Mechanical analysis of new-type arc-cone anchor for CFRP strand wires

Abstract

Conventional anchors tend to produce ‘notch-effect’ at the tensile end due to stress concentration when anchoring prestressed CFRP strand cables. A new-type arc-cone anchor was designed with the purpose of optimizing the stress distribution in the anchor zone in this study. The ‘arc-cone’ model was proposed to represent the mechanical characteristics of the anchor, and the numerical simulation and experiments were carried out. The effect of the design factors on the anchoring performance was discussed, involving the arc-cone radius, the anchoring length, and the end hole wall thickness. The failure mode, the ultimate load, the anchoring efficiency coefficient as well as the stress distribution were ascertained with the consideration of the effect of the abovementioned design factors. The research results show that the extrusion stress on the barrel decreases with respect to both the wall thickness and the anchor length. The larger the radius of the arc-cone is, the larger the slip of the CFRP strand wire is. The proposed anchor configuration inversely changes the stress distribution from the tensile end to the free end, alleviates the ‘notch effect’ existing in the anchoring zone of conventional anchors, and consequently, improves the anchoring efficiency for CFRP strand wires.