NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF RUPTURE AND PROTRUSION OF VERTICALLY TIGHTENED PC BARS IN PC GIRDERS WITH ASPHALT PAVEMENT USING APPLIED ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

 Corrosion due to insufficient grout filling can result in a sudden fracture of PC steel tendons. When a vertically tightened PC tendon in PC girders is ruptured, all the accumulated strain energy is suddenly released. The ruptured PC bar will severely damage cover concrete and asphalt pavement, and PC bars may protrude out of the structure, which may cause severe accidents. In the current study, the effects of 15 mm cover concrete and two-layered asphalt pavement system on preventing protrusion of PC bars were investigated. Numerical simulation of rupture and protrusion of PC bars were studied using the Applied Element Method. The numerical simulations were verified based on the experimental results. In the process of verification, many influential parameters, such as the effects of contact stiffness between elements, fracture energy of concrete, mesh sensitivity, time interval sensitivity, material properties, and strain rate effect, were investigated. This study found that AEM numerical simulation with appropriate modeling showed good agreement with the experimental results, which exhibited the effectiveness of the asphalt pavement system with appropriate material and thickness preventing protrusion of the PC bar tendon.