FIRST DESIGN RULES FOR RPC BEAMS. By D.Chauvel, R. Adeline, C. acquemmoz, G. Birelli ‘Synopsis: The use of RPC 200 in structures comes up against the lack of design rules allowing full advantage to be taken of the improved mechanical characteristics of the material and of its ability to be used without passive Feinforeement, For the renewal of the intemal structures of the Cattenom nuclear power plant cooling towers, EDF has defined design rules applicable to pre- tensionned RPC beams. The practical procedure adopted was to adapt some chapters of the French design code for prestressed structures and professional rules related to stel fiber reinforced concrete. The Bouygues knowledge of the material was also taken into account ‘This article presents the principle rules and compares the result of the design with the tests performed on structures aiming to give an experimental verification, Keywords: beams, design rules, experiment, fibers, prestressing, reactive powder concrete, Rabe 1990Daniéle CHAUVEL is working as Civil Engineer at EDE-SEPTEN. She is actually in charge of design rules, structural ageing and repairs, in particular for cooling Régis ADELINE graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées is in charge of the development of Reactive Powder Concrete structures at the Bouyues" Scientific department. Christian JACQUEMMOZ is working at EDF-CEMETE and is in charge of concrete engineering covering coneretes from RCC to Ultra High Performances Fibered Concrete Gératd BIRELLI is head of the Civil works section of the Engineering and construction Division (CNEPE) fom EDF Engineering Branch and is in charge of Conventional part design : turbine hall, cooling tower, pumping station. INTRODUCTION For the renewal of the intemal structures of the Cattenom nuclear power plant cooling towers, Elecricité de France (EDF) chose to use RPC as the constitutive ‘material of the beams and girders both for weight and durability considerations’ RPC improved characteristics are not covered by the French regulations for reinforced and prestressed conerete (up to 80 MPa BPEL : Technical rules of construction and design of structures and constructions in prestressed concrete at limit states) or AFREM recommendations for fiber reinforced concrete. Furthermore, RPC can be used without any passive reinforcement, It was thus necessary to define particular rules forthe envisaged RPC structures, Due to the specificity of the material RPC and its application, it has lead to the adaptation of design regulations (cooling towers) which are based on both the satutory approach and on experimentation. In other areas, especially cooling towers, which are structures particularly subjected ‘o aggressive environments, EDF writes its own technical regulations. Some specific methods of justification formulated using the criterion for the ‘materials and the associated controls have therefore been established by relying on the appropriate French regulations for high performance concrete and Fecommendations for fibre reinforced concrete as well as validation through ‘experimentation. With regards to the new materi!, some important safety margins have been takenRPC BEAM XPERIMENTAL BASIS ‘The definition of these frst design regulations has benefited from the experience acquired since 1994 on the behaviour of RPC at a structural level. The first large clements constructed in this material were in effect beams prestressed by pre and post tensioning, without passive reinforcement, which became the object of much improved mechatics tests * These experiences have permitted Bouygues to backs up the knowledge of the material at a structural level and have allowed EDF to establish design rules with enough background experimental experience. X-shaped beams ‘The use of optimum characteristics of materials has lead to the definition of the form of a particulur section, called X-shaped, The lower flange of this beam is strongly prestressed by 8 TIS tendons : this prestressing generates a stress of light compression a 52 MPa, The caver of the tendons (15 mm) and the thickness of the iweb of the beam (40) mm) sre much smaller than those that ean be justified with a high performance conerete beam, but ate adapted to the characteristics of the ‘material ‘The different tests 10 rupture in bending carried out on these beams between January and June 1995 have confirmed the following points ‘© The global behaviour is well represented by the behaviour law of RPC developed on test samples * ‘+ The prestressed eams present a higher level of ductility, in spite of the absence of passive reinforcement ‘+ Acover of 15 mm can be justified from a mechanical point of view. [Beams in the experimental section of Chinon In 1996, EDF asked Bouygues to equip a section of a cooling tower at the Chinon Power station with