THE MEASUREMENT OF IN-SITU STRESSES IN CONCRETE BRIDGE DECKS USING AN INSTRUMENTED HARD INCLUSION TECHNIQUE

This paper describes research at the University of Surrey to develop a supplementary testing technique for measuring the in situ stresses in concrete bridge decks. The proposed method is to drill a small pilot hole of about 40mm diameter in the concrete, and bond it into an instrumented mild steel inclusion. The inclusion is overcored, and the resulting changes of strain in the inclusion are used as a basis to determine the local stresses in the concrete. The basic principle, underlying stress-relief techniques like this, is that, when a discontinuity like a hole or saw cut is made in a deformable solid under stress, it disturbs the equilibrium of the stresses in the vicinity. This leads to a measurable strain on the surface of the solid in the neighbourhood of the discontinuity. The paper describes: (1) the laboratory tests performed hitherto on concrete samples subjected to a uniaxial load; (2) the development of the inclusion; (3) the theory of the test; (4) the analysis of a finite element model; and (5) the calibration of results from tests. For the covering abstract see IRRD 869077.

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  • Corporate Authors:

    Elsevier

    Sara Burgerhartstraat 25
    1055 KV Amsterdam,   Netherlands 
  • Authors:
    • RYALL, M J
  • Publication Date: 1994

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00676444
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
  • ISBN: 0-444-82063-9
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Apr 12 1995 12:00AM