AUTHORS’ CLOSURE
This could eventually lead to
The authors thank the discussers for their comments and
acknowledge the extensive research they have conducted in
this area. The authors were aware of their work and most of
the references mentioned in the discussion.
The emphasis of the research discussed in the paper is the
development of compressive membrane action in existing
reinforced concrete bridge decks. Therefore, the focus of the
research was on assessing factors, other than internal reinforce-
ment, that contribute to the development of compressive
membrane action. In Australia, many aging reinforced
concrete bridges do not meet current design standards. This
is partly because compressive membrane action is not
considered in the strength assessment of these structures.
One of the aims of the research presented in the paper was to
heighten awareness of compressive membrane action among
Disc. 102-S40/From the May-June 2005 ACI Structural Journal, p. 402
Flexural Behavior of Two-Span Continuous Prestressed Concrete Girders with Highly Eccentric External
Tendons. Paper by Thiru Aravinthan, Eakarat Witchukreangkrai, and Hiroshi Mutsuyoshi
Discussion by Jinsheng Du and Xuejun Wang
Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China; Senior Bridge Engineer, First Highway Survey and Design Institute of China, Xi An, China.
The discussers thank the authors for writing an interesting
paper on the behavior of prestressed concrete girders with
highly eccentric external tendons. The following points are
offered for discussion to hopefully complement the paper.
The discussers partially agree with the authors’ point of
view that by making the external tendons highly eccentric,
flexural strength of the beam can be improved. In essence,
the enhanced flexural moment as well as service moment is
due to the greater increase of stress in the external tendons as
opposed to in normally eccentric tendons. Because there are
many factors affecting the change of stress in external tendons,
simply saying the external tendons are highly eccentric does not
always guarantee the flexural strength of the member to be
enhanced. One of the main parameters influencing the
increase of external tendon stress is the reinforcement index or
ratio. If one uses the following combined reinforcement ratio
q0 to evaluate the reinforcement ratio of the present nine
specimens, it will be found that all the q0 at critical section of
nine beams are extremely low (listed in Table A).
A p f pe
q 0 = -------------
- (4)
bdp f c′
where Ap is the cross-sectional area of external tendons, fpe is
the effective prestress in external tendons, b is the compressive
width of the section, dp is the distance of centroid of external
tendons to the extreme compression fiber of the section,
and fc′ is the compressive strength of concrete.
For a rectangular section, and neglecting the contribution
from compression reinforcement, q0 somewhat reflects the
force equilibrium of the section and it is approximately
proportional to c/dp, where c is the depth of neutral axis at
critical section. The tests of unbonded partially prestressed
concrete beams20,21 have indicated that the stress increment
in unbonded or external tendons increases with the decrease
of c/dp. Regarding the authors’ test beam, it is the extremely
low value of q0 (q0 less than 0.002 and 0.006 at midspan and
center support section, respectively, as shown in Table A)
308
Australian practitioners.
provisions in the Australian bridge design codes that
incorporate the beneficial effects of compressive membrane
action, similar to the North American codes.
The results of the tests reported in the paper have
confirmed the extensive research that has been undertaken in
North America. The comments concerning the appropriateness
of the concrete properties that were assumed in the simplified
beam and spring model are acknowledged. The authors agree
that including the contribution of the steel reinforcement to the
restraint stiffness could lead to a different, and more rational,
method for assessing the stiffness of the springs in the
simplified model.
As mentioned by the discussers, the Appendixes are in the
PDF version of the paper at ACI’s website, www.concrete.org.
Table A—Value of combined reinforcement ratio q0
for specimens
No. q0 (midspan) q0 (center support)
A-1 0.0017 0.0027
A-2 0.0015 0.0024
A-3 0.0015 0.0023
B-1 0.0019 0.0016
B-2 0.0018 0.0015
C-1 0.0014 0.0058
D-1 0.0013 —
D-2 0.0013 —
D-3 0.0011 —
that leads to the larger stress increment in external tendons,
correspondingly, resulting in the improvement of flexural
strength. That is to say, with the high eccentricity of external
tendons (namely, larger value of dp), if any other parameters
in Eq. (4) are also changed and result in the greater value
of q0, the final flexural strength of the member will not
be improved.
The authors’ investigation on the increase in external
tendon stress supports some other researchers’ conclusions
that the increment of unbonded or external tendon stress is
directly related to the midspan deflection of the beam. So the
discussers believe that deformation-based equation, such as
recently proposed by Roberts-Wollmann et al.22 on the
prediction of stress increment in external tendons is still
applicable to the present highly eccentric external tendons.
REFERENCES
21. Campbell, T. I., and Chouinard, K. L., “Influence of Nonprestressed
Reinforcement on the Strength of Unbonded Partially Prestressed Concrete
Members,” ACI Structural Journal, V. 88, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1991, pp. 546-551.
20. Du, G., and Tao, X., “Ultimate Stress of Unbonded Tendons in Partially
Prestressed Concrete Beams,” PCI Journal, V. 30, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 1985,
pp. 72-91.
22. Roberts-Wollmann, C. L.; Kreger, M. E.; Rogowsky, D. M.; and
Breen, J. E., “Stresses in External Tendons at Ultimate,” ACI Structural
Journal, V. 102, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2005, pp. 206-213.
ACI Structural Journal/March-April 2006