Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Deflection of unbonded partially prestressed concrete continuous beams

J.S. Du a,1, Francis T.K. Au b,⇑, Enoch K.H. Chan c,b,2, L. Liu a,1
a
School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiao Tong University, Beijing 100044, China
b
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
c
CH2M, Burderop Park, Swindon, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Continuous beams are preferred to simply supported beams because of economy, fewer expansion/
Received 2 June 2015 contraction joints and possible benefits from moment redistribution. In the design of unbonded partially
Revised 15 March 2016 prestressed concrete (UPPC) continuous beams, it is necessary to estimate their deflections under service
Accepted 16 March 2016
loads in order to satisfy the requirements of serviceability limit state. A method is developed to convert
the cross sectional area of unbonded prestressed tendons to the equivalent cross sectional area of non-
prestressed steel. Then the moment of inertia of cracked section as well as Branson’s effective moment
Keywords:
of inertia in a UPPC continuous beam can be easily determined. The computed deflections are compared
Continuous beams
Deflection
with some available experimental results, including beams with external unbonded steel tendons and
Effective moment of inertia those with external unbonded aramid fibre reinforced polymer tendons. The proposed method gives
Prestressed concrete satisfactory predictions of deflection till the yielding of non-prestressed steel. Another equation for
Unbonded prestressing tendons moment of inertia of cracked section, which was originally suggested by the precast/prestressed concrete
institute (PCI) Design Handbook for bonded partially prestressed concrete beams, is also evaluated in the
study. In most cases the PCI equation can also give satisfactory results but in some cases its discrepancy of
deflections is larger than that of the proposed method. Compared with the method recommended in the
current Chinese Code, the proposed method is applicable not only to members with the conventional
high-strength steel prestressing tendons, but also to those with tendons made of other materials such
as fibre-reinforced polymer.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction for prestressed concrete beams with unbonded tendons because

The use of unbonded tendons in prestressed concrete members
not only leads to economical and simple designs, but also enables
fast installation and easy replacement of defective tendons. The
unbonded tendons can also provide an economic solution for
strengthening and repairing existing structures. They can be used
in the form of external tendons in new structures and retrofitting
of concrete bridges, as well as internal tendons in beams and slabs.
With the increasing use of unbonded tendons in prestressed con-
crete structures, there is a need for a closer examination of the
design and analysis of such structures. The behaviour of pre-
stressed concrete beams with bonded tendons is characterised by
that at individual sections, as there is bonding between the ten-
dons and the surrounding concrete. However, this is not the case
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 2859 2650; fax: +852 2559 5337.
E-mail addresses: jshdu@bjtu.edu.cn (J.S. Du), francis.au@hku.hk (F.T.K. Au),
khenochchan@gmail.com (E.K.H. Chan), liulingcherish@163.com (L. Liu).
1 between the tendons and concrete, it is difficult to calculate Icr
Tel.: +86 (10) 5168 8247; fax: +86 (10) 5168 7248.
2
Tel.: +44 (0) 7887 547 929.
the tendons and the surrounding concrete generally move with
respect to each other longitudinally (slip) and vertically (as a
second-order effect for external unbonded tendons) [1].
In bridge construction, continuous beams are often preferred to
simply supported beams as the former require fewer movement
joints, provide better riding quality and allow lower maintenance
cost. For the same span lengths and sections, continuous beams
also have higher stiffness than simply supported beams. Previous
studies of unbonded prestressed concrete (UPC) and unbonded
partially prestressed concrete (UPPC) members have mainly been
on the ultimate limit state in bending [2–8], but very few have
addressed the behaviour at service load conditions with respect
to deflection. Although numerical methods based on different the-
ories [9–11] can be used to investigate the deformation of UPPC
continuous beams at serviceability and ultimate limit states, they
are inconvenient for practical designers. To determine the deflec-
tion of a UPPC continuous beam after cracking, the moment of
inertia of cracked section Icr is needed. Because of the lack of bond
exactly for UPPC continuous beams under specific loading. This

