Experimental Study on the Flexural Behaviors of Prestressed Segmental Ultra–High–Performance Concrete Channels and Reinforced Conventional Concrete Deck Composite Girders

Abstract

Flexural testing on two prestressed segmental ultra–high–performance concrete channels and reinforced conventional concrete deck composite girders (PSUC–RCCD) was carried out. One was made up of four segments with dry joints, and the other was formed of one channel beam without a dry joint. Both of them poured a conventional concrete deck slab on site. The mechanical behaviors of the girders, including the whole loading process, the crack pattern, and the failure mode were investigated and compared. The effect of the number of segments and the steel fiber volume fraction of UHPC on the bending behavior of the PSUC–RCCD girder was explored using the finite element method. This study showed that the loading process of semi-segmental and integral girders is similar; the whole loading process of the girders can be divided into the elastic phase, crack development, and the failure phase. The only notable difference between the two girders was the stage of crack development; specifically, after cracking, the stiffness of the semi-segmental girder reduced rapidly, while the “bridging effect” of the steel fibers in the integrated girder caused a slow reduction in rigidity. The flexural cracks in the semi-segmental girder were significantly less than those in the integral girder in terms of the number of cracks, and were present only at the joints. The finite element analysis showed that the number of segments had little influence on the flexural capacity of the girders, but the girders with even numbers of segments cracked earlier than those with odd segments. Increasing the steel fiber volume fraction in UHPC (ultra–high–performance concrete) had a small effect on the cracking load of the semi-segmental girders but enhanced its ultimate flexural capacity. Based on this experiment, a calculated method for estimating the flexural capacity of semi-sectional girders was proposed. The calculated values were in good agreement with the experimental and finite element values. In the preliminary design, the flexural capacity of the semi-segmental section could be estimated by multiplying the flexural capacity of the integral section by a resistance factor of 0.95.