Ultimate strength of curved strand tendons

In a bridge construction process, where large concrete elements are rotated with the aid of strand lifting units (lowering of arch halves, balanced lift method), the tendons have to be deviated over saddles with small radii of curvature. Since information on the ultimate strength of curved strand tendons was not available at the time, a test programme was carried out in order to determine the ultimate strength as a function of radius of curvature (R = 0.5 m, R = 1.0 m, R = 3.0 m, straight tendons), number of strands (1 to 55) and type of strand (0.5″ and 0.6″). The results of the full scale experiments showed almost no decrease in efficiency with regard to single strand tendons and only moderate losses regarding multistrand tendons. Based on the experimental results and a biaxial failure criterion, an analytical model was developed which is able to predict the ultimate strength of curved tendons.