
Explore the fundamentals and terminology of prestressed and post-tensioned concrete, including the design philosophy, applications, benefits, and elastic stress analysis of typical PT floors.
Explore why prestressed and post-tension concrete floors reduce reliance on steel reinforcement by compressing the section to control cracking, balance self-weight with tendons, and enable thinner slabs for longer spans.
Explore examples of prestressing in compression, from stacked books to weightlifting belts and cable-stayed bridges, and see how post-tensioning reduces tension and enables long spans.
Prestressing involves stressing tendons before concrete pours, typically in factories for precast girders and hollow core slabs; on-site wet joints connect elements with lap reinforcement.
Discover post-tensioning basics: ducts, grout, and after-pour tensioning of cables to transfer prestress, with tendons placed on the tension side along the bending moment diagram.
Explore the design principles of post-tensioning by revisiting basic beam and slab design, applying axial compression with flexural stresses through superposition, and illustrating three stress states.
Examine how pre compression with eccentricity creates axial and flexural stresses, producing transfer tensile or compressive stresses, and assess when reinforcement is needed during the transfer stage.
Examine the four design stresses in prestressed or post-tensioned concrete floors—tension and compression in the transfer and final stages—guided by tendon location, eccentricity, and prestressing force.
PT concrete structures are thought of as revolutionary in the field of structural engineering with numerous applications nowadays. That being said, they are one of the most complex structural systems both in terms of design and execution on site, however, they bring unmatched advantages in terms of speed of construction, slim structural depths, and longer uninterrupted spans that is hardly matched by any other form of conventional concrete.
Whether you are a student at uni, a graduate engineer, or a structural civil engineer in your early to mid of your career, this course will be suited for you to gain insight into the fundamental knowledge and terminology that is commonly used in the industry . This course is also suited to non-structural engineers, such as building professionals who are looking to gain more knowledge about the topic of PT structures.
We will go over the fundamental design philosophy of PT structures, their applications, benefits, terminology, and we will touch on the elastic stress analysis of typical PT floors.
Fundamental knowledge of basic structural engineering knowledge is required, and it is preferred if you have undertaken the RC floors design course beforehand as a refresher of such design basics.
My name is Wahid Elgohary and I will be your instructor for this introductory course to pre-stressed and post-tensioned concrete, lets get started!