Welded headed studs are used to connect steel girders and concrete slabs in steel composite bridges. However, environmental problems related to welded shear connectors have been reported, including noise and dust generation during the replacement and demolition of damaged or worn concrete slabs. To overcome these issues, demountable shear connectors that enable easy replacement of damaged or worn concrete slabs must be developed. However, conventional bolted shear connectors mainly use embedded nuts, which cannot be used in structures such as bridges because initial slip occurs and the stiffness and shear resistance strength are relatively low. To address these issues, this paper proposes a bolted shear connector that integrates the embedded nut part into the stud bolt and has a tapered shape at the bottom of the expansion column. For performance verification in regard to static shear strength and slip displacement, push-out tests were performed according to Eurocode-4, and the performance of the proposed stud bolt was compared to those of conventional welded headed studs and embedded nut-style bolted shear connectors. In addition, an analytical review was performed using the ABAQUS program for the 1/4 axisymmetric model of the push-out test. As a result of applying the material nonlinear model and the surface contact analysis, the load-slip displacement of each analysis model showed a tendency extremely similar to the experimental results. The proposed demountable bolted shear connector exhibited excellent shear performance and can be used as a satisfactory replacement for conventional welded studs because it meets slip displacement and ductility standards.

Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA) which combines the genetic algorithm as a global optimization and the simplex method as a local optimization is proposed for a finite element model updating of a real prestressed concrete bridge structure. In order to minimize the updating error between the measurement and the finite element model updating result, objective functions which are combinations of fitness functions based on the natural frequency, the mode shape and the static displacement are introduced. And an interface tool is also developed in order to utilize various element library and numerical analysis tools which are provided by commercial finite element and numerical analysis programs. A simply supported skewed PSC girder bridge which has 30 m span length is selected for the verification of the proposed FE model updating algorithm. Static vehicle loading test and forced vibration test by traveling vehicle as well as ambient vibration test were carried out to obtain the reference measurement data for numerical updating. A grillage model is used for the finite element analysis. Effect of the spring element to simulate the realistic support condition which is not perfectly free or restrained in real situation as well as that of the objective function on the updating accuracy are studied. From the result of parametric study, it is investigated that the use of spring element for support condition is effective to minimize the updating error for natural frequency and mode shape. Furthermore, including the static displacement fitness function together with those of dynamic properties may improve the global behavior of updated finite element model. It is concluded that the hybrid genetic algorithm proposed in this study is a very effective finite element model updating method to find an accurate result in updating real bridge structure based on measured data.

Deteriorated facility maintenance is a critical social issue in advanced countries. Its cost increases when considering the social consequences in terms of asset value and direct maintenance costs. Data from Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows that there were 3454 bridges aged 30 years or over in Korea in 2017; this number will increase to 10,961 by 2027. In thirty years, maintenance costs will be incurred for more than 32,000 old bridges in Korea. These trends are also observed in the US, Japan, and Korea. Diverse studies have been conducted to predict the residual life of old bridges via bridge performance evaluation and load-carrying capacity assessments. However, criteria for evaluating bridge performance and verifying the effect of bridge maintenance are yet to be established due to two reasons. First, most studies on performance evaluation, maintenance, and rehabilitation techniques have been performed on limited specimens from building elements or through small-scale simulations that do not reflect the deterioration factors of complex materials in diverse environments. Second, the performance evaluation of bridges is difficult compared to quantitative state evaluations. As a method of predicting the future performance of aged concrete bridges, it is effective to understand the actual aged bridges through experiments, and this study intends to propose the method.