14 COMPRESSION MEMBERS; PILES 14-1. Column Action Due to Prestress The question is often brought up whether a concrete member under prestress will have a tendency to buckle like an ordinaiy column under compression. The answer is that, if the prestressing element is in direct contact with concrete all along its length, there will be no “column action” in the member due to restress. Consider an ordinary column under an external load, Fig. 14-1(a). When the column deflects, additional moment in a section A~A is created by the deflec- tion, because the external load now acts with a different eccentricity on that section. This additional moment is the cause of column action. Now consider a ‘member internally prestressed but not externally loaded, (b); so long as the steel and concrete deflect together, there is no change in the eccentricity of the prestress on the concrete, no matter how the member is deflected. Hence there is no change in moment due to any deflection of the member and no column action. When an external load is applied to a prestressed-concrete column, any deflection of the column will change the moment, and column action will result. ‘Another way to look at the problem is to separate the steel from the concrete and treat them as two free bodies, Fig. 14-2. Considering the concrete alone, itis a column under direct compression, and any slight bending of the column will result in an eccentricity on a section such as A—A, and hence in a tendency to buckle. But, considering the steel as a freebody, there will exist an equal eccentricity with an equal but opposite force, producing a tendency to straighten itself out. The tendency to straighten is exactly equal and opposite to the tendency to buckle, and hence the resulting effect is zero. This is not true, of course, when the member is externally prestressed, say against the abutments, because there will be no balancing effect from the prestessing element, and column action will result. If the steel and conerete are not in direct contact along the entire length, the problem will be different, Fig. 14-3. The concrete under compression will have a tendency to deflect laterally. That deflection will not at first bring the steel to deflect together with it; hence the eccentricity of prestress on the concrete is actually changed, thus resulting in column action. After a certain amount of ‘Column Action Due to Prestress. 489 Moment at A~A Due to Detection . Fig. 14-1. Column action due to prestress. No Moment st B-B Due to Detection deflection, the steel is brought into contact with the concrete and the two will begin to deflect together. Hence the column action is limited to the differential deflection of the two materials. If the steel is in contact with the concrete at several points, say at E and F, but not along the entire length, Fig. 14-4, then the column action is limited to the length between the points of contact. If such length is short, column action will not be serious. Next, consider an isolated or statically determinate curved member subject to internal prestress, Fig. 14-5(a). If the prestress is concentric at all sections (the gs. line coinciding with the cg. line), then the concrete is behaving like an arch subject to axial force with the exception that the applied force from the steel will move with the deflection of the concrete and will always remain concentric, Hence there is no tendency to buckle as in an ordinary arch under external loads, whose line of pressure is determined by the loads and may not ' Peestessed-Coneete Member 4 ECE ny Concrete as Freebody in F te _ Stee a Freebaty Fig. 14.2, Balancing action of conerete and steel