Department of Civil Engineering

Prestressed Concrete
Loss of Prestress (1)

Instructor:
Dr. Sawsan Alkhawaldeh
 Introduction
Definition
 Loss of prestress is the progressive process of
reduction over time of the initial prestressing
force applied to the concrete element.
Classification
 Loss of prestress can be classified into two
categories:
- Immediate elastic loss during construction
process (Elastic shortening of concrete,
anchorage losses, frictional losses).
- Time-dependent losses (Creep, shrinkage, loss
due temperature and steel relaxation).
Causes of prestress losses
Sources of prestress loss
 Estimation of prestress loss
 An exact determination of theses losses is not feasible
since they depend on many factors.
 Empirical methods of estimating losses differ with the
different code of practice or recommendations (ACI-
ASCE, AASHTO, CEB, FIB).
 The difference between these methods depends on the
approach chosen and the accepted practice of record.
 The loss estimations provided by some codes include
elastic shortening, steel relaxation, shrinkage and
creep, and they applicable for routine, standard
conditions of loading; normal concrete, quality control,
construction procedures, environmental conditions,
the importance and magnitude of the system.
Loss Estimation
 Total loss in Prestress
 Pretensioned Members

Computations of steel relaxation loss have to

be performed for the time interval t1 through
t2 of the respective loading stages.

 Post-tensioned Members
 Loss due to Elastic Shortening
 The difference in length of the prism before and after release
induces a stress change in the tendon, which is equal to its elastic
shortening loss.

 It should be determined using the modulus of elasticity of the

concrete at the time of prestress transfer.
 The calculations depend on whether pre-tensioning or post-
tensioning is used.
 Pretensioned systems
 Pretensioned members
The magnitude of shortening is:

The stress in the concrete due to prestressing is:

The concrete stress is:

Example (1) Elastic shortening loss of pretensioned member

A prestensioned prestressed beam has a span of

50 ft (15.2 m).
 Post-tensioned systems
In Post-tensioning beams, the elastic shortening varies from
zero if all tendons are jacked simultaneously to half the value
calculated in Pretensioned case if several sequential jacking
steps are used, such as jacking two tendons at a time. If n is
the number of tendons or pairs of tendons sequentially
tensioned, the elastic loss is:

j is the number of jacking operations.

Note:
The tendon that was tensioned first suffers from the
maximum amount of loss, while the one that was tensioned
first does not suffer any losses due to elastic shrinkage.
Example (2) Elastic shortening loss of post-tensioned member

If the previous beam is post-tensioned and the

prestressing operation is such that: