Structural capacity assessment of PC members subjected to different corrosion-induced damage scenarios

In the past century, the prestressing construction technique has been widely used and nowadays several structures and infrastructures are beyond their service life. Mainly due to lack of maintenance, a significant part of existing bridges is subjected to deterioration phenomena induced by corrosion. In several countries, guidelines for bridges management propose defect-based index to provide a qualitative measure of bridge vulnerability. In this paper, the effect of different corrosion levels - detected in strands positioned at the bottom flange of I-shaped prestressed concrete bridge girders - is evaluated. According to practices adopted during visual inspections, corrosion levels are defined in terms of extension and intensity. In the paper, the dependency of the structural vulnerability on the position of the defect is also analysed.