Performance Analysis and Design Method of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 7009

Special Issue Editors

School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Interests: portland cement/geopolymer UHPC; protective materials and structures; impact and blast of concrete and composite structures; dynamic constitutive model of concrete; UHPC in structural strengthening and rehabilitation

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Interests: constitutive model of concrete; computational mechanics; phase field modelling of brittle and ductile fracture; engineering optimisation; energy absorption; 3D/4D printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: FRP; UHPC; blast and impact engineering; 3D concrete printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: blast-resistant design; protective structures; TNT equivalence concept; charge shape effect; blast walls; shock wave propagation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Interests: UHPC; protective materials and structures; impact and blast of concrete; dynamic constitutive model of concrete; innovative use of industrial wastes in concrete

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete is one of the most important engineering materials from a socioeconomic perspective on the development of modern civilization. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), which was first introduced as a reactive powder concrete in the early 1990s, is a class of advanced cement composites. Typical UHPC is characterized by a low water to binder ratio (0.2 or even less) and high content of cementitious materials. Generally, coarse aggregate is eliminated in order to further improve the underlying material homogeneity. A proper number of fibers are also incorporated into UHPC in order to improve the post-cracking tensile strength and energy absorption capacity. Due to its ultra-high strength, good ductility, and excellent durability, UHPC has been increasingly emerging as a premier construction material over the past two decades for high-rise buildings, long-span bridges, and other infrastructure.

It is our pleasure to announce this Special Issue of Buildings: "Performance Analysis and Design Method of Ultra-High Performance Concrete". This Special Issue aims to reflect on the current state-of-the-art development and implementations of UHPC materials and structures in the civil, structural, and military fields. Furthermore, this Special Issue also provides us an opportunity to identify emerging and future areas of growth for this exciting new material. Interested authors are cordially invited to submit their manuscripts, including original research articles, review articles, short communications, and case studies, to this Special Issue. Topics of interest may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

  • Recent developments and novel applications of UHPC in structural engineering;
  • Mechanical, durability, and/or microstructure properties of UHPC material;
  • Design principles and guidelines of UHPC structures;
  • Structural performance of UHPC under hazardous loads, e.g., blast, impact, earthquake, fire, etc.;
  • Analytical modelling and/or numerical simulations of UHPC;
  • Advanced machine learning assisted structural analysis and design methods of UHPC;
  • Innovative use of UHPC in modular buildings;
  • UHPC in structural strengthening and/or rehabilitation;
  • 3D printing UHPC;
  • Cost-effective, sustainable, and/or resilient UHPC material;
  • Construction and monitoring of UHPC structures and/or structural behavior.

Dr. Jian Liu
Dr. Jianguang Fang
Prof. Dr. Weiqiang Wang
Dr. Weifang Xiao
Dr. Fengling Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • recent developments and applications in UHPC
  • mechanical, durability and microstructure properties
  • mixture design methodology
  • structural performance analysis
  • design principle and guideline
  • extreme loading
  • strengthening and rehabilitation
  • constitutive modeling
  • finite element and meshless analysis
  • machine learning technology

