Assessment, strengthening and validation of prestressed damaged beams Lucio Della Sala 1,a, Rosario Cerone 3,b Alberto

Gennari Santori 2,c , MauroTommasini2,d

1 2

Universit della Basilicata, Potenza

3

CND Controlli Non Distruttivi s.r.l. - Roma Studio di Ingegneria Melfi (PZ)
b c

lucio.dellasala@unibas.it, ing.rc@libero.it, a.gennari@cndcontrolli.it, d m.tommasini@cndcontrolli.it

Keywords: External prestressing, FRC, in situ release tests, static and dynamic acceptance tests

Abstract. The paper describes the evaluation of the actual conditions, the repairing design criteria and procedures, and the final validation tests carried out on a severely damaged prestressed bridge in southern Italy. In the first phases several release tests have been performed on damaged and, for comparison, on sound beams, with the aim of evaluating the residual prestressing stress acting both on concrete and on tendons. In particular, the tests on concrete have been carried out by extracting cores which have been previously instrumented with strain-gages; in a similar way, the strands were tested by gluing a micro strain-gage on a singular wire of a strand and the cutting the wire itself. The test results were used for optimising the design of an adjunctive prestressing system, consisting in 6 external unbounded cables and in a continuous FRC reinforcing of the bottom wing. The tensioning procedure of the external cables of each beam was then monitored by means of 12 straingages installed on concrete at mid span and at the two support sections, and by measuring the vertical deflection using laser optical levels. The validation of the repairing works was finally performed by a static load acceptance test, performed using the same apparatus previously adopted for the tensioning monitoring. Introduction The present paper describes the activities performed on Pietrastretta viaduct on the highway RA005 Sicignano-Potenza in Basilicata, southern Italy, and managed by A.N.A.S. S.p.A. (National Road Administration). The structure, built in 1970, was affected by serious damages involving the prestressed beams. In particular, a state of diffused cracks and uncontrolled water flows has induced the partial corrosion of the steel prestressing cables, causing a reduction of the bearing capacity of the deck. In a first phase some in situ tests have been performed to evaluate the residual capacity of the structure: compressive tests on concrete cores to qualify the material, direct video inspections on the strands of the prestressing cables, strain gages release measurements both on concrete and on the wires of the strands for estimating the residual global compressive stress acting in the beam sections and the whole prestressing axial force. On the basis of the in situ test results a specific reinforcing system, consisting in external unbounded cables and in a FRC continuous reinforcement of the bottom of the beam, has been designed with the aim of restoring the original structural performances of the beam itself. The validation of the repairing works was finally performed by the execution of a static load test.

Description of the structure The viaduct is composed by two roadways, each one consisting in 21 spans of simply supported beams. The span length is about 44.0 m, while the viaduct width is 9.5 m for each one of the two decks. A single span is formed by 3 prestressed beams supporting a reinforced concrete slab which is connected to the beams. The beams have a variable height, varying from 1.75 m at the supports to 2.7 m at midspan, and they are mutually connected by 6 cross-beams. Figure 1- Typical span

The typical concrete beam is internally prestressed by six bounded tendons disposed in two rails (5+1). Each cable is composed by 16 high tension steel strands having a cross section of 14.9 cm2 (fig. 1). The cables were originally pretensioned by 1000 MPa working tension. Figure 2- damaged span

Damage A state of diffused cracks and uncontrolled water flows has induced the partial corrosion of the steel prestressing cables causing a reduction of the bearing capacity of the deck. The main damages were located on the left external beam of span n. 7 of the north track, at the mid span section. As shown in fig. 2, almost three cables are strongly damaged, resulting broken in about 50% of the wires. Assessment of the beams condition Several tests have been carried out on the beams of the viaduct with the aim of assessing their actual structural conditions, with particular reference to the residual prestressing stresses and to integrity of the cables. In particular, the following tests have been performed. Identification of the cables layout, using an electromagnetic detector Hilti Ferroscan FS10; Borehole visual inspection of the cables, on several beams and at various locations, using a digital flexible videoendoscope Everst Vit VP300 (in fig. 3, two examples of videoendoscope inspection are given, both showing non-corroded strands but absolute absence of injection mortar); Figure 3- videoendoscope inspection of the prestressing cables

