Reducing the Cost and Facilitating Broader Adoption of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) in Bridges

The purpose of this project is to develop cost-effective, non-proprietary UHPC mixtures that meet target mechanical performance for ready mix and precast applications and to develop a bridge beam application that can be readily adopted by the precast concrete industry. This is primarily achieved via: (1) development of non-proprietary UHPC mixtures using inexpensive and locally available ingredients, (2) fiber optimization to reduce reliance on expensive steel microfibers, (3) numerical/analytical study of the Pennsylvania Bulb-Tee bridge beam, (4) design of a lightweight bridge beam and a long span bridge beam based on an optimized bulb-tee geometry, and (5) fabrication and evaluation of UHPC bulb-tee bridge members.