2/12/2017

Prestressed Concrete Design

g
BFS 40303

Lecturer : Koh Heng Boon

kohuthm@gmail.com
019-7556180 / 017-7322833

Marks distribution

Test 1 10%
Test 2 10%
Assignments 5%
Quiz 5%
Project 20%
Final 50%

1
 2/12/2017

Syllabus
 Introduction to prestress structures
 Losses of Prestress
 Design approach
 Analysis and design of flexural members
 Ultimate moment of resistance
 Shear design
 End block design
 Deflection
 Composite construction

Introduction
 Principles and method of prestressed
 Comparison
p between pprestressed and reinforced concrete
beams
 Advantages and disadvantages of prestressed

2
 2/12/2017

Basic concept & principle of prestressing

 The basic concept of reinforced concrete, for both prestressed and
non-prestressed construction, is that steel reinforcement is placed
in those locations of a structure where tensile stresses will occur.
 A prestressed concrete structure is different from a conventional
reinforced concrete due to the application of an initial load on the
structure prior to its use
 The initial load or ‘prestress’ is applied to enable the structure to
counteract the stresses arising during its service period.
 Prestressingg means an intentional application
pp of a ppre-determined
force on a system for resisting the internal stresses that may be
developed in the system due to external loads

Principle of prestressing
 The concept of prestressing existed before the application in
concrete and was used in our civilization
 The idea of prestressing is illustrated by the following
examples:

Wooden barrel compressed with metal hoops

Metal hoops around wooden staves of barrel are

ti ht d tto create
tightened t precompression
i on theth bbarrels.
l
When water is stored in the barrels, tension is
generated on the wooden staves and counteract by
pre-compression provided by metal hoops.

3
 2/12/2017

Principle of prestressing
Pre-tensioning the spokes in a bicycle wheel
The pre-tension of a spoke in a bicycle wheel is applied to such
an extent that there will always be a residual tension in a spoke.
spoke

Early application of prestressing

 Prestressing of structures was introduced in late nineteenth
century which applied in concrete structure
 Concrete which is weak in tension can be prestressed with initial
compression
p in those zones where tensile stresses occur due to
external load
 The following sketch explains the application of prestressed

Prestressing of concrete beams by mild steel rods

4
 2/12/2017

Early application of prestressing

 Mild steel rods are stretched and concrete is poured around
them
 After concrete has hardened sufficiently, the tension in the
rods is released
 The rods will try to regain their original length, but this is
prevented by the harden concrete
 Now concrete is effectively in a state of pre-compression and
capable of counteracting tensile stress due to external loads
 Remember that in prestressed concrete element, the
entire
ti load
l d isi resisted
i t dbby concrete t only l att service
i
load stage. Prestressing steel contributes very little
in resisting the load unlike in reinforced concrete.
Its main role is to transfer prestress to concrete.

Early application of prestressing

But early attempts of prestressing were not completely successful. It
was observed that the effect of prestress reduced with time under
sustained loads, the members were fail. This was due to the following
reasons :
 Strains due to shrinkage and creep of concrete - concrete
shrinks with time, where under sustained load, the strain in
concrete increases with time known as creep strain. The reduction
in length due to creep & shrinkage is also applicable to the
embedded steel resulting in significant loss in the tensile strain.

5
 2/12/2017

Variation of length in a prestressed beam

6
 2/12/2017

How to increase the residual strain and effective

prestress ?

 Adopt high strength steel with much higher original strain.

This leads to a high prestressing force.
force Permanent prestress
could be sustained only by creating much higher initial
stresses in the steel.
 Adopt high strength concrete to withstand the high
prestressing force

Method of
Prestressing

Pre-tensioning Post-tensioning

Unbonded Bonded

7
 2/12/2017

Pre-tensioning
 Pre-tensioning is the method mostly used for the production of
precast prestressed concrete elements
 The tension is applied to the tendons between end-anchorages
before casting the concrete around the tendons
 When
h concrete hhas hhardened
d d sufficiently,
i i l the h end-anchorages
d h are
released
 The prestress force in the form of pre-compression is transmitted
from steel to concrete through bond between the steel and
concrete over the transmission length. During the transfer of
prestress, the member undergoes elastic shortening. If the
tendons are located eccentrically, the member is likely to bend
and deflect
deflect.
 The protruding ends of the tendons are then cut away to produce
the finished concrete member
 This method is ideally suited to factory production since large
anchorages are required to anchor all the tendons

Pre-tensioning process

8
 2/12/2017

Post-tensioning
 The tension is applied to the tendons by jacking steel tendons (located in
a duct) against an already-cast concrete member. The duct prevents
contact between concrete and tendons during tensioning operation.
 Once the tendons have been tensioned to their full force,, the jacking
j g
force is transferred to the concrete through special built-in anchorages (at
the end of blocks)
 Nearly all in-situ prestressing is carried out using this method
 The prestress force in post-tensioning members is usually provided by
many individual wires or strands grouped into large tendons & fixed to
the same anchorage
 If the duct is filled with grout then it is known as bonded post-tensioning
 Bonded post tensioning – the process is essentially the same as unbonded
except the prestressing force is transferred to the concrete by bond
stresses between the concrete and the bonded tendon

Post-tensioning of a box girder

9
 2/12/2017

Advantages of Prestressing
a) Sections remains uncracked under service loads
- Reduction of steel corrosion
• Increase in durability
- Full section is utilised
• Higher moment of inertia (higher stiffness)
• Less deformations (improved serviceability)
• Increase in shear capacity
• Improved performance (resilience) under dynamic & fatique loading
• Suitable for use in pressure vessels, liquid retaining structures
b) Higher span-to-depth ratios
- Larger spans possible with prestressing (bridges, buildings with large
column-free spaces)
- For the same span, less depth compared to RC member; reduction in
selfweight, more aesthetic appeal due to slender sections, more
economical sections
c) Suitable for precast construction

Typical values of span-to-depth ratios in slabs are given below :

10
 2/12/2017

Disadvantages of Prestressed
 Prestressing needs skilled technology. Hence, it is not as
common as reinforced concrete
 The use of high
g strength
g materials is costlyy
 There is additional cost in auxiliary equipments
 There is need for quality control and inspection

Differences between prestressed & reinforced

concrete
For reinforced concrete simply supported beams, the
maximum load will ggoverns its structural design,
g , however for
prestressed concrete members the minimum load is an
important loading condition. This is important since the
minimum load condition usually occurs soon after transfer, the
point when the prestress force is transferred from the
tensioning equipment to the concrete and is at its maximum
value.
value

11
 2/12/2017

Structural Behavior
Effect of axial prestress

Effect of eccentric prestress

12
 2/12/2017

Example
A simply supported beam with a cross-section as shown in Figure
below spans 15m and carries a total uniform load, including self
weight, of 50 kN/m. If the beam is prestressed with a force of 2000
kN actingg at an eccentricityy of 400mm below the centroid,, determine
the stress distribution at midspan. Section properties :
Zb = Zt = 70.73 x 106 mm3
Ac = 2.9 x 105 mm2

Solution
Maximum bending moment at midspan = WL2/8
= 50 x 152/8
= 1406.3 kNm

13