Influence of bond deterioration on shear-flexure failure of prestressed girders with post-tensioned tendons

Internal prestressing with bonded tendons suffers corrosion of wires and bond deterioration due to the bad infill of grouted sheaths. Many bridge girders show this state through cracking, deflections and in the worst cases, sudden failures. In Italy these are common situations, and the internal tendon corrosion is among the major causes of bridge degradation and damage, especially for grouted post-tensioned tendons. This paper presents the analysis of failure of prestressed cross-sections considering shear and flexure in the case of bond deterioration due to corrosion of internal post-tensioned tendons. The structural behaviour is analysed for different typologies of bridge deck composed of…

Shear-flexure interaction of RC elements strengthened with FRP sheets

An approximate physical model for evaluation of the M-V interaction resistance domains for concrete elements strengthened with FRP sheets is presented. The reliability of the model in predicting flexureshear capacity is verified by a comparison with the results of several experimental tests.

Analisi teorico-sperimentale del comportamento ciclico di sezioni di estremità di travi prefabbricate reticolari miste

Si indaga sul comportamento sismico di travi prefabbricate reticolari miste, non autoportanti in prima fase, nelle quali il traliccio prefabbricato è costituito da un piatto inferiore di acciaio tipo S355, ed un corrente superiore realizzato con barre di acciaio da cemento armato di tipo B450C, collegate da un anima costituita da barre sagomate a V rovescia inclinate. Vengono mostrati i risultati di una prova a flessione su tre punti su un campione rappresentativo di una coppia di travi convergenti a un nodo, collegate ad un pilastro in c.a. con connessione gettata in opera. La prova è stata condotta con più cicli di carico a momento positivo, di cui uno di grande ampiezza e uno successivo …

The Rehabilitation of Segmental Bridges Subjected to Time-dependent Deflections Through Additional Prestressing

Segmental bridges built by cantilevering with in-situ casting in the ‘60s-‘80s of the XX Century present a central hinge on the main span or a central simply supported span between the two cantilevers (drop-in span). Due to time-dependent phenomena like creep of concrete and to unexpected loss of prestressing, several bridges of this typology show an abnormal deflection at hinges causing discomfort of traffic as well as insufficiencies of checks at Service and Ultimate Limit States. Moreover, these bridges are today at the end of their nominal service life, impacting significantly on Italian road network. A methodology for retrofitting these bridges by partial recovering of deflection and o…

Seismic behaviour of hybrid steel trussed concrete beams

Dissipative connections of rc frames with prefabricated steel-trussed-concrete beams

In the last thirty years, Hybrid Steel-Trussed Concrete Beams (HSTCBs) have been widely used in civil and industrial constructions and, therefore, their mechanical performance must be evaluated with the aim of guaranteeing adequate dissipation of the seismic energy particularly in the beam-to-column joints. However, one of the most frequent peculiarities of HSTCBs is that of using their own steel joist to cover large spans with reduced depth and, in the case of traditional beam-to-column connections, this requires large amount of steel reinforcement inside the panel zone, often made with large diameter rebars. These characteristics make both the panel zone and the beam end potentially vulne…

Degradation and rehabilitation of Gerber saddles of concrete bridges

In recent decades, many concrete bridges, built in the 60s and 70s of the 20th Century with a Gerber-girder scheme, show severe damage of the saddles due to concrete degradation and reinforcement corrosion. On the basis of the recent Ministerial Guidelines for the assessment of existing bridges, it is necessary to evaluate the state of the Gerber saddles in a large number of bridges on both main and secondary roads. To do this, it is necessary to apply flexible assessment procedures that can be adapted to several situations and that allow a speedy assessment of the intervention priorities. The methodologies of intervention represent the crucial point for a rapid rehabilitation of these infr…

Seismic response of RC frames with HSTC beams endowed with friction damper devices

