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Bursting and Spalling in Pretensioned U-Beams - Ferguson ...

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CHAPTER 3Experimental Methods3.1 OVERVIEWPursuant to the research aims described <strong>in</strong> Chapter 1, two 30 ft. long, pretensionedconcrete U-beams were fabricated <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Ferguson</strong> Structural Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g Laboratory ofThe University of Texas at Aust<strong>in</strong>. Beam end regions were <strong>in</strong>strumented with stra<strong>in</strong>gages on re<strong>in</strong>forc<strong>in</strong>g bars <strong>in</strong> the transverse <strong>and</strong> lateral directions <strong>in</strong> order toexperimentally determ<strong>in</strong>e the stresses generated by burst<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> spall<strong>in</strong>g effects.One U-beam conta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g no <strong>in</strong>ternal <strong>in</strong>strumentation was fabricated by a precaster<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>spected by the research team. This beam proved helpful <strong>in</strong> plann<strong>in</strong>g the<strong>in</strong>strumentation for the beams fabricated <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Ferguson</strong> Laboratory.The organization of this chapter is as follows. First design considerations for theU-beam specimens are discussed, followed by details of the mechanical test<strong>in</strong>g programsfor concrete <strong>and</strong> steel-re<strong>in</strong>forcement samples. Lastly <strong>in</strong>strumentation plans <strong>and</strong>fabrication techniques are exam<strong>in</strong>ed.3.2 SPECIMEN DESIGNU-beam specimen design will be detailed after a brief presentation of fundamentaltheory related to pretensioned concrete beams.3.2.1 Prestressed Beam TheoryThree concepts will be presented briefly <strong>in</strong> this section: l<strong>in</strong>ear <strong>and</strong> nonl<strong>in</strong>ear stressdistributions, elastic shorten<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> transfer length. For thorough coverage of these <strong>and</strong>other topics, Coll<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Mitchell (1997) is recommended.97

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