This thesis describes part of the work associated with Project 0-6719 sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The primary objective of the project is to examine the feasibility of strengthening older continuous multi-span steel girder bridges through the use of post-installed shear connectors. Bridges potentially eligible for retrofit have noncomposite floor systems, where the concrete slab is not attached to the steel girders with shear connectors. Many of these bridges were designed in the 1950's and 1960's for loads smaller than the standard design loads used today. A secondary objective of the project, and the main focus of this thesis, is to examine the design of post-installed shear connectors for fatigue. Of particular interest in this study is the adhesive anchor, given its convenient installation procedure but relatively poor fatigue performance in previous tests. The objectives of this thesis were to quantify the fatigue strength of the adhesive anchor, as well as quantify the shear force and slip demands on adhesive anchors in realistic bridge conditions. In regards to the first objective, twenty-six direct shear fatigue tests were performed on adhesive anchors. Each test was conducted on a single adhesive anchor in order to capture its individual cyclic load-slip behavior. Results indicate that adhesive anchors have considerably higher fatigue strength than conventional welded shear studs, making partial composite design feasible in the strengthening of older steel bridges. In regards to the second objective, analytical and computational studies were conducted on composite beams with adhesive anchors. Results show that the shear force and slip demands are typically smaller than the endurance limits determined from direct-shear testing. This suggests that fatigue failure of adhesive anchors under service loads may not be a primary concern. Based on the results, preliminary recommendations for the design of adhesive anchors for fatigue are provided. / text

Les systèmes d’ancrages adhésifs sont utilisés dans plusieurs applications en génie civil, notamment en réhabilitation et réparation des ouvrages d’infrastructure tels que des dalles de ponts, chaussées, tunnels, barrages, murs, poteaux, ainsi que dans certains travaux d’exploration géologique et minière. Un système d’ancrage adhésif comprend trois composants : l’élément d’ancrage : une barre d’armature ou une tige filetée ; le matériau adhésif : polymérique, cimentaire ou hybride ; et le substrat : en béton ou en maçonnerie. Les charges imposées sur les barres d’ancrage sont transmises au substrat par adhérence chimique (réactions) et liaison mécanique (interlock) entre les composants mentionnés. Le modèle de design d’adhérence uniforme établit que la performance structurale d’un système d’ancrage adhésif est déterminée par la contrainte de l’adhérence (τ), développée sur toute la surface de contact, entre les composants à l’intérieur du trou d’ancrage. Ce projet, en partenariat avec l’entreprise AMBEX, étudie et évalue la performance des systèmes d’ancrage avec adhésifs en matériau cimentaire, par rapport au comportement sous chargement continu. Pour ce faire, on a ancré des barres d’armature dans un substrat en béton conventionnel. Les deux adhésifs étudiés sont les cartouches d’ancrage AAC et ARC. On a tenu compte des paramètres géométriques et d’installation en assurant la rupture de l’adhérence lors des essais d’arrachement. On a évalué deux conditions en service: température ambiante (21ºC) et élevée (43ºC). On a effectué des essais statiques de traction et des essais sous chargement soutenu. Les résultats sont présentés dans des graphiques « chargedéplacement-temps », afin d’établir des prédictions futures de comportement. Le projet montre les avantages des ancrages adhésifs en matériau cimentaire, tels que le taux de fluage très faible sous chargement soutenu, et quelques limitations aussi, comme la variabilité des résultats à l’arrachement pour les ancrages avec la cartouche AAC. / Abstract : Adhesive anchoring systems are used in many civil engineering applications, including rehabilitation and repair of infrastructure such as bridge decks, roadways, tunnels, dams, walls, columns, and in some geological explorations and mining. An adhesive anchoring system consists of three components: the anchor: a reinforcing bar or a threaded rod; the adhesive material: polymeric, cementitious or hybrid; and a substrate of concrete or masonry. The loads applied on the anchor rods are transmitted by a chemical adhesion to the substrate (reactions) and mechanical interlock between the components mentioned. The design pattern of uniform adhesion establishes that the structural performance of an adhesive anchoring system is determined by the bond strength (τ) developed across the contact surface, between the components within the anchor hole. This project, in partnership with AMBEX, investigates and assesses the performance of an anchoring system, with an adhesive of cementitious material, related to the creep behaviour. To achieve this, steel rebars were anchored in a conventional concrete substrate. Two adhesives were evaluated: AAC and ARC cartridges. Geometrical and installation parameters were taken into account, to ensure bond failure during pullout tests. Two service conditions were studied: room temperature (21ºC) and high temperature (43ºC). Static tensile tests and creep tests were performed. The results are presented in graphs “load-displacement-time”, in order to make predictions of future behavior. The project shows the advantages of adhesive anchors made of cementitious material, as a feeble creep rate at sustained load, and also some limitations, as the variability of tension test results for anchors tested with AAC cartridge.

