Response of Connections between Concrete Corbels and Safety Barriers

Post-installed anchor systems are widely used in several applications both for retrofit and new constructions due to their flexibility and easiness of installation. For these reasons, their use is very common to connect safety barriers to concrete corbels. However, the design requirements for fastening (Eurocode 2-Part 4, ACI 318 or for post-installed rebar (Eurocode 2-Part 1 can be hardly satisfied due to the geometric restrictions of the application. Additional complications arise for the refurbishment of bridge corbels, which usually requires the removal of the damaged top concrete layer. This paper presents a new anchoring system that consists of the use of additional post-installed U-shaped rebars connecting the lower existing portion of the corbel to the upper (rebuilt) layer, able to carry the required design loads. The proposed solution considers three anchors that transfer the external loads to the corbel, to the existing reinforcements, and to the U-shaped rebars. The system is tested experimentally and validated by using both theoretical (strut and tie modeling) and numerical analyses.