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Durability of Prestressed Concrete Structures
Durability of Prestressed Concrete Structures
Durability of Prestressed Concrete Structures
OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
STRUCTURES IN THE
UNITED STATES, CANADA,
AND PACIFIC AND
FAR EASTERN COUNTRIES
stressed concrete structure is ap- ies from 0.106 in. to 0.50 in.; the av-
proximately 18 years old. Although erage diameter is % in. The maxi-
the total number of prestressed con- mum diameter of the tendons varies
crete bridges reported in this survey from 7/ 6 in. to 0.60 in. Seventy-nine
was 6280, the author's previous sur- percent of the fabricators use -in.
vey^ l> indicates that there are ap- diameter tendons. The question on
proximately 13,000 prestressed con- heat-treatment in the questionnaire
crete highway bridges in service.
The same survey has shown more
than 90 percent of the prestressed
concrete bridges in the United States
are pretensioned, based on the num-
ber of bridges built. It is believed
that this percentage is misleading,
since precast, pretensioned bridges
are used mostly for small spans. A
comparison on the dollar value of
bridges estimates the volume of pre-
tensioned bridges in the neighbor-
hood of 75 percent.
In fabricating bridge girders using
pretensioning techniques, the most
commonly used tendon material is
the uncoated, cold-drawn, stress-re-
lieved single wire conforming to
ASTM Designation A421 (Fig. 1),
followed by seven-wire, stress-re-
lieved strand. The minimum nominal Fig. 1. Tendon material for preten-
diameter used in pretensioning var- sioning (USA)
October 1969 63
Posttensioning Number of
System Firms Using
(1) Freyssinet 15
(2) Stressteel 10
(3) CCL 3
(s)
2.6 (4) Anderson 2
(5) BBRV 2
(6) PI 2
(7) Prescon 2
(8) Atlas 2
(9) VSL 1
)ther
C. ASTM C175
Guam 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0
v 1*
C,
0
* Indicates number of damaged structures including local failures
t Indicates number of major failures (collapse)
seawater. Both Michigan and New The total number of reporting
York States reported spalling of the agencies in the United States was
concrete over prestressing wires as a slightly more than 100. Approxi-
result of pitting type of corrosion. mately 90 percent of the distress
Three other statesCalifornia, Penn- conditions reported (most of which
sylvania, and Marylandreported are repairable) can be grouped as
rust stains on prestressed concrete follows:
girders but no serious deterioration. 1. Local failures during the con-
Of the approximately 2700 pre- struction stage resulting from
stressed concrete tanks in service in improper connections
the United States, two have failed. shear failures of ledger beams.
The collapse of a ten-year old tank is 2. Damage during service life
attributed to an abnormally corro- caused by
sive environment( 4 ) which produced improper details of connec-
stress corrosion in the prestressing tions restraining, volume
wires. Poor concrete mix, insufficient change movements due to
depth of cover, unsuitable prestress- creep, shrinkage and temper-
ing wires, improper design, and se- ature
vere environmental conditions were loss of camber resulting from
the principle causes of severe deteri- errors in the design or design
oration. The long delay between assumptions.
prestressing and grouting, coupled Because of the more favorable en-
with corrosive environmental fac- vironmental conditions, corrosion of
tors, produced failures in the wires the prestressing steel is rarely a
of the post-tensioned cables in the problem in prestressed concrete
Richmond Reservoir in California(5). building construction.
The late Mr. Lyman, Executive Canada. This survey received excel-
Director of the Prestressed Concrete lent cooperation from Canadian gov-
Institute, estimated the total number ernment agencies and private firms
of incidents of deterioration (varying engaged in design and construction
from minor problems to failure con- of prestressed concrete structures.
ditions) to be less than 10 percent of Twenty-five agencies replied to the
the prestressed concrete structures FIP questionnaires. The results of
used for buildings. According to Mr. the replies to the short form ques-
Lyman's estimate, the total number tionnaires are given in Table 1.
