UHPC Seminar to University of New Hampshire

Title: Understanding Axial Load and Size Effects in the Shear Behavior of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) via the Universal Element Tester (UET) Facility

Abstract:

To prevent brittle failures of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) members due

to diagonal shear cracks, it is crucial to better understand the shear-dominated mechanisms of

UHPC. These mechanisms can be affected by the tension and compression fields developed in

UHPC and member size, which were investigated in this study through large-scale experiments.

The experimental work was carried out with the Universal Element Tester (UET) at the University

of Houston, where unreinforced and reinforced UHPC panel elements were tested, representing

elements cut out from large-scale UHPC structures. Via UET, characterization of the state of stress

within one element is used to understand the shear behavior of the large structure. The key variable

in our UHPC panel tests was the level of compressive or tensile axial load applied to the panel

elements. The panel size was also varied to represent web regions of UHPC beams with different

depths. Future work will synthesize the test results to inform the development of shear design

equations with consideration to axial load and size effects.