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INTRODUCTION TO PRESTRESSED CONCRETE:

Prestressed Concrete is concrete in which there have been introduced internal forces of such
magnitude and distribution that the forces resulting from given external loadings are
counteracted to a desirable degree.

1.1.Types of Pre-stressed Concrete:-

There are two types of pre-stressed concrete:

• Pre-Tensioning system:

The components are stressed before the concrete is placed in this system. Pre-tensioned
concrete is a variant of pre-stressed concrete where the tendons are tensioned prior to the
concrete being cast. It 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-tensioning system:

The components are stressed after concreting in this system. Post-tensioned concrete is a
variant of pre-stressed concrete where the tendons are tensioned after the surrounding concrete
structure has been cast. 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 by
pulling the tendon ends through the anchorages while pressing against the concrete.
Tendon encapsulation systems are constructed from plastic or galvanised 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 (unbonded
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.

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 a. Bonded Post Tensioning System: -

Bonded post-tensioning has pre-stressing tendons permanently bonded to the surrounding

concrete by the in-situ grouting of their encapsulating ducting following tendon tensioning.
This grouting is undertaken for three main purposes:
• To protect the tendons against corrosion
• To permanently lock-in the tendon pre-tension
• To improve certain structural behaviours of the final concrete structure.
This bundling makes for more efficient tendon installation and grouting processes, since each
complete tendon requires only one set of end-anchorages and one grouting operation.

Ducting is fabricated from a durable and corrosion-resistant material such as plastic (e.g.
polyethylene) or galvanised steel, and can be either round or rectangular/oval in cross-
section. The tendon sizes used are highly dependent upon the application. Here in the designing
it is insisted to use unbonded post tensioning system.

Fig 1: Schematic diagram of Bonded post-tensioning system

b. Unbonded Post Tensioning System: -

Unbonded post-tensioning differs from bonded post-tensioning by allowing the tendons

permanent freedom of longitudinal movement relative to the concrete. This is most commonly
achieved by encasing each individual tendon element within a plastic sheathing filled with a
corrosion-inhibiting grease Anchorages at each end of the tendon transfer the tensioning force
to the concrete, and are required to reliably perform this role for the life of the structure.
Unbonded post-tensioning can take the form of:
• Individual strand tendons placed directly into the concreted structure
• Bundled strands, individually greased-and-sheathed, forming a single tendon within
an encapsulating duct that is placed either within or adjacent to the concrete.
For individual strand tendons, no additional tendon ducting is used and no post-stressing
grouting operation is required, unlike for bonded post-tensioning.

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1.2. ADVANTAGES OF POST-TENSIONED FLOORS

The primary advantages of post-tensioned floors over conventional reinforced concrete in-situ
floors may be summarized as follows:
a. Longer Spans Longer spans can be used reducing the number of columns. This results in
larger, column free floor areas which greatly increase the flexibility of use for the structure and
can result in higher rental returns.
b. Overall Structural Cost The total cost of materials, labour and formwork required to
construct a floor is reduced for spans greater than 7 meters, thereby providing superior
economy.
c. Reduced Floor to Floor Height For the same imposed load, thinner slabs can be used. The
reduced section depths allow minimum building height with resultant savings in facade costs.
Alternatively, for taller buildings it can allow more floors to be constructed within the original
building envelope.
d. Deflection Free Slabs Undesirable deflections under service loads can be virtually
eliminated.

e. Waterproof Slabs Post-tensioned slabs can be designed to be crack free and therefore
waterproof slabs are possible. Achievement of this objective depends upon careful design,
detailing and construction. The choice of concrete mix and curing methods along with quality
workmanship also plays a key role.

f. Early Formwork Stripping The earlier stripping of formwork and reduced back propping
requirements enable faster construction cycles and quick re-use of formwork. This increase in
speed of construction is explained further in the next section on economics.

