24/10/2013

EPM711 Design of Concrete Structures

Prestressed concrete structures (I)
Basic principles
Prestressing methods and devices
Analysis of sections under service loading
Professor A. J. Kappos
Civil Engineering Department
City University London, 2013
24/10/2013
1
What is prestressed concrete?
It is concrete, wherein there have been introduced internal
stresses of such magnitude and distribution that the stresses
resulting from given external loading are counteracted to a
certain degree.
In reinforced concrete members the prestress is typically
introduced by tensioning the steel reinforcement.
Whats wrong with ordinary (non-prestressed) concrete?
Concrete resistance to tensile stresses is low (f
ct
~f
c
/10).
Steel is added to concrete to provide resistance to tensile
stresses and control cracking.
reinforced concrete
members are legally
cracked under
service loading
Problems:
Corrosion (of reinforcement),
water-tightness ( durability)
Deflections ( functionality),
especially in large spans!
Economy (useless concrete in
tension zone, no advantage in using
high-strength steel)
Aesthetics
(appearance)
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Basic principles of prestressed concrete
Use of high tensile strength
steel alloys producing
permanent pre-compression
in areas subjected to
tension.
A fraction of tensile stress is
counteracted, thereby
reducing the required cross-
sectional area of steel
reinforcement.
Steel bars being
stretched by jacks
R/C beam subjected to concentric prestress force P and service load (g+q)

1
=-P/A + M/W
1
(W
1
=I/y
1
; M=(g+q)
2
/8)
(
1
: stress at bottom fibre of the beam section;
2
: stress at top fibre)
R/C beam subjected to concentric prestress force P =-P/A (A~A
c
)
cgc: centroid of
concrete section
cgs: centroid of
steel section
The prestress force P can eliminate tensile forces resulting from gravity loads,
but has no effect on the moment M,
g+q
Basic principles of prestressed concrete - contnd
compression negative
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3
R/C beam subjected to eccentric prestress force P and service load

1
=-P/A - (Pe)/W + M/W ; for full prestressing:
1
s 0
The prestress force P not only eliminates tensile forces resulting
from gravity loads, but also reduces (counteracts) the moment M,
g+q
the beam can carry higher service loads without cracking!
but: need
to control

1
(-)
C2:
R/C beam subjected to eccentric prestress force P
1
=-P/A - (Pe)/W
Basic principles of prestressed concrete - contnd
Loading combinations in Serviceability Limit States (SLS)
Characteristic combination
Quasi-permanent combination (reversible SLS)

0
= 0.71.0

2
= 0.30.8
Typical load combination in Ultimate Limit State (ULS)

