Non-linear modelling of Ferro casting ductile shear key of L-Shaped concrete blocks with epoxy joint using Midas FEA

As cast iron with 10-15% of graphite, Ferro Casting Ductile (FCD) Iron material has better mechanical properties than the ones from Grey Cast Iron. Moreover, it is also close to Carbon Steel’s properties. Regarding this condition, FCD has the potential to be used as a shear key, specifically, as a joint of precast segmental concrete bridges. The objective of this paper is to study the mechanical behavior of FCD applied as shear key on a wet precast joint using epoxy. To do so, three-dimensional non-linear numerical modeling using Midas FEA was conducted on two L-shaped concrete blocks connected by a couple of FCD shear key representing precast concrete segmental bridge system. Between these two L-shaped blocks of concrete, epoxy adhesive was ap-plied. Both concrete blocks and FCD shear keys with 50% scale of original geometries were used. The constitutive behavior of each material was obtained from previous test results and literatures. Loading applications were performed in two directions, vertical load to represent load from deck bridge and horizontal load to represent prestressing force. Load bearing capacity of FCD shear keys increases along with the increase of horizontal load. Non-linear analysis results show discrepancy comparing to the experimental ones, with a deviation reaches more than 7%.