Design Considerations of Ultra

Durable High Performance Concrete

(UDHPC) for Underwater Structures
presented by Structural Research Team

Dr. Soerya Widjaja (Research Fellow)

Jimmy Chandra (PhD candidate)
Niki Ng Jun Kai (PhD candidate)
Vu Duc Hieu (Project Officer)
Rhahmadatul Hidayat (Project Officer)
and
Assoc Prof. Susanto Teng

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

NTU-JTC Workshop -8 Feb 2012

Underwater Structures Scheme:

RC Slabs, Beams and Walls

Cylindrical Structure dia = 20 to 30m

Height = 20 to 30m
Large Beam-Slab and Flat Plate systems = up to
2m thick
Wall = up to 500mm thick
Ultra Durable High Performance Concrete
(UDHPC) = up to 200MPa

RC Beams & Slabs

RC Walls

RC SLABS

FACTORS INFLUENCING RC SLABS DESIGN

Concrete compressive strength

Reinforcement ratio (As/bd)
Size effect (the thicker the slab, the weaker it is)
Shear enhancement by shear reinforcement

Effect of concrete compressive strength

ACI and EC2 underestimate Shear Stress at Failure more at higher concrete strength
(cylindrical concrete strength limits: BS=40MPa, EC2=50MPa, ACI=68.9MPa)
Limited Data for High Strength Concrete

Comparison of code expression with test results reported by Ghannoum (1998) and
McHarg et al. (2000).

Effect of reinforcement ratio

No consensus for effect of

flexural reinforcement ratio
among codes

Stevano Guandalini, et.al, 2009, Punching Test of Slabs with Low Reinforcement Ratio, ACI Structural
Journal 106-S10

Effect of Size Effect

BS 8110 (7) and EC2 (8) size effect factors
underestimate the stress reduction in HSC slabs.

Tested by Susanto Teng and Lee Sai Cheng (2004) in NTU

PROPOSED EQUATION FOR PUNCHING SHEAR

STRENGTH (Teng, et.al, 2004) (1)
Even though flexural strength is not an issue but
the predictions of punching shear strength still
vary from code to codes

vc 0.6

f c '

(MPa)

where :
vc= punching shear strength of slab-column
connections;
= flexural reinforcement ratio
fc=concrete cylinder strength (MPa)

The proposed equation is simple but can it be

used for high strength concrete?

Punching shear failure of edge

connection tested in NTU

*Susanto Teng, et.al., 2004, Punching Shear Strength of Slabs with Openings and Supported on Rectangular
Columns, ACI Strucutural Journal No.101-S67, Sep.-Oct., pp.678 -687.

PROPOSED EQUATION FOR

PUNCHING SHEAR STRENGTH
(Teng, et.al, 2004) (2)

Tested by Susanto Teng and Lee Sai Cheng (2004) in NTU

*Susanto Teng, et.al., 2004, Punching Shear Strength of Slabs

with Openings and Supported on Rectangular Columns, ACI
Structural Journal No.101-S67, Sep.-Oct., pp.678 -687.

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Phase 1: testing of 12 RC slabs
120 MPa
Varying reinforcement ratios
Column rectangularity
Phase 2: testing of 12 RC slabs
Size effect (varying depth)

PURPOSES OF EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

To propose practical design equations incorporating

reinforcement ratio, concrete strength and size effect
To explain the behavior and design of high strength concrete
slabs
The current code equations are still safe, even though they are too
safe, so that next experiment will investigate concrete strength of
120 MPa and above.

RC BEAMS

STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
Flexural Design:
Ductile failure mode
Well predicted by flexural theory

Shear Design:
Sudden, Brittle failure
No simple, analytically derived,
formula to predict the shear
strength of RC beams

Shear failure in 1m beam: U.S. Air Force

Warehouse (1955)

PARAMETERS INFLUENCING SHEAR CAPACITY

Size effect (effective depth d)

Concrete compressive strength (fc)

Longitudinal reinforcement ratio ()

Shear span/depth ratio (a/d)

Aggregate size

Amount of shear reinforcement ratio (v)

Size Effect (effective depth, d)

When the beam depth increase shear stress decrease accordingly

Series of test done by Toronto University and Japanese researchers

Concrete compressive strength due to UDHPC

Increase in strength of the concrete increase in its brittleness
and smoother shear failure surface.

shear carried by aggregate

interlock decreases as
concrete strength increases
a shear strength deficiency
may be produced which is not
accounted for by present
design equations
Crack in high strength concrete through
aggregates

Amount of shear reinforcement

Adding minimum shear reinforcement increasing shear strength
and more ductile failure
Is the minimum stirrup suggested by the current codes sufficient for
high strength concrete large beam?

Higher tensile strength of HSC higher cracking shear is expected

require a larger amount of minimum shear reinforcement!
Can stirrups suppress size effect on shear strength of RC concrete?

