The American University of Madaba

Facilty of Engineering civil. Engineering Department

Special Topics in Structural Engineering

Prestressed concrete

Name: Abdulla Ibrahim Tahsin

Reg. No. : 1310066
Introduction:
The term pre-stressed refers to the fact that we are applying external load to the
structure before we apply the load to which the structure will subjected but we
can apply the force itself before or after the cast of the concrete.
Concrete is stronger in compression and week in tension, it tensile strength varies
between 8 to 14 % of its compressive strength. The problem we face with
concrete that if we put load on beam we going to get tension somewhere in the
beam and We have to work on how we can carry that tension in the material that
doesnt want to do it which is in this case concrete, one way of doing that is to
make reinforce concrete in which we put reinforcing bars inside the beam to
resist the tensile stresses. But the alternative by applying compression into the
concrete where tensile stresses are expected we therefore eliminate the tensile
stresses and this is the how pre-stressed concrete works.
In this way the tension portion in the member will be counteracted which going
to shorten the cross section of the member and Eliminate tense stresses which
allows us to carry heavy tension force in the beam
Figure a.1 illustrate the idea of pre-stressed concrete which a Uniform
compressive strength applied in both side of the beam this compressive strength
contract with the tensile strength due to external compressive load and this is
how tensile strength reduce and eliminated.
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PRESTRESSING

Prestressed concrete is not a new concept, dating back to 1872, when P. H.

Jackson, an engineer from California, patented a prestressing system that used a tie
rod to construct beams or arches from individual blocks.

In 1888, C. W. Doehring of Germany obtained a patent for prestressing slabs with

metal wires. But these early attempts at prestressing were not really successful
because of the loss of the prestress with time. J. Lund of Norway and G. R. Steiner
of the United States tried early in the twentieth century to solve this problem, but
to no avail.
After a long lapse of time during which little progress was made because of the
unavailability of high-strength steel to overcome prestress losses, R. E. Dill of
Alexandria, Nebraska, recognized the effect of the shrinkage and creep (transverse
material flow) of concrete on the loss of prestress. He subsequently developed the
idea that successive post-tensioning of unbonded rods would compensate for the
time-dependent loss of stress in the rods due to the decrease in the length of the
member because of creep and shrinkage.

In the early 1920s, W. H. Hewett of Minneapolis developed the principles of

circular prestressing. He hoop-stressed horizontal reinforcement around walls of
concrete tanks through the use of turnbuckles to prevent cracking due to internal
liquid pressure, thereby achieving watertighteness. Thereafter, prestressing of tanks
and pipes developed at an accelerated pace in the United States, with thousands of
tanks of water, liquid, and gas storage built and much mileage of prestressed
pressure pipe laid in the two to three decades that followed. Linear prestressing
continued to develop in Europe and in France, in particular through the ingenuity
of Eugene Freyssinet, who proposed in 1926 through 1928 methods to overcme
prestress losses through the use of high-strength and high-ductility steels. In 1940,
he
These twentieth-century developments have led to the extensive use of prestressing
throughout the world, and in the United States in particular. Today, prestressed
concrete is used in buildings, underground structures, TV towers, floating storage
and offshore structures, power stations, nuclear reactor vessels, and numerous
types of bridge systems including segmental and cable-stayed bridges. Note the
variety of prestressed structures in the photos throughout the book; they
demonstrate the versatility of the prestressing concept and its all-encompassing
applications. The success in the development and construction of all these
landmark structures has been due in no small measure to the advances in the
technology of materials, particularly prestressing steel, and the accumulated
knowledge in estimating the short- and long-term losses in the prestressing forces.
The prestressing force P that satisfies the particular conditions of geometry and
loading of a given element is determined from the principles of mechanics and of
stress-strain relationships. Sometimes simplification is necessary, as when a
prestressed
beam is assumed to be homogeneous and elastic
 Material use in Pre-stressed concrete:
High-strength concrete:
High-strength concrete is typically recognized as concrete with
a 28-day cylinder compressive strength greater than 6000 psi
or 41.4MPa.
High-strength concrete provides a higher compressive
strength, a higher tensile strength, reduced creep, and greater
durability than normal-strength concrete.
Increased modulus of elasticity, which increases stability and
reduces deflections.
For the same cross section and span length, the use of high
strength concrete results in a reduction in a cross sectional
dimensions of Pre-stressed concrete structural element with a
reduced dead weight of the material longer span become
technically and economically practicable.

high Tensile strength steel:

Wires
A pre-stressing wire is a single unit made of steel. The nominal
diameters of the wires
Are 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.0 and 8.0 mm. The different types of wires
are as follows.
1) Plain wire: No indentations on the surface (figure a.3).
2) Indented wire: There are circular or elliptical indentations on
the surface (figure a.4).
 Strands: A few wires are spun together in a helical form to
form a pre-stressing strand the diameter of the strands from
6.85 to 17.78 mm. (figure a.5)
The Different types of strands are as follows.
1) Two-wire strand: Two wires are spun together to form the
strand.
2) Three-wire strand: Three wires are spun together to form
the strand.
3) Seven-wire strand: In this type of strand, six wires are spun
around a central wire.
The central wire is larger than the other wires
 Strands A group of strands or wires are placed together to
form a pre-stressing tendon. The tendons are used in post-
tensioned members. The strands are placed in a duct which
may be filled with grout after the post-tensioning operation is
completed.

