• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.143-154
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• 1999

In this study, the load transfer mechanism of tendon-grout interface of rock anchors has been examined through a series of static pull-out tests conducted on the model rock anchors constructed in the natural and artificial rock masses of granite and concrete, respectively. Several rock masses with horizontal discontinuities have been prepared to study the effects of weak planes on the shear stress distribution in tendon-grout interface. As a result, for the rock anchors constructed in the rock mass without discontinuities, stress concentration occurs on the upper part of the tendon-grout interface. On the contrary, as the frequency or the number of discontinuities increases, the shear stress distribution along the depth tends to be uniform. Also, an experimental equation about shear stress distribution between tendon-grout interface can be made by the regression of test results. The shear stresses computed from the experimental results between the rock surface and the depth of 2~3 times the tendon diameter are smaller than those from theory. Below the depth, the reverse can be observed.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.3-10
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• 1999

There is an increasing demand for using rock anchors as foundations in many geotechnical engineering structures such as transmission towers, dams, etc. For investigate the behavior and strength of rock anchors, in-situ pull-out tests were carried out. From the tests, various forms of failure of rock anchors were observed. Ultimate capacity of each failure modes of 1) Tendon failure, 2) Interface failure(tendon-grout interface, sheath-grout interface and grout-rock interface), 3) Combined interface failure, was obtained by varying the parameters such as diameter and length of tendon, grout strength, and quality of rock.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.1147-1153
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• 2009

The failure modes of rock anchors subjected to tension can be defined as follows: tensile failure of tendon, shear failure on tendon-grout interface, shear failure on grout-rock interface and tensile failure of rock. This study proposes a design method to induce the rock anchor systems to avoid the brittle failure by ensuring the minimum embedded length of rock anchors. Pull-out test results of full-scale rock anchors show that the proposed method is effective in predicting the design conditions expecting the ductile tendon failure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.5-15
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• 2009

This paper presents the results of full-scale uplift load tests performed on 24 passive anchors grouted to various lengths at Okchun and Changnyong site. Rock anchors were installed over a wide range of rock types and qualities with a fixed anchored depth of 1~6 m. The majority of installations used D51 mm high grade steel rebar to induce rock failure prior to rod failure. However, a few installations included the use of D32 mm rebar at relatively deeper anchored depth so as to induce rod failure. In many tests, rock failure was reached and the ultimate loads were recorded along with observations of the shape and extent of the failure surface. In addition to field tests, laboratory pullout tests were conducted to determine bond strength and bond stress-shear slip relation at the tendon/grout interface when a corrosion protection sheath is installed in the cement-based grout. The test results show that the ultimate tendon-grout bond strength is measured from 18~25% of unconfined compressive strength of grout. One of the important results from these tests is that the measured strains along the corrosion protection sheath were so small that practically the reduction of bond strength by the presence of sheath would be negligible.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.303-317
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• 2011

A specially designed tendon, which is proposed by embedding an FBG sensor into the center king cable of a 7-wire strand tendon, was applied to monitor the prestress force and load transfer of ground anchor. A series of tensile tests and a model pullout test were performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed smart tendon as a measuring sensor of tension force and load transfer along the tendon. The smart tendon has proven to be very effective for monitoring prestress force and load transfer by measuring the strain change of the tendon at the free part and the fixed part of ground anchor, respectively. Two 11.5 m long proto-type ground anchors were made simply by replacing a tendon with the proposed smart tendon and prestress forces of each anchor were monitored during the loading-unloading step using both FBG sensor embedded in the smart tendon and the conventional load cell. By comparing the prestress forces measured by the smart tendon and load cell, it was found that the prestress force monitored from the FBG sensor located at the free part is comparable to that measured from the conventional load cell. Furthermore, the load transfer of prestressing force at the tendon-grout interface was clearly measured from the FBGs distributed along the fixed part. From these pullout tests, the proposed smart tendon is not only expected to be an alternative monitoring tool for measuring prestress force from the introducing stage to the long-term period for health monitoring of the ground anchor but also can be used to improve design practice through determining the economic fixed length by practically measuring the load transfer depth.