Abstract

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CONTROL OF HORIZONTAL CRACKING AT THE ENDS OF PRETENSIONED HOLLOW TYPE BS12 PC GIRDER UTILIZING FEA

Abdul Khaliq Karimi, Bashir Ahmad Aasim, Jun Tomiyama, Ömer Aydan


Horizontal end cracking occurs at the end zones of Pre-tensioned prestressed concrete girders where prestress transfer takes place. These cracks are more severe in deeper hollow girders with higher amounts of prestressing. In this study, a BS12 type hollow girder is modeled utilizing FEA to identify the locations of horizontal cracking in terms of vertical principal stresses at the end of the girder. Strand debonding is the proposed method to reduce the principal stresses and this method is used to eliminate horizontal cracks at the end of the girder. With the application of this method, BS12 girder is modeled using FEA with four PC strands debonded and results confirm that debonding four PC strands at the end of a BS12 type hollow girder for the same distance as the transfer length of the PC strands can reduce the principal stresses to a level lower than the tensile strength of concrete. Consequently the horizontal end cracks do not occur.