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.03.040
0141-0296/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
90 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96
Nomenclature
Ap, As cross sectional areas of prestressing and non-
prestressed steel respectively
Ape cross sectional area of equivalent non-prestressed steel
for unbonded tendons
b, bw widths of flange and web respectively
c neutral axis depth at critical section
dp, ds depths to centroid of prestressing and non-prestressed
steel respectively
e0 distance between decompression F and resultant force R
(=M/R)
Ec modulus of elasticity of concrete
Ep, Es moduli of elasticity of prestressing and non-prestressed
steel respectively
F decompression
fc concrete stress in top fibre under service load
0
fc cylinder compressive strength of concrete
fp stress in prestressing steel under service load
fpe effective prestress in prestressing tendon
fr modulus of rupture of concrete
fs stress in non-prestressed steel under service load
fy yield stress of non-prestressed steel
paper describes the use of a simplified method to estimate the
value of Icr for UPPC beams for calculation of deflections.
2. Review of previous work
There are two methods [12] to determine the short-term deflec-
tions of bonded partially prestressed concrete (PPC) beams, namely
bilinear computation method and that using Branson’s effective
moment of inertia Ie. In the bilinear computation method, the
deflection before cracking is computed using the gross moment
of inertia Ig, while the additional deflection after cracking is calcu-
lated using the cracked section moment of inertia Icr. The method
using Branson’s effective moment of inertia Ie was first applied to
PPC members by Shaikh and Branson [13] in 1970. Since then,
improvements have been made to the equation for Ie by different
researchers. They mainly focus on: (a) the level of applied moment
M at which the expression of Ie should be used; (b) the reference
load or state of member deformation from which cracking moment
Mcr is measured; and (c) the section axis about which Icr is calcu-
lated. Rao and Dilger [14] compared four such methods based on
Ie for their accuracy in deflection prediction, and recommended
the simplified method by Shaikh and Branson [13] that gave an
accurate but slightly conservative prediction. Tadros et al. [15] pro-
posed a more rigorous and accurate method for deflection predic-
tion by integration of curvatures at key sections along the span
using the method of Ie. Scholz [16] suggested a simple method
using the span-to-effective depth limits for the first-level deflec-
tion assessment of PPC members. Chern et al. [17] put forward a
numerical method to evaluate the deformation of progressively
cracking PPC beams. They concluded that consideration of tensile
strain softening in concrete improved the predictions compared
to classical theory that ignored the tensile resistance of concrete.
However, the effect is not large and it mainly affects the initial
post-cracking stage.
Deflection analysis of UPC or UPPC beams is more complex than
for bonded tendons, as the tendon stress that is assumed constant
at all sections must be determined from the deformation of the
entire structure. Naaman and Alkhairi [18] proposed a method
for analysis of UPC members under service load using the bond
reduction coefficient, which essentially converted the UPC beams
hf thickness of flange
Icr moment of inertia of cracked section
Ie effective moment of inertia of section
Ig gross moment of inertia of section
l one span length in a two-span continuous beam
L distance between end anchorages
L0 distance between two point loads
M applied moment at midspan sections
Mcr cracking moment
R resultant force
P external loading at midspan sections
y depth from top fibre to centroid of cracked section
X, Xcr bond reduction coefficient at uncracked and cracked
states respectively
k ratio of length of equivalent deformation region Le to the
neutral axis depth c at critical section
d deflection at midspan in an UPPC continuous beam
qp ;qs ratios of prestressed and non-prestressed steel respec-
tively qp ¼ Ap =bdp qs ¼ As =bds
to the equivalent cases with bonded tendons, so that the previous
analytical solutions for beams with bonded tendons could be used.
The computation of bond reduction coefficients X before cracking
from basic principles of mechanics is simple. However, the compu-
tation of ‘‘exact” bond reduction coefficient Xcr at the cracked state
for different types of loading and tendon profiles is extremely dif-
ficult [19].
For a simply supported beam with two symmetrically disposed
point loads separated by a distance, Harajli and Kanj [19] analysed
the variation of Xcr versus different ratios of the total applied
moment M to the cracking moment Mcr and different ranges of
Icr/Ig for beams with straight tendons. They observed that Xcr did
not differ significantly from its value before cracking, and hence
assumed Xcr = X for practical analysis of cracked section. On the
other hand, Naaman and Alkhairi [18] suggested an equation for
Xcr as
Icr
Xcr ¼ X ð1Þ
Ig
Obviously the major problem here lies in the estimation of the value
of Icr. Incidentally, the neutral axis location for cracked prestressed
concrete beams depends not only on the geometry of the cross sec-
tion and the material properties, but also on the prestressing force
and the external loading. Therefore, the exact value of Icr is not
known until the cracked section is analysed.
Au et al. [20] extended the capability of Pannell’s coefficient k,
which was the ratio of length of equivalent deformation region Le
to the neutral axis depth c at critical section, to the cracked section
analysis of unbonded partially prestressed concrete members
under service load. They found that, under service load after crack-
ing of the beam and until the yielding of non-prestressed steel, k
was insensitive to the variation of the combined reinforcement
index. The cubic equation established by Au et al. [20] for the neu-
tral axis c of a cracked T-section (Fig. 1) appears as
c3 þ g 1 c 2 þ g 2 c þ g 3 ¼ 0 ð2aÞ
where the constant coefficients are given as
6kAp Ep e0
g 1 ¼ 3ðe0  dp Þ þ ð2bÞ
Ec Lbw
 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96 91

