Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

Concrete elements require reinforcement in order to ensure the required resistance to bending and shear stresses. From the point of view of resistance, prestressed reinforcement differs from untensioned reinforcement only by an approximately 3 to 4-fold greater strength. In order to achieve this higher strength in the prestressing steel in the usual steel reinforced concrete structural components, however, the steel element must be prestressed before installation or before its frictional connection with the concrete element. With the prestressing of the steel, an active force is bonded that makes its presence felt in the supporting structure and which can be used beneficially in order to influence or change the performance characteristics of the supporting structure. In conjunction with the appropriate reinforcement geometry, forces (deviation forces) are generated in the supporting structure that can counteract and partly or completely compensate external influences. That in turn means less stress on the support structure and therefore lower resistance is required. The results are leaner structures, in which either the dimensions become smaller or the spans become larger.