CONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION JOINTS

Construction joints should be planned in advance and preferably they should be

located at points of minimum shear and they should be nearly perpedicular to the
principal lines of stress. Keys should be made by embedding water soakes beveled
timbers in soft concrete and they should be removed after the concrete has set. When
the work is resumed the sirface of the concrete previously placed should be thouruoghly
cleaned of dirt, scum, laitance, loosely projecting aggregates and other softer material
using stiff wire brushes. The surface should be then be thourougly soaked with clear
water for two to three hours before frther concreting using a thin layer of cement slurry.
Construction joints are generally either vertical and in true lignment. Shear keys
in construction joints sould be cpnstructed as shown on working site plans. In the case
of box girder webs, these shear keys are normally shown on the plans tto the full width.
Before resuming the concrete work, all joints should be roughened and prepared for the
next pour of concrete in accordance with the standard specifications. An expansion jont
implicitly also refersto a contraction joint and hence it is more rational to designate it as
a movement joint. These joints become necessary due to the following reasons.:
1. Thermal expansion and contraction of the super structure and, in certain cases,
even the sub structure
2. Shrinkage of concrete
3. Creep or inelastic deformation of concrete
4. Elastic shorteningunder prestress
5. Displacements of the structure under load o any other action.
ASSEMBLY OF PRESTRESSING STEEL
Prestressing reinforcement should be of high strength steel wire, high stregth
seven wre strad or high strength alloy bars.all prestressing steel should be carefully and
accurately located in the exact position outlined on the design drawings wit a
permissible tolerance of 5mm. Coupling nits used for joining of high tensile wires
should have an ultimate stretngth of not less than the individual strengths of the wires or
bars being joined. Welding is not permitted for joining of high tensile wres or bars.
The prestressing steel, shealthing and anchorages should be stored at site on
such a way as to provide them with adequate corroson protection. After stressing the
steel in the shealth, it should be provided with permanent protection as soon as possible
preferably within one week. While providing protection by pressure grouting of cement,
are should be taken that the neighboring cables are penetrated by grout.
The various types of prestressing tendons used in the construction of nuclear
con-tainment vessels have been outlined with practical examples in Section 19.4.5.
Gener-ally the prestressing tendons are not grouted in the case of nuclear pressure
vessels and protection against corrosion is ensured by filling the ducts with petroleum
based jelly. The unbonded tendons facilitate retensioning operations whenever required
and the force in the tendons can be checked at periodical intervals.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
Rapid developments in the construction techniques of prestressed concrete
structures over the last several decades has resulted in several novel methods of
construction keeping in pace with the advances in materials of construction.
Prestressed concrete being ideally suited for large spans, its application is much less for
sub structures than for super structures. Although Freyssinet invented the most exciting
building material "Prestressed Concrete" in 1928, the big boom in its application came
only after the second world war. Prestressed concrete dominated the bridge
construction during the post war period. Out of the 500 bridges built in war torn
Gennany during 1949-53. seventy per cent of them were built using prestressed
concrete. Construction techniques rapidly developed in Europe. America, Japan and
even in India during 1960-1970 resulting in beam bridges reaching spans up to 160 m.
Morandi's bridge across the lake of Maricabo was under construction with spans of 235
in by the help of stay cables. In 1970. the longest span of beams reached 230 m in
Japan and for cable stayed concrete bridges, spans up to 300 m were successfully
implemented.
sUlrich Finisterwalders of Germany revolutionized the construction of prestressed
concrete bridges by developing the technique of cantilever construction. This novel
technique eliminates the use of false work and the double cantilever box beam struc-
ture is built from piers without the use of form work to support the beams in the span.
The span range for economical application of box beam bridges built by cantilever
construction technique is believed to lie normally in the range between 50-200 m.
However, Hamana bridge6 in Japan has pushed this upper limit further with a span of
240 m and Undo bay bridge in Japan has a span of 270 m, constructed using the
technique of cantilever construction. A brief survey indicates that continuing efforts to
expand the scope of application of prestressed concrete has led to growingly
imaginative forms and methods of construction. These outstanding structures carry a
central message that the man made environment of structures in the last four decades
of the 20th century can be built not only economically but also with elegance and
dignity. The idea of prestressing arose out of bridges and in their construction, most
impressive techniques have been developed.