Demolition of

post-tensioned concrete
Safe release of stored
energy requires a reverse
sequence of the original
construction procedures

ittle has been published

L about the demolition of post-

tensioned concrete but there
is enough such concrete now
in service to become a problem for
demolition contractors.
When a demolition sequence is
being planned it is important to
have a knowledge of the erection
p ro c e d u re and a set of the as-built
record drawings. This fact of life was
confirmed recently when 9 pre-
stressed beams had to be demol-
ished and extensive repairs made to
other beams within the decks of
bridges under construction for a
highway in England. Exact identifi-
cation of prestressing cables along
each beam was of great importance
in the demolition process and fun-
damental to the remedial stressing.
The bridges concerned were built
with 3-span continuous post-ten-
sioned segmental l-beams, with a
composite prestressed deck slab.
Each beam had been prestressed to The crack in this C segment extended in length and width after the
a load of about 750 tons. (1)* This ar- string course was complete. The crack follows the position of the
ticle describes how the beams were displaced upper cable duct. Bridge 35 west parapet beam.
severed and removed from the adja-
cent decks and discusses replace-
ment procedures briefly.

Construction details
An attractive design had been
produced for ten 3-span overpasses.
With one exception, each had a cen-
tral span of 121 feet(2) and end spans
of 42 feet.(3) The main beams were
precast in five segments and erected
on their permanent bearings at the
* Numbers in parentheses refer to metric
equivalents listed with this article.
bankseats and piers, with two tem-
porary trestles supporting three seg-
ments in the main span. All seg-
ments were cast to suit a ve rt i c a l
curve of 7,000-foot(4) radius, but all
straight grades and 3,000-foot(5) radii
were accommodated by adjustment
of the relative joint levels.
A large range of deck widths was
obtained in the various bridges by
using 3, 5, 6 or 8 beams at 6- to 7-
foot(6) centers with a composite pre-
stressed deck slab 10 inches(7) thick.
The two main cables, each con-
taining 19 high-strength strands of
0.6-inch diameter(8) were winched
through the 4-inch-diameter(9) cor-
rugated ducts, which were designed
to follow a continuously curved pro-
file. After connecting and sealing
the cable ducts at the joints be-
tween segments, the gaps, nominal-
ly 4 inches,(10) were concreted at the
same time as the intermediate, pier
and end diaphragms.
Prestressing the cables was ac-
complished by pulling all 19 strands
simultaneously using double-end
stressing with identical prestressing
jacks of 500-ton (11) capacity. First-
stage prestressing consisted of ap-
plying a load of about 390 tons(12) to
the lower cables in each beam.
Cable extensions were checked at
each jack; for the standard length
bridge a total extension of about 14
to 15 inches(13) was recorded. The ap-
plied load caused the beams to lift
approximately 1 inch(14) at midspan
and made it possible to remove
t e m p o ra ry supports immediately.
The beams were fixed at one
bankseat and piers were hinged at
the base and pinned into the beams
so that the total elastic deformation
was allowed for at the sliding bear-
ings on the other bankseat.
Shortly after first-stage prestress-
ing, the deck slab was cast either in 3
bays or in a single operation, de-
pending on the width of the bridge.
The upper cables were subsequent-
ly stressed in a similar manner to
the lower group, but of course this
second stage of prestressing acted
upon the fully composite section.
The projecting lengths of high-
strength strands were trimmed back
close to the anchorage blocks, the
end recesses concreted and then
both cable ducts grouted with ordi-
nary portland cement, water and an
expanding agent to counteract
shrinkage.
The superstructure was complet-
ed by casting in place re i n f o rc e d
concrete string courses along the
edge of the parapet beams.

