Precast, Prestressed Contrete in Beam Design

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Beam design:
The design selected for the beam element encompasses the use of precast prestressed concrete. Two symmetrical beams supporting a cast in-situ slab was used so as to provide longitudinal torsional restraint. All in-situ concrete and formwork shall be carried out in accordance to SANS 10100 specifications as described by the calculations attached herein.
Precast design was selected since the beam can be produced under factory conditions and not necessarily cast on-site. Quality can be controlled and costs reduced since there is no need for complex scaffolding, and hence erection time and labour is lowered.
Construction method: Pre-tensioning
The wires are tensioned prior to concreting by means of jacking systems fitted to the beam mould. The concrete is then poured. When hardened, the prestressed beam is removed from the mould. It tends to bend upwards due to prestressing, but deflects to an approximately horizontal position when loaded. The contractor shall satisfy that during casting of concrete, the beds do not deform and contribute to loss of prestress. Only stressing steel that is clean and rust free will be accepted for tendon purposes. If deemed necessary by the engineer, all wires and strands must be treated with an approved anticorrosive before assembly.
Design specifications:
• Two 1200 x 400mm beams supporting a composite insitu slab.
• Beam concrete properties of 50 MPa characteristic strength with an elastic modulus of 35GPa. Unit weight of 24kN/m3 is used. A minimum cover of 30mm must be provided to all reinforcing.
• Class 1 beam, i.e. no tensioned induced throughout the beam in transfer and service conditions. Permissible stresses in accordance to design code specifications. The compressive strengths obtained according to the grade of concrete used is 20MPa in transfer and 16.5 MPa in service conditions.
• Analysis of loading conditions yields a permanent action of 20.55 kN/m and variable actions of 5kN/m2. Serviceability limit state is used to check bending in the beam while ultimate limit state is used for shear.
• The magnel diagram (see calcualtions) was plotted inorder to obtain the feasible region in determining the prestress force at a particular eccentricity. To increase accuracy, the diagram encompasses the service, transfer and construction conditions. A maximum eccentricity of 375mm at midspan with a prestress force of 3705kN was obtained. 18mm diameter 19 wire strands tensioned to 75% of the characteristic strength (370kN), while taking into account elastic losses of 5%, produced a requirement of 15 strands to carry the specified loading conditions.

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