General Principles

Dr Antonis Michael
Department of Civil Engineering
Frederick University

Professional Societies

The International Federation for Structural Concrete

CEB-FIB (Merge of Euro-International Concrete
Committee (CEB - Comit Euro-International du
Bton) and the International Federation for
Prestressing (FIP - Fdration Internationale de la
Prcontrainte) in 1998.




CEB-FIB Model
Structural Concrete Journal of the FIB
European Standards

PCI (Precast/Prestessed Concrete Institute) USA




PCI Design Handbook

PCI Journal

Definition of Prestress in EN1992

The process of prestressing consists in
applying forces to the concrete structure by
stressing tendons relative to the concrete
member. Prestress is used globally to
name all the permanent effects of the
prestressing process, which comprise internal
forces in the sections and deformations of the
structure.

ACI Definition of Prestressed Concrete

Concrete in which there have been
introduced internal stresses of such
magnitude and distribution that the stresses
resulting from given external loadings are
counteracted to a desired degree. In
reinforced concrete members the prestress is
commonly introduced by tensioning the steel
reinforcement

General Principles of Prestressed Concrete

First Concept: Stress Superposition Method



Prestressed concrete an elastic composite

material

Concrete subjected to 2 systems of forces:



Internal prestress (pre-compression by tendons

counteract tension in concrete)
External loads

Prestressed Rectangular Beam

Beam is prestressed with a tendon through the
centroid and is loaded with external load
Uniform Compressive Stress

P
Ac

Where: P = Prestress force

Ac = Cross-sectional area

-P/Ac

c.g.c and c.g.s

M is the moment from the external load

I = moment of Inertia, y = distance to centroid

-P/Ac
c.g.c and c.g.s

M yt
Ic

M yb
Ic

Resulting Stresses
top =

P M yt

Ac
Ic

bot =

P M yb
+
Ac
Ic

Beam with Eccentric Tendon

-P/Ac
c.g.c

c.g.s
P y P yb
Ic

An extra moment is generated due to tendon eccentricity

c.g.c

M yt
Ic

c.g.s
M yb
Ic

Beam with Curved Tendon

c.g.c
c.g.s

FBD

yP

c.g.c

Stress in concrete:

c.g.s

=
F
A

P P y P yb
+
Ac
Ic

Concrete stress depends only on prestressing force P and eccentricity yP

Stages of Loading

Prestressing force only

Prestressing + self weight
After installation

Stresses
Prestressing Force Only

bot ,0 =

P0 P0 y P yb

Ac
Ic

top, 0 =

P0 P0 y P yt
+
Ac
Ic

Prestressing + Self Weight

bot ,0 =

P0 P0 yP yb M SW yb

+
Ac
Ic
Ic

top ,0 =

P0 P0 yP yt M SW yt
+

Ac
Ic
Ic

After Installation
bot , =

Pe Pe yP yb M SW yb M SL yb

+
+
Ac
Ic
Ic
Ic

top , =

Pe Pe yP yt M SW yt M SL yt
+

Ac
Ic
Ic
Ic

I and y can be substituted by section modulus W

W =

I
y

Example 1
G=200kN
Q=100kN

Q=100kN
120cm
yP

7.5m
30cm
5m

5m

C30 Concrete, P0 = 2800 kN

Concrete cover to c.g.s. = 7cm
con = 25 kN/m3

5m

Find:
Top and bottom stresses at
time 0 and after installation

Total Prestress Losses 20%