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 8949 KiB  
Article
Study on the Bearing Capacity of Steel Formwork Concrete Columns
by Shengqiang Li, Jin Wang, Zhiwei Yu, Yadong Li and Hongyan Guo
Buildings 2023, 13(3), 820; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030820 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1979
Abstract
Steel formworks are widely used in prefabricated buildings thanks to their good characteristics. With the rapid development of engineering construction in China, steel formwork concrete structures, characterized by convenient construction, good seismic performance, and high strength, are expected to be more extensively applied [...] Read more.
Steel formworks are widely used in prefabricated buildings thanks to their good characteristics. With the rapid development of engineering construction in China, steel formwork concrete structures, characterized by convenient construction, good seismic performance, and high strength, are expected to be more extensively applied in engineering practice. However, the bearing capacity of different forms of steel formwork concrete is still unclear. Two prefabricated columns with different internal diaphragm styles were set up for axial compression tests to investigate the performance of steel formwork columns. This study conducts monotonic static loading tests on six prefabricated steel tube column specimens and performs finite element analysis by taking steel tube thickness, rebar diameter, and internal diaphragm style as the influencing parameters. The results show that the prefabricated specimens can work in the test process, and the ultimate bearing capacity is consistent between the tests and numerical simulation. Moreover, the nephograms obtained from numerical simulation also conformed to the failure mode of the specimens in the test process. Therefore, the finite element model proposed in this study can accurately predict the stress performance of steel formwork concrete stub columns. These results offer guidance for future engineering practices. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 14016 KiB  
Article
Parametric Study on Contact Explosion Resistance of Steel Wire Mesh Reinforced Geopolymer Based Ultra-High Performance Concrete Slabs Using Calibrated Continuous Surface Cap Model
by Cheng Liu, Jian Liu, Jie Wei, Shenchun Xu and Yu Su
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12112010 - 17 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2143
Abstract
This paper conducts a parametric analysis on the response of geopolymer-based ultra-high-performance concrete (G-UHPC) slabs reinforced with steel wire mesh (SWM) subjected to contact explosions using the validated Continuous Surface Cap (CSC) model. Firstly, based on the available experimental data, the CSC model [...] Read more.
This paper conducts a parametric analysis on the response of geopolymer-based ultra-high-performance concrete (G-UHPC) slabs reinforced with steel wire mesh (SWM) subjected to contact explosions using the validated Continuous Surface Cap (CSC) model. Firstly, based on the available experimental data, the CSC model parameters, which account for the yield surface, damage formulation, kinematic hardening, and strain rate effect, were comprehensively developed for G-UHPC. The modified CSC model was initially assessed by comparing the quasi-static test results of G-UHPC. Then, the numerical modeling was performed on 200 mm thick SWM-reinforced G-UHPC slabs against 0.4 kg and 1.0 kg TNT contact explosions. The fair agreement between the numerical and experimental data concerning the local damage of the slabs was reported to demonstrate the applicability of the material and structural models. With the validated numerical models, a parametric study was further acted upon to explore the contribution of the variables of SWM, slab thickness, and TNT equivalence on the local damage and energy evolution of G-UHPC slabs subjected to contact blasts. Moreover, based on simulation results from the parametric study, an updated empirical model was derived to evaluate the local damage pattern and internal energy absorption rate of SWM-reinforced G-UHPC slabs. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

29 pages, 16586 KiB  
Article
Finite Element Analysis of Precast Concrete Deck-Steel Beam-Connection Concrete (PCSC) Connectors Using Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) for the Composite Beam
by Jincen Guo, Zhixiang Zhou, Yang Zou, Zhongya Zhang and Jinlong Jiang
Buildings 2022, 12(9), 1402; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12091402 - 7 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2042
Abstract
A precast concrete deck-steel beam-connection concrete (PCSC) connector using ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) as post-cast concrete has been proposed to enable rapid on-site construction of assembled composite bridges. This paper aims to optimize the structure of PCSC connectors using the finite element (FE) model [...] Read more.
A precast concrete deck-steel beam-connection concrete (PCSC) connector using ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) as post-cast concrete has been proposed to enable rapid on-site construction of assembled composite bridges. This paper aims to optimize the structure of PCSC connectors using the finite element (FE) model to maximize material utilization and economic efficiency. A refined FE model comprising the bond degradation at the steel–UHPC interface was developed based on the push-out experimental results of PCSC connectors. The shear mechanism of the PCSC connectors was analyzed. Subsequently, parametric analyses were performed to investigate the effects of stud diameter, height, spacing, and concrete strength on the mechanical properties of PCSC connectors. The results indicate that the bond at the steel–connection concrete interface positively affects the shear bearing capacity and stiffness of the PCSC connectors. When UHPC was used as connection concrete, it improved the bearing capacity by about 20% and the shear stiffness of the stud by about 16% compared with normal concrete, but the ductility was 38% lower. It was also found that increasing the compressive strength of the connection concrete increased the shear strength of specimens. However, when the compressive strength of UHPC exceeded 130 MPa, the additional UHPC strength did not significantly enhance the shear performance of specimens. In order to ensure the effective restraint of the connection concrete to studs, it is recommended that the minimum width and height of the connection concrete (UHPC) be determined based on the minimum horizontal spacing and height of the studs. Specifically, the length-to-diameter ratio of studs is greater than or equal to 3.18, the horizontal spacing of studs can be at least 2.82 d, and the clear distance between the outer stud shank and the edge of the UHPC cannot be less than 30 mm. The results are expected to provide a reference for the engineering design of PCSC connectors and a reference for conventional stud connectors with UHPC. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop