LECTURE 2

MATERIALS AND BASIC

PRINCIPLES OF
PRESTRESSING
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Understanding the principles and method of
prestressing.
2. Able to identify the difference between
reinforced concrete, precast concrete and
prestressed concrete.
3. Able to outline the advantages of using
precast prestressed and reinforced
concrete beam.
4. acquire the knowledge of materials used in
prestressed concrete.
 Surah ke 57 (al-Hadid) – Ayat 25

Ertinya:
Sesungguhnya Kami telah mengutuskan rasul-rasul Kami dengan bukti-
bukti yang nyata dan Kami turunkan bersama mereka Kitab dan neraca
(keadilan) agar manusia dapat berlaku adil. Dan Kami menciptakan besi
yang mempunyai kekuatan hebat dan banyak manafaat bagi manusia, dan
agar Allah mengetahui siapa yang menolong (agama)-Nya dan rasul-rasul-
Nya walaupun (Allah) tidak dilihatnya. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha kuat dan
Maha Perkasa.
 PRINCIPLE OF DESIGN
1) Design of prestressing beam under two
conditions
a) Serviceability Limit State – deflection,
cracking, durability, transfer of stress
b) Ultimate Limit State – shear strength,

bending strength under crack and

uncracked condition.
 Design Step for prestressed
concrete structures
1. design for serviceability –cracking
2. check stresses at transfer
3. check deflections
4. design shear reinforcement for ultimate
limit state.
(see flow chart for the design step)
 Calculate moment variation (live load + finishes)

Stress Limits – Structure Class Concrete Grade

Minimum section Moduli

Trial Section – Shape, depth, web flange

limits, cover, loss allowance

Self weight+ dead load moment S

L
Total Moment S

Draw Magnel Diagram for critical section

Select prestress force and eccentricity

Tendon profile – calculate losses –check final

stresses – check deflections – design end block
- prestress system
Ultimate moment of resistance

Untensioned Reinforcement – ultimate moment U

L
Untensioned reinforcement – ultimate shear force S

Shear design – ultimate shear force

FINISH

Figure 1 : Flow chart for design prestressed concrete beam

 METHODS OF PRESTRESSING
1. Mechanical – generally used include weights with or
without lever transmission, geared transmission in
conjunction with pulley blocks, screw jacks with or
without gear drives.
2. hydraulic – simplest means of producing large
prestressing forces are extensively used as tensioning
devices. In most of the jacks, calibrated pressure
gauges directly indicate the magnitude of force
developed during the tensioning of the wires.
3. electrical (thermal) – the steel wires are electrically
heated and anchored before placing concrete in the
moulds. This method is often referred to as ‘thermo-
electric prestressing’.
4. chemical – expanding cements are used and the degree
of expansion is controlled by varying the curing
conditions. Since the expansive action of cement while
setting is restrained, it induces tensile forces in tendons
and compressive stresses in concrete.
 TWO TECHNIQUES OF PRESTRESSING
There are two system for prestressing the wire:
(a)Pre-tensioning system
(b)Post-tensioning system
 PRETENSIONING SYSTEM
• In pretensioning method, the steel wires or strands are
stretched to the required tension and anchored to the ends of
the moulds for the concrete.
• The concrete is cast around the tensioned steel, and when it
has reached sufficient strength, the anchors are released and
the force in the steel is transferred to the concrete bond.
• In addition to long-term losses due to creep, shrinkage and
relaxation, an immediate drop in prestress force occurs due to
elastic shortening of the concrete.
• It is ideally suited for the factory production where large
numbers of identical units can be economically made under
controlled conditions, a development of this being the ‘long line’
system where several units can be cast at once-end to end and
the tendons merely cut between each unit after release of the
anchorages.
• An advantage of factory production of prestressed units is that
specialized curing techniques such as steam curing can be
employed to increase the rate of hardening of the concrete and
to enable earlier ‘transfer’ of the stress to the concrete.
• One major limitation of this approach is that tendons must be straight, which
may cause difficulties when attempting to produce acceptable final stress
levels throughout the length of a member. It may therefore by necessary to
reduce either the prestress or eccentricity of force near the ends of a
member, in which case tendons must either be ‘debonded’ or ‘deflected’.
• Debonding consists of applying a wrapping or coating to the steel to prevent
bond developing with the surrounding concrete. Treating some of the wires
in this way over part of their length allows the magnitude of effective
prestress force to be varied along the length of a member.
• Deflecting tendons is a more complex operation and is usually restricted to
large members, such as bridge beams, where the individual members may
be required to form part of a continuous structure in conjunction with in situ
concrete slabs and beams.

D E F L E C T IO N S U P P O R T S
(C U T O F F A F T E R T R A N S F E R )
PRESTRESSED
TENDONS

CONCRETE

TO JA C K S TO JA C K S
 POST-TENSIONING SYSTEM
• In post-tensioning method, which is most suitable for in-situ
construction involves the stressing against the hardened
concrete of tendons or steel bars which are not bonded to the
concrete.
• The tendons are passed through a flexible sheathing, which is
cast into the concrete inn the correct position.
• They are tensioned by jacking against the concrete, and
anchored mechanically by means of steel thrust plates or
anchorage blocks at each end bearing plates by means of
tightening nuts. The post-tensioning jack system is shown in
below.
• After stressing, the remaining space in the ducts may be left empty
(‘unbonded’ construction), or more usually will be filled with grout
under high pressure (‘bonded’ construction). Although this grout
assists in transmitting forces between steel and concrete under live
loads, and improves the ultimate strength of the member, the principal
use is to protect the highly stressed strands from corrosion. The
bonding of highly stressed steel with the surrounding concrete beam
also greatly assists demolition, since the beam may then safely be
‘chopped-up’ into small lengths without releasing the energy stored in
the steel.
• The use of tendons consisting of a number of strands passing through
flexible sheathing offers considerable advantages in that curves
tendon profiles may be obtained. A post-tensioned structural member
may be constructed from an assembly of separate precast units which
are constrained to act together by means of tensioned cables which
are often curved.
 CLASSES OF PRESTRESSED MEMBER
There are three classes of prestressed member which
depending on the allowable concrete tensile stress:
a) Class 1 – no tension permitted under working conditions.
b) Class 2 – tensile stresses are permitted, but these are limited
to avoid flexural cracking.
c) Class 3 – cracking permitted, but tensile stresses limited on the
basis of maximum flexural crack widths.
The choice of class for a structure will depend upon a number of
factors which include conditions of exposure and the nature of
loading. The design procedure for Class 1 and Class 2 member
will be similar with basic cross-section and prestress force
detail being determined by the serviceability requirements.
Class 3 is often known as partial prestressing represents a form
of construction which is intermediate between reinforced and
prestressed concrete.
 ANALYSIS OF CONCRETE SECTION UNDER
WORKING LOADS
There are several assumptions made in
designing prestressed beam as listed
below:
1. Plane sections remain plane
2. Stress-strain relationships are
linear
3. Bending occurs about a principal
axis
4. The prestressing force is the value
remaining after all losses have
occurred.
5. Changes in tendons stress due to
applied loads on the member have
negligible effect on the behaviour
of the member.
6. Section properties are generally
based on the gross concrete cross-
section.
MEMBER SUBJECTED TO AXIAL PRESTRESS FORCE ONLY

P P

B
C C C

C T C
Axial Bending Total
Prestress
Stress Distribution at Section B-B
Figure 8: Member subjected to axial prestress force
• In section B-B of the member as shown in Figure 8 is subjected to
moments ranging from Mmax and Mmin, the net stresses at the outer
fibres of the beam are given by the following equations :
 P M max  P M min
ft   ft  
Under Mmax  A zt at top fiber Under Mmin 
 A zt at bottom fiber
 
