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Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges

Most bridge management systems still rely on visual inspections for condition assessment of bridges; this means that damage in inaccessible parts of the structure such as shear connectors in concrete composite bridges remain undetected until catastrophic failure occurs. Localized non-destructive tec...

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Main Author: Leo, Emmanuel
Other Authors: Moyo, P
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Civil Engineering 2023
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access_status_str Open Access
author Leo, Emmanuel
author2 Moyo, P
author_browse Leo, Emmanuel
Moyo, P
author_facet Moyo, P
Leo, Emmanuel
author_sort Leo, Emmanuel
collection Thesis
description Most bridge management systems still rely on visual inspections for condition assessment of bridges; this means that damage in inaccessible parts of the structure such as shear connectors in concrete composite bridges remain undetected until catastrophic failure occurs. Localized non-destructive techniques such as ultrasonic techniques, radar method, impact testing, magnetic based methods and proof load tests are limited to small areas, time consuming and require prior knowledge of the damaged zone. These limitations can be overcome by using dynamics-based techniques. The main objective of this work is to investigate experimentally the effectiveness of dynamics-based techniques in assessing the condition of shear connectors in concrete composite bridges consisting of pre-cast prestressed beams and a cast in-situ slab based on measurements taken from the surface of the accessible deck slab. In this research, shear links of 8mm bars extended from beam to the slab are used to stimulate shear connectors in real bridges. The experimental work involved building five concrete composite beams each with different number of shear connectors. The testing procedure consisted of measuring the dynamic properties in both the undamaged and damaged beams. Damage was introduced by accelerating corrosion to a group of shear connectors near the supports in each composite beam. Push-off test was conducted in order to determine the shear capacity of the shear connectors in both undamaged and damaged state. The modal tests were successfully executed and from the modal analysis results it was observed that a beam with large number of shear connectors produce high frequencies and high amplitudes of frequency response functions (FRFs) compared to the one with less number of shear connectors. After the shear connectors were damaged all beams showed similar results. In the FRFs, the frequency peaks shifted to the left and the peaks amplitudes changed, the natural frequencies generally dropped indicating the existence of damage. In an attempt to locate regions with damaged shear connectors, the Coordinate Modal Assurance Criteria (COMAC), change of flexibility, change of curvature and strain energy method were used. All methods showed positive and negative results. The change of flexibility method showed minimum negative results compared to other methods in locating regions with damaged shear connectors. Generally, Results show that dynamics-based techniques can be used to detect and localize regions with damaged shear connectors in pre-cast prestressed beams - cast in-situ slab composite bridges by only taking vibration measurements from the surface of the accessible deck slab.
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id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38567
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Civil Engineering
publisherStr Department of Civil Engineering
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38567 Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges Leo, Emmanuel Moyo, P Beushausen, H. D civil engineering Most bridge management systems still rely on visual inspections for condition assessment of bridges; this means that damage in inaccessible parts of the structure such as shear connectors in concrete composite bridges remain undetected until catastrophic failure occurs. Localized non-destructive techniques such as ultrasonic techniques, radar method, impact testing, magnetic based methods and proof load tests are limited to small areas, time consuming and require prior knowledge of the damaged zone. These limitations can be overcome by using dynamics-based techniques. The main objective of this work is to investigate experimentally the effectiveness of dynamics-based techniques in assessing the condition of shear connectors in concrete composite bridges consisting of pre-cast prestressed beams and a cast in-situ slab based on measurements taken from the surface of the accessible deck slab. In this research, shear links of 8mm bars extended from beam to the slab are used to stimulate shear connectors in real bridges. The experimental work involved building five concrete composite beams each with different number of shear connectors. The testing procedure consisted of measuring the dynamic properties in both the undamaged and damaged beams. Damage was introduced by accelerating corrosion to a group of shear connectors near the supports in each composite beam. Push-off test was conducted in order to determine the shear capacity of the shear connectors in both undamaged and damaged state. The modal tests were successfully executed and from the modal analysis results it was observed that a beam with large number of shear connectors produce high frequencies and high amplitudes of frequency response functions (FRFs) compared to the one with less number of shear connectors. After the shear connectors were damaged all beams showed similar results. In the FRFs, the frequency peaks shifted to the left and the peaks amplitudes changed, the natural frequencies generally dropped indicating the existence of damage. In an attempt to locate regions with damaged shear connectors, the Coordinate Modal Assurance Criteria (COMAC), change of flexibility, change of curvature and strain energy method were used. All methods showed positive and negative results. The change of flexibility method showed minimum negative results compared to other methods in locating regions with damaged shear connectors. Generally, Results show that dynamics-based techniques can be used to detect and localize regions with damaged shear connectors in pre-cast prestressed beams - cast in-situ slab composite bridges by only taking vibration measurements from the surface of the accessible deck slab. 2023-09-13T07:20:27Z 2023-09-13T07:20:27Z 2013 2023-08-14T13:47:30Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38567 eng application/pdf Department of Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
spellingShingle civil engineering
Leo, Emmanuel
Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
title_full Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
title_fullStr Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
title_full_unstemmed Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
title_short Dynamic performance of pre-cast prestressed beams – cast in-situ slab composite bridges
title_sort dynamic performance of pre cast prestressed beams cast in situ slab composite bridges
topic civil engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38567
work_keys_str_mv AT leoemmanuel dynamicperformanceofprecastprestressedbeamscastinsituslabcompositebridges