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Reliability-based evaluation of the prestress level in concrete containments with unbonded tendons

Anderson, Patrick LU ; Hansson, Martin LU and Thelandersson, Sven LU (2008) In Structural Safety 30(1). p.78-89
Abstract
It has been a common practice both in Sweden and worldwide to enclose nuclear reactors with prestressed concrete structures. The prestress level decreases with time from its initial value due to various degradation mechanisms. To ensure that the prestress level is sufficient the tendon force is measured at regular in-service inspections. The intention with this paper is to present a reliability-based procedure to evaluate the prestress level on the basis of data from in-service inspections. Existing approaches to evaluate the prestress level do not take into account the variability in the measured prestress. It is not possible to achieve a complete assurance concerning the prestress level. However, by using a probabilistic model, involving... (More)
It has been a common practice both in Sweden and worldwide to enclose nuclear reactors with prestressed concrete structures. The prestress level decreases with time from its initial value due to various degradation mechanisms. To ensure that the prestress level is sufficient the tendon force is measured at regular in-service inspections. The intention with this paper is to present a reliability-based procedure to evaluate the prestress level on the basis of data from in-service inspections. Existing approaches to evaluate the prestress level do not take into account the variability in the measured prestress. It is not possible to achieve a complete assurance concerning the prestress level. However, by using a probabilistic model, involving the variability in the measuring result and the structural behaviour, the prestress level could be confirmed in a more stringent way. Both the time dependent loss of prestress and the possibility of tendons being broken (due to defects as corrosion) are considered. To avoid through-wall cracks in the concrete it is required that the prestress shall counterbalances the tensile stresses expected at an internal accident. The factor of interest is the prestress level in the concrete and not the force in individual tendons. Several tendons influence the prestress level in a specific part of the containment. The required prestress level shall be fulfilled in all parts of the containment where each part is influenced by a number of individual tendons. It is suggested in this paper that this problem can be analysed as a structural reliability problem idealized as a series of correlated parallel subsystems. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
series system, parallel system, tendon, nuclear, loss of prestress, resistance deterioration
in
Structural Safety
volume
30
issue
1
pages
78 - 89
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000250420300006
  • scopus:34548507938
ISSN
0167-4730
DOI
10.1016/j.strusafe.2006.09.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6de65cfa-9aa2-4b06-8256-859b65f19002 (old id 651753)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:15:54
date last changed
2022-01-27 23:39:54
@article{6de65cfa-9aa2-4b06-8256-859b65f19002,
  abstract     = {{It has been a common practice both in Sweden and worldwide to enclose nuclear reactors with prestressed concrete structures. The prestress level decreases with time from its initial value due to various degradation mechanisms. To ensure that the prestress level is sufficient the tendon force is measured at regular in-service inspections. The intention with this paper is to present a reliability-based procedure to evaluate the prestress level on the basis of data from in-service inspections. Existing approaches to evaluate the prestress level do not take into account the variability in the measured prestress. It is not possible to achieve a complete assurance concerning the prestress level. However, by using a probabilistic model, involving the variability in the measuring result and the structural behaviour, the prestress level could be confirmed in a more stringent way. Both the time dependent loss of prestress and the possibility of tendons being broken (due to defects as corrosion) are considered. To avoid through-wall cracks in the concrete it is required that the prestress shall counterbalances the tensile stresses expected at an internal accident. The factor of interest is the prestress level in the concrete and not the force in individual tendons. Several tendons influence the prestress level in a specific part of the containment. The required prestress level shall be fulfilled in all parts of the containment where each part is influenced by a number of individual tendons. It is suggested in this paper that this problem can be analysed as a structural reliability problem idealized as a series of correlated parallel subsystems. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Anderson, Patrick and Hansson, Martin and Thelandersson, Sven}},
  issn         = {{0167-4730}},
  keywords     = {{series system; parallel system; tendon; nuclear; loss of prestress; resistance deterioration}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{78--89}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Structural Safety}},
  title        = {{Reliability-based evaluation of the prestress level in concrete containments with unbonded tendons}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.strusafe.2006.09.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.strusafe.2006.09.003}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}