Safety of VHSC structures under concentrated loading: experimental approach Available to Purchase

According to the French design code for reinforced concrete structures, zones submitted to localised compression are checked at the ultimate limit state using limit analysis. These rules apply when concrete characteristic strength is lower than 80 MPa. Joint research efforts were carried out in order to extend the actual design rules to very high performance concrete. Tests corresponding to localised compression on 200 × 200 × 600 mm prisms, reinforced according to the French design rules, were carried out. Four types of concrete with a mean compressive strength of 50, 75, 100 and 120 MPa, as well as an ultra high performance fibre-reinforced concrete were studied. It is shown that the safety margin between the stress corresponding to the first cracking and the stress allowed by the design rules under the localised loading decreases when the compressive strength of the concrete increases. An additional coefficient is proposed to take these observations into account. Complementary provisions for Eurocode 2 are proposed.