The cracking that led to

demolition
During prestressing operations
on the first three bridges completed,
a series of cracks was detected in the
central spans. Most cracks seemed
to start at the intermediate di-
aphragms and follow the line of the
cable ducts. At first these cracks
were not wide enough to warrant
much concern, but as a safety mea-
Cutting cables in the web at the north
intermediate joint of an internal beam
of Bridge 34 using a thermal lance.
sure the next two bridges were pre-
stressed in 50-percent and 25-per-
cent increments of final load to even
out any local effects. Initially there
was little cracking on these two
bridges but as time passed cracks
began to appear and grow in length.
The significance of these cracks
was reassessed when a particularly
bad one on a parapet opened to 18
inch(15) in width shortly after the
parapet was cast. X-ray radiographs
taken through the 10-inch-thick (16)
web revealed the upper cable duct
had floated some 18 inches(17) up-
ward from its design position. This
discovery led to a systematic check
of all beam segments.
Demolition of fully
grouted beams
A major concern was to remove
the condemned beams without sig-
nificantly damaging or alteri n g
s t ress conditions in adjacent
beams. When main cables were be-
ing cut the sizes and lengths of all
existing cracks on the remainder of
the bridge were noted before, dur-
ing and after the demolition proce-
dures.
South half of an A segment being lifted out by a 40-ton (36-metric-ton) crane.
One internal beam and both parapet beams were replaced in this deck, leaving
only two original beams in the final structure. Bridge 24.
The demolition method adopted
was to reverse the construction se-
quence by isolating the affected
beam and cutting it into the origi-
nal simply supported segments.
These segments were split further
into half-lengths to ensure complete
loss of prestress in the cables and to
provide convenient 15-ton(18) por-
tions for removal by crane.
From the first three bridges, each
of which had been fully stressed and
grouted, five parapet beams and
three internal beams had to be de-
molished. One parapet beam was
removed from the fourth bridge, but
it had only been constructed to the
point where the deck slab had been
cast after first-stage prestress.
Te m p o ra ry supports were erect-
ed under the condemned beams
and positioned at each end of the
10 half-segments. The intermediate
piers and areas below were protect-
ed from falling pieces of concrete by
means of scaffolding and timber
decking just below beam soffit level.
As a safety precaution, the immedi-
ate bridge area was fenced off at
ground level to channel the traffic
below the bridge at well-defined
positions.
Demolition of parapet beam
The first beam to be demolished
was the west parapet beam of
Bridge Number 35. Grouting opera-
tions had proved rather trouble-
some on this beam, so it was feared
that there might be a number of
voids in the mid-span region which
could lead to a violent release of the
energy stored in the cables.
The various positions at which
the deck slab, beams and main ca-
bles were cut and the typical man-
ner of removal of a parapet beam
are shown in the figure.
First the cast-in-place reinforced
concrete string course was removed
by breaking out a longitudinal slot
in the deck with heavy pneumatic
hammers and burning through the
t ra n s verse reinforcement with
acetylene torches. Pieces of string
course about 10 feet(19) long were
gently removed by holding them
with a crane while the last few trans-
verse bars were cut.
The next step was to cut slots in
the deck slab about 6 feet long(20) by
12 to 18 inches(21) wide over the posi-
tion of the intermediate di-
a p h ra g m s. The slots were situated
close to the edge of the upper flange
so that the transverse deck steel
could be cut with the maximum lap
length available for connecting into
the replacement beam. By bending
this deck steel up into a vertical po-
sition access was given to the inter-
mediate diaphragms from above.
The diaphragms were then broken
out with pneumatic hammers, leav-
ing the bottom diaphragm steel to
act as a flexible tie into the remain-
ing deck and be reused with the re-
placement beam.
The longitudinal slot in the deck
was extended adjacent to the beam
for its full length except for bridging
pieces 30 inches(22) wide. These
pieces were left at about 8-foot(23)
and 12-foot(24) centers alternately, so
that there were two restraining deck
slab ties to each half segment.
Pier and end diaphragms were
broken out at virtually the same
time, with an effort again being
made to leave the main diaphragm
steel for reuse with the new beam.
Then came the critical operation
of cutting the main cables; an acety-
lene torch was used on the first
beam. The cables were carefully ex-
posed with small pneumatic ham-
mers, the intention being to cut out
only a minimum amount of con-
crete to gain access.
Prestressing cables were seve re d
in a strict sequence as detailed on
Section AA, which shows a half-
length of a typical 3-span beam.
At pier diaphragms. As each cable
