International Journal of Steel Structures 15(2): 401-414 (2015)

DOI 10.1007/s13296-015-6011-8

www.springer.com/journal/13296

Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of

Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons
Myung-Hyun Noh1, Taek-Ryong Seong2, Jungwhee Lee3, and Kyu-Sik Park4,*
1
Senior Researcher, Steel Business Division, POSCO, 180-1 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea
2
Senior Principal Researcher, Steel Business Division, POSCO, 180-1 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dankook University, 152, Jukjeon-ro, Suji-gu, Yongin-si,
Gyeonggi-do, 448-701, Korea
4
Principal Researcher, Steel Business Division, POSCO, 180-1 Sondgo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea

Abstract

In this study, the dynamic behavior of internally prestressed concrete beam is extensively investigated using the scaled
experimental specimens to identify the influence of prestressing force on the natural frequency because there are inconsistent
analytical theories in the relationship between natural frequency and prestressing force of internally prestressed concrete beam.
Three experimental specimens, i.e., the straight line of tendon with and without eccentricity and parabolic tendon profile are
considered to investigate the dynamic behavior of internally prestressed concrete beam. Based on the experimental results, it
is observed that the natural frequency is increased as tensile force of tendon is increased in the specimen with eccentricity,
however, no meaningful relationship between natural frequency and tensile force could be found in the specimen without
eccentricity. These results are related not only to the tensile force itself but also to the camber of the beam introduced by the
tensile force. Therefore, it is difficult to establish the distinct relationship between natural frequency and tensile force. Instead,
this relationship may be explained as dual effects of tendon on the natural frequency of beam, i.e., stiffening and softening
effects. Therefore it is important to consider not only tensile force but also many other parameters such as tendon profile,
camber of beam, boundary conditions, ratio of stiffness of concrete and tendon, and etc. for estimating the natural frequency
or tensile force of the internally prestressed concrete beam.

Keywords: PSC beam, stiffening effect, softening effect, natural frequency, tensile force

