s

Cast-in-Place Posttensioned
Prestressed Concrete Girder
Bridges
 2.1 Introduction

• Reinforced concrete combines concrete and steel bars by simply

putting them together in a passive manner. Prestressed concrete
combines high-strength concrete and high-strength steel in an active
manner; this is achieved by tensioning the steel and holding it against
the concrete, thus putting the concrete into compression.
• Prestressed concrete structures, using high-strength materials
efectively, give improved serviceability, load-carrying capacity, and
durability. It is an attractive alternative for long span bridges, and has
been used worldwide since the 1950s.
• There are three types of prestressed concrete bridges such as precast
pretensioning girder bridges, cast-in-place (CIP) posttensioned
girder bridges, and segmentally constructed concrete girder bridges.
 2.1.1 Prestressing Systems
• There are two types of prestressing systems: pretensioning and
posttensioning systems
• Pretensioning systems are methods in which the strands are
tensioned before the concrete is placed. his method is generally used
for mass production of linear concrete members. Pretensionsing can
neither be used to connect two precast concrete components nor to
connect precast components to cast-in-place concrete members
• Posttensioning systems are methods in which the tendons are
tensioned ater concrete has reached a speciied strength. his
technique is oten used in projects with very large cast-in-place e
lements on falsework. he main advantage of posttensioning is its
ability to posttension both precast and cast-in-place members.
 2.1.2 Posttensioning Operation
• Compressive stresses in a concrete member are induced by
tensioning steel tendons of strands or bars placed in ducts
embedded in the concrete (Figure 2.1). he tendons are
installed ater the concrete has been placed and suiciently
cured to a speciied compressive strength. Hydraulic
prestressing— jacking (Figure 2.2)—is the most common
method used in bridge structures (Caltrans 2005). Figure
2.3 illustrates a complete jacking process (Caltrans 2005).
 2.1.3 Materials
• 2.1.3.1 Concrete
• A 28-day cylinder compressive strength (fc′) of concrete, not less
than 4.0 ksi (28 MPa), is commonly used for prestressed concrete
in the United States. A higher early strength is oten needed for
the fast removal of formwork in the cast-in-place method.
• Creep of concrete is a time-dependent inelastic deformation
under sustained compression load and depends primarily on the
concrete’s maturity at the time of loading, and magnitude and
duration of the compressive stress. he total creep strain generally
ranges from about 0.5 to 4 times of the “instantaneous”
deformation. The creep coeicient may be estimated as (AASHTO
2012)
 2.1.3.2 Steel for Prestressing
• Uncoated, seven-wire stress-relieved strands (AASHTO
M203 or ASTM A416), or low-relaxation sevenwire
strands and uncoated high-strength bars (AASHTO M275
or ASTM A722) are commonly used in prestresssed
concrete bridges. Prestressing reinforcement, whether
wires, strands, or bars, are also called tendons. he
properties for prestressing steel are shown in Table 2.1.