In order to evaluate a stress state of concrete according to the change of tensile force of prestressed beam, improved nonlinear resonant ultrasonic spectroscopy(NRUS) method is proposed. This technique is advantageous to evaluate the stress state in initial state because the method shows much higher sensitivity than existing linear ultrasonic methods. The NRUS technique measure a nonlinearity parameter, which is calculated from the resonant frequency shift of ultrasonic wave related to the medium state, and the result is also closely related to the stress state of concrete. In this study, the nonlinearity parameter was measured with the change of tensile force to verify the close relationship between the two factors, and the effect of repetitive load cycle on the change of nonlinearity parameter was analyzed. In addition, sensitivity comparison with the linear ultrasonic pulse velocity method was performed. Through the experimental results, the possibility of NRUS technique for the evaluation of stress state in prestressed beam was confirmed.

PURPOSES: This study is primarily focused on evaluating the effects of the non-linear stress-strain behavior of RAP concrete on structural response characteristics as is applicable to concrete pavement. METHODS : A 3D FE model was developed by incorporating the actual stress-strain behavior of RAP concrete obtained via flexural strength testing as a material property model to evaluate the effects of the non-linear stress-strain behavior to failure on the maximum stresses in the concrete slab and potential performance prediction results. In addition, a typical linear elastic model was employed to analyze the structural responses for comparison purposes. The analytical results from the FE model incorporating the actual stress-strain behavior of RAP concrete were compared to the corresponding results from the linear elastic FE model. RESULTS : The results indicate that the linear elastic model tends to yield higher predicted maximum stresses in the concrete as compared to those obtained via the actual stress-strain model. Consequently, these higher predicted stresses lead to a difference in potential performance of the concrete pavement containing RAP. CONCLUSIONS : Analysis of the concrete pavement containing RAP demonstrated that an appropriate analytical model using the actual stress-strain characteristics should be employed to calculate the structural responses of RAP concrete pavement instead of simply assuming the concrete to be a linear elastic material.