1. Introduction than external tendons, because internal tendons are

Prestressed concrete structures use internal or external
tendons for general reinforced concrete beam to improve
structural capacity and serviceability without increasing
cross section. Therefore, many technologies and construction
methods have been developed for the prestressed concrete
structures. However, the loss of prestressing force of
tendons can be occurred by many reasons such as instant
loss during prestressing process, long-term loss because
of drying shrinkage and creep of concrete in service,
unexpected defect and corrosion of tendons, and so on.
These losses of tensile force can lead to more severe
safety problem for internally prestressed concrete beam
Received September 3, 2013; accepted January 20, 2015;
published online June 30, 2015
© KSSC and Springer 2015
*Corresponding author
Tel: +82-2-3457-1679, Fax: +82-2-3457-6000
E-mail: kyusik.park@posco.com
mainly used for structural elements during the construction
stage whereas external tendons are used for reinforcement
of deteriorated structure in general. Therefore, a monitoring
system to investigate the current tensile force is required
especially for the internal tendons.
Generally the vehicle loading test is indirectly used for
prestressed concrete structures to evaluate the load carrying
capacity of bridges. However this method is expensive
and requires traffic control. Therefore, if the tensile force
of internal tendons can be measured and/or evaluated,
then the vehicle loading test may not be required or the
test cycle may be reduced.
There are two ways to evaluate the tensile force of
internal tendons, i.e., static and dynamic methods. The
static method uses a load cell to directly measure the
tensile force with a high degree of accuracy. However,
this method is relatively expensive because the load cell
is consumable and difficult to replace the load cell after
its service life has been reached. The dynamic method
uses dynamic responses such as acceleration data to
402 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015
indirectly evaluate the tensile force of internal tendons
based on the relationship between dynamic responses and
tensile force. This method is inexpensive and fast with a
minimum disturbance of traffic compared to the static
method, so the dynamic method using acceleration data
(i.e., vibration method) is widely used for cable-stayed
bridges to evaluate the cable force and for external
tendons (Irvine 1981, Shimada 1995, Russell and Lardner
1998). However, the application of the dynamic method
to internal tendons is not as simple as external tendons,
because of the complicated dynamic behavior due to the
combined effect of tendons and concrete.
Many researchers have been attempted to apply the
vibration method using acceleration data to evaluate
tensile force of internal tendons (Clough and Penzien,
1993; Saiidi et al., 1994; Law and Lu, 2005; Lu and Law,
2006; Kim et al., 2004; Hamed and Frostig, 2006). Their
researches were focused on finding the relationship
between the natural frequency of a structure, which can
be extracted from the acceleration data and tensile force
of internal tendons. However, the relationship between
natural frequency and tensile force remains unclear
because of conflicts among existing theories. Therefore,
in this study the dynamic behavior of internally prestressed
concrete beams is experimentally investigated using the
scaled specimen with variations in the tensile force of
tendons. To achieve this purpose, the previous theoretical
and experimental studies on the evaluation of tensile force
of internal tendons are extensively reviewed. Furthermore,
the extensive experimental approaches using scaled internally
prestressed concrete beam are conducted to establish the
relationship between the natural frequency and tensile
force.
2. Relationship between Natural Frequency
and Tensile Force of Internally Prestressed
Concrete Beams
2.1. Compression-softening model
Theoretically, the presence of an axial force in a
homogeneous beam alters its frequencies of vibration
because of the compression-softening effect (Clough and
Penzien, 1993; Saiidi et al., 1994). For a simply supported
prismatic beam shown in Fig. 1, the solution of the
dynamic equation of motion after applying the boundary
conditions leads to eq. (1) for the natural frequency of
vibration.
nπ 2 N nπ 4 Ec Ic
ω n = – ⎛ ------⎞ ---------- + ⎛ ------⎞ ----------
2 this approach can be classified as a compression-softening
(1)
⎝ L ⎠ ρc Ac ⎝ L ⎠ ρc Ac
where n=mode number, L=span length, N=axial compression
force, ρc , Ac =density and cross-sectional area of concrete
beam respectively, and Ec , Ic =modulus of elasticity and
moment of inertia for the beam section respectively.
Based on the compression-softening theory, the natural
Figure 1. Euler beam model under compression.
frequency is increased as the axial compression force
decreases because a reduction in the axial compressive
load should stiffen the element. However, the field
measurements and laboratory test conducted by Saiidi et
al. (1994) shows an opposite trend with the prediction of
eq. (1), i.e., the measured frequency is reduced as the
axial force decreases. Therefore, the compression-softening
effect is insufficient to explain the dynamic behavior of
internally prestressed concrete beams.
Law and Lu (2005) and Lu and Law (2006) considered
the finite element model of internally prestressed concrete
beams with time domain responses such as acceleration
and strain data. They estimated the tensile force using
system identification approach using sinusoidal and impact
loads. The geometric stiffness matrix due to the tensile
force is considered as shown in the following equation.
K=Kc−Kg (2)
where K=global stiffness matrix of the prestressed beam,
Kc =global stiffness matrix without prestress forces, and
Kg =global geometric stiffness matrix due to the tensile
force. The geometric stiffness matrix is proportional to
the tensile force as shown in eq. (3), so the global
stiffness matrix of internally prestressed beams is reduced
(i.e., the natural frequency is reduced) as the tensile force
is increased.
k
Kg= ∑ kge
i
(3a)
i=1
30 0 0 –30 0 0
0 36 3l 0 –36 3l
i 2 2
T
kge = ------- 0 3l 4l 0 –3l –l
i
(3b)
30l –30 0 0 30 0 0
0 – 36 –3l 0 36 –3l
2 2
0 3l – l 0 –3l 4l
where k is the total number of elements, T is the axial
prestress force, and l is the length of element. Therefore,
model. However, Lu and Law (2006) obtained incompatible
results from the simply supported prestressed concrete
beam test, i.e., the first three natural frequencies are found
to increase after prestressing. They explained these
contradictive results as a combination of the softening
and stiffening effects. The physical presence of the
prestressing tendon has dual effects on the natural
 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons
Figure 2. Tension-strengthening model.
frequency of the beam, i.e., the prestressing tendon itself
increases the flexural rigidity and hence the natural
frequency of the beam, but the self-weight and compressive
axial force it carries reduce the frequency of the beam. If
the stiffening effect resulted from the increase in the
equivalent flexural rigidity is greater than the softening
effect due to the compressive axial force and the
additional inertial effect due to its self-weight, then the
natural frequency is increased which is consistent with
the experimental results of Lu and Law (2006). However,
Lu and Law (2006) considered a very simple specimen
(i.e., installation of the tendon at the centroid of section
with prestressing level at zero and full tensions), so more
extensive experimental tests are needed to verify the
explanation of Lu and Law (2006).
2.2. Tension-strengthening models
