MATERIALS OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE

COMPOSITION OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE MEMBER

• High Strength Concrete

• Steel Tendon
• Non-Prestressed Reinforcement
Concrete
• Concrete is a mixture of cement, water, and aggregates. It may also
contain one or more chemical admixtures. Within hours of mixing
and placing, concrete sets and begins to develop strength and stiff
ness as a result of chemical reactions between the cement and
water. These reactions are known as hydration.
• For the concrete typically used in prestressed structures, the water-
to-cement ratio is about 0.4. It is desirable to use as little water as
possible, since water not used in the hydration reaction causes voids
in the cement paste that reduce the strength and increase the
permeability of the concrete.
• A typical mix used for prestressed concrete by weight might be
coarse aggregate 44%, fine aggregate 31%, cement 18%, and water
7%.
Concrete
• Since high tensile steel is used in PSC, the concrete used should also
be of good quality and high strength. Therefore, IS code recommends
a minimum mix of M40 for pre-tensioned system and M30 for post
tensioned system. These mixes have high strength and a high value
of modulus of elasticity of concrete which results in less deflection.
• The concrete used in PSC should be well compacted. High strength
concrete is used in PSC for following reasons:

• Use of high strength concrete results in smaller sections.

• High strength concrete offers high resistance in tension,
shear, bond and bearing.
• Less loss of prestress occurs with high strength concrete.
High Strength Concrete
• High-strength concrete provides a higher compressive strength, a
higher modulus of elasticity, a higher tensile strength, reduced
creep, and greater durability than normal-strength concrete. 
• For the same cross section and span length, a high-strength
concrete girder will have less initial deflection, a higher permissible
tensile stress, less prestress loss, less camber change, and longer
life than a similar girder made with normal-strength concrete.
• Structurally, the benefits of using high-strength concrete are fewer
girders for the same width bridge, longer span lengths or reduced
dead load. The limitations of existing prestressed concrete girders
relative to the use of high-strength concrete and several options to
more effectively utilize high-strength concrete are described.
• Analytical results indicate that the use of existing girder cross sections
with concrete compressive strengths up to 69 MPa (10,000 psi) allow
longer span lengths and more economical structures.
• However, to effectively utilize concrete with compressive strengths
greater than 69 MPa (10,000 psi), additional pre-stressing force must
be applied to the cross section through the use of smaller strand
spacing, larger strand sizes, higher-strength strands or post-
tensioning.

PROPERTIES
• High strength
• Durability
• Stiffness
• Minimum shrinkage and creep
 Advantages of HSC
• High-strength concrete resists loads that cannot be resisted by
normal-strength concrete. Not only does high strength concrete allow
for more applications, it also increases the strength per unit cost, per
unit weight, and per unit volume as well.
Disadvantages of HSC
• Increased quality control is needed in order to maintain the special
properties desired
• Careful materials selection is necessary. High quality materials must
be used.
• Allowable stress design discourages the use of high-strength concrete
• Minimum cover over reinforcement or minimum thickness of
members may restrict the realization of maximum benefits
 Disadvantages of HSC

• Available prestress force in a member may be inadequate to

achieve maximum strength
• Low water to cementitious materials ratios require special
curing requirements
• Since serviceability conditions such as deflection can control
design, increased capacity may not be fully utilized (Peterman).
High Strength Concrete
• Maximum grade of concrete is 60Mpa
• Minimum grade of concrete for pre-stressed applications are
• 30Mpa for post-tensioned members
• 40Mpa for pre-tensioned members
Stiffness of concrete – is required to estimate the deflection members. Given
by the modulus of elasticity.
Durability of concrete – is a vital importance regarding the life cycle cost of
a structure.
Creep of concrete – is defined as the increase in deformation with time under
constant load
• High strength concrete is made by lowering the water cement ratio to 0.35
or lower. Often silica fume is added to prevent the formation of free calcium
hydroxide crystals in the cement matrix, which might reduce the strength at
the cement-aggregate bond
Classification of High Strength Concrete with Normal
Consistency
• W/C – 0.35 to 0.45
• Fc at 28days – 55 to 80 Mpa
• 5 to 10cm slump
• Use cement yielding highest concrete strength at extended ages
(91-days)
• Cement should have min. 7 day mortar cube strength of 30Mpa
• Cement contents between 400 to 550 kg/m^3
• To maintain uniform high strength concrete
• - Tricalcium silicate content varies by < 4%
• - Ignition loss varies by <0.5%
• -Finess varies by < 375 cm2/g
• -Sulphate level should be maintained at optimum with variations
Chemical add mixtures
• Super plasticizer in combination with a water-reducing retarder
• The superplasticizer gives the concrete adequate workability at
low water cement ratios, leading to concrete with greater
strength
Aggregates
• Coarse aggregates: 9.5 – 12.5mm (3/8 – ½ in). Normal
maximum size gives optimum strength
• For 70Mpa and greater, the FM of the sand should be 2.8 – 3.2
(lower may give lower strengths and sticky mixes)
Supplementary Cementing materials – dosage rate varies
from 5% to 30%
• Fly ash
• Silica fume
Pozzolanas
• Pozzolanas such as fly ash and silica fume, are the most
commonly used mineral admixtures in high strength concrete .
These materials impart additional strength to the concrete by
reacting with Portland cement hydration products to create
additional C-S-H gel, the part of the paste responsible for
concrete strength