Release tests on concrete, for evaluating the stresses acting on concrete due to the residual prestressing force and to the dead loads. Also in this case many tests were done both on sound and on damaged beams and at various locations (midspan, quarterspan, ecc.) for each tested beam. Briefly, the test consists in the installation of a strain-gage rosette on concrete at a predefined location, and in the following extraction of a core centered along the rosette center; the extraction of the instrumented core produces a relaxation of concrete which is measured by the rosette strain-gages. Figure 4 Measuring scheme of the concrete release

Hole for the straingages 60 mm

3 2

Core profile

100 mm

500 mm

The acting stress condition is then calculated by multiplying the measured release strains by the concrete Young modulus (Ec=30000 Mpa in this case). Figure 4 shows a typical scheme of the release test; as it can be seen, a forth strain gage named R (reference), located in a non active position, is used for the evaluation of the temperature effects, and a small through hole is drilled before coring for allowing the passage of the strain-gages wires. The results of the tests are given in table 1: as it can be observed, on the left beam of span 7 (which is highly damaged) very low stress values have been measured showing an important loss of prestressing force. Table 1 Release tests on concrete Span Beam Section Height x y (cm) (MPa) (MPa) 7 Left midspan 15 0.0 1.2 7 Left 7.3 m from supp. PZ 17 29.9 15.7 4.0 7 Central midspan 24 10.3 8.9 -1.5 11 Left 6.3m from supp. PZ 13 11.7 11.2 -1.1 7 Left 6.3m from supp. SA 23 42.6 7.2 -5.8 7 Central midspan 23 -24.8 5.4 3.5 7 Left 6.3m from supp. PZ 14 18.6 10.8 2.0 Height = height from the upper edge of the bottom of the beam = angle between the principal stress direction and the horizontal axis Figure 5 Release test on prestressing strand
1000 0 Strain ( ) -1000 -2000 -3000 -4000 0 50 100 150 200 250 Time (s)

max (MPa) 5.9 5.2 6.2 6.5 0.9 4.4

Strain gages

Release tests on the prestressing strands, in order to estimate the residual stresses of the cables. The test consists in gluing a micro strain gage on a single wire of a strand of the selected cable, and then cutting it without damaging the other wires (see figure 5). The stress of the strand is thus calculated by multiplying the shortening of the wire, dynamically measured by the strain gage, by the steel Young modulus (Es=210000 MPa). As it can be seen in figure 5, on most of the tested strands a strain of about 3000 , equivalent to a stress value of about 600 MPa, has been measured. Reinforcing system The reinforcing system designed for the specific case consists in the application of 6 external unbounded cables positioned on the lateral faces of the damaged beam and in gluing a FRC reinforcement on its bottom(fig. 6).

The cables, each one having a cross section of 11.55 cm2, were tensioned at about 600 MPa to restore the original performance of the beam. The tensioning procedure has been studied in such a way to progressively increase the compression stress in the section of the beam. Figure 6- reinforcing system design details

In figure 7 the details of the anchoring devices of the external cables are represented. Three steel cross-beams have been installed at the two ends of the concrete beam which was previously adapted and reinforced using high strength concrete. Each transverse is used to fix a couple of identical cables disposed on the two faces of the prestressed beam. Figure 7- Tensioning phases

Monitoring of the external cables tensioning The tensioning phases of the external cables have been monitored to verify the accordance of the structural behavior to the theoretical previsions. The beam has been instrumented with the aim of measuring the compressive strain of concrete, at midspan and close to the 2 support sections, and the vertical deflection at midspan.

Concerning the strain measurements, 13 strain gages have been installed: 4 at each support section and 5 at midspan (figure 8 shows the typical strain gage position at midspan and at one of the 2 support section). In table 2 the strains measured at midspan, induced in the concrete beam by the tensioning of the external cables, are given; figure 9 shows the recorded strains versus time and versus the applied tensile total force. Figure 8 Monitoring of the external cable tensioning strain measurement on concrete

