• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2001

This paper aims at estimating instantaneous prestress losses by measuring the actual prestress forces in prestressed concrete (PSC) box girder bridges. Measurement were taken to study initial prestress losses such as friction losses and slip losses. A new strain gauge system was developed to measure strains in internal tendons. The system was installed on a total of 20 tendons in a PSC box girder bridges. The variation of prestress forces were monitored during prestressing tendon and after prestress transfer. The prestress losses are also calculated including friction losses and slip losses. The measured data were compared with the theoretical values. The result shows that the measured prestress forces agree well with the theoretical values. It is shown that prestress force of each strand in the same tendon is a bit different. This study also shows that prestress losses of continuity tendons during prestress transfer are significantly different each other, which results from the variety of buttress location and tendon profile. The present study provides realistic information on the estimation of actual prestress forces and losses in PSC box girder bridges.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.183-191
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• 2013

Prestress losses assumed for bridge girder design and deflection analyses are dependent on the concrete modulus of elasticity (MOE). Most design specifications, such as the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) bridge specifications, contain a constant value for the MOE based on the unit weight of concrete and the concrete compressive strength at 28 days. It has been shown in the past that that the concrete MOE varies with the age of concrete. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a time-dependent and variable MOE on the prestress losses assumed for bridge girder design. For this purpose, three different variable MOE models from the literature were investigated: Dischinger (Der Bauingenieur 47/48(20):563-572, 1939a; Der Bauingenieur 5/6(20):53-63, 1939b; Der Bauingenieur, 21/22(20):286-437, 1939c), American Concrete Institute (ACI) 209 (Tech. Rep. ACI 209R-92, 1992) and CEB-FIP (CEB-FIP Model Code, 2010). A typical bridge layout for the Dallas, Texas, USA, area was assumed herein. A prestressed concrete beam design and analysis program from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was utilized to determine the prestress losses. The values of the time dependent MOE and also specific prestress losses from each model were compared. The MOE predictions based on the ACI and the CEB-FIP models were close to each other; in long-term, they approach the constant AASHTO value. Dischinger's model provides for higher MOE values. The elastic shortening and the long term losses from the variable MOE models are lower than that using a constant MOE up to deck casting time. In long term, the variable MOE-based losses approach that from the constant MOE predictions. The Dischinger model would result in more conservative girder design while the ACI and the CEB-FIP models would result in designs more consistent with the AASHTO approach.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.131-138
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• 2003

This paper presents an analytical prediction of the prestress losses of prestressed concrete bridges. In this study a numerical procedure and computer program is developed to analyze the behavior of prestressed concrete bridges considering the time-dependent properties of material. It accounts for the aging, creep and shrinkage of concrete and the stress relaxation of prestressed steel. The structural model uses two dimensional plane frame elements with three nodal degree of freedom and is analyzed based on the finite element method. Member cross section can consist of concrete, reinforcement and prestressing steel. Two different set of equations for the prediction of time-dependent material properties of concrete are presented, which are ACI, CEB-FIP. The proposed numerical method for the prestress losses of prestressed concrete bridges is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1A
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• pp.15-24
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• 2008

This paper presents the analytical method for the long-term behavior of simply supported composite beams with precast decks prestressed in the longitudinal direction. The objectives of time-dependent analysis are to estimate losses of prestress on the concrete slab and long-term deflection due to creep and shrinkage of concrete, relaxation of prestressing steel. Also, the time-dependent analysis was carried out using the presented analytical method to evaluate the effects of several parameters on the long-term behavior of composite bridge with precast deck, including geometrical shapes of composite beams, compressive strength of concrete and magnitude of initial prestress. The results of the analysis indicated that, in the effects of geometrical shapes of composite beams, the main parameters affecting the losses of prestress and the long-term deflection were the cross sectional area and the moment of inertia of steel beam, respectively. Finally, the determination method for the required initial prestress was proposed by evaluation of the loss characteristics due to shrinkage and creep of concrete.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.463-488
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• 2018

