ABSTRACT
Recently, numerous failures have been detected in external post-tensioning tendons due to brittle fracture in stress corrosion situations. Non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques related to vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) can be used to detect anomalies and the grade of damage in these structural elements and thus, prevent their collapse. This paper aims to propose and validate a modelling strategy of taut short external post-tensioning tendons. The authors have carried out a detailed finite element (FE) model of the tendon to be used on an evolutionary analysis of the breakage process. The model is validated comparing the degradation curves measured in an experimental test previously carried out in the literature, in which accelerated corrosion was induced on a real posttensioning tendon. This work has been developed in an attempt to stablish realistic Performance Indicators (PIs) that could serve as an effective alarm for predicting the tendon breakage. The steel has been modelled as a non-linear elastoplastic material.
