1.

Advantage and Disadvantage of prestressing

Advantages of Prestressed Concrete

There are 4 types of prestressed concrete available as discussed in our previous post. The
advantages of prestressed concrete are as follows:

1. Prestressed member is free from crack,so the resisting impact, shock and reversal of
stresses is much more than reinforced concrete.

2. It is more durable than reinforced concrete.

3. The section of prestressed concrete member is less compared to RCC member as it

utilizes the maximum tension and compression of concrete, so it reduces the cost.

4. Prestressed concrete can be used in long spans as the section of member can be reduced.

5. As the sections are lighter, they can be transported easily.

6. The concrete diagonal tension can also be reduced.

7. Shear resistance can be increased using curved tendons.

Disadvantages of Prestressed Concrete

The major prestressed concrete disadvantages include the followings.

1. The major problem with prestressed concrete is that it needs specialized construction
machineries like jacks anchorage etc.

2. Advanced technical knowledge and strict supervision is very important.

3. For concrete prestressing, high tensile reinforcement bars are needed which costs greater
than generally used mild steel reinforcement bars.

4. Highly skilled labor is needed for prestressed concrete constructions.

2. Materials for Prestressed

Concrete
1. Concrete, Strength Requirement
In practice, 28-day cylinder strength of 28 to 55 MPa are required for PC. Higher strength is
necessary for PC for several reasons.
First:
Commercial anchorages for prestressing steel always designed on the basis of high strength
concrete. Weaker concrete either will require special anchorages or may fail under the
application of pre-stress.

Second:
High strength concrete offers high resistance in tension and shear, as well as bond and bearing.

Third: High strength concrete is less liable to the shrinkage cracks.

If very good curing in a factory

Fourth: It also has a higher modulus of elasticity and smaller creep strain, resulting in smaller
loss of prestress.

Concrete strength of 28 to 41 MPa can be obtained without excessive labor or cement.

It is a general practice to specify a lower strength of concrete at transfer than its 28 day strength.
This is desirable in order to permit early transfer of pre-stress to the concrete

2. Concrete, Strain characteristics

In PC, the strains are produced as well as stresses. This is necessary to estimate the
Loss of prestress in steel.

Such strains can be classified into 4 types: elastic strains, lateral strains, creep strains, and
shrinkage strains.

Elastic strains just, take a look

-Review
-The stress-strain curve for concrete is seldom a straight line even at normal levels of stresses
(Fig.2.1). The lower portion of the instantaneous s-s curve, being relatively straight may be
called elastic.
-It is then possible to obtain the values for the modulus of elasticity.
-The modulus varies with several factors: the strength, the age, the properties of aggregate and
cement and the definition of modulus.
-Tangent, initial, or secant modulus.
-The modulus may vary with the speed of load application and type of specimen (a cylinder or a
beam).
-Hence it is almost impossible to predict it with accuracy.
-As an average value for concrete at 28 days old, and compressive stress up to 40% strength, the
secant modulus has been approximated by the following formula.
-A. ACI code (2-1). Ec=w1.5x0.043f
-B. By Jansen
-C. By Hognestad
-D. JSCE. Given by a Table based on the strength
-The modulus in tension is same as in compression before cracking.

Lateral strains
-Lateral strains are computed by Poissons ratio. The loss of prestress is slightly decreased in
biaxial prestressing.
-Poissons ratio varies from 0.15 to 0.22, averaging about 0.17.

