Experimental and numerical studies of mono-strand anchorage

This paper deals with an experimental and numerical study of a mono-strand wedge anchor head mechanism. First, the experimental program is presented a nd monitored data such as wedge slippage, anchor deflection and strain dist ributions along external peripheral surfaces of the anchor head are present ed and discussed. In accordance with the experimental set up, these data co ncern only the global behaviour of the mechanism and cannot provide valuabl e information such as internal stress-strains distributions, stress concent rations and percentage of yielded volume. Therefore, the second part of thi s paper deals with the development of an efficient numerical finite element model capable of providing mechanism of the core information. The numerica l model which includes all kinematics/material/contact non-linearities is f irst calibrated using experimental data. Subsequently, a numerical study of the anchorage mechanism is performed and its behaviour is compared to the behaviour of a slightly geometrically modified mechanism where the external diameter has been increased by 5 mm. Finally, different topics influencing the anchorage mechanism behaviour are addressed such as lubrication and we dge shape.