| Epoxy adhesive anchor systems are widely used in engineering applications such as bridge widening, concrete repair and rehabilitation, tunnel finishing etc. However their behaviors, especially their long term performance, have not been fully understood which leads to engineering failure, such as the Boston tunnel accident that happened on July 10, 2006.;In this thesis, the pull-out behavior of epoxy bonded anchor system has been thoroughly studied. First, an elastic model of epoxy bonded anchor system is developed and simulated through ABAQUS. Its pull-out capacity and its relation to different factors, like anchor to hole diameter ratio, embedded length to hole length ratio etc, has been analyzed and compared with literature results. Then the model is extended to include the non-linearity of concrete and the creep effect of epoxy. The effect of rod diameter, hole size, embedment length and the epoxy used on the displacement and capacity of the epoxy bonded anchor system is discussed.;Finally the long term creep behavior of an epoxy anchor system has also been studied. Its long term capacity related to embedded length, rebar size and types of epoxies have been derived. A new design methodology for selecting a suitable epoxy anchor system for long term applications has been proposed and compared with the one used in the Boston tunnel project. |