Creep strains- just take a look

-Defined as its time-dependent deformation resulting from the presence of stress.
-A brief summary of an investigation carried out at the UC extending over 30 years.
- 1. Creep continued over the entire period. Of The total creep in 20 years, 18-35 %( ave: 25)
occurred in the first 2 weeks of loading,
-40-70 %( ave. 55), within 3 months
-60-83%ave 76), within 1 year (Fig.2-3)
-2. Creep increased with a higher W/C ratio and with a lower aggregate cement ratio, but was not
directly proportional to the total water content.
-3. Creep of concrete with type IV (low heat) shows greater.
-4. Creep of concrete was greater for crushed sandstone. Creep strains Esp. from 28 to 90 days at
time of loading, from 2-8 MPa, 50%RH

Creep strains Esp. from 28 to 90 days at time of loading, from 2-8 MPa, 50%RH

1. Those loaded at 90 days had less creep than those at 28 days, by roughly 10%.
2. The total amount of creep strain at the end of 20 years ranged from 1 to 5 (averaging. 3in
Japanese definition 2).
3. The creep at 50% RH was about 1.4 times that in air at 70% RH and about 3 times that for
storage in water.
4. Creep decreased as the size of specimen increased.

Shrinkage strain
-As distinguished from creep, shrinkage in concrete is its contraction due to drying and chemical
changes dependent on time and moisture conditions, but not on stresses.
-It may ranges from 0.0000 to 0.0010 and beyond. Stored under very dry condition, 0.0010 can
be expected.
-Shrinkage of concrete is somewhat proportional to the amount of water.
-Hence, the water cement ratio and the cement paste should be kept to minimum.
-Thus aggregate of larger size, well graded for minimum void, will need a smaller amount of
cement paste, and shrinkage will be smaller
-Cement: shrinkage is small for cements high in C3S and low in the alkalisand the oxides of
sodium and potassium.
-The amount of shrinkage varies, depending on the individual conditions.
-For the purpose of PC design, shrinkage strain would be 0.0002 to 0.0006.
-The rate of shrinkage depends chiefly on the weather conditions-swelling during rainy seasons
and shrinking during dry ones.

3. Concrete, special manufacturing techniques

-Most of the techniques for good concrete can be applied to PC.
-There is a few factors peculiar to PC.
-1. They must not decrease the high strength required.
-2. They must not appreciably increase the shrinkage and creep.
-3. They must not produce adverse effects, such as inducing corrosion in the wires.

Compacting
-Compacting the concrete by vibration is usually desirable and necessary.
-Usually, without using an excessive amount of mortar, a low water cement ratio and a low
slump concrete must be chosen.
-There are only a few isolated applications in which concrete of high slump is employed.

Curing
-Too early drying of concrete may result in shrinkage cracks before applying prestress.
-Only by the careful curing can the specified high strength can be attained.
- (As I explained, high strength concrete is easier to be cracked.)
-Steam curing and also auto-clave curing is often resorted to in the pre-casting factory.

Early hardening
-To speed plant production or to hasten field construction.
-High-early strength cement or steam curing is commonly employed.
-Accelerators should be employed with caution. For example, calcium chloride will cause
corrosion.

Pre-cast segmental construction for prestressed bridges (cantilever)

-Breaking up a bridge superstructures into segments reduces the individual weight and facilitates
casting and handling.
-They are used for longer spans, thus enabling them compete with structural steel on these larger
spans.
-The joints are very thin epoxy-filled space with the surfaces being match cast.
-Prestressing tendons are threaded through.

4. Lightweight aggregate concrete

-This content will be explained later.

5. Self-stressing cement
-Types of cements that expand chemically after setting and during hardening are known as
expansive or self-stressing cement.

-If used, the steel is prestressed in tension, concrete is in compression, known as chemical or
self-stressed concrete.
When concrete made with expanding cement is unrestrained, the amount will be 3-5%, and
the concrete will disintegrate by itself.
-When restrained, the amount of expansion can be controlled but not so much.
-By applying restraint in one direction, the growth in the other two directions can be limited
because of the crystalline nature of hardened paste. (maybe, not well understood)
-When high-strength steel is used to produce the prestress, say 1035 MPa and an Es of 186x103
MPa, an expansion of 1035/186x103 = 0.55% (5500) will be required (very difficult to
achieve).

Because of the expansion in all three directions,

-It seems difficult to use the cement for complicated structures.
-Expanding cement has been successfully for many interesting projects. In Japan, sewage
structures, crack control or even destroying concrete.
-While many problems are remained, esp. about long term stability.

