PRESTRESS

CONCRETE
THEORY OF STRUCTURE- IV(AP-411)
REINFORCED CONCRETE
• Concrete is strong in compression weak in tension.

• Steel in strong in tension

• Reinforced concrete uses concrete to resist compression and to hold bars in

position and uses steel to resist tension.

• Tensile strength of concrete is neglected (i.e. zero )

• R.C beams allows crack under service load.

 R.C.C & PRESTRESSING
Both utilizes the structural capabilities of steel and concrete. Concrete
is very strong in compression, but relatively weak in tension.

Beam supports a load by developing compressive stresses at the top,

but since the concrete cannot resist the tension at the bottom, it cracks
there.

Reinforcing steel bars are placed within this tension zone to resist the
tension and control the cracking.
 EUGENE FREYSSINET
Father of Prestressed concrete.
 PRE-STRESSED CONCRETE
• What is Pre-stressed Concrete?:
– Internal stresses are induced to
counteract external stresses.
– In 1904, Freyssinet attempted to
introduce permanent acting forces
in concrete to resist elastic forces
under loads and was named “Pre
stressing”.
Reinforced
Cement Concrete

Prestressed
Concrete
Before Loading

Prestressed
Concrete
After Loading
 CONCEPT OF PRE-STRESSING

The concept of pre stressing was invented

invented years ago when metal brands were
wound around wooden pieces to form barrels.

The metal brands were tighten under

tensile stress which creates
compression between the staves
allowing them to resist internal liquid
pressure.
 MATERIALS FOR PRESTRESSING

CONCRETE

• Minimum grades of concrete for prestressed

applications are as follows.
– 30 MPa for post-tensioned members
– 40 MPa for pre-tensioned members.

• Maximum grade of concrete is 60 MPa.

Following are some standard guidelines prescribed in the Indian
standard code IS : 1343-1980 with respect to quality of materials used
in prestressed concrete.

The minimum 28 day compressive strength of concrete cubes of 15 cm

size, prescribed in the Indian standard code IS : 1343-1980, is 40
N/mm2 for pre-tensioned concrete and 30 N/d for post-tensioned
concrete.

The characteristic strength of concrete is defined as the strength of the

concrete below which not more than 5 percent results are expected to
fall. The code specifies standard guidelines regarding sampling and
strength test of concrete to be us
 STEEL
For prestressed concrete members, the high-tensile steel, used
generally, consists of wires, bars or strands. The high tensile strength
of steel is generally achieved by marginally increasing the carbon
content in steel in comparison to mild steel.

High-tensile steel usually contains 0.6 to 0.85% carbon, 0.7 to 1 %

manganese, 0.05% of sulphur and phosphorus.

The high carbon steel ingots are hot rolled into rods and cold drawn
through a process of dies to reduce the diameter and increase the
tensile strength.
The durability of wires gets improved due to the cold-drawing operation.

The cold-drawn wires are then tempered to improve their properties.

Tempering or ageing or stress relieving by heat treatment of wires at 150-
420°C improves the tensile strength.

These cold-drawn wires are generally available in nominal sizes of 2.5,

3,4,5,7 and 8 mm diameter. The prestressing steel, as per the code, should
be any one of the following types : Plain hard-drawn steel wire conforming
to IS : 785(Part 1)- 1966 and IS : 1785(Part 2)-1967, , Cold-drawn indented
wire, High tensile steel bar conforming to IS : 2090- 1962, and Uncoated
stress relieved strand conforming to IS : 6006- 1970.
Wires - single unit made of steel.

Strands – 2,3 or 7 wires wound to form a prestressing

strand.

Tendon - group of strands or wires wound to form a

prestressing tendon.
Forms of Reinforcing and Prestressing Steel
Properties of Prestressing Steel
• High strength
• Adequate ductility
• Bendability,
• High bond,
• Low relaxation to reduce losses
• Minimum corrosion.
 AGGREGATE
Aggregates having a maximum nominal size of 20 mrn or smaller are generally
considered satisfactory.
• High tensile steel bars (IS: 2090) - minimum tensile
Coarse and fine aggregates should be batched separately. All aggregates should
strength is 980 N/mm2.
comply with the requirements of IS : 383-1970.

The nominal maximum size of the aggregate should be as large as possible subject
to the following :

(a) It should not be greater than one-fourth the minimum thickness of the member.
(b) It should be 5 rnrn less than the spacing between the cables, strands or
sheathings provided in the member. Materials for Prestressed Concrete
(c) It should not be more than 40 mm.
 WATER
The requirements of water used for mixing and curing should conform to the
requirements given in IS : 456-1978 (Indian Standard Code of Practice for
plain and reinforced concrete [third revision]).

The use of sea water in the construction of prestressed concrete members is

prohibited. This is because the salts in the sea water can deteriorate the quality
of concrete and may lead to corrosion of reinforcement and tendons.

Both the quality and quantity of water used in a concrete mix are important.
For this purpose, water-cement ratio of the concrete mix as well as other
parameters such as permissible limits of chlorides and sulfates present in
mixing water are specified in the code.
 ADMIXTURES IN CONCRETE

The use of chemical admixtures may be made in prestressed concrete

construction.

But the admixture should not contain chlorides in any form.

This guideline is once again to protect tendons from corrosion as

chlorides help the corrosion of steel inside concrete.

The admixtures should conform to IS : 9103-1979 (Specifications for

admixtures for concrete).
 CONCRETE MIX PROPORTIONS

Concrete mix proportions should be chosen in such a way that concrete of adequate
workability is obtained. Workability of concrete mix should be such that it can be compacted
well using the available means of compaction.

The recommended values of workability of concrete can be taken from IS : 456-1978.

Concrete should surround all the tendons and other reinforcement well and should fill the
formwork space completely so that the maximum density is achieved.

When concrete hardens, it should have the required strength, durability and surface finish.
Determination of the proportions of cement, aggregates and water to achieve the required
strengths in concrete is made by designing the concrete mix. Such a concrete is called as a
'Design Mix concrete'. Use of only the design mix concrete is recommended in the case of
prestressed concrete construction. A maximum cement content of 530 kg/m3 is specified in
the code so that shrinkage stains of concrete may be restricted within limits.
 LIGHT-WEIGHT AGGREGATE PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
The use of light-weight aggregate concrete for prestressed concrete construction is well
established.

The main advantage of light-weight concrete is that it reduces the self-weight of the
structural components. Because of this the amount of concrete and prestressing steel
required for carrying the load is reduced. This type of concrete becomes important in long
span structures where the self-weight of the member is an important factor to be
considered for the determination of the design load of the structure. This eases the
transportation of the members also. In the present state of the art, it is possible to produce
high-strength light-weight concrete of 28 day cube compressive strength in the range of 30
to 50 N/rnm2. The light-weight aggregates generally used for prestressed concrete are
foamed slag, lytag and aglite. The modulus of elasticity of light-weight concrete is about
50 to 55% of that of normal-weight concrete. The loss of prestresses in light-weight
concrete due to elastic deformation is higher than the normal-weight concrete. But
shrinkage and creep are comparable to those in normal-weight concrete.