Comparison of linear and nonlinear static and dynamic behaviour of prestressed and non-prestressed concrete slab elements

Today, static load tests and vibration monitoring systems are very common in the context of condition control, respectively, damage assessment of civil engineering structures. Both methods share the property that static parameters, like vertical deflections, as well as dynamic characteristics, like the eigenfrequencies, are representative for the stiffness distribution of a structure. Thus, in this paper comparisons of changes in static and dynamic behaviour of a non-prestressed and a prestressed concrete slab during their lifetimes are presented in order to simulate bridge conditions in controlled environmental conditions. The aim of the experimental tests is to evaluate the accuracy of these tests for civil engineering structures. The measurements show that for the prestressed slab, the dynamical method as well as the static load tests, for distinct damage scenarios, yield different results compared to the non-prestressed slab. Moreover, one can recognise that the changes in static and dynamical parameters are more sensitive for the non-prestressed slab as for the prestressed slab.