Since, the compression-softening model is insufficient
to explain the experimental test results of prestressed
concrete beams, Kim et al. (2004) introduce a tension-
strengthening model for prestressed concrete beam with
straight concentric tendons as shown in Fig. 2.
The initial deformation due to the prestress loads applied
at the anchorage edges is considered in the tension-
strengthening model and the tendon is assumed in tension
due to the constraint after elastic stretching of prestressing
effect. If the composite flexural rigidity and the mass of
the prestressed concrete beam are considered, then the nth
natural frequency of the prestressed concrete beam can be
calculated as eq. (4).
nπ 2 1 L 2
= ⎛ ------⎞ ----- ⎛ E c Ic + ⎛ -----r-⎞ N⎞
2 (7)
ωn
⎝ Lr ⎠ mr ⎝ ⎝ nπ⎠ ⎠
The deformed span length (Lr) and mass of prestressed
concrete beam (mr) are shown in eq. (5).
δL N
Lr = L ⎛ 1 – ------⎞ = L ⎛ 1 – -----------⎞
⎝ L⎠ ⎝ Ac E c⎠
mr = ρc Ac + ρs As
where ρs, As =density and cross-sectional area of tendon
403
respectively. A more detailed formation for the natural
frequency of tension-strengthening model can be found in
Kim et al. (2004). According to the tension-strengthening
model, an increase in the axial compression increases the
frequency of the beam and vise versa. However, Kim et
al. (2004) did not conduct an experimental test, instead
they used the experimental data from Saiidi et al. (1994)
to verify the tension-strengthening model and show the
consistent trend between analytical and experimental results.
Even though the tension-strengthening model proposed
by Kim et al. (2004) showed good agreement with
experimental results, further study is required to explain
the dynamic behavior of prestressed concrete beam with
various configurations of tendons since only the straight
concentric tendons in the prestressed concrete beam was
considered in the previous research.
2.3. Nonlinear model based on the large deformation
theory
A nonlinear analytical model has developed for the
dynamic behavior of prestressed beams with bonded and
unbonded tendons by Hamed and Frostig (2006). They
described the behavior of a prestressed concrete beam as
a combination of two substructures, i.e., a compressed
concrete beam and a tensioned cable that are interconnected
through equilibrium and compatibility conditions as
shown in Fig. 3.
The analysis uses variation principles following Hamilton’s
principle to formulate the nonlinear equations of motions
of the prestressed beam along with the appropriate boundary
and continuity conditions. The governing equations for
the bonded tendons are shown in eq. (6).
2
∂ Mxx ∂ ⎛ ∂w
- + ----- ( Nxxcab + Nxx ) + -------⎞
2
mω w + -------------
∂x
2
∂x ⎝ ∂x ⎠
∂ ∂zcab⎞ ∂ ⎛ ∂Nxx
+ ----- ⎛ Nxxcab ⋅ ----------
- – ----- ---------- ⋅ zcab⎞ = 0 (6a)
∂x ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ∂x ⎝ ∂x ⎠
∂Nxx ∂Nxxcab
---------- + ----------------- = 0 (6b)
∂x ∂x
where
Nxx 2
∂ w-⎞
Nxxcab = E s As ⎛ ----------
- – zcab × --------
(4) ⎝ Ec Ac ∂x ⎠
2
where ω=natural frequency of the prestressed beam, w=
displacement of the concrete beam in the vertical direction,
Mxx =bending moment stress resultant in the concrete
beam, Nxx, Nxxcab =stress resultants in the longitudinal
(5a) direction in the concrete beam and the cable respectively,
Es =modulus of elasticity of the cable and zcab =cable
(5b) eccentricity measured downwards from the center of
gravity of the concrete beam. Hence, the global axial
force in the prestressed beam is null through the length of
404 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015
Figure 3. Substructure layout and internal stress resultants of a typical prestressed beam.
the beam, which changes eq. (6a) into a linear differential
equation. Although the last two terms of eq. (6a) survive,
those are linear terms with variable coefficients, since the
eccentricity of the cable (i.e., zcab) is a defined function.
Therefore, the superposition principle may be used for all
solution steps, and the solution of the free vibration
problem of a prestressed beam does not require considering
the stresses that exist in the beam prior to the vibration
process. It means that the magnitude of the prestress
forces does not affect the natural frequencies of prestressed
beams and the same result can be obtained for the
unbonded tendons. However, Hamed and Frostig (2006)
did not conduct the experimental test to verify their
analytical model.
2.4. Summary
As described through previous sections, there are
contradictory theories for the relationship between tensile
force and natural frequency of the prestressed concrete
beams, i.e., the natural frequency is increased as the axial
force decreases (compression-softening model), the natural
frequency is increased as the axial force increases
(tension-strengthening model), and the axial force does
not affect the natural frequency (nonlinear model based
on the large deformation theory). These different results
come from the different assumptions and limitations in
each model. For example, the perturbed cable tension and
eccentricity due to the beam vibrations are not considered
in the compression-softening model and nonlinear change
in the eccentricity of the compressive force in the concrete
beam and tension force in the cable can not be considered
because the compression-softening model is a linear model.
The tension-strengthening model is only applicable for
the straight concentric tendons in a prestressed concrete
beam. The nonlinear model based on the large deformation
theory shows different results with some experimental
work even though it is systematically formulated considering
appropriate boundary and continuity conditions. Therefore,
to the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no rigorous
mathematical model capable of properly describing the
effect of the prestress force on the natural frequencies of
internally prestressed beams.
Therefore, an extensive experimental study considering
various parameters such as level of tensile force, and
configuration of tendon profile is conducted in this study
to investigate and/or verify the existing theories on the
dynamic behavior of internally prestressed concrete beams.
3. Experimental Test Results of Internally
Prestressed Concrete Beams
3.1. Modeling of prestressed concrete beams using
commercial software
In this section the availability of an existing commercial
finite element analysis program for modeling of prestressed
concrete beams considering the concept of analytical
theories are investigated to predict the dynamic behavior
of the experimental specimen of this study.
Generally, the prestressed concrete beam can be modeled
as two parts, i.e., concrete and tendon parts. The concrete
part can be modeled as beam elements and the compression
effect is introduced by applying the initial stress in the
beam elements as shown in Fig. 4. The tendon is modeled
using beam elements to consider the flexural rigidity of
the tendon even though it is small as shown in Fig. 4 and
the tensioning effect is introduced by applying the initial
stress. The concrete and tendon in the prestressed
concrete beam is integrated through the grouting of the
duct in the concrete. Therefore, beam elements of
concrete and tendon are integrated by using a rigid link as
shown in Fig. 4.
Tensile force (i.e, T in Fig. 4)) is assumed as zero in the
compression-softening model, and compressive force
(i.e., C in Fig. 4) is assumed as zero in the tension-
strengthening models. The same magnitude with different
sign of tensile and compressive forces will be introduced
in the large deformation theory.
To verify the modeling scheme of numerical analysis
using commercial finite element software, i.e., MIDAS
CIVIL (MIDAS IT, 2006) is performed. The example
 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons 405

