Damage tolerance in engineering components: Implementation to anchor heads

Abstract

Damage tolerance is commonly used as a design criterion in some engineering fields, such as aerospace engineering, but is not usual in civil engineering, where structural safety often relies on safety coefficients. This work presents a study on how using damage tolerance for designing post-tensioning anchor heads, usual mechanisms in many civil engineering works, can be useful for building safer structures. Damage is simulated using 2D and 3D finite element models, considering axisymmetric damage and single damage, respectively. The influence of several aspects, such as the crack depth, the crack orientation angle or the shape of the anchorage, is studied. Lastly, a specific anchorage geometry is analysed using the damage tolerance concept to show that this approach may help in the design of this type of elements.