Effect of existing shear cracks

Over the last few decades, there has been a rapid increase in the volume and weight of heavy vehicles using national road networks. More than 50% of the bridges around the world are over forty years old. The deterioration of these existing bridges due to increased traffic loading, progressive structural aging, and reinforcement corrosion from severe environmental conditions has become a major problem in most countries. Several techniques have been used to strengthen these structures around the world. External post-tensioning is one of the widely used strengthening techniques in many countries due to its advantages over other methods. However, when the external post-tensioning is used to strengthen a shear damaged reinforced concrete member, unlike flexural damage, the efficiency is significantly reduced by existing shear cracks.

This research focus on the investigation of the effect of shear cracks formed in existing structures and their behaviour when strengthened by external post-tensioning in order to propose a cost-effective strengthening technique for reinforced concrete members with possible repair methods. In this project, details of experimental investigation and numerical analysis will be carried out with a view to propose an effective guideline for strengthening of shear damaged reinforced concrete member.

Student

Mr T G Suntharavadivel (Kumaran)

Principal supervisor(s)

Assoc Prof Thiru Aravinthan 
Assoc Prof Karu Karunasena