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Health Monitoring of Prestressing Tendons in Posttensioned Concrete Bridges
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Health Monitoring of Prestressing Tendons in Posttensioned Concrete Bridges

Salvatore Salamone, Ivan Bartoli, Robert Phillips, Claudio Nucera and Francesco Lanza di Scalea
Transportation research record, v 2220(2220), pp 21-27
01 Jan 2011

Abstract

Engineering Engineering, Civil Science & Technology Technology Transportation Transportation Science & Technology
Currently 90% of bridges built in California are posttensioned box girder. In such structures, the steel tendons are the main load-carrying components. The loss of prestress, as well as the presence of defects or tendon breakage, can be catastrophic for the entire structure. No well-established method monitors prestressing tendons that can provide simultaneous information related to the presence of defects and the level of prestress in a continuous, real-time manner. If such a monitoring system were available, considerable savings would be achieved in bridge maintenance because repairs would be implemented in a timely manner without traffic disruptions. This paper presents a health-monitoring system for prestressing tendons in posttensioned structures of interest to the California Department of Transportation. Such a system uses guided ultrasonic waves and embedded sensors to measure the level of applied prestress and to detect defects at early growth stages simultaneously and in real time. The results of tests on a large-scale, single-tendon posttensioned joint specimen, subjected to multiple load cycles, are presented to validate the monitoring of prestress loads (through nonlinear ultrasonic probing) and the monitoring of damage progression and location (through acoustic emission techniques).

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29 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Civil
Transportation
Transportation Science & Technology
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