Simulation of repair grout flow in external tendon system

• Published in: KSCE journal of civil engineering Vol. 16; no. 7; pp. 1250 - 1257
• Main Authors: Im, Seok Been, Hurlebaus, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Korean Society of Civil Engineers 01-11-2012; Springer Nature B.V; 대한토목학회
• Subjects: Bridge failure; Bridges; Civil Engineering; Computational fluid dynamics; Corrosion; Engineering; Fluid dynamics; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Grout; Grouting; Hydrodynamics; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Mathematical models; Numerical analysis; Numerical methods; Post-tensioning; Repair; Research Paper; Tendons; Viscosity; Voids; 토목공학; flow simulation; repair grouting; external PT (Post-Tensioned) tendons; CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics); pressure-vacuum grouting method
• ISSN: 1226-7988; 1976-3808
• DOI: 10.1007/s12205-012-1642-1

The corrosion of voided tendons has been a long-standing issue in Post-Tensioned (PT) systems because it can lead to the failure of tendons and deteriorate bridge performance. Repair grouting in voided tendons can be one of many rehabilitation options if there are no galvanic couples between the new grouts and original grouts. To identify an appropriate repair grouting method for voided tendons, numerical analysis using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program, FLUENT, is utilized in this research. The geometry of voided tendons is a complicating factor when creating reliable models for numerical analysis; thus, a research for the simulation of repair grout flow proposed a simplified model and verified the model with experimental results. Thus, this research performs numerical analyses using the simplified model and assesses various parameters of repair methods and materials. The numerical results indicate that the Pressure-Vacuum Grouting (PVG) method with repair grouts having low viscosity exhibits the best performance for filling voids. If it is determined that filling voids with repair grout is appropriate and prevents future corrosion, it is recommended that voids in the field be filled using the PVG method with grouts exhibiting low viscosities.