CE-804 - PRESTRESSED
CONCRETE STRUCTURES
Fall 2022
Prestressing Materials
Colonel Dr. Adeel Zafar
Head of Department-Research
Civil Engineering Wing
Military College of Engineering, Risalpur
Email: adeel.zafar@mce.nust.edu.pk
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• Steel
• Wires
• Strands
• Bars
• Steel properties
• Relaxation
• Fatigue
• Corrosion
• Concrete and Properties
• Concrete Deformations
• Shrinkage
• Creep 2
Certain special properties are of profound significance in design
Reason for lack of success of early success of prestressed concrete
Failure to consider some of special properties
Freyssinet established the significance of time dependent
shrinkage and creep of concrete.
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Desired properties of High Strength Prestressing Steel:
• Remains Elastic up to relatively high stresses
• Shows sufficiently High ductility before failure
• Have good bonding properties
• Have low relaxation properties
• Good resistance to fatigue and corrosion
• Be economical and easy to handle
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Three common forms
Wires
Strands
Alloy Steel Bars
Grade designation for strand and bars, corresponding to the minimum
Tensile strength .
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Three common forms
Wires
Strands
Alloy Steel Bars
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Wires
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Wires
A prestressing wire is a
single unit made of steel.
1) Plain wire: No
indentations on the
surface.
2) Indented wire: There
are circular or elliptical
indentations on the
surface.
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• Stress Relieved
Forms of Prestressing Steel: • Low Relaxation Strands
Strands
A few wires are spun together in a helical form to form a pre-
stressing strand. The different types of strands are as follows.
1) Two-wire strand: Two wires are spun together to form the
strand.
2) Three-wire strand: Three wires are spun together to form
the strand.
3) Seven-wire strand: In this type of strand, six wires are spun
around a central wire.
The central wire is larger than the other wires. 10
Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Strands
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Strands
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Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Tendons
A group of strands or wires are placed together to form a
prestressing tendon. The tendons are used in post-
tensioned members. The following figure shows the cross
section of a typical tendon. The strands are placed in a duct
which may be filled with grout after the post-tensioning
operation is completed
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Cross-section of a typical tendon
Forms of Prestressing Steel:
Bars
• Not common as hard to bend but are economical
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Properties of Prestressing Steel:
• The steel in prestressed applications has to be of good
quality. It requires the following attributes.
1) High strength
2) Adequate ductility
3) Bend ability, which is required at the harping points
and near the anchorage
4) High bond, required for pre-tensioned members
5) Low relaxation to reduce losses
6) Minimum corrosion.
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Steel Relaxation:
• Relaxation of steel is defined as the decrease in stress with
time under constant strain.
• Loss of tension over time under constant length (Constant
strain but variable stress)
• Due to the relaxation of steel, the prestress in the tendon is
reduced with time.
• The relaxation depends on the type of steel, initial prestress
and the temperature..
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Steel Relaxation:
Effects of stress
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Steel Relaxation:
Effects of
Temperature
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• Creep in concrete increase, relaxation
Steel Relaxation:
in steel decreases
Pure creep
Effects of Creep
Combined effects
Pure Relaxation
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Fatigue:
• Deterioration o f mechanical properties under fluctuating stress
• Under repeated dynamic loads the strength of a member may
reduce with the number of cycles of applied load. The reduction
in strength is referred to as fatigue.
• In prestressed applications, the fatigue is negligible in members
that do not crack under service loads. If a member cracks,
fatigue may be a concern due to high stress in the steel at the
location of cracks.
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Fatigue:
• Resistance of material to
fatigue is often described in
terms of S-N Curve. S is
stress range and N is
number of cycles
• Under a limiting value of stress, the specimen can withstand
infinite number of cycles. This limit is known as the endurance
limit.
• The prestressed member is designed such that the stress in the
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steel due to service loads remains under the endurance limit.