hf Yielding of
y
c non-prestressed steel

ds dp
My

Ap
As M
Icr

Moment
bw
Cracking of
concrete 1= deflection using Ig
Fig. 1. A typical flanged section. = deflection using Icr
2
Ie = effective moment
Ie

 of inertia for tot= 1+ 2
6 kAp Ep e0 dp As Es ðe0  dp þ ds Þ Mcr
g2 ¼ hf ðb  bw Þðe0  dp þ 0:5hf Þ  þ
bw Ep L Ec
Ig
ð2cÞ 2

" 2  
6 hf 2hf Es As ds
g3 ¼  ðb  bw Þ e0  dp þ þ ðe0  dp þ ds Þ
bw 2 3 Ec
The depth of the centroid of the cracked section below the top
fibre y is given by
2
ðb  bw Þhf =2 þ bw c2 =2 þ Es As ds =Ec þ Ep Ap dp =Ec
y¼
ðb  bw Þhf þ bw c þ Es As =Ec þ Ep Ap =Ec
while the moment of inertia of the cracked section Icr is
ðb  bw Þhf
bw y3 bw ðc  yÞ3 2
Icr ¼ þ þ hf ðb  bw Þðy  0:5hf Þ þ
3 3 12
2 2
Es As ðds  yÞ Ep Ap ðdp  yÞ
þ þ
Ec Ec
where Ap and As are the cross sectional areas of prestressing and
non-prestressed steel respectively; b and bw are the widths of flange
and web respectively; dp and ds are the depths to centroids of pre-
stressing and non-prestressed steel respectively; Ec is the modulus
of elasticity of concrete; Ep and Es are the moduli of elasticity of pre-
stressing and non-prestressed steel respectively; hf is the thickness
of flange; L is the distance between end anchorages; F is the decom-
pression; e0 is the distance between decompression F and resultant
force R, which is obtained as e0 = M/R from the total applied
moment M.
Although the above method to determinate Icr for UPPC beams
suggested by Au et al. [20] is theoretically correct, the calculation
procedure is tedious, and it is inconvenient for practical designers
to compute the deflections of UPPC beams. Du and Au [21] sug-
gested a method for estimation of deflections for simply supported
UPPC members. The present study attempts to further extend it to
UPPC continuous beams.
3. Simplified estimation of Icr in UPPC beams
Experimental investigations show that when a UPPC beam is
loaded, the load–deflection curve normally exhibits three stages,
namely (1) elastic, (2) cracked-elastic and (3) plastic as shown in
Fig. 2. The transition from the first to the second stage is caused
by the development of cracks at the bottom of the beam, while
the transition from the second to the third stage is caused by yield-
ing of the non-prestressed steel. The deflection of a UPPC beam
depends on whether the section is cracked or uncracked. When
the section is uncracked, the gross moment of inertia Ig can be used
#
1
Deflection
ð2dÞ
Fig. 2. Moment–deflection relationship of a UPPC beam.
for deflection calculation. When cracking occurs in a UPPC mem-
ber, theoretically, the cracked moment of inertia Icr should be used
ð3Þ
for the sections at which cracks develop while the gross moment of
inertia should be used for the sections between cracks. However
such refinement is impractical and unwarranted for the accuracy
3 of deflection evaluation, not to mention the random nature of
cracking. The actual stiffness of the beam lies between EcIg and
EcIcr, depending on the extent of cracking, distribution of loading,
and contribution of concrete between the cracks to tension. Gener-
ð4Þ
ally, as the load approaches the yield load level of non-prestressed
steel, the stiffness value approaches EcIcr.
Consequently, the effective moment of inertia Ie developed by
Branson may be applied as an average value along the span of a
simply supported UPPC beam, i.e.
 3 "  3 #
M cr M cr
Ie ¼ Ig þ 1  Icr 6 Ig ð5Þ
M M
where Mcr and M are the cracking and total applied moment at the
beam critical section, respectively.
In order to compute Ie, the moment of inertia of cracked section
is needed. To describe the variation of the location of neutral axis
in UPPC beams, two states of cracked section are used here, namely
the partially cracked section and fully cracked section. Before the
yielding of non-prestressed steel, the cracked section is referred
to as partially cracked section, while after the yielding of non-
prestressed steel, the cracked section is designated as fully cracked
section. In reinforced concrete (RC) beams, the neutral axis of
bending goes through the centroid of the cracked transformed sec-
tion. However, this is not true for partially cracked UPPC sections,
as their neutral axis can vary depending on the applied moment
and prestressing force as shown in Fig. 3. As the neutral axis varies
with the applied moment, the centroid of the partially cracked
section varies and so does the corresponding cracked moment of
inertia. According to Branson and Trost [22], the location of neutral
axis of a fully cracked UPPC section coincides with its centroid as
shown in Fig. 3(d). The moment of inertia of fully cracked section
Icr is the lower bound of the moment of inertia of partially cracked
section. The value of Icr for UPPC beams can be obtained as the
