Development of High-performance Concrete Mixtures for Durable Bridge Decks in Montana Using Locally Available Materials

Development of High-performance Concrete Mixtures for Durable Bridge Decks in Montana Using Locally Available Materials
Author: John Steven Lawler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 51
Release: 2005
Genre: Concrete
ISBN:

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is performing research to develop a cost-effective, indigenous highperformance concrete (HPC) for use in bridge deck applications. The investigation was divided into two tasks: 1) identification of the optimum cementitious matrix for the HPC and 2) evaluation of the performance of this matrix in combination with aggregates readily available in Montana. The work focused on the use of binary, ternary, and quaternary blends of portland cement with fly ash (Class C and F), slag, calcined clay, metakaolin, and silica fume, in combination with Yellowstone River and Western Montana aggregate sources. Testing included plastic properties, setting characteristics, air-void system parameters, electrical conductivity, strength, chloride diffusion, freezing and thawing resistance, scaling resistance, and drying shrinkage. The paper discusses the process required to test and implement HPC specifically for bridge deck applications and presents the test results for this MDT study. The supplementary cementitious material combinations that produced the best performance were silica fume alone, silica fume and slag, Class F fly ash, silica fume and slag-blended cement, and silica fume and calcined clay-blended cement. The importance of raw material testing and the practical reproducibility of the concrete mixture are also considered.

FEASIBILITY OF NON-PROPRIETARY ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE (UHPC) FOR USE IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN MONTANA

FEASIBILITY OF NON-PROPRIETARY ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE (UHPC) FOR USE IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN MONTANA
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2020
Genre: Bridges
ISBN:

The overall objective of this research was to further develop and characterize an economical non-proprietary ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) made with materials readily available in Montana. Specifically, this research focused on (1) investigating the potential variability in performance related to differences in constituent materials, (2) investigating issues related to the field batching/mixing of these UHPC mixes, and (3) testing rebar bond strength and studying how this will affect requisite development lengths. Based on this research, it was determined that, while variations in the source of the constituent materials had some effects on performance, the effects were fairly minor, with all recorded flows and 28-day compressive strengths exceeding 6 inches and 16 ksi, respectively. Further, in regards to the effects of mixing/batching conditions, only temperature was observed to have a significant effect on performance, with flows and set times decreasing with increasing temperature. Regarding the pullout tests, all of the specimens that met the minimum embedment depth requirements specified by the FHWA yielded prior to concrete bond failure, indicating the suitability of these recommendations for the Montana UHPC developed in this research.

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations
Author: Hiroshi Yokota
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 926
Release: 2021-04-20
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1000173755

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations contains lectures and papers presented at the Tenth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2020), held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, April 11–15, 2021. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB card containing the full papers of 571 contributions presented at IABMAS 2020, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 9 Keynote Lectures, and 561 technical papers from 40 countries. The contributions presented at IABMAS 2020 deal with the state of the art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges. Major topics include: advanced bridge design, construction and maintenance approaches, safety, reliability and risk evaluation, life-cycle management, life-cycle sustainability, standardization, analytical models, bridge management systems, service life prediction, maintenance and management strategies, structural health monitoring, non-destructive testing and field testing, safety, resilience, robustness and redundancy, durability enhancement, repair and rehabilitation, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, and application of information and computer technology and artificial intelligence for bridges, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions on maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The Editors hope that these Proceedings will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including engineers, researchers, academics and students from all areas of bridge engineering.

Development of Post-effective Ultra-high Performance Concrete (UHPC) for Colorado's Sustainable Infrastructure

Development of Post-effective Ultra-high Performance Concrete (UHPC) for Colorado's Sustainable Infrastructure
Author: Yail J. Kim
Publisher:
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2018
Genre: Concrete
ISBN:

This report presents the development of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) using locally available materials that reduce construction costs compared with commercial products. With the aim of achieving a specified compressive strength of 20 ksi, a UHPC mixture is formulated. The implications of various constituent types are examined with an emphasis on silica compounds (silica fume, silica powder, silica sand, finer silica sand, pyrogenic silica, and precipitated silica), including steel and polypropylene fibers. Bond tests are conducted to evaluate the development length of the UHPC. Cost analysis shows that the prototype UHPC is up to 74% less expensive than commercial products.

Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges

Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges
Author: Nigel Powers
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 5447
Release: 2018-07-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1351745964

Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges contains lectures and papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2018), held in Melbourne, Australia, 9-13 July 2018. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB card containing the full papers of 393 contributions presented at IABMAS 2018, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 10 Keynote Lectures, and 382 technical papers from 40 countries. The contributions presented at IABMAS 2018 deal with the state of the art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of bridge maintenance, safety, risk, management and life-cycle performance. Major topics include: new design methods, bridge codes, heavy vehicle and load models, bridge management systems, prediction of future traffic models, service life prediction, residual service life, sustainability and life-cycle assessments, maintenance strategies, bridge diagnostics, health monitoring, non-destructive testing, field testing, safety and serviceability, assessment and evaluation, damage identification, deterioration modelling, repair and retrofitting strategies, bridge reliability, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, advanced experimental simulations, and advanced computer simulations, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of more rational decision-making on bridge maintenance, safety, risk, management and life-cycle performance of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The Editors hope that these Proceedings will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including students, researchers and engineers from all areas of bridge engineering.

Development of Specifications for Modified Engineered Cementitious Composites (MECC) for Use as Bridge Deck Overlays in Nevada

Development of Specifications for Modified Engineered Cementitious Composites (MECC) for Use as Bridge Deck Overlays in Nevada
Author: Nicholas Dean Weitzel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2015
Genre: Bridges
ISBN:

Engineered cementitious composite (ECC) material is a high-strength, fiber-reinforced, ductile mortar mixture that can exhibit tensile strains of up to 5%. The durability and mechanical properties of ECC make it a desirable construction material. This study presents an extensive evaluation of modified engineered cementitious composite (MECC) using locally sourced raw materials for use as a bridge-deck-overlay material. MECC is a mixture of cement, fly ash, water, concrete sand, and poly-vinyl alcohol fibers. The concrete sand used in this study was used in lieu of the typically used silica sand to reduce the high material cost, which makes MECC a modified ECC mix. Currently, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) uses a polymer concrete for bridge-deck-overlays in Nevada. While NDOT has had good performance with the polymer concrete overlays, the polymer concrete material is an expensive proprietary material. NDOT believes that MECC may be a viable alternative to the polymer concrete as a bridge-deck-overlay material. In this study, three different representative aggregates from throughout Nevada were selected to understand how the local aggregates would perform in MECC mixes. In total, eighteen different MECC mixes were evaluated using a total of thirteen different tests to determine the fresh and hardened properties of the MECC material. These tests included compressive strength, freeze-thaw durability, resistance to chloride ion penetration, and drying shrinkage. Additionally, a uniaxial tensile test was developed to test the tensile strengths and tensile strains of these different MECC mixes. In addition to evaluating MECC, samples of the polymer concrete and of a traditional Portland cement concrete mix were also tested. These results were used to determine how the performance of the MECC material compares with polymer concrete and traditional concrete. The laboratory test results were then analyzed using several different statistical analyses. First, all of the MECC mixes were compared with each other, and the polymer concrete and traditional concrete mixes. This showed how many mixes had statistically significantly higher/lower performance that both the polymer concrete and traditional concrete. Second, linear regressions were used to determine the standardized regression coefficients (or beta coefficients) which were used to determine which variables (mix proportions, aggregate source, fiber type) influenced the MECC's properties. Third, additional MECC mixes were batched to determine which aggregate properties would influence the MECC's properties. From this analysis, several predictive models were developed to predict the properties of an MECC mix that used a specific fine aggregate stockpile. After the completion of the laboratory phase, three different field trials were conducted to determine the feasibility of batching large amounts of MECC at commercial concrete batch plants. In these trials, approximately 6 cubic yards of MECC was mixed using different plant configurations to determine if any special measures would be needed to mix MECC on a large-scale. Additionally, a trial slab of MECC was placed at each of these field trials to determine how easy the MECC material would be to place, consolidate, and finish. The findings of this study are that MECC has many desirable qualities of a bridge-deck-overlay material. MECC has higher compressive strengths, higher tensile strengths and strains, high resistance to chloride ion penetration, and higher abrasion resistance than traditional concrete. Additionally, MECC has similar performance to the polymer concrete, meaning there is not a significant drop in performance between the materials. The large-scale trial batches showed that MECC could be mixed on a large-scale without any special measures. While MECC is harder to place than traditional concrete, it is not expected to require any specialty equipment for placement. The findings of this study were used to draft a specification for NDOT for the use of MECC as a bridge-deck-overlay material. This specification will be used in an upcoming field project by NDOT where a bridge-deck-overlay measuring approximately 28 feet by 140 feet by 4 inches thick will be placed in the spring of 2016 in Northern Nevada.

