Title: Innovative Design of Ultra High-Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete Ribbed Slab: Experimental Validation and Preliminary Detailed Analyses

Author(s): F. Toutlemonde, J. Resplendino, L. Sorelli, S. Bouteille, and S. Brisard

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 228

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 1187-1206

Keywords: bridge; concrete fatigue resistance; finite element model;global and local behavior; post-tension; pretension; safety barrier;structural joint; ultra high-performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC)

DOI: 10.14359/14531

Date: 6/1/2005

Abstract:
A new generation of cemen titious composites, ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC), represents an important breakthrough for addressing civil engineering challenges. The most significant feature of UHPFRC is the nearly elasto-plastic ductile behavior in tension, which allows safe exploitation of the tensile and shear capacity in structural elements, while also potentially benefits the dynamic behavior of concrete structures. Where traditional steel elements have shown fatigue resistance problems at the connections in orthotropic slab bridge decks, an attractive application of UHPFRC has been developed within MIKTI coordinated R&D French national project. It consists in a thin 2D-ribbed slab, pre-stressed transversally, made of 2.5 m-long segments connected by post-tension, further connected to conventional longitudinal steel beams which take advantage of the slab lightness. A major critical aspect of the project consists in the safe accounting for local with respect to global bending, even under repeated local fatigue loading. Moreover, safety barriers have to be anchored at the edges of such a thin structure. The capacity of the deck to withstand the load representative of a truck shock, without being damaged before the fuse connecting system of the barrier yields, appears as highly critical also. The detailed design of this innovative structure has been carried out applying French interim recommendations for UHPFRC [1-3]. However, detailed verifications of the local bending (corresponding to a wheel load directly applied and concentrated over the center of one “honeycomb” delimited by the transverse and longitudinal ribs) and of the behavior of the transverse joint under representative bending loads, require refined Finite Element analyses. Both general design and detailed analyses are being compared to scale one experiments.