A Practical Design Method for Reducing Postconstruction Settlement of Highway Subgrade Induced by Soil Creep

The postconstruction settlement of the bridge approach is usually uneven, which could create a bump in the roadway. Indeed, this is a typical situation at the end of the bridge approach and requires a solution. One of the main causes of postconstruction settlement is the creep of soil. This paper is aimed at generalizing a new design method for controlling highway postconstruction settlement by replacing subgrade with expanded polystyrene (EPS). In the new method, the creep coefficient can be calculated based on the Yin-Graham EVP model. Thus, the relationship between the overloading ratio (OLR) and overconsolidation ratio (OCR) is obtained. The new method involves five steps: (a) determine the creep coefficient based on the relationship between the creep coefficient and over consolidation ratio, (b) divide the ground into a suitable number of sublayers, (c) select groups of different overloading ratios and then calculate the average values of the additional stress and overconsolidation ratio for each sublayer under different OLRs, (d) calculate the postconstruction settlement under different OLRs, and (e) determine the replacement capacity for different sections. This method can be used for quantitative design according to different requirements of postconstruction settlement of foundation. Taking Huzhou Avenue as an example, the case study illustrates the calculation process of the new method in detail.

Experimental Evaluation of Shrinkage, Creep and Prestress Losses in Lightweight Aggregate Concrete with Sintered Fly Ash

The paper presents the experimental results of shrinkage, creep, and prestress loss in concrete with lightweight aggregate obtained by sintering of fly ash. Two concrete mixtures with different proportions of components were tested. Concrete with a density of 1810 and 1820 kg/m3, and a 28-day strength of 56.9 and 58.4 MPa was obtained. Shrinkage and creep were tested on 150 × 250 × 1000 mm3 beams. Creep was tested under prestressing load for 539 days and concrete shrinkage for 900 days. The measurement results were compared with the calculations carried out according to the Eurocode 2 as well as with the results of other research. A very low creep coefficient and lower shrinkage in relation to the calculation results and the results of other research were found. It was also revealed that there is a clear correlation between shrinkage and creep, and the amount of water in the concrete. The value of the creep coefficient during the load holding period was 0.610 and 0.537, which is 56.0 and 49.3% of the value determined from the standard. The prestressing losses in the analyzed period amounted to an average of 13.0%. Based on the obtained test results, it was found that the tested lightweight aggregate concrete is well suited for prestressed concrete structures. Shrinkage was not greater than that calculated for normal weight concrete of a similar strength class, which will not result in increased loss of prestress. Low creep guarantees low deflection increments over time.

Towards a New Analytical Creep Model for Cement-Based Concrete Using Design Standards Approach

Creep properties are determined in design standards by measuring the creep coefficient, noted φ, as a function of time, t, and the age of the concrete at loading, t0. The work aims to study the validity of the analytical models proposed in the most used international standards and to check the possibility of their extension to estimate the creep of recycled aggregates concrete (RAC). A database was built from experimental results available in bibliographic references including 121 creep curves divided into 73 curves for natural aggregates concrete (NAC) and 48 curves for RAC. The comparison between the experimental and predicted values showed a significant dispersion for NAC and RAC. For the remediation of this dispersion, a new analytical model was developed for NAC. The parameters being the conventional creep coefficient, φ0, the power of the ageing function, named α, and βh, which accounts for the relative humidity and the compressive strength in the ageing function, were identified by inverse analysis. It was found that the power of the ageing function is 0.44 and not 0.3, as fixed by Eurocode 2 (EC2). Moreover, new expressions were proposed for φ0 and βh. The presence of recycled aggregates was considered through the equivalent replacement ratio.

Experimental and Analytical Study on Creep Characteristics of Box Section Bamboo-Steel Composite Columns under Long-Term Loading

To expand the application of bamboo as a building material, a new type of box section composite column that combined bamboo and steel was considered in this paper. The creep characteristics of eight bamboo-steel composite columns with different parameters were tested to evaluate the effects of load level, section size and interface type under long-term loading. Then, the deformation development of the composite column under long-term loading was observed and analyzed. In addition, the creep-time relationship curve and the creep coefficient were created. Furthermore, the creep model of the composite column was proposed based on the relationship between the creep of the composite column and the creep of bamboo, and the calculated value of creep was compared with the experimental value. The experimental results showed that the creep development of the composite column was fast at first, and then became stable after about 90 days. The creep characteristics were mainly affected by long-term load level and section size. The creep coefficient was between 0.160 and 0.190. Moreover, the creep model proposed in this paper was applicable to predict the creep development of bamboo-steel composite columns. The calculation results were in good agreement with the experimental results.

