Inelastic Behavior of Continuous Prestressed Concrete Beams

The role of secondary moments and amount of stress redistribution at various stages of loading up to the collapse of continuous prestressed concrete beams is investigated. The related questions arising from contradictory experimental evidence and standard recommendations are examined within the context of the usual engineering assumptions accepted by the American and European Codes of practice. Both direct and incremental techniques are used for the analysis of the hyperstatic response at specified levels beyond the elastic limit, and throughout the entire loading history. A continuous beam with three unequal spans and three potential plastic hinges is used to develop the theoretical concepts and to illustrate their practical application.