Design and testing of corrosion damaged prestressed concrete joists: the Pescara Benchmark

An experimental campaign named the Pescara benchmark and devoted to study the dynamic behaviour of corroded p.c. joists has been conducted. The steel corrosion reduces the area of the reinforcement and causes cracking of concrete so that r/c members are subjected to loss of strength and stiffness. It is of interest to evaluate the corrosion level at which the damage can be detected through signal processing procedures and how close such level is to the r/c member safety limits. Joists of current industrial production having different steel to concrete ratios are tested in different laboratory conditions. Dynamic tests involve either free vibrations and forced vibrations due to a moving mass simulating actual traffic loads in railway bridges. The paper discusses the rationale of the tests including the set up of the artificial corrosion, the static characterization of the joist and the dynamic tests in the different stages of corrosion experienced.