Structural Behavior of Concrete Girders Prestressed with Stainless Steel Strands

Prestressed concrete is used in structures because of its versatility, adaptability, and durability. Durability of prestressed concrete bridges in extremely aggressive environments is of increasing concern because of corrosion of the carbon steel strands that are typically used for prestressing. Concrete is a permeable material where chloride ions can penetrate through and reach the internal reinforcement and carbon steel strands are highly susceptible to corrosion. Thus, prestressed concrete bridges located in areas with high exposure to environmental factors (e.g., marine environments) deteriorate due to corrosion of carbon steel strands. For example, Florida has a long coastline, with many concrete bridges over coastal water. Among the 12,518 bridges in Florida, 6,303 are prestressed concrete, and almost half of them are older than 40 years. One solution to overcome the early deterioration of coastal bridges is to use corrosion-resistant strands, such as Duplex High-Strength Stainless Steel (HSSS) strands.HSSS strands have high corrosion resistance and are an alternative to carbon steel strands in concrete bridges in extremely aggressive environments. The growing interest in using stainless steel strands has led to the development of the ASTM A1114. In 2020, ASTM A1114 was released as a standard specification for low-relaxation, seven-wire, Grade 240, stainless steel strands for prestressed concrete. Stainless steel is made from different alloys compared to carbon steel, and thus the mechanical properties of stainless steel strands are fundamentally different than those of carbon steel strands. The most significant difference is in the guaranteed ultimate strain: the value for stainless steel strands is only 1.4%. Several departments of transportation (DOTs) have already used or allowed the use of HSSS strands in prestressed piles. As of 2020, a total of 17 projects have used stainless steel strands, a majority of them in piles. Those projects are in areas with high exposure to environmental factors. The use of HSSS strands in flexural members has been hindered by the lack of full-scale test results, structural design approaches, and/or design guidelines. The main concern in using HSSS strands in flexural members is their low ductility. Concrete members prestressed with HSSS strands, if not properly designed, might fail suddenly without adequate warning. There have been no attempts to address this problem in full-scale research studies. The goals of this research project were to investigate the use of HSSS strands in flexural members and to develop design guidelines that could be used by bridge engineers. A total of thirteen (13) 42-ft-long AASHTO Type II girders were designed, fabricated, and tested in flexure or shear. Ten (10) girders were prestressed with HSSS strands, while the other three (3) were prestressed with carbon steel strands and served as control girders. This research program included experimental activities to determine the mechanical and bond strength characteristics, prestress losses, and transfer length of 0.6-in-diameter HSSS strands. Twenty HSSS strands from two spools were tested in direct tension. A stress-strain equation is proposed for the 0.6-in.-diameter HSSS strands, which satisfied all ASTM A1114 requirements. The minimum and average bond strengths, following ASTM A1081, of six 0.6-in.-diameter HSSS strands were 15.8 kips and 17.9 kips, respectively. The minimum and average experimental ASTM A1081 bond strengths were 23.4% and 19.8% greater than the recommended values by PCI Strand Bond Task Group. The maximum measured transfer length of 0.6-in.-diameter HSSS strands was 21.5 in., which was less than the value predicted by AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications’ equation for carbon steel strands. Experimental flexural and shear results showed that the post-cracking behavior of girders prestressed with HSSS strands continued to increase up to failure with no discernible plateau. The behavior is attributed to the stress-strain behavior of the HSSS strands. Also, flexural results revealed that, although HSSS strands have low ductility and all composite girders failed due to rupture of strands, the girders exhibited large reserve deflection and strength beyond the cracking load and provided significant and substantial warning through large deflection, as well as well-distributed and extensive flexural cracking, before failure. A non-linear analytical model and an iterative numerical model were developed to predict the flexural behavior of concrete members prestressed with HSSS strands. Although the analytical model gave better predictions, the iterative numerical approach is slightly conservative and is easier to use for design – designers prefer to use an equation type of approach to perform preliminary designs. Numerical equations were developed to calculate the nominal flexural resistance for flexural members prestressed with HSSS strands. The proposed equations are only valid for rectangular sections. In the case of flanged sections, iterative numerical approaches were also introduced. Because HSSS strand is a brittle material, the design must consider the strain capacity of the strand and must be balanced between flexural strength and ductility. Based on the flexural design philosophy for using carbon steel strands in prestressed concrete girders, along with experimentally-observed behaviors and analytical results for concrete members prestressed with HSSS strands, flexural design guidelines were developed for the use of HSSS strands in flexural members. For I-girders, rupture of strands failure mode is recommended by assuring that concrete in the extreme compression fiber reaches considerable inelastic stresses, at least 0.7f_c^'. For slab beams (e.g. Florida Slab Beam), crushing of concrete failure mode is recommended by assuring that the net tensile strain in the HSSS strand is greater than 0.005. The recommended maximum allowable jacking stress and stress immediately prior to transfer are 75% and 70%, respectively. A resistance factor of 0.75 is recommended for both rupture of strand and crushing of concrete failure modes. AASHTO equations conservatively estimated the measured transfer length and prestress losses of 0.6-in.-diameter HSSS strands. The ACI 318-19 and AASHTO LRFD conservatively predicted the shear capacity of concrete girders prestressed with HSSS strands.