TN 97 Simplification of post-tensioned

concrete anchorages
B. P. HUGHES, DSc,PhD, MICEMIStructE*
C. I. MIDDLETON, BSC*

The theoretical and economic advantages of pretensioning can be combined with the
practical advantages of post-tensioning if the radial expansion of the tendons in the
anchorage zones can be adequately restrained by the grout and the surrounding
concrete member. This technique is now a practical proposition largely because of
recentdevelopments in polymermodified and other high strength cementgrouts.
In addition, improved bond between tendon and grout can be obtained by using
helical coil steel reinforcement to increase restraint to the expansion of the grout in
the duct, and by using 7 wire steel strand. Experiments have been carried out on
specially designed 150 mm concrete specimens to simulate the conditions which occur
due to prestressing in the highly stressed end transfer length of a complete beam, and
the potential possibilities for application in design have been demonstrated.

Notation
E Young’smodulus
k experimental constant
P loss in tendon load
r radius from the axis of the tendon
v Poisson’s ratio
U radial pressure or radial compressive stress (compression taken as positive)
E radial (compressive) strain
Suffices
pprestressing tendon
g grout
c concrete
S reinforcement
1 tendpnlgrout interface
2 grout/concrete interface
3 concrete/reinforcementinterface
4 reinforcement/concreteinterface
5 position ofzero radial stress

Introduction
The concept of combining, in a post-tensioning method, features which are
peculiar to eitherpost-tensioning or pretensioning involves a n extension of the
theory developed by Evans for the wedge action of pretensioned wires.l As
load in the tendon is slowlyreleased from temporary end anchorages the
longitudinal strain in the tendonis reduced within the transfer length. At the
extreme ends the adhesive bond breaks down completely and a longitudinal
strain gradient results in the tendon because of the remainingeffect: the fric-
tional bond. As the load is released the tendon expands, due to the Poisson’s
Written discussion closes 15 August, 1974, for publication in Proceedings, Part 2.
* Civil Engineering Department, University of Birmingham.
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 HUGHES AND MIDDLETON
ratio effect, to providea form of wedge action which assists the frictional bond
attheend of themember.This,togetherwiththedevelopment of high
strength grouts, can now justify the practical exploitationof this technique.

Wedge action within the transfer length

2. Thick cylinder theory can be applied to the cross-section, which is shown
in Fig. 1 and which lies in the transfer length, to relate the radial expansionof
the tendon to the radial stressat the expansion resisting reinforcement(ERR)
radius2 as follows

where
J =

K=

L =
M =
N=
loss P can be expressed' in the form
It can also be shown that the load
Jk(PVp/EpAp)= u ~ ( K + L +M/N) . . . . (2)

Theoretical results
3. Table 1 shows values of the theoretical restraint, as given by u3/c1 from
equation ( l ) , for typical values of the ratios of the radii which were used to
formthe basis forsubsequent experiments.' Materialproperties of the
7 wire strand, concrete and grout C are included in Table 2. The effective
Poisson's ratio for the7 wire strandis high because it dependson the bedding-
in of the individual wires as well as the actualPoisson's ratio for thesteel itself.
4. For maximum restraint u ~ / (i.e. E ~ minimum loss in prestress) the duct
radius r2 should approach the internal coil radius r3 of the ERR. If the ten-
don radius rl is constant and the ERR internal radius r3 increases with the
duct radius rz (i.e. as in series l ) , the restraint u3/c1 increases with increasing
duct radius but the effect is relatively small; hence the duct size may be gov-
erned by the tendon diameter and grouting efficiency. It should be remem-
bered, however, that the theoretical restraint increases and remainsvalid only
as long as both the ERR and the grout continue, substantially, to behave
elastically.

Experimental results
5. Table 3 shows experimental results for tests on 150 mm long nominal
transfer length specimenswhich were loaded as shown in Fig.2 so as to simu-
of a full length beam.
late the stress conditions in the most critical end portion
The actual loss in load for this relatively short and highly stressed transfer
length could then be recorded accurately. The materials used were 6.35 mm
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 POST-TENSIONEDCONCRETEANCHORAGES
Table 1. Theoretical restraint u3/e1 for the differentradii used in some preliminary
experimental specimens (r1=3*175 mm and r5=24f1 in all cases)

Series Ratios Restraint u3/c1,

GNha
rdrl

3 l 4
1;

Table 2. Experimental values of actual (or effective) Young's modulus and Poisson's
ratio

Material 1 Young's modulus, GN/m2 ~ Poisson's ratio

7 wire strand 137.0
Grout A 18.7
~. -
Grout B 16.1
Grout C 18.5
Grout E 21.3
Concrete 33.3
Reinforcement 188.7 0.30

