Advanced Structural

Engineering
A.1 Introduction to Prestressed Concrete

Module Lead: Dr Marco Baiguera

Department of Civil, Maritime &
Environmental Engineering
M.Baiguera@soton.ac.uk

Lecture Set A
Summary
• Basic Concepts
• Principles of prestressing
• Pre-tensioned concrete
• Post-tensioned concrete
• Prestressed vs Reinforced Concrete
• Homework

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Basic Concepts
Consider this experimental test on a reinforced concrete (RC)
beam. It is a four-point flexural test.

𝐹 𝐹
A B
Source:
𝐿1 𝐿2 𝐿1 Bare Essentials of Reinforced
Concrete – What is Reinforced
Concrete? expeditionworkshed

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Basic Concepts
Between the two loading points, the bending moment is
uniform and the shear force is zero → pure bending.

𝐹 –
SF
+ 𝐹

BM
+
𝐹𝐿1

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Basic Concepts
Bending moment is the resultant of the internal stress
distribution in the beam. The elastic stress varies linearly over
the depth of the beam section.
𝐹 𝐹
𝑎

𝑎
Stress (𝜎)
𝑀

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Basic Concepts
Concrete is good in compression but easily cracks in tension.
That is why concrete members are typically reinforced. Steel
bars can resist tension well. Once the concrete surrounding
steel cracks, the steel bars only will continue to carry tension.

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Basic Concepts
But can tensile stresses be eliminated so that cracking
and deflection are reduced?
𝐹 𝐹

What about applying an initial compressive load to the

concrete?
𝐹 𝐹

𝑃 𝑃

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Principles of prestressing
Prestressing involves the application of an initial compressive
load to eliminate (or reduce) the internal tensile stresses and
thereby control cracking. This is achieved by the tensioning of
high strength steel strands.
𝐹 𝐹
𝑎

𝑃 𝑃

The concrete can be either fully

prestressed or partially prestressed,
i.e. some small tension is allowed to
occur within the concrete.
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Principles of prestressing
The compressive force is applied to the concrete by tensioning
high strength steel tendons.
How? Tendons are pulled and stretched and then anchored
against the concrete, with the tension in the tendon being
balanced by compression in the concrete
There are two methods of tensioning:
1. Pre-tensioning: steel tendons are tensioned before the
concrete casting.
2. Post-tensioning: steel strands are stressed after the
concrete has hardened.

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Pre-tensioned concrete
Pre-tensioned concrete is usually precast in so-called pre-
tensioning beds that can be 100-200 m long to accommodate
many identical units. It is usually employed for manufacturing
precast concrete members, e.g. bridge beams.
7-wire strand (stress-relieved)

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Pre-tensioned concrete
(a) Prestressing tendons are initially tensioned between fixed abutments using
hydraulic jacks and anchored.
(b) A formwork is constructed and the concrete is cast around the highly stress
steel tendons.
(c) When the concrete has reached the required strength, wires are cut or
released and concrete is compressed.

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Pre-tensioned concrete
Curing of concrete in pre-tensioned members may take only 24
hours, when steam curing is employed.
High elastic shortening and subsequent creep strains typically
determine relatively high loss of prestress with time.

Video by Steve Lowe,

Chief Design Engineer at
Shay Murtagh Precast
(Ireland)

https://youtu.be/pjwrXLWhISE

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Post-tensioned concrete
Post-tensioning of concrete is mostly done in-situ. It involves
the tensioning of the steel strands after the concrete has
reached the required strength.
Portable hydraulic jacks are used on-site for post-tensioning.

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Post-tensioned concrete
(a) With the formwork in position, the concrete is cast around hollow ducts,
which are deployed according to any desired profile, e.g. draped tendon.
(b) The tendons are either already in place or threaded through the ducts once
the concrete has hardened.
(c) Tensioning is usually applied at one end until the required stress, with the
other end fixed. Prestress is applied during the tensioning operation and
maintained after the tendons have been anchored at both ends.

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Post-tensioned concrete
Post-tensioning can take place at both ends of the strands, with
the advantage of reducing the friction losses.
Once the post-tensioned tendons are anchored, these can:
• Be bonded to the concrete by injecting grout under pressure
in the ducts. This ensures efficient control of cracks and
reduces corrosion.
• Remain unbonded, especially when friction losses need to be
reduced, e.g. continuous slabs and tanks. Tendons are
coated with grease and encased in a plastic sleeve to provide
protection from corrosion.

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Prestressed vs Reinforced Concrete
Consider two concrete truss elements of rectangular section
subjected to an axial force N. The first truss is reinforced with
‘ordinary’ reinforcing steel bars, the second one with post-
tensioned steel strands located at the centroid.