transformed moment of inertia of the cracked section assuming
92 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96
fc
y y
c
Ap Apfpe
As A sf s
Cross section Uncracked
Stresses
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Stress distributions of uncracked, partially cracked and fully cracked UPPC sections.
the amount of reinforcing steel equivalent to the unbonded pre-
stressing tendons. Under service loading, the strain increment in
unbonded tendons is always less than the corresponding concrete
strain increment at the same position. Moreover, the stress incre-
ment in unbonded tendons is limited and relatively low. Neglect-
ing such stress increment, and considering only the effective
prestress in unbonded tendons fpe, the unbonded prestressing ten-
dons can be approximately transformed into the equivalent cross
sectional area Ape of non-prestressed steel as
Ap f pe
Ape ¼ ð6Þ
fy
where Ap is the cross sectional area of unbonded tendons; fpe is the
effective prestress in unbonded tendons; and fy is the yield stress of
non-prestressed steel.
Consider the T-section shown in Fig. 1. After converting the
unbonded prestressing steel to an equivalent amount of non-
prestressed steel by using Eq. (6), the neutral axis depth c will coin-
cide with the depth to centroid y at the fully cracked state. Defining
the modular ratios for non-prestressed steel and prestressing steel
as ns ¼ Es =Ec and np ¼ Ep =Ec respectively, and assuming y to be
more than the thickness of flange hf, then the depth to centroid y
of the fully cracked section can be determined by basic structural
mechanics as
1 2 1 2
by  ðb  bw Þðy  hf Þ ¼ ns As ðds  yÞ þ np Ape ðdp  yÞ ð7Þ
2 2
while the corresponding moment of inertia Icr is
1 3 1 3 2
Icr ¼ by  ðb  bw Þðy  hf Þ þ ns As ðds  yÞ
3 3
2
þ np Ape ðdp  yÞ ð8Þ
For rectangular sections or flanged sections with y not exceeding
the thickness of flange hf, y and Icr can also be obtained from Eqs.
(7) and (8) respectively by putting bw ¼ b.
With the determination of Icr, the effective moment of inertia Ie
can be obtained by using Eq. (5) for UPPC continuous beams at
specific sections. The code ACI 318-08 [23] suggests a simple aver-
aging of Ie values for the sections carrying positive and negative
moments in continuous beams. As the rigidity at mid-span has pre-
dominant effect on deflections, the use of mid-span sectional prop-
erties for continuous prismatic members is reasonable in
approximate calculations. Consider a two-span UPPC continuous
beam with identical spans l under two identical point loads P at
mid-span positions. When the applied moment M at mid-span
fc fc
y=c
c
Apfpe Apfpe
A sfs A s fy
Partially Cracked Fully Cracked
Stresses Stresses
(c) (d)
exceeds the corresponding cracking moment Mcr, the short-term
deflection d at mid-span is estimated as
3 2
7Pl 7Ml
d¼ ¼ ð9Þ
768Ec Ie 120Ec Ie
4. Evaluation of the simplified calculation method for Icr
To demonstrate the validity of the proposed simplified calcula-
tion method for Icr of UPPC continuous beams, the computed
deflections are compared with some available experimental
results. In the computation, the maximum service moment M
applied was increased from zero to that corresponding to the
yielding of non-prestressed tension steel by increments of
0.20Mcr  0.30Mcr of the beam. In the absence of measurements
of modulus of elasticity Ec and modulus of rupture fr of concrete,
they were computed based on the cylinder compressive strength
0
f c using ACI 318-08 Code [23], namely
qffiffiffiffi
0
Ec ¼ 4700 f c ðMPaÞ ð10Þ
qffiffiffiffi
0
f r ¼ 0:62 f c ðMPaÞ ð11Þ
4.1. Experimental work by Chan [24] at The University of Hong Kong
(HKU)
In the experimental programme, 18 two-span continuous con-
crete beams partially prestressed with external tendons were
tested to failure. The typical cross-section of the beam specimens
was a symmetrical T-section. The depth and width of the section
were both 300 mm with 50 mm thick flange and 100 mm thick
web, as shown in Fig. 4. Two types of prestressing tendons were
adopted in the experimental programme, namely 7-wire steel
strands of 12.9 mm nominal diameter and Parafil ropes of
10.5 mm nominal core diameter made of aramid fibre-reinforced
polymer (AFRP). The test specimens were divided into two major
groups, namely Group PCS with Parafil ropes and Group SCS with
7-wire steel strands. Group SCS could be further sub-divided into
two sub-groups. Twelve of the specimens, namely SCS1 to SCS4
and SCS6 to SCS13, were prestressed before testing. To investigate
the effect of prior loading history on the behaviour of RC beams
strengthened with external tendons, specimens SCS14 and SCS15
had been loaded before being prestressed with tendons. All speci-
mens were eventually loaded to failure with large deflections so
