| An alternative mix design using polypropylene fiber-reinforced High Early Strength(HES) concrete was proposed by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) for connection between precast bridge girders in Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC). In this thesis, finite element models of the pullout behavior of headed reinforcing bars in the closure pour and bending tests of beams representing a 1-foot strip of the bridge deck were developed. The “smeared crack” along with the William-Warnke failure criteriawasused for concrete, while Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) showed good results in representing the interface between the closure pour and precast concrete. Steel-concrete bond-slip behavior was observed to be one of the biggest factors affecting the results. A scheme to simulate this behavior using zero-length nonlinear spring elements wasdesigned. The finite element models were able to produce results similar to the experimental findings, especially in the linear region.Key Words: Bridge, deck, connections, precast elements, accelerated bridge construction, ABC, finite element modeling, nonlinear. |