ROAD & BRIDGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

WARSAW

Juliusz Cieśla

ASSESSSMENT OF PRESTRESSING FORCE

IN PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BRIDGE SPANS

BY THE PROOF LOAD

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ASSUMPTION

It has been assumed, that proper level of prestressing is one of the most
essential factor from the safety point of view of structure

Evaluation of prestressing force should be the first step of safety appraisal of

the structure.

If the prestresssing force is below design value, in most of cases the reason of
the lack of prestressing is the key to assessment of the safety of the structure.

PROCEDURE

General procedure of evaluation of prestressing force concerns the real

structure and its structural model within such aspects, as:
• moment of crack formation in prestressed element,
• crack pattern in concrete of the span and map of stresses of its structural
model,
• use of stiffness of prestressed element.

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 ASSESSMENT OF SAFETY  

UNCRACKED STRUCTURE CRACKED STRUCTURE  

USE OF STIFFNESS / CRACK

USE OF CRACK PATTERN  
MOMENT
 

ASSESSMENT OF PRESTRESSING FORCE

 

DETERMINATION OF CAUSE OF PRESTRESSING SHORTAGE  

APPRAISAL OF CARRYING CAPACITY OF STRUCTURE  

Fig.1. Flow chart of assessment of safety of prestressed concrete structure

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USE OF CRACK FORMATION
In case of absence of cracks under service load, the first observed crack under
proof load is important resource of information about prestressing force.
We can predict cracks in a beam element by calculation the value of cracking
moment, using well known formula:
M cr = W (  b +  f ctk ) (1)

where: W-resistant modulus of element,

b-normal stress in concrete at the edge of element, according to the
formula: Ps Ps e P
b  
Ab W
ep – eccentricity characteristic value of unknown prestressing force Ps ,
-coefficient, normally we assume it 1.7,
fctk-characteristic axial tensile strength of concrete.

According to the results of tests made by author the value of 1.7 seems to be
acceptable and quite close to EN 1992-1-1 assumption:
M cr  W ( b  f ctm ) (2) 4
If we are able to establish bending moment in element, corresponding to the
first crack, we can easily calculate value of prestressing force from the formula
(1) or (2).

If we assume in the formula (1) the value of fctk =0 , we have the value of so-
called moment of decompression - Mdec =Wb.

We can conform the value of Mdec during repeated load test of beam, because
that value correspond to repeated opening crack, which has been formed
before, during previous loading of the beam. Thanks to that we can asses the
value of fctk.

After exceeding the moment of decompression, normally we obtain some

reduction of stiffness of bending element.

Otherwise, every unexpected reduction of stiffness may mean that we are

closing to crack moment.

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USE OF STIFFNESS PHENOMENA

2500

2000
L o ad (k N)

1500

1000

500
Fcr

0
0 50 100 150 200
De fle ction (m m )

Figure 2 Load-deflection curve of prestressed concrete girder

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 F
Ez = (3)

zm
where: F - value of load,
zm- value of deflection in given cross-section of beam,
-value dependent on boundary conditions for the element, the length of
span, geometrical characteristic of cross-section and the way of loading of
the beam, e.g. for simply supported beam with single force in the midspan
= L3/48I, where I - cross-sectional moment of inertia.

We can also introduce similar notion of Ez' according to the formula:

F
Ez = 
'
(4)
 zm
where: F and zm - respectively are the finite differences of increments of
force and deflection for beam element.
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E [MPa]
60000
F0cr
50000 Fdcr
Fd
40000

30000 Ez

20000
Ez'

10000

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 F [kN]

Figure 3 Diagram of Ez and Ez' for girder 1

d 0
Fd - load of decompression, F cr - design crack load, F cr - observed crack load

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E [MPa]
60000
F0cr
50000 Fdcr
Fd
40000

30000

Ez
20000
Ez '
10000

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 F [kN]

Figure 4 Diagram of Ez and Ez' for girder 2

d 0
Fd - load of decompression, F cr - design crack load, F cr - observed crack load

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E [MPa]
60000
F0cr
50000 F dcr
Fd
40000

30000
Ez
20000

Ez '
10000

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 F [kN]

Figure 5 Diagram of Ez and Ez' for girder 3

d 0
Fd - load of decompression, F cr - design crack load, F cr - observed crack load
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E [MPa]
50000
Fd = 0,692 MN
Fcr = 0,923 MN
40000

30000
Ez

20000

Ez '

10000

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 F [MN]

Figure 6 Diagram of Ez and Ez' for post-tensioned girder WBS-36

Fd - load of decompression, Fcr - crack load

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USE OF STIFFNESS
The procedure is founded on the ground of functional dependence between
value of load on the span and deflection of chosen point of structure.

First step of procedure is creation of influence surface of deflection for given

point of the structure.

The influence surface for the point has been derived according with the Betti-
Maxwell law mutuality of displacement, which may be described by formula:
δij = δji , (5)
using measured deflections of chosen points for all span under known load,
placed in the point.
Figure 7 Load for
evaluation of influence
surface of deflection

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In the Fig. 8 you can see examples of two influence surfaces, produced by
single van.

a)

b)

Figure 8. The influence surfaces IS for half-span point: a) on the span 4-5 of
structure No 1, b) on the span 4-5 of structure No 2

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Using influence surface, you can calculate deflection of the point for each load
on the span, just multiplying each applied load, e.g.: weight of lorry, by the
corresponding value of ordinate.
In that way, it may be produced a functional dependence between total load on
the span and deflection of the point, it means deflections of the web of main
girder of the examined span.
In the Fig. 9 two examples of such dependence for the half-span point on the
span 4-5 of structure No 1 and on the span 4-5 of structure No 2 have been
presented.

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Fig.9. Dependence load – deflection for half-span point: a) on the span 4-5 of
structure No 1 and b) on the span 4-5 of structure No 2

In each of two figures both curves are similar and close to linear dependence,
and the values of deflections do not exceed theoretical values.
It means, that level of prestressing assured such structural behavior of the
tested part of girder, that we may assume there is no tension in concrete in
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main direction of bending.
CONCLUSION

Improper level of prestressing may be a cause of excessive deflections, cracks

and corrosion processes and at last a cause of sudden collapse of prestressed
concrete bridge structure.

The most important from the safety point of view is to distinguish the case of
reduction of bearing capacity of structure, which may produce a danger of
collapse from the case of reduction serviceability of structure.

The real cause of excessive reduction of prestressing force may be established

on the ground of a broad basis, including chemical and physical tests.

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THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION

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