| KEYWORD |
Degradation assessment of internal prestressing cables in concrete elements
keywords CORROSION, DEGRADATION, PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
Reference persons GABRIELE BERTAGNOLI, GIAN PAOLO CIMELLARO, MARCO DOMANESCHI, GIUSEPPE CARLO MARANO
Research Groups Resilience lab
Thesis type RESEARCH THESIS
Description The ageing of reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures and infrastructure in Europe and all over the world is a scenario that has been emerging predominantly in recent years and is increasingly affecting the safety of the people and the economy. Indeed, more and more often there is discussion about the opportunities for decommissioning of structures rather than the extension of their service, i.e. through maintenance and repairing actions. The development of methodologies and tools to assess degradation and its evolution is therefore increasing for a profitable planning of maintenance and repairing rather than decommissioning, and for a proper design of new structures in an aggressive environment also.
This thesis proposal is focused on the development of a model of a commonly prestressed concrete element with internal cables, such as a simply supported beam, for the analysis of the degradation phenomenon due to corrosion of prestressing cables, anchorage elements or limited ducts injection. Of special interest is the study of the evolution of the corrosive phenomenon and the correlation between the level of degradation and the structural response. In fact, the identification of critical response parameters of the degraded element can be used to identify and quantify the damage level and to estimate the remaining life (prognosis). Finally, the proposal is also intended to analyse the influence of degradation on the failure modes for the prestressed concrete elements that can be found in infrastructural systems.
Required skills Finite element modelling, Finite element codes, Structural Engineering, Matlab environment, Programming, Numerical analysis of the structural response, Readiness to deepen and research
Deadline 03/05/2022
PROPONI LA TUA CANDIDATURA