beams and girders in RPC as an experiment. On this occasion, the mechanics tests had been carried out on 1Wo ginders 5.74 m long, one non- prestressed, the other prestressed by two tendons. The instrumentation and the surveillance of the tests were placed under the control of EDF-CEMETE. Unlike X beams, the section of the girders could not be optimised for RPC taking into sccouint the jig stresses in the cooling tower. Also, the cover of the tendons reached 30 mm, Figs. 1, 2 show the bending moment diagrams obtained during the two tests, as well as the comparison with the theoretical design. In addition to the yoo desiyn-experience relationship, these tests have given new information ‘+ Tests on the non prestressed girders allowed the precise quantification of the value of the tensile strength f, contributing to the behaviour law = this value is Found to be between 11 and 12 MPa, well above the value of 7 MPa adopted when the girders were justified ‘+ Even with low prestressing rate (yirders with 2 tendons), the global bbchaviour is essentially determined by the prestressing. The tensile strength of RPC often contributes to the shear force resistance and local efets abate 1998ADAPTATIONS FROM BPEL. ‘The regulations BPEL and their extension to 80 MPa has been adapted to the final tise of materials, that is to say of prestressed beams and girders without passive reinforcement working in bending. (see Figs. 3, 4) ‘The principle adaptations are the following ‘+ Time dependant behavior laws are deduced from tests, taking into account the fact thatthe material undergoes a thermal treatment. Justifications are carried out both before and after thermal treatment. For justifications after thermal treatment, a characteristic resistance of Feag of 180 MPa and a Young's modulus E of $0 000 MPa have been used. + The classic parabola-rectangle lw (for ultimate limite state verifications) is replaced by a bi-linear law as shown herebelow 0.88.44 % +The tensile strength of RPC is taken into account directly for justification in bending and shear, There is a distinction between the tensile value before micro-craeking fy used for the justifications at SLS, and the post- peak tensile value oj, used for the justifications at ULS. ‘This last value Js deduced from real tensile tests carried out and interpreted following the recommendations of the AFREM document. (see diagram herebelow). Typical direst tensile est x | ‘on notched o, ‘specimen 8A value for 6, of8 MPa in tension has been specified. ‘© The hypotheses of creep and shrinkage are voluntarily conservative in the calculation of different presiressing losses (b = 1 instead of 08 authorised by the regulations). ‘+ In order to justly the thickness and the resistance under tangential stress, itis required to show thatthe fibers replace the reinforcements ofthe skin normally near the facings. 20 >of osund 7 -oxtot 3025 *% “+3 1ox-o0 : woxrat 2° [08 ~ox-ai| [112 tor +08] + Justification of elements of a beam with regard to ultimate limit state comprises the verification in the hypothesis of the formation of a mesh after the cracking of the concrete, ffom the non rupture of the bars of conerete cup in the element by cracks and of tensile fibrous concrete assumed to replace the necessary transversal reinforcement. Justification of resistance inthe fibres chock that Salo M4! om where yy =13 Teminin conition of esis #2 044P@ or, beter cating the expression proposed for HPC 2 201% 7 For justifications of beams with regard o tangential requirements at ULS, i is considered thatthe fibres have no influence on the term "eontbution ot cone whichis fin BPEL 91 repo, expat to 0.16%," for HPC of resistance fj 80 MPa (5). One extra extrapolation for RPC is not actually justifiable by the tests. They are therefore covered by a supplementary safety coefficient applied to this term; 1.25 is propose.‘The construction regulations regarding the environment of the structure have been retained ‘+ minimum conerete cover 3 em ; + weatment of butt-joints; + very fine facings/absence of bubbles > 0.3 em? ; Finally, the verification of ultimate strength on a representative element of the structure is required, EXP ERIMENTAL VALIDATION Aim of the tests ‘The appropriate test specifications required two mechanical tests to be carried out fon girders. The aim of these tests was to assure that the earrying capacity in terms of resistance in bending and shear of scale one elements cast under production conditions was sufficient in relation 10 that which is required in the design ‘calculations, In addition to the experience that had been acquired previously, these tests should have allowed better understanding ofthe two following points ‘© The average distribution of fibres in the structure ‘©The resistance to shear force of a girder with a thin web, without