## 5 Conclusions  
This study proposes a scheme for the UHPC decorative panel for bridges. Based on practical engineering, full-scale numerical analyses were carried out on the entire bridge and a single decorative panel. To reveal the difference in the crack resistance between UHPC and GRC decorative panels, twelve full-scale panel specimens were manufactured and subjected to bending tests. Some principal conclusions were drawn.  
1. The numerical results show that the deformation of the main girder of the bridge was the primary cause of stress in the decorative panels. The curved section of the decorative panel had the greatest tensile stress, which should be paid particular attention in the design.
2. The failure modes of UHPC decorative panels and UHPC tension specimens were the pull-out of steel fibers from the UHPC matrix. The GRC tension specimens exhibited a failure mode of glass fiber rupture, while in the case of GRC decorative panels, the delamination of glass fibers tended to be the failure mode.  
Figure 13: Increased ratio of characteristic loads under varying curved section thicknesses: (**a**) cracking loads; (**b**) ultimate loads.  
* Compared to GRC decorative panels, UHPC decorative panels had greater stiffness and superior ductility. GRC decorative panels showed a brittle fracture after the curved section thickness reached 34 mm, while all the UHPC decorative panels saw ductile failure.
* The cracking stresses of the UHPC decorative panels were like those of the UHPC tension specimens, while the GRC decorative panels exhibited a smaller cracking stress than the GRC tension specimens. The cracking load and ultimate load of the UHPC decorative panels exceeded those of the GRC decorative panels by 64.3% to 123.0% and 29.2% to 115.0%, respectively. Compared to 30 mm-long glass fibers, 9 mm-long steel fibers exhibit a more significant improvement in the crack resistance of the decorative panels.
* The distribution of steel fibers in the panel shows a considerable size effect. In UHPC decorative panels, the cracking stress decreased slightly as the panel thickness increased. Due to fiber distribution, when the curved section thickness reached a threshold value (37 mm in this study), the value and increment of the ultimate load of UHPC decorative panels began to decrease.  
Conceptualization, Y.Z.; Methodology, Y.Z.; Validation, Y.Q.; Formal analysis, J.Z.; Investigation, J.Z.; Data curation, J.Z. and Y.Q.; Writing--original draft, J.Z.; Writing--review & editing, Y.Q.; Supervision, Y.Z.; Funding acquisition, Y.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This study was financially supported by the Hunan Zhonglu Huacheng Bridge Technology Corporation with project number of H202291370751.  
Not applicable.  
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the authors' future research work is strongly based on this.  
We express our gratitude to [PERSON] from Hunan Zhonglu Huacheng Bridge Technology Corporation (Xiangtan, China) and [PERSON] from Lin International Engineering Consulting Corporation (Chongqing, China) for their help in designing and conducting the experiments.  
The authors declare that this study received funding from Hunan Zhonglu Huacheng Bridge Technology Corporation. The funder had the following involvement with the study: material collection and specimen manufacturing.