• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.415-433
• /
• 2015

Tendon failures in bonded post-tensioned bridges over the last two decades have motivated ongoing investigations on various aspects of unbonded tendons and their monitoring methods. Recent research shows that change of strain distribution in anchor heads can be useful in detecting wire breakage in unbonded construction. Based on this strain variation, this paper develops a damage detection model that enables an automated tendon monitoring system to identify and locate wire breaks. The first part of this paper presents an experimental program conducted to study the strain variation in anchor heads by generating wire breaks using a mechanical device. The program comprised three sets of tests with fully populated 19-strand anchor head and evaluated the levels of strain variation with number of wire breaks in different strands. The sensitivity of strain variation with wire breaks in circumferential and radial directions of anchor head in addition to the axial direction (parallel to the strand) were investigated and the measured axial strains were found to be the most sensitive. The second part of the paper focuses on formulating the wire breakage detection framework. A finite element model of the anchorage assembly was created to demonstrate the algorithm as well as to investigate the asymmetric strain distribution observed in experimental results. In addition, as almost inevitably encountered during tendon stressing, the effects of differential wedge seating on the proposed model have been analyzed. A sensitivity analysis has been performed at the end to assess the robustness of the model with random measurement errors.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 1998.04b
• /
• pp.519-524
• /
• 1998

The current study is a part of series of research about the evaluation method of the unbonded tendon stress in prestressed concrete member at flexural failure. As the experimental study, a test program with 14 beams and slabs was planed to identify the contribution of each important variable. The variables are (1) the effective prestress, (2) the concrete strength, (3) the amount of tendons (4) the amount of bonded reinforcements, (5) the loading type, (6) the span/depth ratio. It was found that the tendon stress increment decreases as the effective prestress increases. Also, the contributions of concrete strength, amount of tendons, bonded reinforcements, and loading type were observed to affect on tendon stresses. However, the tendon stress increments were minimal at high values of span/depth in contrast with the ACI Code.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.697-704
• /
• 2008

This paper presents an analytical prediction of Nonlinear characteristics of prestressed concrete bridges by strengthened of externally tendon considering construction sequence, using unbonded tendon element and beam-column element based on flexibility method. Unbonded tendon model can represent unbounded tendon behavior in concrete of PSC structures and it can deal with the prestressing transfer of posttensioned structures and calculate prestressed concrete structures more efficiently. This tendon model made up the several nodes and segment, therefore a real tendon of same geometry in the prestressed concrete structure can be simulated the one element. The beam-column element was developed with reinforced concrete material nonlinearities which are based on the smeared crack concept. The fiber hysteresis rule of beam-column element is derived from the uniaxial constitutive relations of concrete and reinforcing steel fibers. The formulation of beam-column element is based on flexibility. Beam-column element and unbonded tendon element were be involved in A computer program, named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), that were used the analysis of RC and PSC structures. The proposed numerical method for prestressed concrete structures by strengthened of externally tendon is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2000.04a
• /
• pp.651-656
• /
• 2000

The strain compatibility analysis shows that the influential parameters of loading type, reinforcing ratio, and span-depth ratio affect on the tendon stress in unbonded prestresses concrete member significantly. However, existing test results did not comply exactly with the analytical results. In consequence, the present study was planned to examine the parameters in order to complete Moon/Lim's design equation. The test variables with 12 specimens were loading type, reinforcing ratio, and span-depth ratio. As results, the effect of influential parameters were examined throughly and Moon/Lim's design equation was proven to be accurate.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.513-521
• /
• 2009

