PRESTRESSED CONCRETE

Flexural Design (Lec-6)

Dr. Qasim Shaukat Khan

Associate Professor
Civil Engineering Department
UET Lahore

Email: qasimkhan@uet.edu.pk 1
Load Balancing
Trial dimensions of concrete section are selected, and prestress
force and eccentricity are chosen to provide an upward equivalent
load that is equal and opposite to a certain downward load (often
the full dead load).
The factored load stage is then investigated, and if the flexural
strength is less than that required, the strength is increased usually
by adding non-prestressed reinforcement to supplement the tensile
force in the prestressed concrete section.
Flexural tensile cracks are generally present at the normal service
load, and a check of crack width is important. Deflection formulas
for partially cracked section should be used similar to ordinary RC.
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Comparison of Beams with Variable and Constant Eccentricity
Incase of variable eccentricity, the section modulus requirement is
governed mainly by the superimposed dead and live load moments.
Almost all of the self-weight is carried free that is, without
increasing section modulus or prestress force, by simple expedient
of increasing the eccentricity along the span by the amount 𝑴𝑶 Τ𝑷𝒊 .
In case of constant eccentricity, the eccentricity is controlled by
conditions at the supports, where 𝑴𝑶 is zero, and the full moment
𝑴𝑶 due to self-weight must be included in determining the section
moduli.
Beams with constant eccentricity are often used for practical
reasons. 3
Comparison of Beams with Variable and Constant Eccentricity
Certain alternative means are available for coping with the problem
of excessive concrete stresses resulting from prestress at the ends of
the members with constant eccentricity. The prestress force may be
reduced near the ends of the span by encasing some of the tendons
in plastic sheathing, effectively moving the point of application of
prestress force inward toward midspan for a part of strands.
Or supplementary non-prestressed bar reinforcement may be used
in the ends to accommodate the local high stresses.
Conditions at the supports will generally control for beams with
constant eccentricity.
ACI limit, stress limit 𝒇𝒕𝒊 will be doubled. 4
Comparison of Beams with Variable and Constant Eccentricity
Comparing the design examples with variable eccentricity and
constant eccentricity, the constant eccentricity resulted in 6%
increase in the concrete cross-section.
It is pertinent to note that for longer span beams, in which the self-
weight is proportionally larger, the constant eccentricity design
will result in even larger concrete cross-section.
It has been observed that a particular combination of prestress force
and eccentricity (Constant eccentricity case) may prove
satisfactory at the maximum moment section of a beam, may result
in excessive stresses elsewhere, where the moment due to self weight
is less. This can be avoided by reducing the eccentricity of the steel
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Comparison of Beams with Variable and Constant Eccentricity
near the supports. An alternative with distinct practical advantages
for pretensioned beams is to keep the eccentricity constant but to
reduce the magnitude of prestress force. This is achieved by
preventing certain of the cables from bonding to the concrete near
the ends of the span. The common way to accomplish this is to
enclose those cables in tightly fitting split plastic tubes.

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Comparison of Beams with Variable and Constant Eccentricity
Or to wrap the cables with heavy paper or cloth tape through the
desired length. In such a case, no prestress force is transmitted to the
concrete from the sheathed strands near the ends of the span, and the
effective prestress is provided by the remainder of steel area.
Moreover, there is reduction in the effective eccentricity even if the
straight cables are used, because of the upward shift of the steel
centroid when a part of steel area becomes ineffective.
It is important to note that the required transfer length for the
sheathed tendons, measured towards the center of the span from the
end of the sheathing to ensure that the total prestress force is
developed where needed. 7
Load Balancing
The effect of change in the alignment of a prestressing tendon in
beam is to produce a vertical force on the beam at a particular location.
Prestressing a member with curved or deflected tendons thus has the
effect of introducing a set of equivalent loads, which may be treated
as any other loads in finding moments or deflections. Each tendon
profile produces its own unique set of equivalent forces. Typical
tendon profiles with corresponding equivalent loads and moment
diagrams are as follows:

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Load Balancing
The equivalent load offers an alternative approach to the
determination of required prestress force and eccentricity. The
prestress force and tendon profile can be established so that external
loads can be exactly counteracted by the vertical forces resulting
from the Prestressing. The net result for a particular set of external
loads is that the beam is only subjected to axial compression, and no
bending moment.
The selection of balance load is left to the judgement of the designer.
Often the balance load chosen is the sum of the self-weight and super-
imposed dead load. Load balancing approach introduced by T. Y.
Lin in 1963 is described here. 11
Load Balancing
The fundamentals will be illustrated in the context of the simply
supported uniformly loaded beams. The beam is designed for a
balanced load consisting of its own weight (𝒘𝒐 ), the superimposed
dead load (𝒘𝒅 ) and some fractional part of live load (𝒌𝒃 𝒘𝒍 ). Since the
external load is uniformly distributed, it is reasonable to adopt a
tendon having a parabolic shape.
A parabolic tendon will produce uniformly distributed upward load

8𝑃𝑦
𝑤𝑝 = 2
𝑙
where, P is magnitude of Prestress Force, y is maximum sag of
tendon measured w. r. t. chord between its end points, and l is span.
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13
Load Balancing
If the downward load equals the upward load from the tendon, these
two loads cancel and no bending moment is produced (Fig. 4.17b).
The bending stresses due to prestress eccentricity are equal and
opposite to the bending stresses resulting from the external load. The
net resulting stress is uniform compression 𝒇𝒂 equal to that produced
by axial force 𝑷𝑪𝒐𝒔𝜽. Excluding the time dependent effects, the
beam would show no vertical deflection.
If the live load is removed or increased, then bending stresses and
deflections will result because of the unbalanced portion of the load.
Stresses resulting from this differential loading must be calculated and
superimposed on the axial compression to obtain the net stresses for
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Load Balancing
unbalanced state. Fig. 4.17c shows the bending stresses 𝑓𝑏′ resulting
from the removal of the partial live loading are superimposed on the
uniform compressive stress 𝒇𝒂 , resulting from the combination of
eccentric prestress force and full balanced load to produce the final
stress distribution.
It should be noted that simple spans designed by the load-balancing
concept, it is necessary for tendon to have zero eccentricity at the
supports because the moment due to superimposed loads is zero
here. Any tendon eccentricity would produce an unbalanced moment
(equivalent load) equal to the horizontal component of the prestress
force times the eccentricity. 15
Load Balancing
In practice, the load-balancing method starts with selection of trial
beam cross-section based on experience and judgement. An
appropriate span to depth ratio is opted. The tendon profile is
selected using the maximum available eccentricity, and the prestress
force is calculated. The trial design may be checked to ensure that the
concrete stresses are within the allowable limits should the live load
be totally absent or fully in place, when bending stresses will be
superimposed on the axial compressive stresses.
Further, obtaining a uniform compressive concrete stresses at the
balanced load stage does not ensure that the member will have zero
deflection at this stage. 16
Load Balancing
The reason is that uniform stress distribution comprises two parts: one
part from the eccentric prestress force and other part from the external
loads. The prestress force varies with time because of shrinkage, creep
and relaxation changing the vertical deflections associated with
prestress force. Concurrently, the beam will experience creep deflection
under the combined effects of the diminishing prestress force and the
external loads, a part of which may be sustained and a part of which
may be short-term. However, if load balancing is carried out based on
the effective prestress force 𝑷𝒆 plus self-weight and external dead load
only, the result may be near zero deflection for that combination.
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