University of Canterbury

Department of Civil and Natural Resources

Engineering

Course: ENCI 426 – Concrete Structures

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
Statically Indeterminate Structures &
Long term behaviour

Alessandro PALERMO
Professor in Structural Engineering,
University of Canterbury
 CONTENTS:
Objectives:
• Structural design of a post-tensioned prestressed concrete multi-
span beam or slabs
• Basic principles of creep and shrinkage

Module Structure:
• Introduction and secondary effects of post-tensioning
• Worked examples: refresh of 2nd Pro and calculation of secondary
moments
• Line of trust and concordant profile and post-tensioned concrete
slabs
• Basic principles of creep and shrinkage (part 1)
• Worked examples: concordant profile and design of post-
tensioned concrete slabs
• Basic principles of creep and shrinkage (part 2)
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University of Canterbury
Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

Course: ENCI 426 – Concrete Structures

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
Statically Indeterminate and Long term behaviour

LECTURE 6
Basic principles of creep and post-tensioned concrete
slabs – part 2

Alessandro PALERMO
Professor in Structural Engineering,
University of Canterbury
 LECTURE SUMMARY
BASICS OF CREEP

• Models of linear creep

• Structural effects of creep

• Post-tensioning losses

POST-TENSIONED SLABS

• Technology of prestressing

• Design detailing

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 MODELS OF LINEAR CREEP
EXTREME THEORY OF AGINGà from noticing that for very young concrete creep
function slope is independent from the loading time t0

Exponential law à J ( t,to )=

1
Eo {
1+φo ée-βto -e-βt ù
ë û }
With b depending on the damping speed of the
phenomenon
à Creep coefficient exponentially
j¥ = jo e- b to decreases as the loading time
increases

Limit à After loading and unloading applying the

superposition principle only the irreversible deformation
remain
à Dishinger-Whitney model is not able to represent the
delayed elasticity

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 MODELS OF LINEAR CREEP

EXTREME THEORY OF HEREDITARYà from noticing that for very old concrete
creep function is the same for each following loading

Deformation depends only on the loading time t-t0

J ( t,to )=
1
Eo {
1+φ¥ é1-e ( O ) ù
êë
-β t-t
úû }
Where the creep coefficient at infinite time is the same
for each following unloading

Limit à After loading and unloading applying the

superposition principle slowly every strain is recovered
à Kelvin-Voigt model is not able to represent the
irreversible deformation

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 MODELS OF LINEAR CREEP
THEORY OF THE CORRECTED HEREDITARYà at the time t-t0 is associated a creep
coefficient function of the loading time

J ( t,to )=
1
{
Eo
1+φo e-αto é1-e-β ( t-to ) ù
êë }
úû
With this model following loading events have similar creep functions but reduced
EMPIRICAL MODELSà able to better represent the complex phenomenon of creep
CEB-FIP MC 90 (CEB-FIB 2010) à similar to the corrected hereditary model
Time-increasing function à g t-to ( )
Decreasing final amplitude with the concrete age at the loading time à j ¥ = j ¥ ( to )
Creep function à j ( t,t0 ) = j¥ ( to ) g ( t-to )
Introducing the effect of concrete fck and Relative Humidity it becomes:
( )
j¥ t0 = bc × b hs × j 0 With j0 as a reference value correspondent
to a basic situation
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 STRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF CREEP
HOMOGENEOUS MATERIAL

1st PRINCIPLE: In a section statically loaded stresses don’t vary due to creep while
strains increase proportionally to the creep coefficient

Fe
Fv Fc ( t,to )=F
c ee éë1 + j ( t,to ) ùû

u ( t,to )=u e éë1 + j ( t,to ) ùû

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 STRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF CREEP
HOMOGENEOUS MATERIAL
2nd PRINCIPLE: In a section subjected to imposed geometric actions strains don’t vary
due to creep while stresses decrease proportionally to the relaxation coefficient

F
M ( t,to )=M e éë1 - r ( t,to ) ùû

R ( t,to )=Re éë1 - r ( t,to ) ùû

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 POST-TENSIONING LOSSES
Long term

In a prestressed element, subjected to constant stress over time due to prestressing,

strain increases because of creep and thus the element shortens. This shortening
becomes an imposed deformation on the tendons causing relaxation due to creep.

Since the time-dependent strain depends on the amount of creep due to the prestressing
force but the force on the tendons is changing due to the associated relaxation, tendon
stresses and shortening depend each other.

The solution of this problem can be exactly found through the Volterra’s integral,
dividing the time interval into smaller temporal steps. In fact, the force at each temporal
step depends on the tensional history and only evaluating the force step-by-step an
exact solution can be found.

The determination of the force on the tendons after long term losses is a critical issue
for the design of prestressed members and codes such as Eurocode 2 suggests
expressions based on AAEM solution gathering shrinkage losses as well. NZ standards
refers mainly to EEM with creep function of CEB 1978.
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 POST-TENSIONING LOSSES
Long term
Eurocode 2 – Design of Concrete structures applies AAEMM for calculation
of prestressing losses. It includes shrinkage, steel relaxation and assumes
c (t=inf., t0)=0.8

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 POST-TENSIONING LOSSES
total

Pre-tensioning Post-tensioning
(%) (%)
Friction 3-5 1-2
Elastic shortening 4 0
Creep 10-14 9-13
Shrinkage 4-6 2-3
Relaxation 2-5 2-5
Total 23-34% 14-23%

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – unbonded monostrands

Corrosion protection by using plastic sheathing as primary protection plus grease as secondary protection.

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – bonded monostrands and flat-ducts

Stressing anchorage
bonded monostrands

Stressing anchorage
bonded flat-duct

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – bonded monostrands and flat-ducts

Dead anchorage
bonded flat-duct Spacing requirements

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – design detailing

Spiral reinforcement confines concrete and enhance its bearing capacity

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – design detailing

Spiral reinforcement confinement in

the dead anchorage improves bond
strength and ductility

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 POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – design detailing
Simple Strut and tie models for mono-strands or single flat duct

Be careful if you have a reaction close to the PT force, it

can change the strut and tie mechanism (see below):

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POST-TENSIONED SLABS
Post-tensioning technology – design detailing

Simple Strut and tie models for mono-strands (no

reinforcement):
The tension force 14.3kN divided by the shaded
area gives a stress which is below the tensile
strength of concrete

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 CONCLUSIONS
• Extreme creep models are important to understand the extreme
boundaries, i.e. maximum and minimum effects.

• 1st and 2nd creep principles extended to structural behaviour

(internal actions and displacements)

• Prestressing/post-tensioning losses can be easily calculated with

algebraic methods.EC2 adopts AAEMM.

• Post-tensioned slabs and anchorage detailing are essential for a

correct performance of those structural systems. Strut and Tie
concepts need to be applied.
References:
fib bulletin 31 “Post-tensioning in buildings.Task Group 1.1., 2005
VSL report series 3,5, Bern, Switzerland
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