of serious deterioration is less than As the responses to the long form
1 percent. questionnaires indicate, the prevail-
If we assume that the number of ing Canadian practices in design
distress conditions not identified and construction of prestressed con-
with a specific type of structure, crete structures are similar to those
given in the last column of Table 1, used in the United States. Probably
refers to buildings, and all distress the most notable exception is in the
conditions are failures, then the sur- configuration of bridges. In the
vey tends to verify the above esti- United States, the use of simply-
mate. Since these assumptions are supported, standard AASHO girders
quite severe, it is safe to say that with span lengths 40 to 100 ft. pre-
the total number of serious deteriora- vails; in Canada, the geometrical
tions is less than I percent of the configurations, coupled with the
total number of structures built. structural systems, show considerably
October 1969 67
Fig. 6. Structural systems used for bridges in Canada
more variation (Fig. 6). Most of the In such a highly corrosive en-
prestressed concrete structures were vironment, the deterioration of pre-
built during the last ten years. The stressed concrete bridges can be
age of the oldest reported bridge is sub-divided into three different pro-
approximately 14 years. As Table 1 cesses:
indicates, prestressed concrete struc- 1. Alterations in the physical
tures are used more for bridges than properties of the concrete.
for all other types of structures com- 2. Increased permeability.
bined. 3. Chemical alteration of the con-
The environmental conditions of crete which destroys its anti-
the cold winters in Canada are more corrosive mechanism.
severe than in most parts of the It has been found that prefabri-
United States, especially in the case cated, pretensioned concrete struc-
of bridges, where excessive applica- tures are predominant in Canada,
tion of de-icer salts (e.g. calcium but the use of the various post-ten-
chloride) on the roadway creates a sioning systems is considerably
highly corrosive environment. This higher than in the United States.
is most probably responsible for the The Freyssinet system is the most
more than 1 percent distress condi- popular followed by the BBR,
tion reported. Stressteel, and Magnel-Blaton sys-
68 PCI Journal
tems. More than 90 percent of the unit were attributed to the calcium
post-tensioned systems use grout for chloride used in the pneumatically
the protection of the tendons. Where placed concrete( 6 >. In the second
no grout is used, protective coatings case, serious failure occurred duri-,g
(e.g. asphalt) are applied to prevent the line tests of prestressed concrete
corrosion. pipes( 7 ). This failure has been at-
For pretensioned and post-ten- tributed partially to the manufac-
sioned systems alike, an almost ex- turing process which caused stress
clusive use of portland cement has corrosion in the prestressing wires.
been reported. The favorite aggre- Other fairly serious distress con-
gate is gravel and sand. The average ditions are attributed to production
water-cement ratio is in the vicinity problems such as:
of 0.4 by weight. The reported 28- 1. Use of unwashed aggregates.
day cylinder strengths is always 2. Inadequate storing and han-
above 5000 psi. Pneumatically dling of tendons.
placed concrete containing non-hy- 3. Improper curing techniques.
droscopic retarding admixtures is Faulty design of connections and
used for prestressed concrete tanks. inadequate allowance for volumetric
The survey shows that, in spite of changes (creep, shrinkage and tem-
the apparent lack of strict field in- perature) caused more than 50 per-
spections, the concrete used for pre- cent of the minor failures.
stressed concrete structures in Can- Japan. Detailed information on the
ada is of high quality. status of the prestressed concrete in-
Two collapse conditions of pre- dustry in Japan has been obtained
stressed concrete structures built in from the Prestressed Concrete En-
Canada could be analyzed closely. gineering Association, Tokyo.
In the first case, failures in the wires The first prestressed concrete
of a dome roof of a sprinkling filter bridge in Japan was built in 1952.
900 900
800 800
Buildings
700 \ 700 ,,,
CC
600 / \ / 600 " +
H
I Pa 6
0 w 500 Bridges 500
o0
gc 400 400 ai
300 300
1'
100 100
52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
Years
Fig. 7. Growth of the prestressing industry in Japan
October 1969 69
Table 2. Total production of prestressed concrete structures in Japan up to 1968