General Principles:

Load Balancing Method

Dr Antonis Michael
Department of Civil Engineering
Frederick University

General Principles of Prestressed Concrete

Third Concept: Load Balancing Method

 Load in the concrete is balanced by stressing the
steel

1
Consider a pre-stressed beam with a curved tendon.
Assume no friction

yP

FBD of concrete due to pre-stressing: Replace tendon

with forces acting on concrete

P P

wb

2
FBD of tendon:

P P
wb

Consider a differential element of tendon of length rdα

dα
r
wb P
P

dα/2
r dα

dα P
∑F y =0 2 ⋅ P ⋅ sin
2
− wb ⋅ r ⋅ dα = 0 wb =
r
dα da
sin =
2 2

For a straight tendon r→∞ then wb = 0

3
Consider a parabolic tendon. The tendon can be described
by the following equation:

4 ⋅ yb ⋅ x 4 ⋅ yb ⋅ x 4 ⋅ yb ⋅ x 2
y= ( L − x ) = −
L2 L L2
The tendon curvature:
1 d2y dy 4 ⋅ yb 8 ⋅ yb ⋅ x d2y 8⋅ y
= = − =− 2b
r dx 2 dx L L2 dx 2
L
The upward uniform load is given by:
P d2y 8 ⋅ P ⋅ yP
wb = = P⋅ 2 = −
r dx L2

When we load the beam we have equal and opposite

vertical forces that cancel each other. The stress in the
concrete will be:
P
σ =−
Ac

For a different uniform load: (w-wb)→unbalanced

moment

4
 Example: Same as C-Line Example
Prestressed Simply Supported T-Beam
gSd + qSd = 6.13 kN/m

c.g.c

19.51 m

Pe = 1225 kN, L = 19.51 m, yP = 0.371 m

The balancing load is:

8 ⋅1225 ⋅ 0.371 kN
wb = − = 9.55
19.512 m
For a parabolic draped tendon with no eccentricity at the supports
the total load is 13.34 kN/m (7.21+6.13)
The unbalanced load is:
kN
wub = wT − wb = 13.34 − 9.55 = 3.79
m
The unbalanced moment is:
wub ⋅ L2 3.79 ⋅19.512
M ub = = = 180kNm
8 8

5
 Stress distribution at service:

Pe M ub ⋅ yt 1225 180 ⋅ 0.151

σ top = − − =− − = −7038kPa = −7.04 MPa
Ac Ic 0.3058 0.00896674

Pe M ub ⋅ yb 1225 180 ⋅ 0.459

σ bot = − + =− + = 5208kPa = 5.21MPa
Ac Ic 0.3058 0.00896674

Remember:
Top service stress -7.04 MPa
Bottom service stress 5.2 MPa