Experimental and numerical studies of mono-strand anchorage

This paper deals with an experimental and numerical study of a mono-strand wedge anchor<br />head mechanism. First, the experimental program is presented and monitored data such as wedge slippage,<br />anchor deflection and strain distributions along external peripheral surfaces of the anchor head are<br />presented and discussed. In accordance with the experimental set up, these data concern only the global<br />behaviour of the mechanism and cannot provide valuable information such as internal stress-strains<br />distributions, stress concentrations and percentage of yielded volume. Therefore, the second part of this<br />paper deals with the development of an efficient numerical finite element model capable of providing<br />mechanism of the core information. The numerical model which includes all kinematics/material/contact<br />non-linearities is first calibrated using experimental data. Subsequently, a numerical study of the anchorage<br />mechanism is performed and its behaviour is compared to the behaviour of a slightly geometrically<br />modified mechanism where the external diameter has been increased by 5 mm. Finally, different topics<br />influencing the anchorage mechanism behaviour are addressed such as lubrication and wedge shape.