Life Assessment of Corroded Wire for Prestressing

Abstract

The repair of structural elements for the prestressing of reinforced concrete is necessary when existing prestressing wires are damaged or after a certain period of time. The objective of this paper is to describe the methodology for the life assessment of corroded prestressing wires, sampled from prestressed concrete elements after a few decades of use. The aim of the presented research was to determine the real properties of corroded wire in terms of the evaluation of remaining load capacity using the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD). The methodology also includes spatial 3D characterization of corroded surfaces, determination of mechanical properties, and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of a model of wire with corrosion pits. The final goal of the presented methodology is to enable more efficient evaluation of repair range and options for the elements of mechanical prestressing systems within various structures. The results and conclusions indicate that the developed methodology, based on the interdisciplinary approach and implementation of state-of-the-art methods, has a high applicability potential for both static and fatigue fracture prediction in the case of prestressed wires. The proposed method has a huge potential for simple and fast prediction of the life assessment of engineering structures, particularly for damaged elements with arbitrary geometry features.

High-Performance Applications of Metals and Alloys: Material Properties, Behaviour Modeling, Optimal Design and Advanced Processes

“…The collection includes papers regarding the most multifaced aspects of metals and their alloys as synthesis and treatments [1], experimental characterization [2][3][4], material models [2,5,6], and engineering applications [7,8], providing a clear cross-section of the wide variety of topics and research arguments under investigation in the scientific community now.…”

“…In [7], they examine the life assessment of corroded prestressing wires used in reinforced concrete structures. The objective is to determine the remaining load capacity of corroded wires using the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD).…”