Pre Stressed Concrete Is A Method For Overcoming The Concrete
Pre Stressed Concrete Is A Method For Overcoming The Concrete
Pre Stressed Concrete Is A Method For Overcoming The Concrete
tension.[1][2] It can be used to produce beams, floors or bridges with a longer span than is
practical with ordinary reinforced concrete. Prestressing tendons (generally of high
tensile steel cable or rods) are used to provide a clamping load which produces a
compressive stress that offsets the tensile stress that the concrete compression member
would otherwise experience due to a bending load. Traditional reinforced concrete is
based on the use of steel reinforcement bars, rebars, inside poured concrete.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pre-tensioned concrete
• 2 Bonded post-tensioned concrete
• 3 Unbonded post-tensioned concrete
• 4 Applications
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links
Pre-tensioned concrete is cast around already tensioned tendons. This method produces a
good bond between the tendon and concrete, which both protects the tendon from
corrosion and allows for direct transfer of tension. The cured concrete adheres and bonds
to the bars and when the tension is released it is transferred to the concrete as
compression by static friction. However, it requires stout anchoring points between which
the tendon is to be stretched and the tendons are usually in a straight line. Thus, most
pretensioned concrete elements are prefabricated in a factory and must be transported to
the construction site, which limits their size. Pre-tensioned elements may be balcony
elements, lintels, floor slabs, beams or foundation piles. An innovative bridge
construction method using pre-stressing is described in Stressed ribbon bridge.
Picture number one (below) shows rolls of post-tensioning (PT) cables with the holding
end anchors displayed. The holding end anchors are fastened to rebar placed above and
below the cable and buried in the concrete locking that end. Pictures numbered two,
three and four shows a series of black pulling end anchors from the rear along the floor
edge form. Rebar is placed above and below the cable both in front and behind the face of
the pulling end anchor. The above and below placement of the rebar can be seen in
picture number three and the placement of the rebar in front and behind can be seen in
picture number four. The blue cable seen in picture number four is electrical conduit.
Picture number five shows the plastic sheathing stripped from the ends of the post-
tensioning cables before placement through the pulling end anchors. Picture number six
shows the post-tensioning cables in place for concrete pouring. The plastic sheathing has
been removed from the end of the cable and the cable has been pushed through the black
pulling end anchor attached to the inside of the concrete floor side form. The greased
cable can be seen protruding from the concrete floor side form. Pictures seven and eight
show the post-tensioning cables protruding from the poured concrete floor. After the
concrete floor has been poured and has set for about a week, the cable ends will be pulled
with a hydraulic jack, shown in picture number nine, until it is stretched to achieve the
specified tension.
2. Pulling anchors
1. Rolls of post-
for post-tensioning 3. Pulling anchors for 4. Pulling anchors for
tensioning cables
cables post-tensioning cables post-tensioning cables
5. Post-tensioning 7. Post-tensioning
8. Post-tensioning
cables stripped for 6. Positioned post- cable ends extending
cable ends extending
placement in pulling tensioning cables from freshly poured
from concrete slab
anchors concrete
9. Hydraulic jack for
tensioning cables 10. Cable conduits
in formwork
[edit] Applications
Prestressed concrete is the predominating material for floors in high-rise buildings and
concrete chambers in nuclear reactors.
The advantages of prestressed concrete include crack control and lower construction
costs; thinner slabs - especially important in high rise buildings in which floor thickness
savings can translate into additional floors for the same (or lower) cost and fewer joints,
since the distance that can be spanned by post-tensioned slabs exceeds that of reinforced
constructions with the same thickness. Increasing span lengths increases the usable
unencumbered floorspace in buildings; diminishing the number of joints leads to lower
maintenance costs over the design life of a building, since joints are the major locus of
weakness in concrete buildings.
The first prestressed concrete bridge in North America was the Walnut Lane Memorial
Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was completed and opened to traffic in 1951.[4]
Prestressing can also be accomplished on circular concrete pipes used for water
transmission. High tensile strength steel wire is helically-wrapped around the outside of
the pipe under controlled tension and spacing which induces a circumferential
compressive stress in the core concrete. This enables the pipe to handle high internal
pressures and the effects of external earth and traffic loads.
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