that the full-range behaviour could be investigated. To quantify
 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96
A B External Tendons
A B
200 2250
300
50
300
100
SECTION A-A
Fig. 4. Dimensions of test specimens by Chan [24] at HKU (unit: mm).
the total amount of flexural reinforcement in a partial prestressing
system, the reinforcement index x was used, namely
0 ison between the experimental and the analysis results shows
Ap f ps þ As f s  A0s f s
x¼ 0 ð12Þ
bdctf f c
where Ap is the cross-sectional area of prestressing tendons; As and A0s
are the cross-sectional areas of the bottom and top non-prestressed
steel respectively; b is the width of the section; dctf is the depth to
the centroid of tensile force; fps is the tendon stress at peak load; fs
0
and f s are the tensile stresses of the bottom and top non-
0 The ratios Ie/Ig and M/Mcr were used to investigate the variation
prestressed steel at ultimate respectively; and f c is the cylinder con-
crete compressive strength. Specimens with reinforcement indices at
interior support ranging from 0.14 to 0.36 were tested. For specimens
having the same amount of prestressed and non-prestressed rein-
forcement, different concrete strengths, namely grades 55, 70 and
100, were used to investigate the influence of concrete strength on
the behaviour of PC beams with external tendons.
The load–deflection curves for typical specimens PCS2, SCS1,
SCS2 and SCS7 are plotted in Fig. 5(a)–(d), respectively. The compar-
ison between the experimental and the analysis results shows
favourable agreement till the yielding of non-prestressed steel. Very
good agreement is observed for the first three specimens, but spec-
imen SCS7 has about 20% discrepancy between the computed and
measured deflections. Although the discrepancy in the last case is
a bit large, the computed deflections are on the safe side.
4.2. Experimental work by Harajli et al. [25]
In this experimental programme, 9 two-span continuous con-
crete beams prestressed with external tendons were tested to
investigate the influence of the areas of the external prestressing
steel and ordinary bonded reinforcement, the profile of the exter-
nal tendons, and the configuration of the deviators on the strength
and structural behaviour. Two concentrated loads were applied
simultaneously at the midpoints of the spans as shown in Fig. 6.
Each specimen had a typical rectangular cross-section with depth
of 200 mm and width of 150 mm. Two types of prestressing ten-
dons were adopted in the experimental programme, namely wires
of 5 mm diameter and 7-wire strands of 8 mm nominal diameter.
The target concrete compression strength was 41 MPa for all
specimens.
93
2250 200
300
300
141
170
SECTION B-B
The load–deflection curves for specimens B6D1, B6D2, B10S1A
and B10S2B are plotted in Fig. 7(a)–(d), respectively. The compar-
favourable agreement till the yielding of non-prestressed steel.
The discrepancy between the computed and measured deflections
are within ±20%.
4.3. Variation of effective moment of inertia Ie with the applied
moment
of effective moment of inertia Ie with the applied moment M. After
cracking of the section, typical variations of Ie/Ig versus M/Mcr for
the tested beams with external unbonded steel tendons are shown
in Fig. 8, while those for specimens with external unbonded AFRP
tendons are illustrated in Fig. 9. It can be seen that the Ie/Ig of a
cracked beam decreases sharply for M/Mcr below 2.0 and then
gradually becomes stable with the increase of applied moment
for a given reinforcement index. The larger the reinforcement
index at mid-span is, the higher the value of Ie/Ig is, while all other
parameters remain the same.
4.4. Comparison of suggested method with PCI Design Handbook’s
equation
In computing Icr, the PCI Design Handbook [26] has proposed a
simplified equation for bonded prestressed concrete beams as
2 2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Icr-PCI ¼ np Ap dp þ ns As ds ð1  1:6 np qp þ ns qs Þ ð13Þ
where qp ¼ Ap =bdp and qs ¼ As =bds are the ratios of prestressed and
non-prestressed steel respectively.
The moments of inertia of cracked section based on Eq. (13)
(designated as Icr-PCI ) and Eq. (8) (designated as Icr ) for all speci-
mens of Chan [24] were calculated as listed in Table 1, giving the
ratios of Icr to Icr-PCI between 1.016 and 1.128. The differences in
moment of inertia of cracked section based on Eqs. (8) and (13)
lead to variations of the corresponding effective moment of inertia
as well as the calculated deflections. In most cases, the PCI equa-
tion gives satisfactory results, while in some cases its discrepancies
are larger than those of the proposed method.
94 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96

