An experimental program was conducted at the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory of The University of Texas at Austin, under the auspices of Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Research Project 5831, to investigate the tensile stresses that develop in the end regions of pretensioned concrete U-beams at transfer of prestress. Understanding the effect of these “bursting” and “spalling” stresses is essential in order to design standard details that might lead to reliably-serviceable end regions. Two full-scale beam specimens, designed to be worst-case scenarios for bursting and spalling, were fabricated. Each beam had one square and one highly skewed end. Extensive instrumentation, including strain gages on transverse and lateral reinforcing bars, was employed in the end regions of these U-beams. Experimentally determined bursting and spalling stresses in these bars were compared to results of past projects (from the literature) investigating I-beams and inverted T-beams. Preliminary recommendations are made for changes in the standard reinforcing details for U-beam end regions. Such recommended details will be tested in the upcoming phase of Research Project 5831. / text

La plupart de l'énergie en France est d'origine nucléaire. Le bâtiment de réaction comporte une enceinte interne et une externe. L'enceinte interne est en béton précontraint, pour limiter le débit de fuite dans l'espace interne-ence inte. La précontrainte diminue au cours du temps à cause du fluage du béton. Il risque de se propager des fissures par une pression accidentelle interne. On pose alors deux problèmes de recherche : propagation de macrofissures dans une structure viscoélastique ; comportement effectif d'un matériau viscoélastique microfissuré. On développe tout d'abord un modèle viscoélastique de Burger pour le béton avec deux approches de calcul numérique et analytique. On traite ensuite le problème de fissure unique en développant thermodynamiquement la notion du taux de restitution d'énergie. Dans la troisième partie, on établit un modèle viscoélastique pour modéliser le comportement effectif des matériaux microfissurés dans le cas sans propagation. Le problème de propagation de microfisures est étudié ultérieurement par une approche numérique basée sur le "motif morphologique représentative". Ces études sont finalement appliquées pour traiter les problèmes de propagation de fissure et endommagement d'une enceinte de confinement sous l'application d'une pression accidentelle interne / Most of France's energy is nuclear. The reactor building comprises a internal and external containment. The internal containment is prestressed to limit the flow of leakage in the internal-external space. The prestress decreases during time by the creep of concrete. It may propagate the cracks by the accidental internal pressure. So we define two research problems : propagation of macrocracks in viscoelastic structure ; effective behavior of microcracked viscoelastic material. Firstly, we develop a Burger viscoelastic model of concrete with two approaches: numerical and analytical. Then we solve the problem of single cracks in developing thermodynamically the concept of energy release rate. In the third part we develop a viscoelastic model to study the effective behavior of microcracked materials in the case without propagation. The problem of propagation of microcracks is then studied by a numerical approach based on the "representative pattern morphology". These studies are finally applied to solve the problems of crack propagation and damage of containment under accidental internal pressure

