uniformly distributed, similar to some foundation reactions. The test results demonstrate size and longitudinal reinforcement effects and suggest that a lower-bound unit shear strength may be applicable for the design of members with both large depth and low reinforcement ratio.

Prefabricated structural wall buildings exhibit superior strength, stiffness, and ductility under seismic loading effects. Segmental wall construction is popular due to easy transportation and on-site assembly. The present study deals with the performance of precast wall elements connected through welded plates vertically subjected to the seismic loading conditions. The study proposes welded plates with varying thickness to connect two structural walls on one or both faces. Full-scale quasi-static load tests have been performed to analyze the seismic behavior of the connections. The conventional foundation with loading beams at top and bottom, to test the structural walls, was replaced with a special steel shoe set-up, achieving the real conditions, to minimize the testing cost. It has been observed that the connections using mild steel plates achieve the most desirable characteristics, like plate yielding, energy dissipation, and ductility. High-strength steel plates fail in brittle mode with poor post-peak response, indicating precautions in selecting the type of connecting steel plates in precast construction. The proposed connecting plates improve the ductility and post-peak response for easy retrofitting of the precast wall system. The study brings out improvement in the seismic performance, selection of materials, and connection detailing for resilient precast structures.

This study introduces a new anchorage strategy using ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) to attach unbonded post-tensioning (PT) strands to existing foundations. This solution complements a seismic retrofit scheme investigated by the authors, which transforms non-ductile cast-in-place reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls into unbonded post-tensioned rocking shear walls, following concepts of selective weakening and self-centering. In the proposed PT anchorage scheme, mild steel reinforcements are inserted through the shear wall thickness and into the foundation. Subsequently, UHPC is cast around the wall base, forming a vertical extension connected to the foundation, which is used to anchor the unbonded PT strands. The feasibility and performance of the anchorage scheme were investigated through a combination of laboratory testing and numerical simulations. Pull-out testing on four scaled-down anchorage specimens was conducted in the laboratory. Hairline cracks were observed in the UHPC during testing. Additionally, 3D finite element (FE) models were created, validated, and used to study the performance of the proposed anchorage scheme under lateral loading. The simulation results support the effectiveness of the proposed anchorage strategy.

Steel columns are commonly attached to concrete foundations with groups of cast-in-place headed anchors. Recent physical tests and simulations have shown that the strength of these connections can be limited by concrete breakout failure. Four full-scale physical specimens of axially loaded columns attached to a foundation slab were tested, varying the shear reinforcement configuration in the slab. All specimens were governed by concrete breakout failure. The tests suggest that adequately placed distributed shear reinforcement can increase connection strength and displacement capacity. Steep cone failures were observed to limit the beneficial effect of shear reinforcement. Calibrated finite element models were used to investigate critical parameters such as the extent of the shear-reinforced region and bar spacing. A design approach is proposed to calculate connection strength by adding the strength of the concrete and the distributed shear reinforcement. Design detailing is discussed.