was being burned the last few
strands snapped with a sudden re-
lease of energy and the cable ends
moved apart as the bond with the
grout failed. The joints between A
and B segments opened out at the
top as expected and the segments
rotated downward as continuity was
lost over each pier. Longitudinal
cracking appeared along the junc-
tion of the web and upper flanges
on both sides of each pier but no
spalling of the concrete occurred.
At intermediate diaphragms. It
was obvious at these points that a
great deal of energy remained in the
cables, since substantial shocks
were heard and felt throughout the
remaining deck. Simultaneously,
the beam webs cracked heavily
along the line of each duct but again
there was no instance of any beam
concrete bursting away.
At midspan of C segment. Little
energy remained in the cables after
the first four major cuts so no obvi-
ous change occurred in the existing
cracks in this segment.
At midspan of B segments. Cut-
ting the tendons at these positions
caused some local increase in crack-
ing; the segments were cracked
along their entire length.
At midspan of A segments. The
end anchorages had re m a i n e d
untouched so some energy still
remained in these segments.
Cracks developed throughout the
A segments along the line of the
cable ducts.
Once cable cutting was complet-
ed, each beam segment was divided
at the cut position and lifting gear
was attached to the half segments.
The remaining bridging pieces of
deck were then broken out so that
the segment could be lifted clear of
the supports.
Although the effect of cutting the
cables was undoubtedly transmit-
ted through the adjacent deck in the
form of an impact force, no obvious
signs of damage or worsening of
cracks were detected in other
beams. The above procedure was
t h e re f o re repeated for subsequent
parapet and internal beams, except
that cable and concrete cutting was
much improved with the use of a
thermal lance. This eliminated te-
dious exposure of the cables with
pneumatic hammers, speeded the
cutting sequence and allowed the
operator to stand well clear. Cables
became hot only around the cutting
position since it did not take long to
cut a cable.
Thus the cable tension did not
appear to relax significantly due to
expansion and a similar mode of
cracking was observed after each
sudden release of energy.
Demolition of ungrouted beam
The ungrouted parapet beam was
isolated from the adjacent deck in a
manner similar to the method used
on the fully grouted beams. Even
though the lower cable was un-
grouted and the cable ends had not
been cropped off close to the end
blocks, destressing was not com-
pletely straightforward.
The multistrand system could not
be detensioned with the 500-ton(11)
jack used for tensioning, so individ-
ual strands were destressed by a
small jack that could release the
wedges and allow their withdrawal.
The additional friction between
strands required that forces up to 93
percent of the ultimate strength of a
strand had to be applied before
some wedges could be released.
This level of overstress is well above
the allowable limit of 77 percent of
the ultimate tensile strength applied
during stressing operations. Conse-
quently the cable was no longer safe
for use and could not be incorporat-
ed into the new beam.
Construction of
replacement beams
The deck slab adjacent to the de-
molished beams was trimmed back
to provide a suitable 2-foot 6-inch
(25)
minimum lap for the main trans-
verse deck steel.
Since pier positions were now
fixed by the existing deck, new slid-
ing bearings were necessary at the
piers to accommodate the relative
movements of the new beams dur-
ing stressing but no change in the
bearing type was required at the
bankseats.
The general reconstruction pro-
cedure followed a pattern similar to
that used for the original beams ex-
cept for the following modifications.
Joints between the beam segments
were cast without completing the
diaphragm connections with the
adjacent deck; the new deck slab
was cast leaving a 6-inch (26) gap be-
tween the old and new slabs, so that
vertical and horizontal movements
could freely occur in the new beam
during second-stage stressing; after
waiting for a minimum period of 7
days to permit some further creep
and shrinkage movements to occur,
the gaps in the deck and transverse
diaphragms were finally concreted.
 The results of tests performed af- 6. 1.8- to 2.1-metre 20. 1.8 metres
ter reconstruction had been com- 7. 250 millimetres 21. 300 to 450 millimetres
pleted indicate that both the demo- 8. 15.2 millimetres 22. 760 millimetres
lition and remedial stressing 9. 100-millimetre-diameter 23. 2.4-metre
p ro c e d u res used on these bridges 10. 100 millimetres 24. 3.6-metre
had been successful. 11. 455-metric-ton 25. 0.76-metre
12. 350 metric tons 26. 150-millimetre
13. 355 to 380 millimetres
Metric equivalents 14. 25 millimetres
1. 680 metric tons 15. 3-millimetre
2. 36.9 metres 16. 250-millimetre-thick
3. 12.9 metres 17. 460 millimetres PUBLICATION #C760256
4. 2100-metre 18. 13.6-metric-ton Copyright 1976, The Aberdeen Group
5. 910-metre 19. 3 metres All rights reserved