Midspan axis

5 6 7

88 92 13 60

58
Toward POTENZA

9 10 11

3 8

12 85
Toward POTENZA

Table 2- Strain measured at midspan during the external cable tensioning Time Tensile Strain ( ) (min) Force (KN) 5 6 7 8 0 991 -0.2 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 18 1322 -1.2 -2.2 -2.6 -4.4 36 1652 -7.8 -1.1 -4.2 -10.0 64 1982 -9.6 -0.9 -8.7 -20.7 104 2511 -10.7 0.4 -13.6 -36.6 207 3040 -23.4 -0.6 -23.2 -55.1 243 3833 -30.9 -4.0 -38.7 -80.1 Figure 9- Strain measured at midspan during the external cable tensioning
25 0 S train ( ) -25 -50 -75 -100 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 Time (min) 5 6 7 8
Strain ( ) 25 0 -25 -50 -75 -100 0 1000 2000 Tensile Force (KN) 5 6 7 8 3000 4000

The deflection measurements have been performed at midspan, by means of topographic leveling, using an electronic level Trimble DiNi12 and an invar staff. Table 3 presents the result of the monitoring: a total deflection of about 22 mm has been measured at midspan; in figure 10 the deflection versus the applied total tensile force is given.

Table 3 Figure 10 - Deflection measured at midspan during the external cable tensioning Time Tensile Deflect. 25 Force (KN) (mm) 20 9.35 991 0.00 15 10.20 1322 1.74 10 10.40 1652 4.86 5 11.20 1982 7.61 0 12.05 2511 12.52 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 14.00 3040 17.16 Tensile force (KN) 14.45 3833 22.29 Load acceptance test The final behavior of the strengthened beam has been verified by means of a static load test, by measuring the strain and the deflection induced in the structure by six 40 tons trucks (figure 11). Figure 11 Load acceptance test
Potenza 1 E 1.0 A 1.0 6 7 3.6 8 1.4 1.4 9 3.6 10 B C D 4.3 2 F 1.5 1.5 3 G 4.1 4 H 5 Beam 3 Beam 2 Beam 1

Concerning the strain measurements, the same strain gages used during the external cable tensioning have been used (see scheme of figure 8). The deflections have been measured by topographic leveling at midspan, quarter-spans and at the support sections (see figure 11), using the same apparatus previously described. The results obtained at midspan are given in table 4 and figure 12 and 13. Table 4 Load acceptance test Strain and deflections measured at midspan Load condition Time Strain ( ) Deflection (mm) Trucks 5 6 7 8 13 3 8 10.30 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.00 10.55 1 AB -3.8 -16.9 22.2 42.7 51.4 -9.92 -2.81 11.15 2 ABCD -3.1 -33.3 44.5 90.0 111.5 -21.56 -5.59 11.40 3 ABCDEF -1.6 -45.2 55.5 115.5 146.2 -28.96 -34.12 11.50 4 ABCDEFGH 2.0 -47.8 58.2 123.1 156.1 -29.41 -34.84 12.45 2 ABCD 0.8 -32.3 46.4 93.0 114.0 -22.09 -7.05 13.05 0 0 -3.2 -1.7 7.5 3.8 0.6 0.81 -0.98 The deflection measured on the repaired beam at midspan (29.41 mm) resulted compatible with the theoretical correspondent, value calculated assuming a concrete Young modulus of 30000 MPa.

Deflection (mm)

Figure 12 Load acceptance test Strains measured at midspan

200 150 Strain ( ) 100 50 0 -50 -100 0 25 50 75 Time (min) 100 125 150 5 6 7 8 13

Figure 13 Load acceptance test Deflections measured at midspan

10 Deflection (mm) 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 0 1 2 Load condition 3 4 Point 3 (Midspan)

10 Deflection (mm) 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 0

Point 8 (Midspan)

2 Load condition

Figure 14- repaired beam

Final remarks The reinforcing system applied to the beam allowed the increasing of the safety factors from about 1.26 to values higher than 1.5, as stated by the current Italian codes. Moreover, the increasing of the compressive stress in the beam permitted the reduction of the risk of cracks opening, protecting, in this way, the existing cables from further corrosion. References [1] Snchez-Beltia S., Schueremans L The hole drilling technique in sie stress measurement on the pier of the Saint.Jacobs chirch in Leuven - Sacomatis Conference 2008 Varenna (IT) [2] Bray A. Estensimetri elettrici a Resistenza (Strain Gauge technique) Roma (IT) 1965 [3] Lin. T.Y, Burns N.H. Design of prestressed concrete structures New York (USA) 1982