The aim of this work is to compare the seismic response of RC frames built using Hybrid Steel-Trussed Concrete Beams (HSTCBs) whether or not equipped with friction damper devices installed at the beam-to-column joints. Due to their small depth-to-span ratios, HSTCBs usually lead to a large amount of rebar within the beam-column joint, potentially reducing its cyclic performance. Therefore, the adoption of a friction system at the beam-tocolumn joint provides two main advantages, i.e. limiting the shear forces, and thus the potential damage, in the panel zone thanks to the increasing of the bending moment lever arm, and assigning to the device the task of dissipating the incoming seismic ene…

Case-studies of corroded reinforced concrete bridges in Southern Italy

On Italian roads, a lot of reinforced concrete bridges were built in the 1950’s and 1960’s for short spans, before the advent of prefabricated structures. Many of these bridges, sited on principal or secondary roadways, show the effects of corrosion of reinforcements and high levels of damage, leading to the likelihood of achievement of the Ultimate Limit State, below the required performances of serviceability, especially in the case of Gerber saddles having strongly corroded reinforcements. Different case studies of bridges sited in Southern Italy (Sicily) are shown, allowing engineers to classify the main effects of damage in corroded structures with the Gerber static scheme (cantilever …

Design of friction connections in R.C. structures with hybrid steel-trussed concrete beams

In this work a feasibility study on the use of friction devices within beam-to-column joints of RC structures is conducted. The connection is made between RC columns cast in-situ and semi-prefabricated steel-concrete beams, named Hybrid Steel-Trussed-Concrete Beams (HSTCBs). Nowadays, HSTCBs are widely adopted in civil and industrial buildings and, therefore, it is required to evaluate their compliance with the capacity design criteria and their seismic energy dissipation capability. However, the design of the reinforcement of such beams usually lead to the adoption of large amount of steel within the panel zone which becomes potentially vulnerable to the effects of seismic cyclic actions a…

BFRP grid confined clay brick masonry cylinders under axial compression: Experimental results

The use of composite materials for retrofitting of masonry structures has received great attention during the last two decades. For masonry buildings there are several advantages in using composite materials. Traditional techniques that were largely used and investigated in the past, may be inadequate in seismic areas where the added mass could increase seismic actions. Moreover, for historical and architectural heritage structures, the compatibility, sustainability and reversibility of the intervention is a key factor for the selection of the most appropriate strengthening system. Many investigations have shown that fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) can be effectively used to induce a passiv…

FRCM systems for strengthening masonry structures

Composite materials have been widely used for strengthening weak masonry buildings. Particularly, wrapping with fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has become a common method for strengthening masonry members primarily subjected to compressive static loads or seismic actions. More recently, in an effort to alleviate some drawbacks associated with the use of FRP materials, fibrereinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites have received a lot of interests for external strengthening of historical masonry structures. It is used as an alternative to FRP in situations where these composites have shown some disadvantages or their use is banned. This paper presents a literature review on …

Performance Assessment of Basalt FRCM for the Confinement of Clay Brick Masonry Cylinders

Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) composites have been proved to be a suitable strengthening material for masonry structures in the last years. Moreover, basalt fibres are increasingly used as reinforcement of composites as a more sustainable alternative to glass fibres. The goal of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of basalt FRCM to confine masonry circular columns. A total of eighteen clay brick masonry cylinders were tested in compression. The specimens were cored from two different masonry assemblies and wrapped with one or two layers of BFRCM composite. The stress-strain curves and the gains of strength and strain capacity of confined cylinders compared to the con…

SHEAR RESISTANCE OF R/C BEAMS PROVIDED WITH DIFFERENTLY-INCLINED TRANSVERSE REINFORCEMENT

The model for the evaluation of shear resistance of reinforced concrete member provided with transverse web reinforcement, derived by Nielsen (1999) on the basis of the variable inclination stress field approach, is generalized here to predict the shear strength of r.c. beams equipped with two sets of differently-inclined transversal web reinforcement and longitudinal skin reinforcement. Numerical analyses emphasize the efficiency of double inclined web transverse reinforcement in providing shear strength to beams.