passive reinforcement Experimental devices ~ Results The tests, given the test devices pictured in Fig. 5, have been carried out by the LCPC in Paris. The girders had been cast with the normal production apparatus before hand. The bending test . where the load is applied at four points on a span of 5.90 m, allows the simulation of the effects of a uniform load, representative of the conditions that the wider experiences in a cooling tower. The shear force test has come about in order to obtain a ratio aid (distance load-supporveffective depth of the beam) equal 10 3.3, which is the least favourable with regard to the shear strength of a beam. One full set of instrumentation (two force sensors, three displacement sensors, deformation gauges in the central section, displacement ‘gauges inclined at 45° in zones of shear force cracking) has allowed the access to the global behaviour of the structure and of certain individual areas at the same The raw results are presented in Figs. 6, 7Comparison ‘The comparison between the experimental values and the ultimate requirements of the design calculations are shown inthe following table. Experimental Design Values | Re LS) BENDING TEST Ubimate moment | 1003kNam | $08KNm SHEAR TEST Ubimateshearforce]|__123KN | 306KN For the bending tes, the theoretical evaluation of the bending moment, carried out according to the method detined in * with the real characteristics (non-weighted) of materials give an ultimate value of 104 kN, This higher value than the ‘experimental one can be explained by the fact that the observed mode of rupture results from both shear and bending and not only by bending, [These two tests which ignore the important security margins (2 in bending and four in shear) have fully confirmed the regulation justifications proposed for these beams. Characteristios | Obtained Values Criteria & 0D Mpa 180 Mpa f 11 Mpa 3 Mpa E 30 000 Mpa 50.000 Mpa, Shrinkage 300 p det - Creep. 075'=0.10 o ‘efore heat Geatment after heat treatment ‘Tests in an aggressive environment Parallel to these purely mechanical tess, in-situ tests of durability have been carried ‘out. ‘The aim is to contimm the exemption of prestressing in the beams used in ‘cooling towers, 10 verify the value of cover ofthe tendons and to test more types of sealing atthe ends. Two girders, given that the prestressed clip fibre is tensioned at approximately {44 MPa, that is to say after the cracking threshold of RPC, had been installed in 1996 in the exchange sector of cooling tower n°T at Cattenom. Long term surveillance will allow background on the durability of prestressed RPC structures at full scale, under particularly aggressive rea conditions,CONCLUSION RPC is definitely a new material that requires a new approach, both in terms of production means and structural design, The design rules has therefore to be Adapted for the material and its use, In this first industrial application, a frst set of rules have been defined for the specific application of prestressed beams. Derived fiom the French rules for prestressed concrete, they provide a way to justify structures without passive reinforcement, ‘The conservatisms taken atthe study level could be the basis of revisions based on future experience acquired and confirmed by experimentation. The development of the rules should be carried out with all eare appropriate with regard to the use ofthe ‘product so as to conserve the safety margins. REFERENCES Birelli G., Dugat J. Bekaert A. "The use of RPC in eross flow cooling towers” Sherbooke Symposium on HPC and RPC. August 1998 Richard P., Dugat J. "RPC beams without passive reinforcement” FIP94 Washington. 3. Adeline R., Behloul M. "High ductile beams without passive reinforcement" 4° Intemational Symposium on Utilization of High-Strength/High Performance Conerete, Paris, France - May 29-31 1996. Pp 1383- 1390 4. Behloul B. "Analyse et modélisaion du comportement d'un matériau & ‘matrice cimentaire fibrée a ultra hautes performances (Bétons de Poudres Reactives)". Thése de ENS Cachan - 1996LIST OF FIGURES Figure | Bending behavior of the non prestressed RPC beam of Chinon Figure2 Bending behavior ofthe prestressed RPC beam of Chinon Figure Cattenom RPC beam Figure 4 Caltenom RPC girders Figure $ Testing configuration for bending and shear Figure 6 Bending test on Cattenom girders Figure 7 Shear test on Cattenom girders “Photo 1 Bending test on Cattenom girder - Test apparatus Photo 2 Shear test on Cattenom girders ~ Shear erach pattern [+ from LCPC - Francet Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées)]Fig. |: Behavior of the non-prestressed RPC beam of ChinonFig.3 : RPC Beams“i va tom Fig. 5: Testing configuration for bending (top) and shear (bottom) nietFig. 6 : Bending test on Cattenom girders Fig. 7: Shear test on Cattenom girders Sasa 1998 ates