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 g. Materials Handling The reduced material quantities in concrete and reinforcement greatly
benefit on-site carnage requirements. The strength of post-tensioning strand is approximately
4 times that of conventional reinforcement. Therefore, the total weight of reinforcing material
is greatly reduced.

h. Column and Footing Design The reduced floor dead loads may be utilized in more
economical design of the reinforced concrete columns and footings. In multi-storey buildings,
reduced column sizes may increase the floor net let table area. These advantages can result in
significant savings in overall costs. There are also some situations where the height of the
building is limited, in which the reduced storey height has allowed additional storey’s to be
constructed within the building envelope.

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2. DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS:

Type of Structure Commercial Complex

Grade of Concrete (fck) 40 MPa

Density of Concrete 25 kN/m3

Modulus of Elasticity at 28 days (Ec) 33795 MPa

Concrete Strength at stressing 28 MPa

Yield Stress of main steel bar (Fy) 500 MPa

Modulus of elasticity of steel (Es) 200000 MPa

Yield Stress of Shear steel bars 415 MPa

Diameter of tendons in beams & slabs 13 mm

Beam Dimensions (750 x 600) mm2

Slab thickness 175 mm

Ultimate Strength of Tendon 1860 MPa

Clear Cover 20 mm

System used UNBONDED Post

Tensioning System

Poisson Ratio 0.2

Diameter of bars in beams (conventional reinforcement) 16 mm

Diameter of bars in slabs (conventional reinforcement) 10 mm

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3. DESIGN CRITERIA :
 Here the analysis is done by considering the structure is a Regular floor system
(whereas other system would be waffle or joist construction).
 Then it is intended to design all the beams using the respective building code required
for flexure members.(whereas other design option would be out of code requirements)
 Then after the support conditions of wall and column are taken as fixed in position and
also rotationally fixed.
 It is intended to include minimum code specified non-prestressed reinforcement i.e.
nominal reinforcement.

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TENDONS- TYPE 3 CONSIDERATION

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4. DESIGN PROCEDURE :

STEP 1: STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

Based on the architectural and designing requirements the structural system is to be decided
with reference to loadings. Generally large spans with limited number of columns are preferred
while fixing the system.

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STEP 2: BEAMS AND SLAB SPECIFICATIONS

 As far as beams are concerned they should be of sound depth to place the maximum
number of tendons with respective anchorage systems at both the ends.
 Whereas the minimum thickness should not be less than 150mm; but due to some
practical considerations the thickness here given as 175mm.

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STEP 3: MATERIAL SPECIFICATIONS

 Considering M40 grade of concrete for all structural elements.

 For nominal reinforcement Fe500 grade of steel is considered and for shear
reinforcement Fe415 grade of steel is considered.
 Unbonded post tensioning system.
 Diameter of tendon is taken as 13mm

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STEP 4: LIMIT STATE OF SERVICEABILITY (CRACKING)

The members in this criteria are classified into three types according to the clause 24.2.1 and
practically the prestressed members are considered as type 3 member wherein there is an
assumption of no cracking in concrete and some hypothetical tensile forces will be developed
at the maximum size cracks. The hypothetical tensile stresses can be obtained with reference
to grade of concrete and the limiting width of crack specified in table 10(modified coefficients
by depth factor) of is IS1343:2012.

Here M40 is used; therefore for post-tensioned members the hypothetical tensile stress will be
4.1 N/mm2

STEP 5: LIMIT STATE OF SERVICEABILITY (MAXIMUM COMPRESSION)

After all the losses are deducted, under service condition the compressive forces which depends
upon the grade of concrete is to be computed.

Here the compressive forces are given in two zones where the critical criteria lies in Zone 2.

Therefore for M40 grade it is 0.316 * fck = 0.316*40 = 12.64 N/mm2

(From fig. 7; IS 1343:2012)

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STEP 5: LOAD CALCULATIONS

In the design procedure there are two major types of loadings viz.,

1. Patch loading
 Live load (4 KN/m from IS 875 PART 2)
 Floor finishing(1.25 KN/m from IS 875 PART 1)

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2. Line loadings
 Here the wall over the floor are taken as line loadings.
Assuming AAC block wall with density of 7.5 KN/m3 (from IS 875 part 1)
And the thickness of partition wall 0.115m with floor height of 3m.
Therefore, line load = 0.115 x 7.5 x 3.5 = 3 KN/m (approx.)