Durability:
• Prestressing steel is susceptible to stress corrosion in
aggressive environments. Hence, prestressing steel needs
to be adequately protected.
• For bonded tendons, the alkaline environment of the grout
provides adequate protection.
• For unbonded tendons, corrosion protection is provided by
one or more of the following methods.
• 1) Epoxy coating
• 2) Mastic wrap (grease impregnated tape)
• 3) Galvanized bars
• 4) Encasing in tubes. 22
Corrosion
• Very critical in P/C due to smaller size of wires
• High grade steel more susceptible to corrosion
• Types of corrosion:
• Electrochemical corrosion
• Stress corrosion
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Properties of Hardened Concrete:
• The concrete in prestressed applications has to be of good
quality. It requires the following attributes.
1) High strength with low water-to-cement ratio
2) Durability with low permeability, minimum cement
content and proper mixing, compaction and curing
3) Minimum shrinkage and creep by limiting the cement
content
• Strength of concrete
• Stiffness of concrete
• Durability of concrete
• High performance concrete
• Allowable stresses in concrete. 24
Properties of Prestressed Concrete:
• High strength concrete (HSC) (6-10 ksi)
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Properties of Hardened Concrete:
• Strength of Concrete is required to calculate overall
strength of the members. For prestressed concrete
applications, high strength concrete is required for the
following reasons.
1) To sustain the high stresses at anchorage regions.
2) To have higher resistance in compression, tension, shear
and bond.
3) To have higher stiffness for reduced deflection.
4) To have reduced shrinkage cracks.
• Compressive Strength of Concrete
• Tensile Strength of Concrete
• Stiffness of Concrete 26
Properties of Prestressed Concrete:
• High strength concrete (HSC) (6-10 ksi)
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Properties of Prestressed Concrete:
• Type I and Type III
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Properties of Prestressed Concrete:
• Type I and Type III
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Total Deformation:
1) Shrinkage
• Contraction primarily due to drying
• Factors affecting shrinkage
• Amount and type of Agg
• W/C ratio
• Relative humidity
• Temperature
• Size and shape of member
• Reinforcement
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Total Deformation:
2) Creep
• Time dependent strain under sustained loads
• Factors affecting creep
• Load magnitude
• Relative humidity
• Aggregate
• W/ C ratio
• Duration of load application
• Age of concrete at loading
• V/S ratio
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Properties of Hardened Concrete:
• Durability of Concrete is of vital importance regarding the
life cycle cost of a structure. The life cycle cost includes not
only the initial cost of the materials and labour, but also the
cost of maintenance and repair.
• The durability of concrete is defined as its ability to resist
weathering action, chemical attack, abrasion, or any other
process of deterioration. The common durability problems
in concrete are as follows.
1) Sulphate and other chemical attacks of concrete.
2) Alkali-aggregate reaction.
3) Freezing and thawing damage in cold regions.
4) Corrosion of steel bars or tendons. 32
Properties of Hardened Concrete:
The durability of concrete is intrinsically related to its water
tightness or permeability. Hence, the concrete should have
low permeability and there should be adequate cover to
reinforcing bars. The selection of proper materials and good
quality control are essential for durability of concrete.
High Performance Concrete:
Traditionally high performance concrete implied high
strength concrete with higher cement content and low water-
to-cement ratio. But higher cement content leads to plastic
shrinkage cracking and thermal cracking. At present
durability is also given importance along with strength. 33
High Performance Concrete:
• With the advancement of concrete technology, high
performance concrete is getting popular in prestressed
applications. The attributes of high performance concrete
are as follows.
1) High strength
2) Minimum shrinkage and creep
3) High durability
4) Easy to cast
5) Cost effective.
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High Performance Concrete:
• Some special types of high performance concrete are as
follows.
1) High strength concrete
2) High workability concrete
3) Self-compacting concrete
4) High volume fly ash concrete
5) Fiber reinforced concrete
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