Flexural Stiffness and Crack Width of Partially Prestressed Beams with Unbonded Tendons

The original concept of “Total Prestress” consists of creating compressions in concrete without generating tension stresses for service load, while in "Partially Prestressed” elements, tensions are allowed in the service stage, which would produce some cracking depending on applied loads that will be taken with non-prestressed reinforcement. Using criteria and design recommendations can guarantee maximum flexural capacity and admissible serviceability requirements of partially prestressed elements; however, there is insufficient research for estimating more accurately the required parameters for the design and review of these types of elements. Because of this, the present investigation consisted in the realization of experimental studies in continuous partially prestressed beams with unbonded tendons for the evaluation of the flexural behavior for different stages of load determining the actual stresses and the strains taking into account the structural stiffness decrease and its effect on deflections. The dimensions of the specimens were selected based on common dimensions presented on slabs. The tested specimens considered variables such as the relationship between the length of the continuous spans, the cross-section, and the partial prestressing ratio. Afterward, equations were proposed to predict the decrease in the structural stiffness, depending on the degree of cracking, the type of cross-section, the partial prestressing ratio, and the magnitude of the applied load and the tension and compression stresses to estimate the probable deflections for a particular loading stage. The crack width equation presented a difference of −16% to +18% with respect to the experimental data, while the flexural stiffness equation showed a highly accurate correlation to the experimental data.