With the looming energy crisis compounded by the global economic downturn there is an urgent need to increase energy efficiency and to discover new energy sources. An approach to solve this problem is to improve the efficiency of aerodynamic vehicles by using active flow control tools such as synthetic jet actuators. These devices are able to reduce fuel consumption and streamlined vehicle design by reducing drag and weight, and increasing maneuverability. Hence, the main goal of this dissertation is to study factors that affect the efficiency of synthetic jets by incorporating energy harvesting into actuator design using prestressed piezoelectric composites. Four state-of-the-art piezoelectric composites were chosen as active diaphragms in synthetic jet actuators. These composites not only overcome the inherent brittle and fragile nature of piezoelectric materials but also enhance domain movement which in turn enhances intrinsic contributions. With these varying characteristics among different types of composites, the intricacies of the synthetic jet design and its implementation increases. In addition the electrical power requirements of piezoelectric materials make the new SJA system a coupled multiphysics problem involving electro–mechanical and structural–fluid interactions. Due to the nature of this system, a design of experiments approach, a method of combining experiments and statistics, is utilized. Geometric and electro-mechanical factors are investigated using a fractional factorial design with peak synthetic jet velocity as a response variable. Furthermore, energy generated by the system oscillations is harvested with a prestressed composite and a piezo-polymer. Using response surface methodology the process is optimized under different temperatures and pressures to simulate harsh environmental conditions. Results of the fractional factorial experimental design showed that cavity dimensions and type of signal used to drive the synthetic jet actuator were statistically significant factors when studying peak jet velocity. The Bimorph (~50m/s) and the prestressed metal composite (~45m/s) generated similar peak jet velocities but the later is the most robust of all tested actuators. In addition, an alternate input signal to the composite, a sawtooth waveform, leads to jets formed with larger peak velocities at frequencies above 15Hz. The optimized factor levels for the energy harvesting process were identified as 237.6kPa, 3.7Hz, 1MΩ and 12°C and the power density measured at these conditions was 24.27µW/mm3. Finally, the SJA is integrated with an energy harvesting system and the power generated is stored into a large capacitor and a rechargeable battery. After approximately six hours of operation 5V of generated voltage is stored in a 330µF capacitor with the prestressed metal composite as the harvester. It is then demonstrated that energy harvested from the inherent vibrations of a SJA can be stored for later use. Then, the system proposed in this dissertation not only improves on the efficiency of aerodynamic bodies, but also harvests energy that is otherwise wasted.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Robert J. Peterman / An experimental testing program was conducted at Kansas State University (KSU) to test the bond characteristics of various 5.32-mm-diameter steel wires and smaller diameter (less than 0.5 in.) strands used in prestressed concrete railroad ties. A total of 13 wires and six strands produced by seven different steel manufacturers were used during this testing. Since no wire bond pullout test currently exists, one was developed and its validity tested. This un-tensioned pullout test could serve as a quality control test similar to the standard test for strand bond (ASTM A1081) that has been developed for pretensioned strands. This strand test is currently not verified for strands less than 0.5-in. in diameter, so the procedure was also scrutinized using strands common in the concrete railroad tie industry. Some of the wires and strands contained surface indentations. It is generally accepted that indentations in the reinforcements improve the bond between the steel and concrete. To further complicate the issue, reinforcements with different surface conditions (rust, oils, lubricants) are allowed to be used in the concrete ties which further affects the bond quality of the reinforcements. However, no standardized indentation patterns (shape, size, depth of indent, etc.) or surface conditions (degree of rusting, amount of surface lubricants, etc.) are utilized by all wire and strand manufacturers. Thus, the corresponding bond behavior of these different reinforcements when placed in various concrete mixtures, in terms of average transfer lengths and typical variations, is essentially unknown. The purpose of this testing program was to develop (in the case of wires) or verify/develop (in the case of strands) a pullout testing procedure predictive of the reinforcement’s bond performance in a prestressed application. The test should be relatively inexpensive, demonstrably repeatable, and easily reproducible. Results from the un-tensioned pullout tests were compared to transfer length measurements from accompanying pretensioned concrete prisms in the lab. Additionally, pullout tests and transfer length measurements were obtained at an actual concrete railroad tie manufacturing plant. The obtained data was compared to the lab data and analyzed to further understand the relationship between un-tensioned pullout tests and pretensioned concrete members.

A variety of studies were performed using existing and newly proposed techniques and instrumentation to further the understanding of nondestructive testing of concrete. A new combined stress wave propagation method was developed that combined the existing methods of the spectral analysis of surface waves, impact echo, and free-free resonant column experimental and analysis techniques. The method was used to determine the stiffness profile and location of embedded voids in a concrete tunnel lining modeled as a three layer concrete slab. A new equation was proposed that predicted the level of damage of concrete samples based on the functions of the change in first mode longitudinal frequency and the absorption of energy during cyclic loading to failure. During this study, new instrumentation was developed that aided in the dynamic stiffness measurements during the cyclic loading. A comparison of the static and dynamic Young’s modulus was performed. It was found that the ratio of these two moduli depend on a concrete’s strength and damping properties as well as the age of the specimen. A new equation was proposed using these three properties to determine the ratio of static to dynamic Young’s modulus. An experimental program was performed on samples of high performance self-consolidating concrete (HPSCC). The HPSCC exceeded expected values of strength and stiffness over that of regular high performance concrete. Finally, a comparison of prestress losses in prestressed bridge girders fabricated using the HPSCC was conducted. Prestress losses were measured and calculated using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) LRFD 2004 and 2007 Specifications. It was determined that the AASHTO LRFD 2007 Specifications most accurately predict the measured prestress losses.

The major cause of cracking in bridge decks, concrete pavements, as well as slabs on grade, is restrained shrinkage of the concrete. The resulting steel corrosion problem causes tremendous increase of maintenance and replacement cost. Shrinkage-compensating concrete (SHCC) and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) are explored to develop a hybrid slab system as one possible method of delaying the cracking and eliminating corrosion. To achieve the objective, a hybrid FRP reinforced SHCC structural system was developmed, and short-term and long-term behavior of this hybrid FRP-SHCC beams were investigated in this dissertation. In the first-stage development, a series of “coffee can” tests were carried out to measure and compare the expansion of SHCC from two candidate materials which were ettringite-system SHCC and lime-system SHCC. The selected SHCC candidate mix was then optimized to get the maximum expansion as well as a reasonable concrete strength. The optimized SHCC mix was used to make FRP-SHCC beams. The expansion of the concrete was measured through strain gauges on the FRP composite sheets during curing. Both glass FRP (GFRP) composite sheets and carbon FRP (CFRP) composite sheets were used for comparison. A series of third-point loading experiments were conducted to study the behavior of the proposed hybrid FRP-SHCC beams. In the second-stage development, long term prestress loss and static structural test of the proposed beams are investigated. Test results were evaluated based on maximum expansion strain, cracking load, crack width, load-deflection and ultimate load.The results indicate that the proposed system is promising in terms of its ability to develop a residual pre-stressing effect. Tests also show that the pre-stressing effect from the expansion of SHCC increases as the axial stiffness of the FRP reinforcement increases. A lime-system SHCC structural system shows higher prestress strain and less prestress loss than an ettringite-system SHCC system over the long term.

