Introduction

Corrosion-Free Precast Prestressed Concrete Piles Made with Stainless Steel Reinforcement:

Construction, Test and Evaluation

Lorintz Gleich, Alvaro Paul, Lawrence Kahn (PI), Kimberly Kurtis, Preet Singh School of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Georgia Institute of Technology

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by Georgia Department

of Transportation (GDOT) under Research Project No. 11-34. Any

opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed

in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the views of GDOT.

Main Finding

Precast prestressed concrete piles may be constructed with 2205

stainless steel 250 ksi low-relaxation strand and spiral, using the

same procedures as used for conventional prestressing and wire

reinforcement.

Proposed Research

GDOT Research Project No. 11-34

Next Activities of the Project

The purpose of this research is to develop corrosion-free precast prestressed concrete

piles which can be adopted for use in Georgia’s coastal, marine environment.

The specific objectives are to prove that precast concrete piles constructed with high-

strength stainless steel (HSSS) prestressing strand and spiral wire reinforcement and with high-

durability concrete may be easily fabricated, driven without failure, designed using standard

AASHTO LRFD provisions, and possess long-term durability. The research will provide

specifications and design standards for corrosion-free piles for implementation by GDOT.

Task 1:

Experiment design and fabrication of

piles and test specimens.

Task 2:

Driving of test piles and evaluation of

driving performance.

Task 3:

Laboratory testing of piles, beams and quality

control samples.

Task 4:

Monitoring of in-place piles to assess

deterioration of concrete and corrosion of steel.

Task 5:

Development of design standards

using high-strength stainless steel

and high-performance concrete for

marine environments.

Piles and Specimens Construction

The piles and test specimens were fabricated at Standard Concrete Company, Savannah, GA.

Instrumentation for Transfer

Length and Prestress Losses

Durability Assessment

- Drive and extract piles (Savannah, GA).

- Flexure test and development length measurements

(GT Structures Lab).

HSSS

Duplex alloy 2205

7-wire strand

Piles and specimens*:

3 70-ft piles with HSSS.

2 70-ft piles with A417 steel.

2 27-ft piles with HSSS.

2 27-ft piles with A417 steel.

4 30-in specimens with HSSS.

4 30-in specimens with A417

steel.

* All elements have a 16 in.

square transversal section. Preliminary Results

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Pre

str

ess L

osses (

mic

rosta

rin

s)

Time (days)

#270

SS

• Prestress Losses:

• Transfer Length: Average #270: 19.5 inches

Average HSSS: 18.2 inches

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

f'c (psi)

Age (days)

Concrete class

AAA HPC

w/c = 0.38

Material Properties

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02

Stress

(ksi)

Strain (in/in)

Flexure Test Beams