Estimation of Structural Safety for Internally Grouted Post-tensioned External Tendons
In February, 2016, one of the external tendons in pre‐stressed concrete (PSC) box girder bridge in Seoul was failed due to corrosion after 17 years of service. The failure was found during the thawing season regular inspection. Since it was the first tendon failure occurred in South Korea, in‐depth investigation was performed and found that multiple tendons were corroded at many different locations. Seoul City had been preparing for the maintenance of PSC box girder bridges, but the draft maintenance guideline considered overall condition of the bridge and little attention was paid to the condition of tendons. The bridge was evaluated as per the draft guideline and rated as ‘Medium Risk’ although one external tendon was failed. The indices for the evaluation should be properly weighted to prevent failure of tendons.