Organic Prestressing
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 3
Abstract
The concept of prestressing of civil engineering structures is well known, consisting of the introduction of a set of self-equilibrating forces upon the structure that will try to counteract the internal forces generated in the structure by the external actions. Those prestressing forces depend upon the layout and forces of the cables, not accounting for the variations on the external actions during the life of the structure. The rapid technological evolution of the last quarter of the 20th Century gave credit to structural solutions with adaptive behavior–intelligent structures. Organic prestressing is part of that environment. But it is no more than a prestressing system under on-line control, capable of variation in the forces introduced in the cables, thus improving significantly the prestressing effect. A brief reference to organic prestressing research is presented and the most relevant concepts are described together with the corresponding control algorithms. Undesirable control phenomena are defined and measures to avoid them are presented. Main technological aspects are mentioned. An example is used to emphasize the performance of organic structural solutions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ACI-Part-4 (Man. of Concrete Practice). (1993). “Bridge Analysis and Design,” (5.7.6. Fatigue), 343R-67.
Eurocode 2. (1994). “ENV 1992. Design of Concrete Structures Part 2—Concrete Bridges,” Draft 8, 5–15.
FIP Commission Design, Working Group on Post-Tensioned Slabs. (1998). “FIP Recommendations for the Design of Post-Tensioned Slabs and Foundations Rafts,” Thomas Telford, 11–20.
Mern, C. (1986). Prestressed Concrete Bridges. Birkhauser Verlag, 192–197.
Montens, S. (1996). “A Global Concept for 21st Century Bridges: Parastressing” Proc., FIP Symposium on Post-Tensioned Concrete Structures, London, 739–746.
Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications (OHBDC). (1983). Ontário Highway Bridge Design Code and Commentary.
Pacheco, P., Adão da Fonseca, A. (1996). “Effector Systems in Structures,” Conceptual Design of Structures—Proc., IASS Symposium, Stutgard, 339–346
Pacheco, P., Adão da Fonseca A. (1997a). “Organically Prestressed Multi-Span Continuous Box Girders,” New Technologies in Structural Engineering—Proceedings of the IABSE International Conference, Lisboa, 527–534.
Pacheco, P., Quinaz, M. C., Adão da Fonseca, A. (1997b) “Applying Organic Prestressing on Launching Gantries,” Proc, 1st Encontro de Estruturas Metálicas e Mistas, Porto, 331–339 (in Portuguese).
Pacheco, P. (1999). “Organic Prestressing — an Effector System Example,” PhD thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (in Portuguese).
Regulamento de Estruturas de Betão Armado e Pré-esforçado (REBAP). (1993). Porto Editora, 52–60 (in Portuguese).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 10, 2001
Accepted: Jul 11, 2001
Published online: Mar 1, 2002
Published in print: Mar 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.