Lowering the Cost of Ultrahigh-performance Concrete Via Design and Performance Evaluation of Non-Proprietary Mixtures

Lowering the Cost of Ultrahigh-performance Concrete Via Design and Performance Evaluation of Non-Proprietary Mixtures
Author: Deepika Sundar
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

The new infrastructure bill promises to invest in repairing and replacing the aging critical infrastructure in the US, particularly roads and bridges. Ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) is a "robust solution for highway infrastructure" since the high compressive strength (>120 MPa), high tensile strength (>5 MPa), homogeneity, and the superior durability of UHPC make it highly reliable wherever it is used (Du et al. 2021). This research aimed to produce and evaluate the performance of low-cost UHPC mixtures using local ingredients. To that end, in the first section of this dissertation, a database consisting of 139 mixture proportions of non-proprietary UHPC formulations, and their workability (flow) and compressive strength data was developed. This database was expanded using prior data of 83 UHPC mixtures developed at Penn State. Random forest-based machine learning (ML) models were developed using this data to first predict the mixtures' flow and compressive strength. Further, physics-based knowledge of the impact of particle size (of aggregates and cementitious materials), particle packing, and chemical composition of the cement was incorporated into the model. This endeavor improved the generalizability of prediction models. In the second part of the dissertation, 130 UHP mortar and concrete mixtures were developed using local ingredients and were evaluated. A plan was devised and executed to determine the impact ingredient properties, mixture proportions, and the temperature of fresh concrete on the properties of UHPC. This experimentation also allowed insight into the robustness of the developed UHPCs to quantify their sensitivity to variability in the mixture constituents and proportions. This research study determined lower-cost alternatives for expensive mixture constituents like quartz filler and quartz sand. At the end of this section, several low-cost UHPC mixtures were developed that met the requirements of FHWA and AASHTO guidelines. Reliably characterizing the mechanical performance, especially the tensile-stress-strain behavior of UHPC mixtures, is critical to determine whether the UHPC exhibited strain-hardening behavior. However, measuring this response by applying uniform loading in tension without pre-maturely cracking the test specimens or inducing large bending strains in the process is challenging. Therefore, in the third section of the dissertation, a UHPC tensile testing setup in compliance with the AASHTO T397-22 test method was built. This set-up involved equipping an 11-kips load cell with custom-made flat grips fabricated following AASHTO recommendations. In addition, an aluminum extensometer was fabricated to measure the average strain in the gauge section, and a data acquisition system was set up to accurately record the load and displacement signals. As a result, the mixtures' extent of strain hardening, and pre-crack localization strain capacity were consistently determined. This setup further allows for the optimization of the fiber reinforcement to reduce the cost of UHPC. Finally, a comprehensive literature review was carried out with the objective of assessing the risk of, and formulating strategies to mitigate, shrinkage cracking in UHPC mixtures. UHPC mixtures tend to be dominated by cementitious materials, composing greater than 60% of the volume of concrete. A high content of cementitious materials and low water-to-cementitious material (w/cm) ratio render UHPC mixtures vulnerable to shrinkage cracking and damage, particularly in connections between prefabricated bridge elements. Thus, the last part of the dissertation reviewed the risk of shrinkage-based cracking in UHPC, the role of fiber reinforcement, and finally assessed the effectiveness of mitigation measures. The outcome of this dissertation is the reduction of the cost of non-proprietary UHPC that were compliant with and exceeded FHWA and AASHTO design guideline performance. It also adds to the know-how in the reliable production of low-cost non-proprietary UHPC mixtures by offering consistently produced and collected data. ML modeling offers efficient and robust tools for future UHPC producers to optimize UHPC mix designs with minimal trial and error.