𝐴s
Reinforced Concrete
N N

𝐴c
Prestressed Concrete 𝐴p
N N
𝐴c
l

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Prestressed vs Reinforced Concrete
Consider the following parameters for the two sections:
RC section: 𝑓ct = 3 N/mm2 , 𝑓y = 450 N/mm2 , 𝐸c = 25,000 N/mm2 , 𝐸s = 200,000 N/mm2

PSC section: 𝜎p0 = 1350 N/mm2 , 𝑓py = 1800 N/mm2 (in addition to RC parameters)

Reinforced Concrete 𝐴s = 1256 mm2 (4xNo.20)

N N

𝐴c = 900 cm2

Prestressed Concrete 𝐴p = 1256 mm2

N N

𝐴c = 900 cm2
l = 3000 mm

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 4

Concrete Stress (N/mm2)

3
Reinforced Concrete 3
2
2 Cracking
– No cracking
1 𝑓ct
1
𝑁 𝐸s 0
• Concrete stress: 𝜎c = < 𝑓ct , 𝑚 = , 0 200 300 400 600
𝐴c +m𝐴𝑠 𝐸c
Axial Load N (kN)
• Steel stress: 𝜎𝑠 = 𝑚𝜎c 500
𝑓y

Steel Stress (N/mm2)

𝜎c 𝑁 400
• Elongation: ∆𝐿 = 𝑙= 𝑙
𝐸c 𝐸c (𝐴c +𝑚𝐴𝑠 ) 300

– At cracking 200
∆𝜎s
100
• Axial load at cracking: 𝑁c𝑟 = 𝑓ct (𝐴c +m𝐴𝑠 ) = 300 kN 0
0 200 400 600
𝑓ct 𝐴c
• Increase in steel stress: ∆𝜎s = = 215 N/mm 2
Axial Load N (kN)
𝐴s
8
– After cracking 7

Elongation (mm)
6
𝑁 5
• Steel stress: 𝜎s = 4
𝐴s
3
2 Cracking
𝑁
• Elongation: ∆𝐿 = 𝑙 1
𝐸s 𝐴𝑠 0
0 200 400 600
CENV6086 Advanced Structural Engineering Axial Load N (kN)
18
Prestressed Concrete
Concrete Stress
5

Concrete Stress (N/mm2)

0
0 1000 2000 3000
– Post-tensioning of steel strands -5 𝜎c0 Cracking

• Concrete stress: 𝜎c0 =

−𝜎p0 ∗𝐴p
= −18.84 N/mm2
-10 𝑓ct
𝐴c
-15
• Steel stress: 𝜎p = 𝜎p0 = 1350 N/mm2 -20
Axial Load N (kN)
– After grout injection (bonded with concrete)
Steel Stress
𝑁
• Concrete stress: 𝜎c = 𝜎c0 + 2000
𝐴c +𝑚𝐴p

Steel Stress (N/mm2)

𝑚𝑁
1500
• Steel stress: 𝜎p = 𝜎p0 +
𝐴c +𝑚𝐴p
1000
𝑁
• Elongation: ∆𝐿 =
𝐸c (𝐴c +m𝐴𝑠 )
𝑙 500
𝜎p0

– At cracking 0
0 1000 2000 3000
• Axial load at cracking: 𝑁c𝑟,p = (𝑓ct −𝜎c0 )(𝐴c +𝑚𝐴𝑠 ) = 2185 kN Axial Load N (kN)

𝑓ct 𝐴c
• Increase in steel stress: ∆𝜎p = = 175 N/mm2
𝐴p

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Prestressed Concrete
– After cracking
𝑁
• Steel stress: 𝜎p =
𝐴p

𝜎p −𝜎p0
• Elongation: ∆𝐿 = 𝑙
𝐸s

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Homework
Concrete Stress Steel Stress
1. 2.
5 2000
Concrete Stress (N/mm2)

RC

Steel Stress (N/mm2)

0 1500
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
-5 Prestressed
1000 Concrete (PSC)
-10
Prestressed 500
-15 RC
Concrete (PSC)
-20 0
Axial Load N (kN) 0 1000 2000 3000
Axial Load N (kN)

Elongation Based on the results plotted here, fill the gaps

3. 8
7 with either Prestressed Concrete (PSC) or
Reinforced Concrete (RC):
Elongation (mm)

6
5
Prestressed • Graph 1. ____ resists much larger loads
4
3
RC
Concrete (PSC) before concrete cracking.
2 • Graph 2. ____ utilises the capacity of high
1
strength steel.
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 • Graph 3. ____ exhibits larger deformations
Axial Load N (kN) under small loads.

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YOUR QUESTIONS & FEEDBACK
Please use the Discussion Board on Blackboard or send an
email to M.Baiguera@soton.ac.uk