Civil Engineering: Prestressed Concrete Design and Analysis Report

This report delves into the core concepts of prestressed concrete design, offering a detailed analysis of its critical components. It begins by defining prestressed concrete and its advantages, followed by an examination of differential shrinkage and its effects on concrete structures. The report then explores anchorage blocks, explaining their function in transferring prestressing forces and the stresses involved. Bursting pressure is analyzed, discussing the impact of environmental factors and the pressure exerted on beam ends. Finally, the report examines concordant cable profiles, emphasizing their importance in achieving structural stability. The report concludes with a summary of the key concepts, emphasizing the need for engineers to be well-versed in these aspects for effective prestressed concrete design. The report is supported by references to relevant books and journals, providing a comprehensive overview of the subject.

PRESTRESS
DESIGN

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
DIFFERENTIAL SHRINKAGE................................................................................................1
ANCHORAGE BLOCK.............................................................................................................1
BURSTING PRESSURE............................................................................................................1
CONCORDANT CABLE PROFILE..........................................................................................2
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3
.........................................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Prestressed concrete is a procedure wherein the internal tensions or stresses intensionally
induced in order to improve its performance without imposing external loads upon it. The agenda
of inducing these internal tensions in the structure acts as a counter force against the external
loads induced on the structure of concrete (Fabbrocinon and et. al., 2017). There are different
terms defined with respect to prestressed concrete. These are elaborated effectively in the
assignment below:
DIFFERENTIAL SHRINKAGE
This is the term applied for determining the difference between precast concrete's overall
tension characteristics and on-site concrete's shrinkage characteristics. If applied effectively,
differential shrinkage could affect strength of the prestressed concrete in terms of cracking and
warping. In prestressed concrete beams, presence of this factor has a serious impact on its time
dependent behaviour. In addition to this, it also affects steel relaxation, compression steel,
untensioned steel presence, etc.
ANCHORAGE BLOCK
The anchorage in the prestressed concrete consists the length of tendons, and is directly
contacted with the concrete. In the post-stressed concrete, an anchorage plate is applied. There
are various methods used to connect the tendons with the plates like button-heads, wedges and so
forth. Plates smaller in size than the concrete required to be compressed are used for the purpose.
However, this aspect in prestressed concrete is very crucial and stress is extremely complex. It
has various components like curved trajectories and it is essential that it does not crack in order
to ensure sustainability of the structure.
BURSTING PRESSURE
Burst pressure is the type of pressure that could be handled by a tube or a pipe before
bursting. There is a significant role of environment in determining this pressure. Inside
prestressed concrete beams, there are pre-tensed cables that are pulled by each ends surrounding
the anchorage. These are pulled till the necessary tensile force (Hurst, 2014). Due to its elastic
contraction, this prestressed pressure is them transferred as compression over the beam. As a
result, there is a pressure on the beam ends near anchors. After that the pressure is transferred
1

effectively to the overall cross section. It is imperative that the end blocks sustain such high
compression. This pressure induced by end block forces is called bursting pressure,
CONCORDANT CABLE PROFILE
Concordant cable profile refers to a profile which produces a force coincident with the
profile. While prestressed, it does not produce any deflection of the beam over the support. Thus,
no reaction is induced. It is very essential that the most suitable type of cable profile is used for
the prestressed concrete structure. The most appropriate design for the cable profile must be
chosen in order to ensure the stability and strength in the structure.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is important that to effectively establish a prestressed design, the engineer must
be well affiliated with these aspects of the prestressed concrete. It is necessary to determine the
design as well as their working to effectively support the structure made by the prestressed
concrete.
2

REFERENCES
Books And Journals
Fabbrocino, F., and et. al., 2017. Optimal prestress design of composite cable-stayed bridges.
Composite Structures. 169. pp.167-172.
Hurst, M.K., 2014. Prestressed concrete design. CRC Press.
3