BASIC CONCEPTS

Concrete
a) Strong in compression but weak in tension
b) Tensile strength varies from 8 – 14% of its
compressive strength
- Flexural cracks develop at early stages of loading
- Concentric or eccentric force is imposed to prevent
cracks from developing by reducing the tensile
stresses at critical mid-span and support section

- Almost the full capacity of the concrete in

compression can be efficiently utilized across the entire
depth of the concrete section

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS

Prestressing
- preloading of a structure before the application
of the service loads

Prestressing force
- a compressive force that prestresses the
sections along the span of the structural element

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Reinforced Concrete vs Prestressed Concrete
RC PSC
-Tensile strength of -Permanent stresses are
concrete is negligible created before imposed
loads are applied in order to
considerably reduce the net
tensile stresses
-Tensile stresses from -If the flexural strength of
bending moments are concrete is exceeded, the
resisted by the bond prestressed member will
created in the start to act as reinforced
reinforcement concrete
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Reinforced Concrete vs Prestressed Concrete
RC PSC
-Crack widths are -High stress not accompanied
roughly proportional by wide cracks since much of
the strain is applied to the
to tensile
steel before it is anchored to
reinforcement stress the concrete

-High stress in -By prestraining the high

concrete would strength reinforcement, large
rotations and deflection is
inevitably produce
avoided. Also, uncracked
large rotations and members are stiffer.
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Basic Concept of Prestressing
Consider a simply supported rectangular beam
subjected to a concentric prestressing force, P as
shown in the figure below:

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
The compressive stress on the beam cross section
has an intensity:
P
f 
Ac

Where: Ac = bh
b = width
h = total depth

Sign Convention: ( - ) Compression

( + ) Tension
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
If external transverse loads are applied to the
beam causing maximum moment M at midspan,
the resulting stress becomes:
t P Mc
f  
A Ig
P Mc
fb   
A Ig

Where: ft = stress at top fiber

fb = stress at bottom fiber
Ig = gross moment of inertia
c = 0.5 * h
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS

To induce tensile stresses at the top fibers due to

prestressing, the prestressing tendon is placed
eccentrically below the neutral axis at midspan

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Moment Pe is created and the midspan stresses
become:
t P Pec Mc
f   
Ac I g Ig

P Pec Mc
fb    
Ac I g Ig

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
*Since the support section of a simply supported
beam carries no moment from the external
transverse load, high tensile fiber stresses are
caused by the eccentric prestressing force.
*To limit such stresses the eccentricity of the
prestressing tendon profile is
- Made less at the support section
- Eliminate altogether
- Negative eccentricity above the cgc line is
used

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Example 1
A 200 x 400 mm PSC beam is prestressed with a
final prestressing force of 500 kN at an
eccentricity of 100 mm below the neutral axis.
Determine the maximum moment that will
produce no tension at the bottom fiber.

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Example 1

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Example 2
A prestressed rectangular beam 500 x 750 mm
has a simple span of 30 m and is loaded by a
uniform load of 4.5 kN/m including its own
weight. The prestressing tendon is 225 mm from
the bottom and produces an effective prestress of
1600 kN. Compute and draw the fiber stress
distribution on the concrete mid section due to:
a) axial force
b) prestress eccentricity
c) due to the loads
d) due to total stress
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Example 2
a)

b)

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Example 2
c)

d)

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Equivalent Loads

The effect of a change in the vertical alignment of

a prestressing tendon is to produce a transverse
vertical force on the concrete member.

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Equivalent Loads

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Equivalent Loads

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Equivalent Loads
For any arrangement of applied loads, a tendon
profile can be selected such that the equivalent
loads acting on the beam from the tendon are
just equal and opposite to the applied loads.

Note that these equivalent loads would produce a

deflection called CAMBER that counters that of
the imposed loads
It is also worth mentioning that the equivalent
loads and moments produced by the prestressing
tendon are self equilibrating.
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Prestressing Methods
Pretensioning
• Tendons are tensioned first before concrete is placed
• Done at the fabrication plant for production of precast
members
• As the fresh concrete hardens, it bonds to the steel
• When the concrete has reached the required strength,
the jacking force is released and the force is
transferred by bond from steel to concrete

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Prestressing Methods
Pretensioning

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Prestressing Methods
Post-tensioning
• Done at the construction site for the
construction of cast-in-place members
• Hollow conduits containing the unstressed tendons are
placed in the beam forms before pouring the concrete

• The tendons are tensioned after the concrete

has hardened and achieved sufficient strength

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Prestressing Methods
Post-tensioning

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Post-tensioning

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Changes in Prestress Force
Jacking Force
- force applied during the jacking operation
- denoted by Pj
The magnitude of the prestressing force in a
concrete member is not constant but changes
during the life of the member.
These changes are due to:
- instantaneous losses
- time-dependent losses
- losses as a function of the superimposed
loading
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Concrete
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
Changes in Prestress Force
The effect of the instantaneous losses is a
reduction in the jacking force, Pj to a lower value
Pi defined as the initial prestress force.

The result of all time-dependent effects is a

reduction in the initial prestress force termed
effective prestress force, Pe
The sum of all losses, immediate and time-
dependent, maybe of the order of 20 to 35% of
the original jacking force
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Loads
Three categories:
• Dead Loads
• Live Loads
• Environmental Loads
- includes snow loads, wind pressure and
suction, earthquake loads, soil pressure
(acting on structure subsurface), rainwater
ponding on flat surfaces, forces from
temperature differential

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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Loads
Service Loads
- sum of calculated DL, LL, EL
- estimate of the maximum load that can be
expected to act during the service life of the
structure
Factored Loads (Ultimate Loads)
- failure load that a structure must be
capable of resisting to ensure an adequate
margin of safety against collapse
- load factors, larger than unity, are applied
to the calculated DL, LL, EL
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Concrete
 BASIC CONCEPTS
Loads
Factored Load Combinations

1) 1.4D Where:
2) 1.2D + 1.6L + 0.5(Lr or S D = Dead Load
or R) L = Live Load
3) 1.2D + 1.6(Lr or S or` R) Lr = Roof Live Load
+ (0.8W or o.5L) S = Snow Load
4) 1.2D + 1.6W + 0.5L R = Rain Load
+ 0.5(Lr or S or R) W = Wind Load
5) 1.2D + 1.0E + 0.5L + 0.2S E = Earthquake
6) 0.9D + (1.6W or 1.0E) Load

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Concrete