INFRASTAR project
Duration : 01.01.2017 – 31.12.2020
Supervisor : Professor Eugen Brühwiler
PhD student : Bartek Sawicki
Fatigue of reinforced concrete and UHPFRC structural element
The civil engineering structures are designed and meant to carry various loads. Concerning the bridges and wind turbine supporting structures, the loading can be described as cyclic. In case of bridges, this is a load from traffic, acting on everyday manner during the whole lifespan of structure – for hundred years or more. In case of wind turbine this is the wind and, in case of offshore, wave action.
On the other hand, the use of modern high-strength and ultra-high strength materials reduces the dead load, making the imposed actions dominant. These leads to growing importance of fatigue ultimate limit state, which will be the main topic of following research.
The research will focus on fatigue performance of reinforced concrete and UHPFRC (Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composite) elements. The main effort will be put on giving clear provisions that could be used in everyday engineer work for design and assessment of structures.
The research will be complemented by monitoring of structures allowing better understanding of fatigue loads imposed on elements considered.
