Assessment, Strengthening and Validation of Prestressed Damaged Beams

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…