Design of Pre-stressed Concrete

According to BS8110

Background
The stresses in concrete should be within the
permissible limits
Since allowable stresses, consider SLS
For SLS two checks are required
Stresses at transfer
Stresses at service

Check for ULS

Addition of non pre-stressed r/f to achieve
sufficient capacity

Background
At transfer

At Service

Duration

Temporary

Permanent

Strength of
concrete

Less than the full

strength

Full strength

Pre-stressing force

Initial force

Effective Force

Applicable loads

Pre-stress and self

weight

Pre-stress, self
weight and SLS
loads (other dead
weights and
imposed loads

Sign Convention
Positive

Negative

Stresses in concrete Compression

Tension

Stresses in steel

Tension

Compression

Moments

Sagging

Hogging

Deflection

Downward

Upwards

Notation

Z1 Section modulus, bottom fibre

Z2 Section modulus, top fibre
fci- Concrete strength at transfer
fcu- Concrete cube strength
ftc Allowable compressive stress at transfer
ftt - Allowable tensile stress at transfer
fsc - Allowable compressive stress at service
fst Allowable tensile stress at transfer
M0- Moment due to self-weight
Mdl- Moment due to super-imposed dead load
Mil Moment due to imposed load
Ms,max M0 + Mdl+ Mil
Ms,min - M0 + Mdl
Pi- Pre-stress at transfer
Pe- Pre-stress at service
Pe/Pi

Permissible Stresses
Class 1
No tensile stresses are allowed at SLS

Class 2
Some tension ( < tensile strength of concrete) is
allowed
Member remains uncracked

Class 3
Cracking occurs
Limited by tensioned and untensioned steel

Permissible Stresses
Stresses
Transfer

ftc
ftt

Service

Class 1

Class 3

0.4fci
1 N/mm2

fsc
fst

Class 2

0.45fci if pre-tensioned
0.36fci if post-tensioned
0.33fcu

0 N/mm2

0.45fcu if pre-tensioned
0.36fcuif post-tensioned

Derivation of Basic Equations

Initial Selection of Section Sizes

Example
An office building is to be constructed using pre-cast concrete
beams. The beams will be pre-tensioned (class 2) due to the smaller
spans of the building. The beams will be simply supported on load
bearing walls.
A typical rectangular beam has a width of 200mm, a depth of
300mm and a span of 4m. The spacing between beams will be
2.5m.
At service conditions, the concrete is expected to gain a strength of
50 N/mm2 and is also expected to gain 60 % of it at transfer. The
density of concrete is 24 kN/m3. Furthermore, a 20 % loss of prestress is expected in the tendon between transfer and service
states.
The slab will have a thickness of 125mm. The dead loads due to
partitions and finishes could be taken as 1kN/m2 each.

(1) Calculate the expected loads on the beam at

SLS. Hence calculate the critical moments in
the typical beam.
(2) Calculate the area and second moment of
area of the typical beam. Hence calculate the
section modulus at the top and bottom fibres
of the beam.
(3) Calculate the permissible stresses for the precast beam. Hence, derive the basic equations
for the typical beam.
(4) Check for the adequacy of the beam
dimensions.