State of the art of anchorage devices in existing Italian post-tensioned reinforced concrete bridges

The first bridges built in Italy with the use of post-tensioned tendons date back to the beginning of the 1950s and are now exceed-ing 70 years of their service life. The prestressing systems and, especially, the anchorages of the post-tensioned tendons used in these bridges can be critical aspects in the evaluation of the current performance of the bridges themselves, mainly due to degra-dation phenomena and corrosion. The analysis of the structural conditions and the residual life of such existing post-tensioned bridges therefore requires a detailed knowledge of the prestressing system and in particular of the anchorage devices. Between the early 1940s and the late 1960s, different types of anchorage devices for post-tensioned bridges were developed and used in Eu-rope, as well as in Italy. This work presents the first results of an extensive documentary research concerning the most common types of anchorage for post-tensioned reinforcement used in the above-mentioned bridges.