Steels for prestressing

-High strength steel.
-The production of high-tensile steel is by alloying. Carbon is an economical element for
alloying.
-Beneficial results have been obtained by Quenching from the rolling heat.
-The most common method is by cold drawing.
-The process of cold drawing tends to realign the crystals.

3. How pre-stressing is done

The prestress in a structure is influenced by either of the two processes:

1. Pre-tensioning, and

2. Post-tensioning

Pre-tensioned concrete
Pre-tensioned bridge girder in precasting bed. Note
single-strand tendons exiting through formwork

Pre-tensioned concrete is a variant of prestressed concrete

where the tendons are tensioned prior to the concrete being
cast. The concrete bonds to the tendons as it cures, following
which the end-anchoring of the tendons is released, and the
tendon tension forces are transferred to the concrete as
compression by static friction.
Pre-tensioning is a common prefabrication technique, where the resulting concrete element is
manufactured remotely from the final structure location and transported to site once cured. It
requires strong, stable end-anchorage points between which the tendons are stretched. These
anchorages form the ends of a "casting bed" which may be many times the length of the concrete
element being fabricated. This allows multiple elements to be constructed end-on-end in the one
pre-tensioning operation, allowing significant productivity benefits and economies of scale to be
realized for this method of construction.

The amount of bond (or adhesion) achievable between the freshly set concrete and the surface of
the tendons is critical to the pre-tensioning process, as it determines when the tendon anchorages
can be safely released. Higher bond strength in early-age concrete allows more economical
fabrication as it speeds production. To promote this, pre-tensioned tendons are usually composed
of isolated single wires or strands, as this provides a greater surface area for bond action than
bundled strand tendons.

Pre-tensioned hollow-core plank being placed

Unlike those of post-tensioned concrete, the tendons of pre-

tensioned concrete elements generally form straight lines
between end-anchorages. Where "profiled" or "harped"
tendons are required, one or more intermediate deviators are
located between the ends of the tendon to hold the tendon to
the desired non-linear alignment during tensioning. Such deviators usually act against substantial
forces, and hence require a robust casting bed foundation system. Straight tendons are typically
used in "linear" precast elements such as shallow beams, hollow-core planks and slabs, whereas
profiled tendons are more commonly found in deeper precast bridge beams and girders.

Pre-tensioned concrete is most commonly used for the fabrication of structural beams, floor
slabs, hollow-core planks, balconies, lintels, driven piles, water tanks and concrete pipes.

Post-tensioned concrete

Post-tensioned tendon anchorage. Four-piece "lock-

off" wedges are visible holding each strand

Post-tensioned concrete is a variant of prestressed 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 or placed
adjacent to it. 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 method of locking
the tendon-ends to the anchorage is dependent upon the tendon composition, with the most
common systems being "button-head" anchoring (for wire tendons), split-wedge anchoring (for
strand tendons), and threaded anchoring (for bar tendons).

Balanced-cantilever Bridge under construction. Each

added segment is supported by post-tensioned
tendons

Tendon encapsulation systems are constructed from plastic

or galvanized steel materials, and are classified into two
main types: those where the tendon element is subsequently
bonded to the surrounding concrete by internal grouting of
the duct after stressing (bonded post-tensioning); and those
where the tendon element is permanently deboned from the surrounding concrete, usually by
means of a greased sheath over the tendon strands (unbounded post-tensioning).

Casting the tendon ducts/sleeves into the concrete before any tensioning occurs allows them to
be readily "profiled" to any desired shape including incorporating vertical and/or horizontal
curvature. When the tendons are tensioned, this profiling results in reaction forces being
imparted onto the hardened concrete, and these can be beneficially used to counter any loadings
subsequently applied to the structure.
 Prestressed
Concrete
Design

Submitted by:
Bautista, Kurt Russel M.
Submitted to:
Engr. Noel Siapno