Various anchorage systems including both cast-in-place and post-installed anchors have been developed for fastening both non-structural and structural components to concrete structures. The need for increased flexibility in the design of new structures and strengthening of existing concrete structures has led to increased use of various metallic anchors in practice. Although millions of fasteners are used each year in the construction industry around the world, knowledge of the fastening technology remains poor. In a sustainable society, buildings and structures must, from time to time, be adjusted to meet new demands. Loads on structures must, in general, be increased to comply with new demands, and the structural components and the structural connections must also be upgraded. From the structural connection point of view, the adequacy of the current fastenings for the intended increased load must be determined, and inadequate fastenings must either be replaced or upgraded. The current design models are generally believed to be conservative, although the extent of this behavior is not very clear. To address these issues, the current models must be refined to allow the design of new fastenings and also the assessment of current anchorage systems in practice. The research presented in this thesis consists of numerical and experimental studies of the load-carrying capacity of anchors in concrete structures. Two different types of anchors were studied: (I) cast-in-place headed anchors, and (II) post-installed adhesive anchors. This research focused particularly on the tensile load-carrying capacity of cast-in-place headed anchors and also on the sustained tension loading performance of post-installed adhesive anchors. The overall objective of this research was to provide knowledge for the development of improved methods of designing new fastening systems and assessing the current anchorage systems in practice. For the cast-in-place headed anchors (I), the influence of various parameters including the size of anchor head, thickness of concrete member, amount of orthogonal surface reinforcement, presence of concrete cracks, concrete compressive strength, and addition of steel fibers to concrete were studied. Among these parameters, the influence of the anchor head size, member thickness, surface reinforcement, and cracked concrete was initially evaluated via numerical analysis of headed anchors at various embedment depths. Although these parameters have considerable influence on the anchorage capacity and performance, this influence is not explicitly considered by the current design models. The numerical results showed that the tensile breakout capacity of headed anchors increases with increasing member thickness and/or increasing size of the anchor head or the use of orthogonal surface reinforcement. However, their capacity decreased considerably in cracked concrete. Based on the numerical results, the current theoretical model for the tensile breakout capacity of headed anchors was extended by incorporating several modification factors that take the influence of the investigated parameters into account. In addition, a supplementary experimental study was performed to verify the numerically obtained findings and the proposed refined model. The experimental results corresponded closely to the numerical results, both in terms of failure load and failure pattern, thereby confirming the validity of the proposed model. The validity of the model was further confirmed through experimental results reported in the literature. Additional experiments were performed to determine the influence of the concrete compressive strength and the addition of steel fiber to concrete on the anchorage capacity and performance. These experiments showed that the anchorage capacity and stiffness increase considerably with increasing concrete compressive strength, but the ductility of the anchor decreases. However, the anchorage capacity and ductility increased significantly with the addition of steel fibers to the concrete mixture. The test results also revealed that the tensile breakout capacity of headed anchors in steel fiber-reinforced concrete is significantly underestimated by the current design model. The long-term performance and creep behavior of the post-installed headed anchors (II) was evaluated from the results of long-time tests on adhesive anchors under sustained loads. In this experimental study, adhesive anchors of various sizes were subjected to various sustained load levels for up to 28 years. The anchors were also exposed to several in-service conditions including indoor temperature, variations in the outdoor temperature and humidity, wetness (i.e., water on the surface of concrete), and the presence of salt (setting accelerant) additives in the concrete. Among the tested in-service conditions, variations in the outdoor temperature and humidity had the most adverse effect on the long-term sustained loading performance of the anchors. Based on the test results, recommendations were proposed for maximum sustained load levels under various conditions. The anchors tested under indoor conditions could carry sustained loads of up to 47% of their mean ultimate short-term capacities. However, compared with these anchors, the anchors tested under outdoor conditions exhibited larger creep deformation and failure occurred at sustained loads higher than 23% of their mean ultimate short-term capacities. Salt additives in concrete and wet conditions had negligible influence on the long-term performance of the anchors, although the wet condition resulted in progressive corrosion of the steel. Based on the experimental results, the suitability of the current testing and approval provisions for qualifying adhesive anchors subjected to long-term sustained tensile loads was evaluated. The evaluations revealed that the current approval provisions are not necessarily reliable for qualifying adhesive anchors for long-term sustained loading applications. Recommendations were given for modifying the current provisions to ensure safe long-term performance of adhesive anchors under sustained loads.