Multiscale study on bond-slip failure in trough bridges subjected to fatigue loading

Background

Trough bridges undergo cyclic loading from traffic, leading to fatigue failure over time. The bond-slip failure of concrete reinforcement is one of the most common failure modes in concrete structures subjected to fatigue loading. Integration of data from different scales leads to better understanding and predictive models. In the context of studying bond-slip failure, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can provide insights into the behaviour of the bond at the atomic scale. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a powerful tool for investigating the microstructure of materials. SEM allows researchers to visualize the surface of concrete and reinforcing steel bars at high magnification, providing valuable information about the bond condition and potential failure mechanisms. Full-scale experiments are conducted on actual bridge structures to validate the results of computational and laboratory experiments. These experiments provide an opportunity to observe the behaviour of the bond-slip failure in real-world conditions and can inform the development of design guidelines and maintenance procedures. By employing these methods, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the bond-slip failure in trough bridges under fatigue loading, which can help inform the design and maintenance of these critical infrastructure elements.

Aim & Objectives

The aim is to analyse the bond-slip failure mechanisms of trough bridge under the fatigue from different scales.

The objectives are to Investigate the bond-slip failure mechanism and identify the factors that contribute to the failure, to find the commonalities in bond slip failure at different scales, to propose a multiscale quantitative analysis model, and to assess the effects of fatigue on bond slip behaviours.

Reseachers: Gabriel Sas, Chao Wang, Jaime Gonzalez, Yongming Tu och Jie Cao