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STEP 6: LOAD COMBINATIONS

According to IS 1343:2012, table no. 7 the partial safety factors for the respective loads are
given such a way that load combinations are to be assigned to the structure.

But practically more combinations are considered with reference to

 Long term Deflection

 Short term deflection
 Cracking

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STEP 7 : SUPPORT LINES & TRIBUTARY AREAS:

 Support lines are drawn for slabs and beams (in both X and Y direction), so that the
tributary areas can be attained.
 From tributary area respective load distribution are obtained in both the directions.

Tributary Areas and Support lines (X-dir)

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Tributary Areas and Support lines (Y-dir)

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STEP 8: PLACEMENT OF TENDONS

 According to IS 1343:2012, the maximum spacing between two tendons is minimum

of (1.5 m or 8 times the thickness of slab).
 Whereas in beams the number of tendons is fixed by trial-error method w.r.t. strength
criteria.

Placement of Tendons (X-dir & Y-dir)

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STEP 9: Profiling of tendons in Beams and Slabs

 From respective cover specifications from code provisions radius of curvature and the
eccentricity of the tendons are to be fixed in both beams and slabs.
 Later changes can be made with reference to the obtained stress/moment parameters
after the analysis has been done.
 Generally the drape of the tendons will be Reverse parabola, but from centre of support
to the nearest face the drape will be Cantilever Up.
 Practical radius of curvature would be 2mts.
 Effective cover in beams : clear cover + diameter of main and distribution bars + stirrup
bar diameter + ½ the diameter of tendon = 25+20+20+10+6.5=81.5mm

Fig.i Profiling of tendons in Beams (X-dir)

Fig.ii Profiling of tendons in Slabs (X-dir)

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TENDON PROFILING FOR SMALL BEAM

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5. ANALYSIS:
After completion of design procedure, analysis is to be done w.r.t. load cases that are given and respective checks
to be made for Long term deflection, Short term deflection, service load, sustained load, strength etc.

STEP 1: Check for Deflection

 According to IS 1343:2012, the short term deflection is to be checked as per the clause
24.1.1.1 i.e. minimum deflection = min. of (Span / 350 or 20 mm).

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 According to IS 1343:2012 ,the long term deflection is to be checked as per the clause
24.1.1.2 i.e. minimum deflection = Span / 250

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 Deflection due to SERVICE LOADING

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STEP 2: Check for Stresses
 From the analysis result the checks to be done by comparing with calculated tensile and
compressive stresses in step 4 of design procedure.
 With reference to those checks the number of tendons are modified.

Top Stress Variation (X-dir & Y-dir)

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Bottom Stress Variation (X-dir)

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BENDING MOMENT VARIATION (X-DIR & Y DIR)

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SHEAR FORCE VARIATION (X-DIR & Y DIR)

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6. REFERENCES:

I. BIS IS 1343: 2012 (REAFFIRMED 2017): PRESTRESSED CONCRETE - CODE

OF PRACTICE

II. BIS IS 456: 2000 (REAFFIRMED 2016): PLAIN AND REINFORCED

CONCRETE - CODE OF PRACTICE

III. BIS IS 875 : PART 1 : 1987 (REAFFIRMED 2013) : CODE OF PRACTICE FOR
DESIGN LOADS (OTHER THAN EARTHQUAKE)FOR BUILDINGS AND
STRUCTURES PART 1 DEAD LOADS - UNIT WEIGHTS OF BUILDING
MATERIAL AND STORED MATERIALS (INCORPORATING IS:1911-1967)

IV. BIS IS 875: PART 2: 1987 (REAFFIRMED 2013): CODE OF PRACTICE FOR
DESIGN LOADS (OTHER THAN EARTHQUAKE) FOR BUILDINGS AND
STRUCTURRES: PART 2 IMPOSED LOADS

V. BIS IS 875: PART 5: 1987 (REAFFIRMED 2013): CODE OF PRACTICE FOR

DESIGN LOADS (OTHER THAN EARTHQUAKE) FOR BUILDINGS AND
STRUCTURES PART 5 SPECIAL LOADS AND LOAD COMBINATIONS

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