Determination of the repair grout volume to fill voids in external post-tensioned tendons

Abstract

Recently, investigated failures of external post-tensioned (PT) tendons have called attention to the corrosion of strands in PT bridges, and the prevention of ongoing corrosion is required to secure their structural integrity. Since voids inside ducts can be a source for the ingress of water or deleterious chemicals, the vacuum grouting (VG) method and a volumeter for estimating amount of repair grouts were employed to fill voided ducts. However, the VG method is expensive and time-consuming for infield application because it requires an air-tight condition of entire ducts. Thus, latest research assessed three different repair grouting methods, and the pressure vacuum grouting (PVG) method was recommended in the field because it showed good filling capability in voided ducts and did not require an air-tight condition. Thus, a new method is required to estimate the volume of repair grouts because the PVG method is not applied in air-tight ducts. This research assesses the relationship between voided areas on ducts identified with soundings and required grout volume for repair using experimental results. The results show that the proposed equations and assumptions for estimating repair grout volume provide a sufficient amount of repair grouts for filling voided ducts.