600 PCS2 700

SCS1
500 600
Applied load (kN)

Applied load (kN)

400 500

400
300 Yielding of nonprestressed steel
300 Yielding of nonprestressed steel
200
200
Experimental Experimental
100
Calculated 100 Calculated
Chinese Code
0 0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Mid-span deflection (mm) Mid-span deflection (mm)
(a) Specimen PCS2 (b) Specimen SCS1

600 SCS2 700

SCS7
500 600
Applied load (kN)

Applied load (kN)

500
400
400
300 Yielding of nonprestressed steel Yielding of nonprestressed steel
300
200 200
Experimental
100 100 Experimental
Calculated
Chinese Code Calculated
0
0 Chinese Code
-100
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Mid-span deflection (mm) Mid-span deflection (mm)
(c) Specimen SCS2 (d) Specimen SCS7
Fig. 5. Comparison of prediction results with experimental results by Chan [24].

A B External Tendons

A
B
1500 1500

150 External Tendons

200

200
150

35 60

SECTION A-A SECTION B-B

Fig. 6. Dimensions of test specimens by Harajli et al. [25] (unit: mm).

 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96 95

240
160 B6D1 B6D2
140 200
120
160
Applied Load (kN)

Applied Load (kN)

100 Yielding of nonprestressed steel

80 120 Yielding of nonprestressed steel

60
80
Experimental
40
Calculated
40 Experimental
20 Chinese Code
Calculated
0 Chinese Code
0
-20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Mid-span deflection (mm) Mid-span deflection (mm)

(a) Specimen B6D1 (b) Specimen B6D2

B10S1A 180 B10S2B

200
180 160
160 140
140 Applied Load (kN) 120
Applied Load (kN)

Yielding of nonprestressed steel

120
100 Yielding of nonprestressed steel
100
80
80
60
60 Experimental
Calculated 40 Experimental
40 Calculated
Chinese Code 20
20 Chinese Code
0 0
-20 -20
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Mid-span deflection (mm) Mid-span deflection (mm)
(c) Specimen B10S1A (d) Specimen B10S2B
Fig. 7. Comparison of prediction results with Experimental results by Harajli et al. [25]

