Prestressed concrete Practically, therefore, a prestress force will be chosen which has a value inbetween the upper und lower limits of permissible prestress force whilst, at the same time, ensuring that, for the chosen force, a reasonable width of cable zone exists, The prestressing cables must also satisfy requirements of cover, minimum spacing between tendons, available size of tendons and so on. A number of alternative tendon combinations and configurations are likely to be tried so that all requirements are simultaneously met. The advantage of the Magnel diagram is that a range of alternatives can be quickly considered without the necessity for any further calculation, as illustrated at the end of example 12.5, 12.4.6. Prestress losses From the moment that the prestressing force is first applied to the concrete member, losses of this force will take place because of the following causes, Elastic shortening of the conerete, Creep of the concrete under sustained compression, Relaxation of the prestressing steel under sustained tension, Shrinkage of the concrete, awNo These losses will occur whichever form of construction is used, although the effects of elastic shortening will generally be much reduced when post-tensioning is used. This is because stressing is @ sequential procedure, and not instantaneous as with pre~ tensioning. Creep and shrinkage losses depend to a large extent on the properties of the concrete with particular reference to the maturity at the time of stressing, In pre- tensioning, where the concrete is usually relatively immature at transfer, these losses may therefore be expected to be higher than in post-tensioning, In addition to losses from these causes, which will generally total between 20 to 30 per cent of the initial prestress force at transfer, further losses occur in post-tensioned concrete during the stressing procedure. These are due to friction between the strands and the duct, especially where curved profiles are used, and to mechanical anchorage slip during the stressing operation. Both these factors depend on the actual system of ducts, anchorages and stressing equipment that are used, Thus although the basic losses are generally highest in pre-tensioned members, in some instances overall losses in post-tensioned members may be of similar magnitude, Elastic shortening ‘The concrete will immediately shorten elastically when subjected to compression, and the steel will generally shorten by a similar amount (as in pre-tensioning) with a corresponding loss of prestress force. To calculate this it is necessary to obtain the compressive strain at the level of the steel. If the transfer force is Po and the force after elastic losses is P’ then P! = Po ~ loss in force and the corresponding stress in the concrete at the level of the tendon Kat POX 4 Hou) 327328 | Reinforced concrete design where (wy) is the stress due to self-weight which will be relatively small when averaged over the length of the member and may thus be neglected, Hence and concrete strain = fe/c, thus reduction in steel strain = f./B. and B\.= ah reduction in steel stress = (Z thus loss in prestress forve = a. feds where Aq = area of tendons Aep'(i a) hence Aa pe Pla Py— 06 FP so that pee ae Ag eA 1na.4 (1-4) In pre-tensioned construction this full loss will be present; however when post- tensioning the effect will only apply to previously tensioned cables and although « detailed calculation could be undertaken it is normally adequate to assume 50 per cent of the above losses. In this case the remaining prestress force is i sees hioeee 1050.4 (14) and it is this value which applies to subsequent loss calculations. remaining prestress force ” = Pt Creep of concrete ‘The sustained compressive stress on the concrete will also cause a long-term shortening due to creep, which will similarly reduce the prestress force. As above, itis the stress in the concrete at the level of the stee! which is important, that is and loss of stress = E, fe x specific creep strain then loss of prestress force = a aeri(i + 4) x specific creep strainPrestressed concrete I 329 The value of specific creep used in this calculation will be influenced by the factors diseussed in section 6.3.2, and may be obtained from the values of ereep coefficient ¢ given in figure 6,5 using the relationship o / Nimm? specific creep strain = For most outdoor exposure purposes in the UK it will be adequate to use values of creep coefficient between 1,8 for transfer within 3 days and 1.4 for transfer after 28 days Relaxation of steel Despite developments in prestressing steel manufacture which have taken place in recent years, relaxation of the wire or strand under sustained tension may still be expected to be a significant factor. The precise value will depend upon whether pre- tensioning or post-tensioning is used and the characteristics of the stee! type defined in BS 896, Factors allowing for method of construction are given in BS 8110 which should be applied to 1000 hour relaxation values provided by the manufacturer. The amount of relaxation will also depend upon the initial tendon load relative to its breaking load. In most practical situations the transfer steel stress is about 70 per cent of the characteristic strength and relaxation losses are likely to be approximately 8-10 per cent of the tendon load remaining after transfer. This loss decreases linearly to zero for a transfer stress of about 40 per cent characteristic, Shrinkage of concrete cal figures for shrinkage/unit length of concrete (ew) for jons and transfer maturity as discussed in chapter 6, Typical values for pre-tensioned concrete (stressed at 3 to 5 days) range from 100 x 10-* for UK outdoor exposure to 300 x 10° for indoor exposure. Corresponding values for post-tensioning (stressed at 7-14 days) are reduced to 70 x 10°6 and 200 x 10°, More detailed guidance in unusual circumstances may be obtained from section 6.3.2, ‘The loss in steel stress is thus given by ey.Fy, hence loss in prestress force = easy Friction in ducts (post-tensioning only) When a post-tensioned cable is stressed, it will move relative to the duct and other cables within the duct and friction will tend to resist this movement hence reducing the effective prestress force at positions remote from the jacking point. This effect may be divided into unintentional profile variations, and those due to designed curvature of ducts. (a) ‘Wobble’ effects in straight ducts will usually be present. If Pp =jack force, and P, =cable force at distance x from jack then it is generally estimated that P, = Poe® where e=base of napierian logs (2.718) and £= constant, depending on duct characteristics and construction procedures, generally taken as ¢ 33 x 10~* but reducing to 17 x 10-4 in special cases.