Numerical analysis on fatigue behavior of ultrahigh-performance concrete-Orthotropic steel composite bridge deck

Ultrahigh-performance concrete-orthotropic steel composite bridge deck is composed of the orthotropic steel deck and a thin ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) overlayer. In the previous fatigue tests, two typical fatigue failure modes were found and identified. As a supplementary test after fatigue tests, air penetration method is capable of providing a reference to the quantitative and non-destructive damage detection of fatigue damage of UHPC. To further the previous study, a detailed numerical investigation is accomplished through complimentary finite element (FE) analysis. Compared with the solid element model, the refined shell-solid element model can better reflect the mechanical behavior. It is illustrated that the vertical stress can be adopted in assessing the fatigue strength of rib-to-diaphragm welded connection in the field test by means of nominal stress method. The combination of various factors would lead to fatigue shear failure of the short headed-studs. The fatigue strength of rib-to-diaphragm welded connection predicted by the hot spot stress method and the consistent nominal stress (CNS) method can basically meet the requirements of FAT90. The consistent nominal stress method can be used as the optimization method of nominal stress of fatigue detail. It is demonstrated that the fatigue life of UHPC can be estimated by S-N curves of ordinary concrete conservatively. The allowable equivalent maximum stress level can be taken as 0.55 for two million cycles of fatigue loading, and 0.52 for five million cycles of fatigue loading.

Local Failure Modes and Critical Buckling Loads of a Meta-Functional Auxetic Sandwich Core for Composite Bridge Bearing Applications

This paper presents a novel meta-functional auxetic unit (MFAU) cell designed to improve performance and weight ratio for structural bridge bearing applications. Numerical investigations were conducted using three-dimensional finite element models validated by experimental results. The validated models were exposed to compression and buckling actions to identify structural failure modes, with special attention placed on the global behaviours of the meta-functional auxetic (MFA) composite bridge bearing. This bearing uses an unprecedented auxetic sandwich core design consisting of multiple MFAU cells. Numerical predictions of the elastic local critical buckling loads of the MFAU cell were in excellent agreement with both the analytical and experimental results, with an observed discrepancy of less than 1%. These results demonstrate that local buckling failures of MFAU cells can potentially be incurred prior to yielding under compression due to their slenderness ratios. Surprisingly, the designed sandwich core used in the MFA composite bridge bearing model can mimic an auxetic structure with significant crashworthiness, implying that this novel core composite structure can be tailored for structural bridge bearing applications. Parametric studies were thus carried out in order to enrich our insight into the MFA composite elements. These insights, stemming from both experimental and numerical studies, enable a novel design paradigm for MFAU that can significantly enhance the structural performance of MFA composite bridge bearings in practice.

Analysis and Study on Bending Vibration Frequency of New Corrugated Steel Web Composite Box Girder

In order to accurately analyze the bending vibration frequency of the new composite box girder, the effects of web folding effect, shear lag, and shear deformation are comprehensively considered in this paper, and the elastic control differential equation and natural boundary conditions of the composite box girder are established by using the Hamilton principle. A one-span composite box girder with corrugated steel webs is used as a numerical example. The effects of height span ratio, width span ratio, web thickness, cantilever plate length, and fold effect on the vertical vibration frequency of the new composite box girder are analyzed. The results show that the analytical solution is in good agreement with the finite element solution. When considering the shear lag and fold effect, the vibration frequency of composite box girder decreases. With the increase in order, the influence of shear lag and fold effect on its frequency becomes stronger. The changes of height span ratio and web thickness of composite box girder have a great influence on its folding effect, while the changes of width span ratio and cantilever plate length have little influence on it. The conclusion can provide a reference for the design of medium section new composite bridge in practical engineering.

Study on stud performance of steel UHPC composite structure based on temperature

The stress and deformation of the specimen under static load and temperature load coupling are deduced by simulation. With the help of finite element software ABAQUS, the user subroutines DFLUX and FILM are called to introduce the temperature field, so as to realize the analysis and Research on the stress, displacement, PEEQ, arrangement and load slip curve of the stud under different action conditions. The results show that based on the existence of temperature stress, the service performance of studs under coupling action is significantly lower than that under static action alone, and the proportion of shear performance of studs in different rows is different. Through the research and analysis of the above phenomena, it can provide reference value for the research of temperature on the performance of studs in composite bridge deck and prolong the service life of bridge deck.