In the last decades, research efforts have been spent to investigate the effect of prestressing on the dynamic behaviour of prestressed concrete (PSC) beams. Whereas no agreement has been reached among the achievements obtained by different Researchers and among the theoretical and the experimental results for simply supported beams, very few researches have addressed this problem in continuous PSC beams. This topic is, indeed, worthy of consideration bearing in mind that many relevant bridges and viaducts in the road and railway networks have been designed and constructed with this structural scheme. In this paper the attention is, thus, focused on the dynamic features of continuous PSC bridges taking into account the effect of prestressing. This latter, in fact, contributes to the modification of the distribution of the bending stress along the beam, also by means of the secondary moments, and influences the flexural stiffness of the beam itself. The dynamic properties of a continuous, two spans bridge connected by a nonlinear spring have been extracted by solving an eigenvalue problem in different linearized configurations corresponding to different values of the prestress force. The stiffness of the nonlinear spring has been calculated considering the mechanical behaviour of the PSC beam in the uncracked and in the cracked stage. The application of the proposed methodology to several case studies indicates that the shift from the uncracked to the cracked stage due to an excessive prestress loss is clearly detectable looking at the variation of the dynamic properties of the beam. In service conditions, this shift happens for low values of the prestress losses (up to 20%) for structure with a high value of the ratio between the permanent load and the total load, as happens for instance in long span, continuous box bridges. In such conditions, the detection of the dynamic properties can provide meaningful information regarding the structural state of the PSC beam.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.347-352
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• 1998

The purpose of this paper is to present and establish a procedure to predict the prestress forces during the service life of the structure. The statistical approach of this procedure is using the in-situ measurement data of the post-tensioning system to develop a nonlinear regression analysis. The method of least squares is used to fit a certain function a set of data. Use of a nonlinear model is achieved by its logarithmic transformation and sunsequent use of linear-regression theory. The regression analysis result can be used to check the prestress force during the service life so that the remaining prestress force is equal to or exceeds the design requirement. Results from the measurement data of PSC box girder bridge structure were used to demonstrate the procedures.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.203-215
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• 2009

This study was conducted to develop the design methodology of longitudinal post tensioning for the post-tensioned concrete pavement (PTCP). The longitudinal stress distribution in the PTCP slab was analyzed when post tensioning was applied. Then, the tensile stress distribution in the PTCP slab due to the environmental and vehicle loads needed for the design was investigated. In addition, prestress losses were calculated considering the losses due to the frictional resistance between the slab and underlying layer and due to various reasons related to tensioning. The tensile stresses used for the design were obtained by adding the stresses from the critical conditions under both the environmental and vehicle loads. The prestress losses were obtained by considering actual field conditions. The effective post tensioning amount was determined by considering the design loads including environmental and vehicle loads and various losses, and the effect of the allowable tensile stress on the post tensioning amount was investigated. The initial stage of the design of the longitudinal post tensioning is to obtain the stresses under the design loads and the required prestress determined by subtracting the allowable tensile stress from the design stress. Then, the optimal tendon spacing and the tensioning amount can be obtained by comparing with the effective tensioning amount including various stress losses.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.213-223
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• 2001

This paper presents an analytical procedure for the time-dependent analysis of the multi-story prestressed concrete structure under the construction stage. To account for the actual structural behavior, the procedure considers the effects due to the construction interval and the time-dependent losses of prestress at every construction step on the entire structural response. A numerical study is performed to demonstrate the general validity of the approach and to quantitatively evaluate the effects resulted from the time-dependent behaviors during construction. Recommendations and conclusions are developed by comparisons with structural responses using the present and conventional methods of analysis. The comparative results show that both effects of sequential construction and time-dependent prestress losses should be considered for the construction stage analysis.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.106-113
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• 1997

Until now, the evaluation of prestressing force during the survice state has received limited attention. Only initial prestressing force is estimated by reading the pressure values of a hydraulic jack or by observing the initial elongation of tendons. In this study, the initial losses and time dependent losses of prestressing force have been monitored by installing 12 vibrating wire-type load cells at the part of P.C. box bridge of Gangbyun Riverside Highway. Also comparative study was made for measured prestressing losses and estimated values. 2-dimensional analysis was performed to see the trend of prestressing losses, and the results was compared with measured ones.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2018

In this paper, two methods M1 and M2 to determine long-term deflection through finite element analyses including the effect of creep and relaxation are proposed and demonstrated for a PSC box-girder. In both the methods, the effect of creep is accounted by different models from international standards viz., ACI-209R-92, CEB MC 90-99, B3 and GL2000. In M1, prestress losses due to creep and relaxation and age adjusted effective modulus are estimated through different models and have been used in finite element (FE) analyses for individual time steps. In M2, effects of creep and relaxation are implemented through the features of FE program and the time dependent analyses are carried out in single step. Variations in time-dependent strains, prestress losses, stresses and deflections of the PSC box-girder bridge through M1 and M2 are studied. For the PSC girder camber obtained from both M1 and M2 are lesser than simple bending theory based calculations, this shows that the camber is overestimated by simple bending theory which may lead to non-conservative design. It is also observed that stresses obtained from FEM for bottom fibre are lesser than the stresses obtained from bending theory at transfer for the PSC girder which may lead to non-conservative estimates.