1.0 1.0

SCS1
0.8 SCS2 0.8
SCS3 PCS1
PCS2
Ie/Ig

0.6 0.6 PCS3

Ie/Ig

PCS4

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
M/Mcr M/Mcr

Fig. 8. Typical variations of Ie/Ig versus M/Mcr for specimens with unbonded internal Fig. 9. Typical variations of Ie/Ig versus M/Mcr for specimens with unbonded
steel tendons. external AFRP tendons.
96 J.S. Du et al. / Engineering Structures 118 (2016) 89–96

Table 1 evaluated in the study. It is found that PCI equation can also give
Comparison of Icr based on Eq. (8) and Icr-PCI based on Eq. (13). satisfactory results but in some cases its discrepancies are larger
Specimen no. PCS1 PCS2 PCS3 PCS4 SCS1 SCS2 than those of the proposed method. Compared with the method
4
Icr (cm ) 13167.5 12,184 6706.6 6134.5 13433.9 12372.9 recommended by the current Chinese Code, the proposed method
Icr-PCI (cm4) 12822.4 11945.7 6603.3 5969.8 12202.4 11357.3 is more accurate in most of the cases examined. The proposed
Icr/Icr-PCI 1.027 1.020 1.016 1.028 1.101 1.089 method is applicable not only to members with the conventional
SCS3 SCS4 SCS6 SCS7 SCS8 SCS9 high-strength steel prestressing tendons, but also to those with
Icr (cm4) 6280.8 6275.2 9345.7 12937.4 6133 7906.7
tendons made of other materials such as fibre-reinforced polymer.
Icr-PCI (cm4) 5744.2 5561.8 8492.4 11789.2 5693.8 7272
Icr/Icr-PCI 1.093 1.128 1.100 1.097 1.077 1.087 Acknowledgements
SCS10 SCS11 SCS12 SCS13 SCS14 SCS15
Icr (cm4) 5720.6 7193.5 6827.3 8674.8 6862.3 8487.3
The work described in this paper has been supported by the
Icr-PCI (cm4) 5373.4 6715.2 6300.1 7983.3 6316.1 7844.3 Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Icr/Icr-PCI 1.065 1.071 1.084 1.087 1.086 1.082 Region, China (RGC Project No. HKU 710111E).

4.5. Comparison of proposed method with recommendation by Chinese
Code
In computing Ie for cross sections without tension flanges, the
Chinese Code [27] recommends the following equation for UPPC
beams
Ig
Ie-CHN ¼
jcr þ ð1  jcr Þg
jcr ¼ Mcr =M
 
0:21
g ¼ 1:0 þ  0:7
ns q
ð0:3Ap þ As Þ
q¼
bdctf
where the other symbols have been used before.
As Eq. (14) only applies to UPPC beams with conventional steel
tendons, those specimens in the above sections with steel tendons
are re-analysed by Eq. (14) taken from the Chinese Code for com-
parison. Results for specimens SCS1, SCS2 and SCS7 of Chan [24]
are shown in Fig. 5(b)–(d). For specimens SCS1 and SCS2, the esti-
mated deflections by the Chinese Code are not only on the unsafe
side, but also less accurate than the proposed method using Eq. (8).
However, for specimen SCS7, the deflections computed by the Chi-
nese Code are more accurate. Results for specimens B6D1, B6D2,
B10S1A and B10S2B of Harajli et al. [25] are also plotted in Fig. 7
(a)–(d). For specimens B6D1 and B6D2, the proposed method is
more accurate than the Chinese Code, while for specimens
B10S1A and B10S2B, predictions of the proposed method and the
Chinese Code are almost identical.
5. Conclusions
A simplified method has been developed to estimate the short-
term deflections in unbonded partially prestressed concrete con-
tinuous beams by converting the cross sectional area of unbonded
prestressing tendons to the equivalent cross sectional area of non-
prestressed steel. Then the moment of inertia of cracked section as
well as Branson’s effective moment of inertia in a UPPC continuous
beam can be determined. Comparison of the computed deflections
with available experimental results shows that the proposed
method gives satisfactory predictions of deflection till the yielding
of non-prestressed steel. Another equation for moment of inertia of
cracked section, which was originally suggested by the PCI Design
Handbook for bonded partially prestressed concrete beams, is also
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