Shear strength of ultra high-performance concrete

Abstract

Tests were conducted to determine the shear strength of a non-proprietary Ultra High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) mix, designed by the University of Oklahoma. Results for both material properties and shear strength are reported here. The shear strength was determined using a special-purpose panel testing machine, which can subject a 2-D panel to any desired combination of in-plane stresses. Only pure shear was used here. It was found that the local sourcing had no perceptible effect on the material properties, that the fiber content had only a small effect on the compression strength, and that considerable scatter exists in the tension strength results, although those obtained from the flexural beam tests showed less scatter than those from the direct tension test. The shear strength lay in the range 7.5– 10 MPa, and correlates more closely with tension strength than with traditional measures, such as fc'.