G
= 1.35,
Q
= 1.35
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Objectives of prestressing:
To eliminate concrete cracking under service
loading, by ensuring that
g+P+q
s 0 (full
prestressing)
or:
g+P+q
s f
ct
(limited prestressing)
alternatively, to control cracking
partial prestressing:
g+P+2q
s f
ct
(all 3 options are allowed by EC2 that treats
reinforced concrete (R/C) and prestressed
concrete (PSC) together)
To reduce deflections, by increasing stiffness
(EI
g
>EI
cr
) and introducing pre-camber
To increase shear strength (favourable effect
of prestress force P)
To allow efficient and economic use of high-
strength steel
Keeping a constant eccentricity is not the most efficient way to
counteract the bending moments M,
g+q
from service loading
need for tendon profile following more closely the M diagram!
Harped tendon
(suitable when a
concentrated load is
present at midspan)
Draped tendon
(parabolic profile,
suitable in the usual case
of uniform loading)
radius of
gyration
r=\(I
g
/A
c
)
e
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5
Methods of prestressing
a) Pretensioning (prefabricated elements)
b) Post-tensioning
PRETENSIONING:
Casting of concrete around reinforcing tendons that have
been stressed to the desired degree.
Stages of pretensioning
abutment
(bulkhead)
due to bond
Mould
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Advantages of pretensioning
suitable for precast members produced in bulk
large anchorage devices not necessary
Disadvantages of pretensioning
prestressing bed (with stiff abutments) required for the
procedure
waiting period in the prestressing bed, before the concrete
attains sufficient strength
effectiveness depends critically on quality of bond between
concrete and steel over the transmission length
Harping of tendons, to obtain eccentricity
harping point
POST-TENSIONING:
Reinforcing tendons are stretched by jacks whilst keeping them
inserted in conduits (ducts) left pre-hand during curing of concrete
in some cases tendons can be external
The ducts are then pumped full of grout to bond steel tightly to the
concrete (bonded tendons), or (less often)
are left without grout (unbonded tendons)
conduit
Beam with hollow
conduit embedded
in concrete
Hollow cellular beam
with intermediate
diaphragms
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Stages of the post-tensioning
operation:
1. Casting of concrete
2. Placement of the tendon(s)
3. Placement of the anchorage
block and jack
4. Applying tension to the tendons
5. Seating of the wedges
6. Cutting of the tendons
Hydraulic jack for tensioning cables
Post-tensioning ducts
in a box girder
Jacking and anchoring
with wedges
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Other anchoring systems:
Multi-plane Anchor
Anchor Plate for PT-Bar
General and local anchor
zone in end of I-girder
(spiral reinforcement required
to resist bursting forces)
Detailing of anchorage zone:
Grouting
filling of duct with a material that provides an anti-corrosive alkaline
environment to the prestressing steel and also a strong bond between
the tendon and the surrounding grout
the major part of grout consists of water and cement, with a water-to-
cement ratio of about 0.5, together with some water-reducing
admixtures, expansion agent and pozzolans
Connections for
secondary, vacuum
grouting, operations
(grout vents)
Grouting details for a 2-span
spliced girder duct system.
Vacuum grout injection
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Advantages of post-tensioning
suitable for heavy cast-in-place members
waiting period in the casting bed is less
transfer of prestress is independent of transmission length
Disadvantage of post-tensioning
requirement of anchorage device and grouting
Couplers (for connecting strands or bars)
they are located at the junction of the members, e.g. at or near
columns in post-tensioned slabs, or piers in post-tensioned bridge decks.
couplers are tested to transmit the full capacity of the strands or bars.
Analysis of concrete section under working loads
Unlike R/C, the primary verification of PSC is based on SLS and
the assumption of elastic (uncracked) behaviour
Basic objective: maintain favourable stress conditions under
different working loads need to check both M
min
and M
max
Key assumptions:
plane sections remain plane (Bernoulli)
linear relationships
bending about a principal axis
prestress force P=P
ef
(after all losses
occurred)
changes in
p
due to service loads (g, q)
have negligible effect
section properties based on gross concrete
cross section (A
c
, I
g
)
y
2
y
1
b
e
h
rectangular section
I - section
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PSC beam subjected to eccentric prestress force P
Under w
min
=g Under w
max
=g(+g
1
)+q
min P required for
1
=0:
g
1
: additional
dead loads
(important in
bridges)
(
1
: stress at tension fibre under service load;
2
: stress at compression fibre)
(W
i
=I/y
i
)
for a given P, the eccentrically prestressed beam can carry a max moment
A concentrically prestressed beam can carry
The max |
2
| (top stress) corresponding to M
max
=P(W
1
/A+e) is:
increase in flexural capacity
which is the same as that for a concentrically prestressed beam!
clear advantage of using eccentric tendons (increased flexural
capacity, without increased compression at the top)
However:
The M
min
stage should always be checked along the beam, since stresses
close to the beam ends (low ) can exceed those at midspan!
prove at
home!
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N
p
(x)=-P(x)cos(a(x))
M
p
(x)=-y
p
(x)P(x)sin(a(x))
V
p
(x)=-P(x)sin(a(x))
PSC beam with parabolic prestressing tendon
forces along the tendon
forces on concrete
forces at section x:
these forces form
a self-equilibrating
system (no reactions
at supports)
upward thrust
friction forces (for tensioning at x=0)
e
Load balancing concept (Lin):
The upward thrust due to prestressing is equivalent to applying an equivalent
(uniform) loading w
b
that produces M, V, N diagrams counteracting
(balancing) those due to gravity loading
M
p
=M
,b
V
p
=V
,b
N
p
=N
,b
There are 3 approaches to analysis of PSC sections in flexure:
stress concept (basic method) [main method used here]
force concept (C-Line method) [not used here]
load balancing method [briefly introduced here]
M
max
= w
b

2
/8 = Pe
w
b
= 8Pe/
2
deflection at mid-span:
useful concept for draped
or harped tendons (not for
straight ones!), also for
indeterminate structures
diagrams for beam with parabolic tendon
(assuming T~0)
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References and main sources of figures:
Caltrans (California Department of Transport) Prestress Manual, Jan. 2005.
Collins, M.P. and Mitchell, D. (1997) Prestressed Concrete Structures. Response
Publications, Montreal/Toronto.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) Post-Tensioning Tendon Installation and
Grouting Manual, Washington, DC, 2004.
Mosley, W.H., Hulse, R. and Bungey, J.H. (2012) Reinforced concrete design to
Eurocode 2 (EC2) (7
th
edition), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Menon, D. & Sengupta, A.K., Prestressed Concrete Structures, IIT Madras 2013
http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/PreStressed_Concrete_Structures/
Nawy, E. (2010) Prestressed Concrete: A Fundamental Approach (5
th
edition),
Prentice Hall-Pearson, New Jersey.
Nilson, A. H. Design of Prestressed Concrete, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1987.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestressed_concrete , 2013