TY - EJOU AU - Wang, Zihan AU - Zhang, Boshan AU - Wang, Hui AU - Ai, Qing AU - Huang, Xingchun TI - Constitutive Behavior of the Interface between UHPC and Steel Plate without Shear Connector: From Experimental to Numerical Study T2 - Computer Modeling in Engineering \& Sciences PY - 2024 VL - 140 IS - 2 SN - 1526-1506 AB - The application of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as a covering layer for steel bridge decks has gained widespread popularity. By employing a connection without a shear connector between the steel plate and UHPC, namely, the sandblasted interface and the epoxy adhesive with sprinkled basalt aggregate interface, the installation cannot only be simplified but also the stress concentration resulting from the welded shear connectors can be eliminated. This study develops constitutive models for these two interfaces without shear connectors, based on the interfacial pull-off and push-out tests. For validation, three-point bending tests on the steel-UHPC composite plates are conducted. The results indicated that the proposed bilinear traction-separation model for the sandblasted interface and the trapezoidal traction-separation model for the epoxy adhesive with sprinkled basalt aggregate interface can generally calibrate the interfacial behavior. However, the utilization of the experimentally determined pure shear strength underestimates the load-carrying capacity of the composite plates in the case of three-point bending tests. By recalling the Mohr-Coulomb criterion, this underestimation is attributed to the enhancement of the interface shear strength by the presence of normal stress. KW - Cohesive zone model; interfacial behavior; finite element simulation; UHPC; steel plate DO - 10.32604/cmes.2024.048217