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.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 3 • March 2002
Pages: 400 - 405
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
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