Figure 6. Variation of natural frequency of each model.

in model 3, because of the canceling effect between

compressive and tensile force, which is consistent with
Figure 4. Modeling of internally prestressed concrete beam. the findings of Hamed and Frostig (2006).
Figure 6 shows the variation of natural frequency of
structure is shown in Fig. 5 where the tendon is placed in each model compared to unprestressed concrete beam
a straight line with eccentricity of 50 cm from the (i.e, compressive and tensile forces are assumed to be
centroid. zero). As shown in Fig. 6, the variation of natural
Table 1 shows the natural frequencies of the bending frequency is decreased as the mode number is increased
mode for each model and the results of each model show which is consistent with the general dynamics of
the same trend with the analytical theories, i.e., natural structures (i.e., the contribution of lower mode is larger
frequencies in models 1 and 2 are decreased and increased, than that of higher mode). However, the variations are not
respectively after a prestressing force of 4,500 kN is applied large as expected even though it is compared between
as shown in Table 1. However, the natural frequencies are unprestressed and prestressed concrete beams.
almost same even though the prestressing force is applied
3.2. Experimental setups
Table 1. Natural frequencies of bending mode for each There are many parameters that affect the natural
model (Hz) frequency of the prestressed concrete beams such as
prestressing force, location and profile of tendon,
Bending Before boundary conditions, shrinkage of concrete, and etc.
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
mode prestressing
However, it is not realistic to consider all parameters for
1st 5.09 4.96 5.21 5.09 experimental study. Therefore, parameters related to
2nd 19.66 19.53 19.78 19.65 tendon (i.e., tension level, location and profile of tendon)
3rd 41.78 41.65 41.91 41.65 are considered in this study, because the natural
4th 68.74 68.60 68.87 68.60 frequency of the prestressed concrete beam is most
5th 97.52 97.38 97.65 97.38 generally affected by the tension.
Model 1: Compression only model (i.e., T=0) The first experimental specimen shown in Fig. 7(a) has
Model 2: Tension only model (i.e., C=0) a straight concentric tendon and the tendon in the second
Model 3: Compression and tension combined model specimen is also placed in a straight line, but it has

