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ARCH 436
Contemporary Building Construction Methods
4. PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
Lecture Objectives
Upon completion of this lecture, the student will be able to:
1. Describe the concept of prestressed concrete construction.
2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of prestressed concrete.
3. Compare between pretensioned and posttensioned concrete.
4. List and explain the types of prestressed concrete.
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Lecture Content
Introduction.
Historical Brief.
Structural Background.
Prestressing Process.
Posttensioning.
Introduction
Prestressed concrete is a method for overcoming concrete's natural weakness in tension. It
can be used to produce beams, floors or bridges with a longer span than is practical with
ordinary reinforced concrete. Prestressing tendons -generally of high tensile steel cable or
rods- are used to provide a clamping load which produces a compressive stress that
balances the tensile stress that the concrete compression member would otherwise
experience due to a bending load.
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Historical Brief
The concept of prestressed concrete appeared in USA in 1888 when P.H. Jackson was
granted the first patent in the United States for prestressed concrete design. Jacksons idea
was perfect, but the technology of high strength steel that exhibited low relaxation
characteristics was not yet available.
It was not until the French engineer Eugene Freyssinet defined the need for these materials
that prestressed concrete could be used as a structural building material. Unfortunately,
although Freyssinet, a brilliant structural designer and bridge builder, lacked the teaching
qualities necessary to communicate his ideas to other engineers. In 1935, he used
prestressing to strengthen the maritime station of Le Havre which was threatening
to settle beyond repair. Freyssinet introduced prestressed concrete beams, and jacked up the
shipyard buildings. Following this success, he joined the firm of Campenon-Bernard and
went on to design several prestressed bridges.
Historical Brief
Simultaneously, Urlich Finsterwalder, the German bridge engineer, was revolutionizing the
construction methods for prestressed concrete bridges. HE invented the free-cantilever
construction method of prestressed concrete bridges. Freyssinets major prestressed works
came after the reinforced-concrete Plougastel Bridge and included a the Luzancy Bridge
(1946), with a span of 54 meters.
Luzancy Bridge, France.
Later, the Roebling family developed the first stress-relieved wire followed by the first stressrelieved strand. T.Y. Lin once again brought prestressed concrete back into the spotlight
when he organized the First Prestressed Concrete World Conference in 1957. Shortly after
this conference, Lin published a technical paper in the Prestressed Concrete Institute - PCI
Journal that introduced a new Load Balancing technique which allowed most structural
engineers to design prestressed concrete very easily.
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It takes the full advantages of high strength concrete and high strength steel
It needs less materials, so it is a smaller and lighter structure.
It usually has no cracks, because of using the entire section to resist the load.
It has better corrosion resistance
It is very effective for deflection control.
It has better shear resistance
It is more expensive.
It needs higher quality materials.
It is more technically complex, and requires high skilled labour.
Concrete casting needs superior quality and accurate supervision.
Special tools are needed to provide the prestressing.
It is more risky, especially if not stressed properly.
It is difficult to be recycled.
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Structural Background
Bending in a beam.
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Prestressing Process
Prestressed concrete is reinforced by highstrength steel tendons within their elastic
limit to actively resist a service load. The
tensile stresses in the tendons are
transferred to the concrete, placing the entire
cross section of the member in compression.
The resulting compression counteract the
tensile bending stresses from the applied
load, enabling the prestressed member to
deflect less, carry a greater load, or span a
greater distance than a reinforced member of
the same size, proportion, and weight.
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According to
Posttensioned
External
Circular
Full
Post-tensioned concrete is made by casting concrete that contains ducts through which
tendons can be threaded. An alternative is to cast the concrete around tendons that are
greased or encased in a plastic sleeve. When the concrete has sufficient strength the
tendons are tensioned by means of portable jacks. The load is transmitted to the concrete
through permanent anchorages embedded in the concrete at the ends of the tendons. Ducts
are usually grouted later to protect the tendons against corrosion.
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Pretensioning
Pretensioning prestresses a concrete
member by stretching the reinforcing
tendons before the concrete is cast.
Anchorage Abutments
Posttensioning
Posttensioning is the prestressing of a
concrete member by tensioning the reinforcing
tendons after the concrete has set. These
members tend to shorten over time due to
elastic compression, shrinkage, and creep.
Attached elements that would be affected by
this movement should be constructed after the
posttensioning process is completed and be
isolated from the posttensioned members with
expansion joints.
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Stressing Jack
Anchors
Tendons
Internal Prestressing
External Prestressing
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Linear Prestressing
Circular Prestressing
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Summary
Lecture Activity
Each student is required to prepare a brief but informative internet-based research about one of the topics
related to this lecture (Prestressed Concrete); i.e., new developments, successive and local case studies or
important details. The research should be presented in only one A4 sheet.
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References
Allen, EA. (2009) Fundamentals of building construction materials and methods, John Wiley & Sons.
Ching, Francis (2008) Building Construction Illustrated, John Wiley & Sons.
Emmitt, S.& Gorse, C. (2006) Barrys Advanced Construction of Buildings, Blackwell Publishing.
http://en.wikipedia.org.
http://nptel.ac.in/courses/105106117/pdf/1_Introduction/1.2_Advantages_Types_of_Prestressing.pdf
http://vimeo.com
http://www.britannica.com
http://youtube.com
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