Modeling Structural Performance of Ultrahigh Performance Concrete I-Girders

Abstract

Ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) is an advanced cementitious composite material that has been developed in recent decades. When compared with more conventional cement-based concrete materials, UHPC tends to exhibit superior properties such as increased durability, strength, and long-term stability. This computational investigation focused on modeling the structural behaviors of UHPC components including prestressed UHPC AASHTO Type II girders. The concrete damaged plasticity model was tailored to model UHPC within a commercially available finite-element analysis package. This manuscript focuses on modeling three UHPC I-girders tested under flexural or shear loading configurations. The concrete damaged plasticity model was demonstrated to replicate both linear and nonlinear structural responses of I-girders reasonably well. A set of UHPC constitutive properties were developed that facilitate the model replication of the local and global responses observed in the series of physical tests.