 fb  P  M max  fb  P  M min
  A zb
A zb
in which zb and zt are the elastic section moduli and P is the final prestress
force. The critical condition for tension in the beam is given by equation 2
which for no tension, that is fb=0, becomes
P M max or M max A =minimum prestress force required
 P
A Zb Zb
• For this value of prestress force, substitution in the other equations will
yield the stresses in the beam under maximum load and also under
minimum load. Similarly the stresses immediately after prestressing,
before losses have occurred, may be calculated if the value of losses is
known. For example, the maximum stress in the top of the member is
given by equation 1
P M max PZb P P Zb = P ( Zb  Zt )
ft   M max  ft  
A zt A A A Zt A Zt
 EXAMPLE 1: MEMBER SUBJECTED TO PRESTRESS FORCE ONLY
A simply supported prestressed beam (250x300) with 6m long is designed to
carry imposed load of 8kN/m with zero eccentricity.Determine minimum
prestressed force required and stresses at top and bottom fibre under Mmax.
SOLUTION
Self-weight of beam = 24x0.25x0.3=1.8kN/m
Total loading = 1.8+8=9.8kN/m
Mmax = wL2/8=(9.8)(6)2/8=44.1kNm
Area=250x300=75000mm2
Section modulus, Zb=Zt=bh2/6=(250)(300)2/6=3.75x106
M max A
P =44.1x106x7500/3.73x106=88.67kN
Zb

P ( Zb  Zt )
ft= =88.67x103/75000(2x3.75x106 /3.75x106)
A Zt

ft=fb=2.36N/mm2
MEMBER SUBJECTED TO ECCENTRIC PRESTRESS FORCE

B
b
Zt=1/yt

yt
h
e e yb
P P Zb=1/yb

B M/Zt
P/A Pe/Zt ft

P/A Pe/Zb fb
M/Zb
Axial Bending Bending strain Total
Prestress Distribution Section B-B

The prestressing beam is subjected to imposed load and prestress force

where the force is applied with a eccentricity (e) below neutral axis.
Therefore, the distribution of stress for cross-section B-B is shown above
  P M max Pe  P M min Pe
ft     ft   
Under Mmax
 A zt zt at top Under Mmin A zt zt at bottom

 fb  P  M max  Pe  fb  P  M min  Pe
  A zb zb
A zb zb
Note that, as the prestressing force lies below the neutral axis, it has the effect of causing
hogging moments in the section. The critical condition for no tension in bottom of the beam
is again given by the following equation:

P M max Pe M max
  0 or P 
zb
A zb zb  e
A
 P M max Pe  zb 
 ft    where M max  P  e 
 A zt zt A 

P Pzb Pe Pe P  zb  zt 
ft       
A Azt zt zt A  zt 
 EXAMPLE 2 : Member subjected to eccentric prestress force
A rectangular beam 300 x150mm is simply supported over a 4m span, and supports a
live load of 10kN/m. If a straight tendon is applied at an eccentricity of 65mm below the
centroid of the section, find the minimum prestress force necessary for no tension
under live load at mid-span. Calculate the corresponding stresses under self-weight
only at mid-span and at the ends of the member.
(a)Beam properties
Self-weight = 0.15mx0.3mx24kN/m3=1.08kN/m
Area = 45x103mm2
Section moduli zt=zb=z=bh2/6=150x3002/6=2.25x106mm3
(b) Loadings (mid-span)
w = 10+1.08 = 11.08 kN/m
Mmax = wL2/8=(11.08)x42)/8=22.2kNm
Mmin = 1.08x42/8=2.2kNm

c) Calculate minimum prestress force

For no tensions at the bottom under Mmax
P M max Pe
  0 where e = 65mm
A z z
M max 22.1x10 6 x10 3
P   193kN
zb 2.25 x10 6

e  65
A 45 x10 3
d) Calculate stresses at mid-span under Mmin
 P M min Pe
Under Mmin  ft     4.3  1.0  5. 6   0 .3 N / mm 2
(tension)
A zt zt

 fb  P  M min  Pe  4.3  1.0  5.6  8.9 N / mm2 (compression)
 A zb zb
P 193 x10 3 M min 2 .2 x10 6
Pe 193 x10 3
x 65
 3
 4 . 3 N / mm 2
  1. 0 N / mm 2   5.6 N / mm 2
A 45 x10 z 2.25 x10 6 z 2.25 x10 6

The calculation shows that with minimum load it is possible for the beam
to hog with tensile stresses in the top fibres. This particularly so at the
initial transfer of the prestress force to the unloaded beam.
e) Calculate stresses at ends
In this situation M=0, hence

 P M min Pe
 ft     4.3  5.6  1.3 N / mm 2
(tension)
A zt zt

 fb  P  M min  Pe  4.3  5.6  9.9 N / mm 2
 A zb zb
THANK YOU VERY
MUCH
FOR YOUR
ATTENTION