Simulação Computacional De Efeito Degradante Em Ponte De Concreto Protendido E Seus Impactos Sobre A Estrutura

Abstract

The bridges are among the main Civil Engineering works of art, they are essential for the transport of freight on roads and railways, being responsible for connecting them at critical points, ensuring a trajectory of continuity. In nature there is a tendency to wear down every structure leading to the appearance of pathological manifestations or problems, which makes it necessary to use tools to predict these possible problems. Thus, this monograph aims to study the effects of a localized corrosion in a prestressed concrete stringer through numerical simulations using the ANSYS Workbench program that internally uses the finite element method. Two reinforcement approaches for simulation employed in the literature were used, the discrete and the embedded. 84 simulations were performed, divided into four groups each with twenty-one, as well as the calculations of the expected result. The groups that used a discrete approach have had a better result when the mesh quality is low, while the other approach have had more attractive results with a finer mesh. By observing the results of the simulations and comparing with the calculated ones, it was understood that they were demonstrating a non-elastic behavior of the concrete, as expected, the displacements seen were greater than those calculated. When seeing that the tension in the steel cables did not reach the yield limit and that the main tensions were, in some cases, above the concrete limit, such reasons lead to believe that the crushing of the concrete may have occurred and that the element used did not managed to demonstrate such behavior. Finally, it was concluded that the tool used can be used for the proposed objective and new works were suggested.