STRUCTURAL MECHANICS SOLUTIONS FOR BUTT JOINT SEALS IN COLD CLIMATES
An effective, formed-in-place joint seal will respond with elastic or viscoelastic behavior over a reasonable design life to any large movement of the joint without adhesive or cohesive failure. For a given joint movement, seals with lower stiffness are most able to deform without cohesive or adhesive failure of the seal or of the structure to which it is bonded. It is in recognition of this desirable response feature that lower-modulus, rubber-based elastomeric materials have been formulated and promoted as joint sealants. For a seal formed from an elastomeric sealant, it should generally be expected that the modulus of elasticity will depend upon temperature and loading rate, such that the modulus increases (sometimes dramatically) with a reduction in temperature and an increase in loading rate, and it should be expected that the seal stiffness will depend upon the material modulus and the shape of the seal. Measurements from testing techniques that are routinely used to evaluate the temperature and rate-dependent mechanical properties of rubber-like materials, together with simple structural mechanics solutions for the load vs. deflection behavior of rubber in the configuration of rectangular shaped joint seals, allow these dependencies to be modeled, and form the basis of a practical analysis technique that could be used by civil and mechanical engineers for sealant selection and seal design.
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Supplemental Notes:
- For conversion of SI units to non-SI units of measurement consult ASTM Standard E380-93, "Standard Practice for Use of the International System of Units", published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, 1916 Race St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.
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Corporate Authors:
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
72 Lyme Road
Hanover, NH United States 03755-1290 -
Authors:
- Ketcham, S A
- Publication Date: 1996-8
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: Appendices; Figures;
- Pagination: 15 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Butt joints; Cold weather; Compression; Elastomers; Joint sealing; Loads; Modulus of elasticity; Sealing compounds; Stiffness; Structural mechanics; Temperature
- Uncontrolled Terms: Loading rate
- Old TRIS Terms: Shear loads
- Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; I35: Miscellaneous Materials;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00728830
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 96-10
- Files: NTL, TRIS
- Created Date: Nov 26 1996 12:00AM