Cracking Moment

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 Cracking Moment

The cracking moment (Mcr) is defined as the moment due to

external loads at which the first crack occurs in a prestressed
flexural member. Considering the variability in stress at the
occurrence of the first crack, the evaluated cracking moment is
an estimation and important in the analysis of prestressed
members.

The following sketch shows the internal forces and the resultant
stress profile at the instant of cracking.

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 Mcr
CGC

yb Pe

fcr
Internal forces in Resultant
concrete stress profile

The stress at the edge can be calculated based on the

stress concept as follows. The cracking moment (Mcr) can be
evaluated by transposing the terms.
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 Pe Pe eyb M cr yb
    f cr
A I I

M cr yb Pe Pe eyb
 f cr  
I A I

f cr I Pe I
M cr    Pe e
yb Ayb

The above equation expresses Mcr in terms of the section and

material properties and prestressing variables.
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 Kern Points

When the resultant compression (C) is located within a specific

zone of a section of a beam, tensile stresses are not generated.
This zone is called the kern zone of a section.

For a section symmetric about a vertical axis, the kern zone is

within the levels of the upper and lower kern points. When the
resultant compression (C ) under service loads is located at the
upper kern point, the stress at the bottom edge is zero. Similarly,
when C at transfer of prestress is located at the bottom kern
point, the stress at the upper edge is zero.

The levels of the upper and lower kern points from CGC are
denoted as kt and kb, respectively. The kern points can be used
to determine the cracking moment (Mcr).
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Based on the stress concept, the stress at the bottom edge
corresponding to C at the upper kern point, is equated to zero.
The following sketch shows the location of C and the resultant
stress profile.

C
CGC kt

yb

Location of resultant Resultant

compression stress profile

The value of kt can be calculated by equating the stress at the

bottom to zero as follows.

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 C Ckt yb
 0
A I

C Ckt yb
 2
0
A Ar

r2
kt 
yb

The above equation expresses the location of upper kern point

in terms of the section properties. Here, r is the radius of
gyration and yb is the distance of the bottom edge from CGC.

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Similar to the calculation of kt, the location of the bottom kern
point can be calculated by equating the stress at the top edge
to zero. The following sketch shows the location of C and the
resultant stress profile.

yt
CGC
kb
C

Location of resultant Resultant

compression stress profile

C Ckb yt C Ckb yt r2
 0  2
0 kb 
A I A Ar yt

Here, yt is the distance of the top edge from CGC. 8

 Cracking Moment using Kern Points

The kern points can be used to determine the cracking moment

(Mcr). The cracking moment is slightly greater than the moment
causing zero stress at the bottom. C is located above kt to
cause a tensile stress fcr at the bottom. The incremental moment
is fcrI/yb. The following sketch shows the shift in C outside the
kern to cause cracking and the corresponding stress profiles.

Δz
C
ec kt
CGC + =
e
CGS

fcr
Location of resultant Resultant
compression stress profile

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The cracking moment can be expressed as the product of the
compression and the lever arm. The lever arm is the sum of
the eccentricity of the CGS (e) and the eccentricity of the
compression (ec). The later is the sum of kt and ∆z, the shift of
C outside the kern.

M cr  C e  ec 

M cr  C e  kt  z 

M cr  C e  kt  
f cr I
yb

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Substituting C = Pe, kt = r2/yb and r2 =I/A, the above equation
becomes same as the previous expression of Mcr.

 r 2  f cr I
M cr  Pe  e   
 yb  yb

f cr I Pe I
M cr    Pe e
yb Ayb

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A post-tensioned beam of an unsymmetrical I-section is
simply supported over an effective span of 15 m. The
sectional details are: top flange, 500 mm wide and 200
mm thick; bottom flange, 250 mm wide and 200 mm
thick; thickness of the web = 150 mm; and overall depth
of the beam = 1000 mm. The cable profile is parabolic,
with zero eccentricity at the supports and 450 mm (below
the centroid of the beam) at the mid-span location. The
prestress after transfer is 1500 kN. Assume 15% loss at
service. Grade of concrete is M40. Assume bonded
tendons and use gross section.

For the above data, evaluate the following quantities:

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i) Kern Levels
ii) Cracking moment

Also, compute the live load that can be carried by the

beam for cracking in the bottom fibre.

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 500 mm

200 mm

150 mm
600 mm

200 mm

250 mm
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A = 24 × 104 mm2

yb = 583.33 mm

yt = 1000 – 583.33 = 416.67 mm

I = 2.553333334 × 1010 mm4

r2 = I/A = 2.553333334 × 1010 / 24 × 104

=106388.8889 mm2

(a) Kern levels of the section

r 2 106388.8889
kt    182.38mm
yb 583.33 15
 r 2 106388.8889
kb    255.33mm
yt 416.67
(b) Cracking moment

f cr  0.7 fck  0.7 40  4.427MPa

f cr I Pe I
M cr    Pe e
yb Ayb

4.427  2.553333334 1010 0.85 1500 103  2.553333334 1010

M cr  
583.33 240 103  583.33
 0.85 1500 103  450  1000kN  m
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Self weight of the beam = 24×104 ×10-6×24 = 5.76kN/m

Mg = 5.76 × 152/8 = 162 kN-m

Live load moment corresponding to cracking load = 1000 -

162 = 838 kN-m

wq L2
 838
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wq  29.796kN / m

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