Description
Steel strands are extensively used in large-span buildings, roads, bridges, dams, and other prestressed reinforced concrete structures. Due to reasons such as design and construction, environmental corrosion, and fatigue accumulation, the service life of steel strands is often much shorter than initially designed. They usually only meet the structural requirements and lack long-term, effective monitoring of their stress state during the operation of bridges. This results in a significant increase in maintenance costs and places a considerable economic burden on bridge operating entities. To address this issue, this study focuses on the application of intelligent steel strands in prestressed concrete beams. First, a novel intelligent steel strand with self-sensing properties is proposed, which allows for easy monitoring of the stress conditions of steel strands during their service life, as well as controlling prestressing and guiding construction. The study also includes repetitive testing of the mechanical properties of intelligent steel strands. Second, an embedded pre-tensioned intelligent steel strand is designed, and its performance and stress transfer effects are analyzed. Finally, research is conducted on intelligent strands that combine steel strands with fiber optic sensors. This integration of structural and intelligent monitoring technology provides a basis for both load-bearing and sensing functions. The research demonstrates that intelligent steel strands possess excellent mechanical properties similar to conventional steel strands while enabling real-time health monitoring of bridge structures. This contributes to reliable support for the intelligent operation and maintenance of bridge structures.