Figure 5. Schematic diagram of numerical example.

406 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015

Figure 7. Schematic diagram of experimental specimens.

Figure 8. 7-wire strands in concrete beam.

eccentricity of 150 cm to investigate the effect of tendon

eccentricity as shown in Fig. 7(b). The final specimen has
the parabolic profile of tendon as shown in Fig. 7(c)
which is used for prestressed concrete beam in practice
and the effect of tendon profile can be investigated with
this specimen.
The seven 7-wire strand with a minimum yield strength
of 222 kN and nominal diameter of 15.2 mm are used for
all specimen and each strand is prestressed up to 70% of
yield strength (i.e., 1,088 kN) and a 7-hole anchor head is
used in this study as shown in Fig. 8. The strands are
prestressed up with 4 stepwise levels of tension (i.e., 272,
544, 816, and 1,088 kN) to investigate the variation of
natural frequency with respect to tension level.
To extract the natural frequency of experimental specimen,
four accelerometers are placed on top of the beam as Figure 9. Experiment configuration.
 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons
Table 2. Location of sensors of each specimen (mm)
Specimen L1 L2 L3 L4
S1 720 1150 1600 2050
S2 1250 2150 3250 4500
S3 2400 3600 6000 7000
Figure 10. Data acquisition setup.
shown in Fig. 9 and the locations of sensors of each
specimen are shown in Table 2. The sensors are installed
at the right half part of the beam to extract the mode shape
and the impact hammer is used to excite the specimen.
Furthermore, five impacts are applied to each location to
reduce the noise of signal and the acceleration signal is
sent to a laptop computer for analysis through the
wireless logger and Bluetooth receiver shown in Fig. 10.
3.3. Experimental results
Figures 11~13 show the acceleration time history,
power spectral density of four sensors and two mode
shapes, respectively when 50% of the final tension is
introduced to the specimen 1. As shown in Fig. 12, it is
difficult to extract the mode shape from the experimental
data because of the complex behavior of prestressed
beams, so the time decomposition method (Kim et al.
2005) is used to identify the natural frequency by
extracting the mode shape.
The solid red line in Fig. 13(a) represents a component
of the mode shape obtained from the time domain
decomposition method. The dotted red line is assumed to
be symmetric with the experimental one as a left-half part
of the first mode shape (asymmetric for the second mode
as shown in Fig. 13(b)), because only four sensors are
installed at the right-half part of the beam in this study.
Furthermore, no motion is assumed at the support which
is reasonable.
407
Figure 11. Time history of acceleration when T= 0.5 Pmax
(S1).
Figure 12. Power spectral density when T=0.5 Pmax (S1).
The identified natural frequency and variation of
natural frequency according to the tension level is shown
in Table 3 and Fig. 14.
As shown in Table 3 and Fig. 14, there is no constant
trend in the variation of natural frequency even though
there are some variations. The first specimen is a very
simple one having a straight line of tendon with no
eccentricity. This specimen has the same condition used
in assumptions of the tension-strengthening model, however
the experimental results are not consistent with those of
the tension-strengthening model. Therefore, further
investigation with the results of the other two specimens
is required.
Figures 15~17 show the acceleration time history,
power spectral density of four sensors and two mode
shapes, respectively when 50% of the final tension is
introduced to specimen 2.
As shown in Table 4 and Fig. 18, the first and second
natural frequencies are generally increased as the axial
408 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015

Figure 13. Identified mode shapes when T=0.5 Pmax (S1).