Types of Pre-Stressing Steel

The steel is treated to achieve the desired properties. The following
are the treatment Processes.
Cold working (cold drawing)
The cold working is done by rolling the bars through a series of
dyes. It re-aligns the Crystals and increases the strength.
Stress relieving
The stress relieving is done by heating the strand to about
350 C and cooling slowly. This reduces the plastic deformation
of the steel after the onset of yielding and reduce internal
stresses.
Strain tempering for low relaxation
This process is done by heating the strand to about 350 C
while it is under tension. This also improves the stress-strain
behavior of the steel by reducing the plastic Deformation after
the onset of yielding.

The steel in pre-stressed applications has to be of good quality. It

requires the following attributes.

1) High strength
2) Adequate ductility
3) High bond, required for pre-tensioned members
4) Low relaxation to reduce losses
5) Minimum corrosion.
 Pre-tensioned concrete and Post-tensioned concrete

In practice there is to form of pre-stressed concrete

Post-tensioned concrete is form of pre-stressed concrete where the tendons
are tensioned after the surrounding concrete structure has been cast. The
tendons are not placed in direct contact with the concrete, but are
encapsulated within a protective sleeve or duct which is either cast into the
concrete structure. At each end of a tendon is an anchorage assembly
firmly fixed to the surrounding concrete, Once the concrete has been cast
and set, the tendons are tensioned ("stressed") by pulling the tendon ends
through the anchorages while pressing against the concrete. The large
forces required to tension the tendons result in a significant permanent
compression being applied to the concrete once the tendon is "locked-off"
at the anchorage. The duct is then have to be filled under pressure with the
appropriate cement grouted in an injection process to protect the tendons
from corrosion.

Duct: are constructed from plastic or galvanized steel materials. In order to

provide permanent protection for the post-tension steel and to develop a
bond between the pre-stressed steel and the surrounding concrete the pre-
stressing ducts have to be filled under pressure with appropriate cement to
grout in an injection process for corrosion protection and bond between
tendons and surrounding concrete
Typical applications have been:
1. Offices
2. Car parks
3. Shopping centers
4. Hospitals
5. apartment
6. Industrial buildings

Bonded post-tensioning and unbounded post-tensioning:

The post tensioning systems commonly used in building a bridge construction are
grouped into two principles categories these are the unbounded and the bonded
systems
Bonded post-tensioning has pre-stressing tendons permanently bonded to the
surrounding concrete by the in situ grouting of their encapsulating ducting
Bonded post-tensioning characteristically uses tendons each
comprising bundles of elements (e.g. strands or wires) placed inside a
single tendon duct, this bundling make for more efficient tendon installation and
grouting processes, since each complete tendon requires only one set of end-
anchorages and one grouting operation.

unbounded tendons are generally made of a single strand high strength steel
covered with a corrosion inhibiting coating and in cased in and plastic sheeting
the force in the stressed tendon is transferred to the concrete primarily by the
anchor provided at and variations in Air Force along the tendon is affected by the
friction between the since the force an unbounded is transferred primarily by
anchors at its end and the tendon profile in the concrete member.
 Advantage of Pre-stressed concrete

a. Reduces occurrence of cracks and Reduction of steel corrosion.

b. Material efficiency.
c. Higher Span/Depth ratio- Longer members can be constructed by
pre-stresses concrete.
i. Reduction in the number of columns
ii. Reduction in the number of foundations
iii. Increased flexibility for internal planning
iv. Maximization of the available letting space of a
v. floor.
d. High compressive strength of concrete and high tensile strength
more economical and less dead load.
 Disadvantage of Pre-stressed concrete

1. The main disadvantage of pre-stressing is that it requires some special

equipment like jacks, anchorage etc., which pretends the use of pre-
stressing.
2. It requires highly skilled workers and should be prepared under expert
supervision
3. It requires skilled labour and good quality control.
4. It is costlier than other Rcc structures on short span.
5. PSC requires high strength concrete and steel which will have higher unit
cost
References:

Prestressed Concrete, A Fundamental Approach, 5th ed, Nawy

Reinforced and Prestressed Concrete - Kong & Evans 3rd Edition.
ASTM A416/A416M Standard Specification for Steel.