This paper presents the novel concept of titanium alloy reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (TARUHPC) that can be utilized in bridges. This research highlights the advantages associated with titanium alloy bars (TiABs) and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). To validate the concept, pullout tests were implemented to assess the pullout behavior of TiABs with concrete and UHPC. Twelve beam samples (normal concrete and UHPC) were prepared using #6 (ø 0.75 inch) TiABs with different embedment lengths. TARUHPC specimens performed exceedingly better, with an average ultimate force of about 29 kips and a resulting shear stress of 1.82 ksi.
This research discusses the viability of the next-generation novel materials, e.g., titanium alloy bars (TiABs) and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) that have potential to be utilized in civil infrastructures, e.g., bridges, in combination with machine learning (ML) techniques. Since UHPC and TiABs have been demonstrated to be a realistic alternative to traditional construction materials for civil infrastructures, it is important to characterize bond performance of reinforcing, i.e., TiABs embedded in UHPC. The research utilizes improvement of ML techniques, e.g., transfer learning (TL) to predict the bond strength of TiABs in UHPC.