Table 3. Variation of natural frequency of S1 (Hz)

0Pmax (0 ton) 0.25Pmax 0.50Pmax 0.75Pmax 1.0Pmax
Mode
Analysis Experiment (27 ton) (54 ton) (81 ton) (108 ton)
1st mode 22.91 20.51 20.39 20.51 20.51 20.57
2nd mode 88.64 77.76 79.10 77.45 79.53 77.82

condition difference between specimens 1 and 2 is the

Figure 14. Variation of natural frequency according to
tension level (S1).
force is increased which is consistent experimental results
of Saiidi et al. (1994), however the variation is still too
small to evaluate the tensile force using the natural frequency.
Furthermore, increases in natural frequency are not
proportional to increases in the tensile force. The major
eccentricity of the tendon and this eccentricity can cause
the camber of the beam, so the camber of specimen 2
according to tension level is measured as shown in Fig.
19. The camber in the center location is increased as the
tension level is increased as expected. These increased
cambers increase the equivalent flexural rigidity of the
beam, so the natural bending frequency is increased.
Figures 20~22 show the acceleration time history,
power spectral density of four sensors and two mode
shapes, respectively when 50% of the final tension is
introduced to specimen 3.
As shown in Table 5 and Fig. 23, the first and second
natural frequencies are increased when the axial force is
more than 0.5 Pmax and the variation is larger than that of
specimen 2. The magnitude of camber of specimen 3 is
also larger than that of specimen 2 as shown in Fig. 24,
because specimen 3 has a larger eccentricity of tendon
than specimen 2 and this large camber affects the natural
frequency.
 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons 409

Figure 16. Power spectral density when T=0.5 Pmax (S2).

Figure 15. Time history of acceleration when T=0.5 Pmax
(S2).

Figure 17. Identified mode shapes when T=0.5 Pmax (S2).

Table 4. Variation of natural frequency of S2 (Hz)

0 Pmax (0 ton) 0.25 Pmax 0.50 Pmax 0.75 Pmax 1.0 Pmax
Mode
Analysis Experiment (27 ton) (54 ton) (81 ton) (108 ton)
1st mode 10.50 9.16 9.22 9.28 9.28 9.28
2nd mode 40.04 30.76 30.82 31.25 31.25 31.31
410 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015
Figure 18. Variation of natural frequency according to
tension level (S2).
Figure 19. Magnitude of camber according to tension
level (S2).
3.4. Summary
It is difficult to establish the relationship between natural
frequency and tensile force of internally prestressed
concrete beams based on the experimental results of this
study even though the existing theories shows a distinct
relationship between natural frequency and tensile force.
For specimen 1 which has a straight concentric tendon,
the meaningful relationship between natural frequency
and tensile force cannot be found as tensile force is
increased. However, the natural frequency is increased in
general for specimens 2 and 3 as tensile force is increased.
The strand in specimens 2 and 3 has eccentricity from the
centroid of the beam, so it can introduce geometric
stiffness in the bending motion whether it softens or
stiffens the beam. Therefore, the ratio between the
bending stiffness of concrete and the geometric stiffness
of a tendon is examined as shown in Table 6 to
investigate the contribution of geometric stiffness on the
natural frequency. During the calculation, the average
value of 7-day concrete compressive strength shown in
Table 7 and final tension (i.e., 1,088 kN) are used.
As can be seen in Table 6, the contribution of tensile
force to axial rigidity is negligible because axial stiffness
of concrete is relatively very large. However, the
contribution of tensile force to the flexural rigidity is not
negligible, consequently it affects the natural frequency
Figure 20. Time history of acceleration when T=0.5 Pmax
(S3).
Figure 21. Power spectral density when T=0.5 Pmax (S3).
especially in bending modes.
Based on the existing theories, the experimental results
may be explained as dual effects of a tendon on the
natural frequency of the beam, i.e., softening and
stiffening effects described in Lu and Law (2006). For
specimen 1, the effect of prestressing tendon (i.e.,
stiffening effects) is balanced with the effect of self-
weight and compressive axial force (i.e., softening
effects) because the tendon is placed at the center of beam
without eccentricity. However, the eccentricity of the
tendons in specimens 2 and 3 causes uplift force in the
beam and hence the camber is increased. Therefore, the
combined stiffening effect of prestressing force and
eccentricity of tendon becomes greater than the softening
effects. Consequently the natural frequency of the beam
increases due to this combined stiffening effect.
These stiffening effects of eccentricity of the tendon
can be verified by the following numerical simulation.
The model for specimen 3 is used with various types of
 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons 411

Figure 22. Identified mode shapes when T=0.5 Pmax (S3).