Recently, the externally prestressed unbonded concrete structures are increasingly being built. The mechanical behavior of prestressed concrete beams with external unbonded tendon is different from that of normal bonded PSC beams in that the slip of tendons at deviators and the change of tendon eccentricity occurs as external loads are applied in external unbonded PSC beams. The purpose of the present paper is therefore to evaluate the flexural behavior by performing static flexural test according to tendon area and tendon force. From experimental results, before flexural cracking, there was no difference between external members and bonded members. However, after cracking, yielding load of reinforcement, ultimate load, and the tendon stress of external members was lower than that of bonded members. For the relationship of load-tendon stress, the increasing of tendon strain was inversely proportional to the initial tendon force. However, even if the initial tendon force was large, the tendon strain with small effective stress was smaller than that with large effective stress. The concrete compressive strain was proportional to the effective stress of external tendon. From the comparison between test results and codes, the ACI-318 could not consider the effect of tendon force or effective stress, and especially the results of ACI-318 were very small, so it was very conservative. And the AASHTO 1994 could be influenced on the tendon area, initial force and effective stress, but as it was made on the basis of internal unbonded tendon, its results were much larger than the test results. For this reason, the new correct predict equation of external tendon stress will be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.515-525
• /
• 2016

Parameter analysis of a pretension girder bridge for urban maglev transit was performed to identify the main design parameters and their effect. Girder deflection at mid-span is the most important design criteria of urban maglev transit. Therefore, concrete compressive strength, girder height, girder length, and unbonded tendon length were selected as the design parameters that relate to girder deflection. In addition, tendon layout and unbonded tendon ratios were also considered as design parameters to control the top stress of the pretension girder section at the support. The analysis results show that both the girder height and length are dominant design parameters governing girder deflection, more important than compressive strength and unbounded tendon length. And, sensitivity analysis makes this study suggest design weight value. In terms of stress, a tendon layout that can satisfy the unbounded tendon rule requires an additional tendon or rebar at the upper section to control the tensile stress on top of the section. Therefore, to improve feasibility and constructability in the future, an enhanced unbonded tendon rule considering the load characteristics of the urban maglev system should be studied.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relations between the unbonded tendon stress and the influential parameters which were bonded reinforcement ratio, span/depth ratio, and loading type. To this end, first, the influence of parameters were examined with twenty eight test results obtained from references. Then, an experimental study was carried out with 21 test specimens. The investigation with previous and current tests revealed the followings; (1) The bonded reinforcement ratio and prestressing ratio were proved to be an important variables on the unbonded tendon stress. (2) The ratio of span to depth and type of loading affected partially the unbonded tendon stress although their effects varied depending on bonded reinforcement ratio. (3) AASHTO LRFD Code and Moon/Lim\`s design equation predicted the test results well with some safety margins.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.2A
• /
• pp.247-260
• /
• 2006

In this paper, an analytical method which can describe the structural behavior of prestressed concrete (PSC) bridges reinforced with the unbonded external tendon is developed. Since the unbonded external tendon is directly installed to the deviators while maintaining a straight configuration, it has a different deformation field from that of concrete and accompanies the secondary effect caused by the change of the primary eccentricity between concrete and external tendon. In advance, the friction slip at the deviators is also taken into consideration on the basis of the force equilibrium between the friction force and the driving force. Through correlation studies between experimental data and analytical results, it is verified that the proposed numerical model can effectively predict the structural behavior of PSC beam bridges with comparative precision.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.171-179
• /
• 2002

This paper is a part of research series for the verification of the proposed Moon/Lim design equation. An analytical study was performed to examine the relation between the flexural behavior and the unbonded tendon stress of PSC members. The strain compatibility assumption was used in this study since previous studies showed that the stress variations of tendon had a close relation with the member displacements. The proposed equation has been developed with the same assumption of strain compatibility. Therefore the analytical procedure with the strain compatibility assumption was developed to compute the member displacements of previous tests. Then the analytical results were compared with tests results. The comparison showed that the strain compatibility assumption can be properly applicable to the design equation. Based on the analytical results, the relation between the tendon stress and the member flexural behavior at ultimate was examined. A parametric study also carried out with regard to the member displacements. As results, the parameters used for the proposed equation were proven to be proper for the computation of tendon stress.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2010.05a
• /
• pp.89-90
• /
• 2010

Three post-tensioned lightweight concrete beams were tested to examine the effect of the reinforcement index on the unbonded tendon stress at ultimate strength of the beams. The reinforcement index selected for main variables were 0.06, 0.15, 0.30. Test results showed that the stress of the unbonded tendons in the ultimate strength of the post-tensioned lightweight concrete beams can be conservatively evaluated using the empirical equations specified in ACI 318-08.