VALIDITY OF THE CURRENT DESIGN EQUATIONS

Most of building codes equation are empirical and based on limited data
range (conventional concrete, small beam depth and large ratio of
longitudinal reinforcement)

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM (Teng and Lihua,

NTU)
Actuators
A

T6

700

500

185

A-A

200

700

Specimen
2

T10

200
475

2T13

6T25

1400

185

1400

1000

B-3.5-400
V-3.5-400
VV-3.5-400

200

A-A

reinforcement cage

1750

9T25+2T22
185
2450

400

A-A

200

a/d = 2; 3.5
d = 200, 400, 700 mm
web reinforcement percentage
fc = 100 MPa

lifting hook
825

A
2450

L/2

L/2

T10

A
2T16

400

Roller Support
3

Strong Floor

200

6
LVDTs
Concrete support

800

200

3T25

Swivel heads

Bearing plates

B-3.5-200
V-3.5-200
VV-3.5-200
135

250

2T13

B-3.5-700
V-3.5-700
VV-3.5-700

Code Comparisons (Teng and Lihua, NTU) (1)

Beams without web reinforcement

with a/d of 3.5

Beams with web reinforcement

with a/d of 3.5

Code Comparisons (Teng and Lihua, NTU) (2)

52 Normal to High Strength Shallow Beams without Shear Reinforcement

ACI 318-11:

Vc

fc'
6

EC 2:

bw d

0.18

Vc
k (100 )1/ 3 bw d
c

k 1

200
2, 0.02
d

Code Comparisons (Teng and Lihua, NTU) (3)

52 Normal to High Strength Shallow Beams without Shear Reinforcement

Canada Code CSA 2004:

Longitudinal strain at mid-depth

Effective crack spacing:

Code Comparisons (Teng and Lihua, NTU) (4)

97 High Strength Concrete Shallow Beams

DESIGN SUGGESTION (1)

For Design of HSC large beam:

For 800 mm HSC beams of deeper and made of concrete of Grade

higher than 100 MPa, Eurocode 2 and ACI Code may over
estimate the shear strength by more than 20%.

We are currently investigating UDHPC concrete beams with Grade

120 and above.

DESIGN SUGGESTIONS (2)

HSC beams should be provided with at least minimum shear

reinforcement for all beams with high importance for the integrity of the
structure.
Minimum shear reinforcement recommended by EC2:

0.08 fck
Asw
w
w ,min
sbw
fyk

Spacing of shear reinforcement also should be limited (EC2)

Maximum longitudinal spacing between shear links:
sl,max = 0.75d for vertical stirrups

Maximum transverse spacing between legs in a series of shear links:

sb,max = 0.75d 600 mm

FUTURE WORK
Experimental Study
Testing of several ultra HSC beams (fc = 120 MPa) to study the
influence of effective depth, concrete strength and shear
reinforcement ratio on the shear capacity of ultra HSC beams
Theoretical Study
To propose and verify a minimum amount of web reinforcement
for HSC beams.
To develop a rational model to predict the shear strength of
reinforced concrete beams with shear reinforcement.

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Testing of 11 UHPC beams (fc = 120 MPa) under symmetrically
concentrated load.
Two main variables:
Beam depth (d): 450, 900, 1350, 1800 (mm)
Amount of shear reinforcement (v)

RC WALLS

STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
Sustaining Gravity loadings:
Self weight of structures, gravity loads from upper structures, etc.
Sustaining Lateral loadings:
Earthquake, tsunami, wave loads, impact loads from ship, etc.

FACTORS AFFECTING STRUCTURAL WALLS

STRENGTH

Shear span ratio ( H / L )

Axial load ratio ( P / [fc x Ag] )
Reinforcement ratio ( l, t )
Concrete strength ( fc )
Reinforcement strength ( fy )
Walls shape and size

PREVIOUS STUDY ON STRUCTURAL WALLS

(CHANDRA, LIU, AND TENG, 2011) (1)
Data collected from literatures:
Normal strength walls (fc < 60 MPa):
Flexural behavior: 50 specimens
Shear behavior: 60 specimens
High strength walls (fc > 60 MPa):
Flexural behavior: 33 specimens
Shear behavior: 33 specimens

PREVIOUS STUDY ON STRUCTURAL WALLS

(CHANDRA, LIU, AND TENG, 2011) (2)
Objectives of the study:
To evaluate strength of structural walls based on
several building codes (ACI, AIJ, and Eurocode).
To compare actual strength of walls with those
obtained from building code formulas.

PREVIOUS STUDY ON STRUCTURAL WALLS

(CHANDRA, LIU, AND TENG, 2011) (3)
Flexural strength:
Flexural strength of walls can be predicted quite
well using flexural theory.
Shear strength:
Most of building code formulas underestimate the
shear strength of walls.
Neglected contribution of longitudinal
reinforcement.
Limitation of maximum wall shear stress.

7.00
6.00

Vexp / Vcal

5.00
ACI

4.00

AIJ
EC

3.00

ACI
AIJ

2.00

EC
1.00
0.00
0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

Shear Span Ratio ( H / L )

3.00

2.00
1.80

Vexp / (Acf'c)

1.60
1.40

1.20
1.00

0.80

Limit of maximum
shear stress by
ACI code

0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
0

20

40

60

80

f'c (MPa)

100

120

140

CONCLUSION OF STUDY
There is no comparison of HSC walls with codes, so we
cannot conclude anything about codes performances.
ACI and EC2 validity for Concrete Grade 100 MPA and
above requires further study

NEW EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Testing of seven UDHPC walls (fc = 120 MPa) under axial
loading and cyclic lateral loading with varying:
Shear span ratio
Longitudinal and transverse reinforcement ratio
Specimen shape and size

OBJECTIVES OF NEW EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

To investigate shear behaviour of UDHPC walls and

factors affecting it.
To develop a general expression for predicting the
shear strength of walls based on certain analytical
models such as truss model, strut and tie model, etc.

THANK YOU