Table 5. Variation of natural frequency of S3 (Hz)

0Pmax (0 ton) 0.25 Pmax 0.50 Pmax 0.75 Pmax 1.0 Pmax
Mode
Analysis Experiment (27 ton) (54 ton) (81 ton) (108 ton)

1st mode 6.56 5.86 5.86 6.10 6.35 6.35

2nd mode 25.82 22.22 22.22 23.19 23.68 23.68

Figure 24. Magnitude of camber according to tension

Figure 23. Variation of natural frequency according to
level (S3).
tension level (S3).

tensile force of 1088 kN and the natural frequency of

tendon profile as shown in Fig. 25. Figure 26 shows the beam with eccentrically placed tendon is larger than that
natural frequency of each tendon configuration with a of without eccentricity.
412 Myung-Hyun Noh et al. / International Journal of Steel Structures, 15(2), 401-414, 2015

Table 6. Comparison between stiffness of concrete and tendon

Axial (kN/m)
Concrete Tendon Concrete Tendon Concrete Tendon
Specimen
⎛ EA
-------⎞ ⎛T---⎞ ⎛ 12EI
------------⎞ ⎛ 6T
------⎞ ⎛ 4EI
---------⎞ ⎛ 2TL
----------⎞
⎝ L⎠ ⎝ L⎠ ⎝ L3 ⎠ ⎝ 5L⎠ ⎝ L ⎠ ⎝ 15 ⎠

S1 513,359 (100%) 235 (0.05%) 2,282 (100%) 283 (12.38%) 15,406 (100%) 636 (4.13%)
S2 515,763 (100%) 112 (0.02%) 2,057 (100%) 134 (6.50%) 61,892 (100%) 1,342 (2.17%)
S3 1038,503 (100%) 73 (0.01%) 4,001 (100%) 88 (2.19%) 280,396 (100%) 2,048 (0.73%)

Table 7. Compression strength of specimen (MPa) 4. Conclusions

Specimen Core 1 Core 2 Core 3 Average
In this study, the dynamic behavior of internally prestressed
S1 29.8 30.3 29.5 29.9 concrete beam is extensively investigated using scaled
S2 33.5 34.1 33.1 33.6 experimental specimens to identify the relationship between
S2 34.5 36.1 35.1 35.2 the natural frequency and tensile force because there is a

Figure 25. Tendon profile configuration.

 Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Prestressed Girders with Internal Tendons
Figure 26. Natural frequency of beam with various tendon configurations.
confliction among the existing theories. Based on the
investigation of dynamic behavior of internally prestressed
concrete beam conducted in this study, the followings
conclusions may be drawn.
The natural frequency of internally prestressed concrete
beams is affected by many parameters such as tensile
force, tendon profile, boundary condition, and etc, and
these parameters are related to one another even though
the tensile force is the most contributing parameter for
natural frequency. Furthermore, the geometric stiffness
induced by tendons is very small compared to concrete
stiffness in general. Hence, the variation in natural
frequency is small even though the tensile force is
relatively large. Based on several limited tests in this
study, it is not easy to establish the relationship among the
natural frequency and abovementioned parameters.
Based on the experimental results of this study, the
relationship between natural frequency and tensile force
of the internally prestressed concrete beam can be
explained as dual effects of tendon on the natural
frequency of the beam by tendons and the dual effects of
tendon can be summarized as follows;
(1) The tendon in the internally prestressed concrete
beam can decrease the natural frequency of beam when
the softening effects by self-weight and compressive axial
force is greater than the stiffening effects by prestressing
tendon and vise verse depends on the internally prestressed
concrete beam condition.
413
(2) When these stiffening and softening effects are
balanced with some specific condition, the variation of
natural frequency is negligible even though the tensile
force is introduced.
Therefore, it is important to estimate the natural
frequency of the internally prestressed concrete beam by
using not only tensile force but also many other
parameters such as tendon profile, boundary conditions,
ratio of stiffness of concrete and tendon, and etc.
Furthermore, a more exact theoretical model need to be
developed and to be verified through additional
experiments.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Construction Core
Technology Program funded by the Ministry of
Construction & Transportation of the Korean government
(Grant No. 2006-D20). The financial support is gratefully
acknowledged.
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