Announcing the Final Examination of Munaf Al-Ramahee for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Time & Location: October 18, 2016 at 9:00 AM in Engineering II 211P Title: MECHANISTIC BEHAVIOR OF UHPC AND UHPC COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

The resistance of reinforced concrete is mobilized through the composite action of two materials with different mechanical behaviors and physical features. Enabling the composite action requires a transfer mechanism between the concrete and the reinforcement which is referred to as bond. The bond model can be defined as a traction-slip relation tangent to the interface. The bond strength between different types of concrete, internal reinforcement, and external reinforcement has been of interest to structural engineers for decades. Experimental tests have been carried out to validate the existing bond models and introduce new bond models for special cases of concrete or reinforcement. The effect of various parameters on the bond stress, such as bar diameter, concrete compressive strength, presence of fibers, cyclic loading, etc. have been investigated. However, little attention has been directed to the contribution of normal (to the interface) force and state of stress of the substrate layer on the mechanical response of the interface. Since the state of stress (tangential, normal, and substrate) within each type of experimental test is different, the resulting bond models are not consistent.