Husana, Thessaly Aubrey S.

BT115/ MWF 1:00-3:30

III-BS Architecture - A Ar. Christopher P. Mirasol

Comparative Report

These two, Prestressed Concrete and Reinforced Concrete has both similarities and
differences in relation to construction. In Pre-stressed Concrete, it formed under stress from
the term Prestress, it is necessary to have high strength concrete and high strength steel
because it has a lighter beam, also in prestressed concrete beam, the entire section is
effective because of the reinforcement bars. A concrete formed under stress. It is most suitable
for heavy loads and longer spans Commonly used in floor beams, piles, railways sleepers as
well as structures such as bridges, roofs and runways. It is not required for columns and walls.
Furthermore, Long span bridges and flyovers are made of P.S.C because of lesser self-weight
and thinner section. So, it is mostly used for heavily loaded structures. While in Reinforced
Concrete, beams are generally heavy and high strength concrete is not needed, focusing more
on the massive and heavy beams where weight is more required than strength. Wire cables
and tendons are not needed in Reinforced Concrete while on Prestressed concrete it is much
needed.
In terms of cost, Reinforced Concrete have a high material cost rather than the Prestressed
Concrete members, when it comes to time, it takes a lot of effort to complete and to work on
using the Prestressed concrete, because it contains a good quality of materials compared to
the Reinforced concrete, it requires less skilled labor for the erection of the structure.

When it comes to the methods of Prestressing concrete, the Pre-tensioning and Post-
tensioning are both needed in the construction but they do have a difference when it comes
to execution of the structure. In Pre-tensioning, the steel tendons are tensioned before the
concrete is cast. While in Post tensioning, it is a form of pre-stressing, simply means that the
steel is stressed, pulled or tensioned before the concrete has to support the service loads.
Pretensioning is done in the factories so it is more reliable and durable technique, however it
is used for smaller sections, so longer sections and heavier membranes cannot be prestressed
As for Posttensioning, it cannot be done in factories and at site, it is commonly used for larger
spans and heavily loaded structures.
The durability in Post tensioning method depends upon the two anchorage mechanism
while in Pre tensioning method, it is more reliable and durable. Low cost of Pretensioning
because of the price of sheathing is not involved rather than the Post tensioning method.