This multi-scale investigation aimed to provide new knowledge and understanding of creep and shrinkage of high performance lightweight concrete (HPLC) by assessing prestress losses in HPLC prestressed members in a large-scale study; by quantifying the effect of the constituent materials and external conditions on creep and shrinkage in a medium-scale study; and by improving the fundamental understanding of creep and shrinkage in a small-scale study. Creep plus shrinkage prestress losses were between two and eight times lower than those estimated for the design standards and approximately 50% of those measured in similar strength normal weight high performance concrete girders. The lower creep and shrinkage exhibited by HPLC was found to be caused by a synergy between the pre-soaked lightweight aggregate and the low water-to-cementitious material ratio matrix. That is, the water contained in the lightweight aggregate contributes to enhance hydration by providing an internal moist curing. The water in the aggregate also contributes to maintain a high internal relative humidity which reduces or eliminates autogenous shrinkage. This higher internal relative humidity also reduces creep by preventing load-induced water migration. Finally, lightweight aggregate exhibits a better elastic compatibility with the paste than normal weight aggregate. This improved elastic matching and the enhanced hydration are believed to reduce peak deformations at the ITZ which further decreases creep and shrinkage.

In finite elasticity, while developing representation for stress, it is customary to require the reference configuration to be stress free. This study relaxes this requirement and develops representations for stress from a stressed reference configuration. Using the fact that the value of Cauchy stress in the current configuration is independent of the choice of the reference configuration, even though the formula used to compute it depends on the choice of the reference configuration, the sought representation is obtained. It is then assumed that there exists a piecewise smooth mapping between a configuration with prestresses and a configuration that is stress free, and the representation obtained above is used to study the mechanical response of prestressed bodies. The prestress fields are obtained by directly integrating the balance of linear momentum along with the traction free boundary condition. Then, different classes of boundary value problems for the type of inhomogeneous and prestressed bodies of interest are formulated and studied. For the cases studied, it is found that even the global measures like axial-load required to engender a given stretch ratio for a prestressed body vary from the homogeneous stress free bodies, though not significantly. The local measures - stress and deformation - in a prestressed body differ considerably from their homogeneous stress free counterparts. The above gained knowledge is applied to understand the mechanics of circumflex arteries obtained from normotensive and hypertensive micro-mini pigs. It is found that the deformation of these arteries when subjected to inflation and axial extension is not of the form r = r(R), µ = £, z = Z. Comparison is also made between the response of an artery at various levels of smooth muscle activation and stretch ratio as well as normotensive and hypertensive specimens, using statistical methods.

Laboratory test of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures have been used widely to explore the behavior of reinforced and prestressed concrete components and structures; Such tests are often time-consuming and costly. However, numerical models have been shown to compare favorably with experiments. Thus, computations are viewed nowadays as efficient alternatives to tests, time-wise and cost-wise. In the research reported in this thesis, finite-element model were used in a study of pretressed structural components in order to correlate levels of pretension with deflection and strain measurements. The two main objectives were to develop a suitable finite element model of prestressed concrete beams and to forecast beam prestension on the basis of deformations resulting from specified simple load, e.g., a uniformly distributed transverse load. A commercial finite-element analysis package (ANSYS 12) was used to set up, use and evaluate the computational model. Furthermore, a finite-difference model was employed in order to ascertain the validity of ANSYS results by comparison with engineering beam theory taking into account the applied pretension. This study demonstrates the potential usefulness of deflection and strain measurements as indicators of the pretension applied or remaining in prestressed concrete beams. / text

In this research, nonlinear structural analysis along with finite element analysis were carried out for a pretensioned concrete beam at different levels of pretension in order to examine the effect of the change in the tendon force on the geometric stiffness of the beam. Several results were obtained for deflection, horizontal displacement and surface strains to investigate how they are affected by the level of pretension under the application of the same load in each case. These computations were compared with the tendon force to conclude whether they can be used to estimate the pretension level by means of simple measurements. The purpose was to develop a methodology for quantifying the prestress losses by taking advantage of the dependence of the prestressed concrete beam stiffness on the tendon force. / text