On the Influence of Cross-Section and Reinforcement of Reinforced Concrete Constructions on the Concentration of Coarse Aggregate in Concrete with Frame Structure

Concretes with frame structure produced by using the technology of separate concreting by immersing a coarse aggregate in a low-viscosity mortar matrix due to an increased concentration of coarse aggregate have an increased E-modulus, reduced creep coefficient and cement volume in concrete compared to traditional vibrational compaction concretes. Production concrete using separate concreting technology by immersing a coarse aggregate in a mortar matrix with low-viscosity allows to obtain a frame structure of concrete with a concentration of coarse aggregate up to 0.7 when a voidness of coarse aggregate is equal 0.28. The real concentration of coarse aggregate in a concrete structure depends on the particle size of the coarse aggregate, the cross-section dimensions of the structure, and the reinforcement coefficient. The influence of geometric dimensions and the coefficient of reinforcement on the concentration of coarse aggregate in the concrete with frame structure is studied. The concentration of coarse aggregate decreases with the growth of the S/V modulus (S – area, m2, V – volume, m3) and the reinforcement coefficient, but the decrease in the E-modulus does not exceed 5%. Conclusion: regardless of the type of construction and reinforcement, the concrete of the frame structure must have a sufficiently high uniformity of deformation properties.

An Investigation of Time-Dependent Deformation Characteristics of Soft Dredger Fill

The creep characteristics of soft clays have been studied for decades. However, the lateral deformation of soils is not allowed during the commonly used one-dimensional consolidation tests, which cannot describe the real deformation features of soils in practice. On the other hand, the influence of drainage distance on the mechanical properties of soil is still controversial, classified as hypothesis A and hypothesis B. For a better understanding of deformation characteristics of soft clay, especially which in long-terms, a series of conventional oedometer tests as well as novel geometric confined consolidation tests was conducted on soft dredger fill. The results show that the secondary consolidation coefficient of the soil sample Cα would increase firstly, followed by a small decrease with the increase of consolidation pressure generally. Cα would decrease with the consolidation time and also be reduced by preloading. The strain at the completion of primary consolidation would increase with the drainage distance, but the Cα would be affected little. Both compression index Cc and Cα of soft clay would reduce after preconsolidation, in which two parameters show an approximate linear relationship. The creep coefficient of soft clay under the geometric confinement Cαε k is larger than that under the oedometer test Cαε. However, the trends of the relationship between the creep coefficient and loading are consistent regardless of the confinement conditions.

Creep Assessment of the Cement Matrix of Self-Compacting Concrete Modified with the Addition of Nanoparticles Using the Indentation Method

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the modification of cement composites with finer materials, including nanoparticles. Multi-scale studies are needed to fully assess the effect of nanoparticles and provide a complete overview of their impact on both the structure of an obtained material and its important mechanical parameters, such as creep. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill the knowledge gap in the literature concerning the assessment of the creep of a cement matrix of self-compacting concrete modified with the addition of SiO2, TiO2, and Al2O3 nanoparticles using the indentation method. Depending on the type of used nanoparticles, we found an increase or decrease of the creep coefficient CIT in comparison to the reference series. The obtained results were scrupulously analyzed in terms of statistics, which enabled the conclusion that the addition of nanoparticles does not significantly affect the creep of the cement matrix of self-compacting concrete. The methodology used in this paper allowed us to shorten the time needed to assess the creep phenomenon compared to traditional methods and fill the corresponding knowledge gap in the literature.

To the Problem of Assessing the Level of Self- Stresses during the Formation of the Structure of Self-Compacting Concrete

Conditional quantitative criteria characterizing the shrinkage crack resistance of various concretes and a model describing the change in the proposed criteria depending on the magnitude of shrinkage deformation, creep coefficient, tensile strength kinetics and shrinkage strain kinetics for ordinary concrete and self-compacting concrete are proposed. The proposed criteria for the class C40/50 concrete have been calculated and it was shown that self-compacting concrete can potentially have higher crack resistance during shrinkage. To ensure high cracking resistance during shrinkage when choosing superplasticizers and mineral additives, attention should be paid to their effect on shrinkage, creep and E-modulus of the cement stone. It should exclude additives that increase the shrinkage and E-modulus and reduce creep of cement stone.