Fig. 1. Diagrammatic cross-section_of end block

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 HUGHES AND M I D D L E T O N
dia. 7 wire strand and ERR consisting of 6 mm dia. steel bar forming helical
coils of 12 mm spacing and different internal diameters. Table 3 also includes
the appropriate theoretical restraints u3/c1.
6. The grout types A,B and C used highalumioa cement with waterlcement
ratios of 0.36, 0.34 and 0.34 and additives of 1% Interplast A, 0.05% Polyox
WSR 301 and 0.045% Cellulose respectively. Grout type E used sulphated
high alumina cement with a waterlcement ratio of 0.34, an additive of 0.2%
Plastiment-VZ and an aggregate cementratio of 0.33 with Midlandsand pass-
ing BS sieve 14.
7. Table 3 showsgoodgeneral correlation betweentheoretical restraint
and load loss for tests W2, W3, X2, Y2 and Y3. Among other factors which
must be considered, however,are the following.
(a) Grout strength. The effect of increasing the grout strength is shown by
comparing tests W2 and X2, for which the load loss was reduced
from 75% to 48%.
(b) Duct diameter. The upperlimit for which the theoretical restraint
remains valid may possibly be affected by the actual value of the
ratio r2/rl.
(c) Coeficient offriction between tendon and grout. Grout B contained a
friction reducing additive and hence the load loss for test X1 was
high.Conversely, grout E containedaggregate to increase the
friction. However, increasing the friction in this waymay lower
the upper limit referred to in (b).

... ~ . .. .
. .

Fig. 2. T w o 150 mm long nominal transfer length specimens in the test frame. (The
upper specimen is on the leh between the hydraulic jack and the test frame. The
losses in the upper and lower tendons are measured by the load cells (far right and
near left respectively))
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 POST-TENSIONEDCONCRETEANCHORAGES
Table 3. Results for 150 mm transfer length specimens

Test Duct ERR Grout I Load loss rheoretical

- restraint
liameter, diameter, strength, ~

mm mm MN/ma kN % +l,
GN/ma
~ _ _ _ ~

W1 19 46 67 A 13 23.6 65.5 23.8

W2 22 46 67 A 31 27.1 75-3 29.9
W3 38 46 73 A 35 19.7 54.8 60.4
X1 22 46 58 B 84 26.9 74.8 31.0
X2 22 46 67 C 67 17.3 48.0 30.9
Y1 19 27 95 C 84 28.6 79.5 57.7
Y2 19 30 96 I C 19.1 68
53.0 50.0
Y3 19 46 98 c 22.6 78
62.8 24.5
z1 19 27 85 E 20.8 71
57.7 56.1
22 22 30 85 E 61 20.4 56.6 57.8
23 38 46 76 E 21.3 58
59.1 60.1
-
Table 4. Allowable load losses on 150 m m transfer test lengths for various assumed
transfer lengths and load losses in prototype members

Transfer length Percentage loss for 150 mm test length corresponding to loss
for member, mm , in member of

General discussion
8. The transfer lengths which would be available in practice could usually
be assumed to be from at least 300 mm up to 900 mm or even more. Losses
in prestress due to other causes are often of the order of 20%; hence transfer
lengths can be based on proportional lossesinprestressingforce of up to
thisvalue.Assuming an exponentialdecayin the loss, Table 4 shows the
maximum losses which can be permitted for tests on 150 mm transfer lengths
in order to obtain no more than a 5%, lO%, 15% or 20% loss on transfer
lengths of 300 mm, 600 mm and 900 mm.
9. One possible approach would be to design for a 5% loss only on the
assumed prototype transfer length and to require the short-term losses for
150 mm transfer test lengths not to exceed the corresponding values as given
in Table 4. In addition, the long-term losses for 150 mm transfer test lengths
should not exceed the corresponding values for a 10% loss on the assumed
prototype transfer length.
10. The theoreticalrestraintasgivenbyequation (1) assumeselastic
behaviour of the materials. In practice considerable plastic deformation of
the high strength grout can be expected, at least in the bond between grout
and tendon. If the grout is to continue to transmit the radial stresses, even
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 HUGHES A N D MIDDLETON
when the adhesive bond has broken down and considerable slipping of the
tendon has takenplace, then the grout must exhibit little or no contraction on
setting andpossess a low porosity, so that, even if the hardened groutis pow-
dered by tendon slip during destressing, this pulverized material will occupy
essentially the same volume as before and will not be accepted into pores in
the adjacent grout.
11. The tests carried out refer only to conditions for serviceabilitylimit
states.Furtherplasticdeformation of thegroutwouldoccurforultimate
limit states and hence the interdependent contributions to restraint of the
grout,concreteand ERR couldbeconsiderablyaffected.Informationon
effects such as shear cracking near the supports couldbe obtained by tests to
failure on complete beams. The residual strength of the polymer modified
grouts considered here, when exposed to fire, depends mainly on the hydraulic
cement itself and therefore should be superior to grouts which are entirely
resin based.
Conclusions
12. The theoretical andexperimentalresultsindicatethattheradial ex-
pansion of destressed tendons is sufficient to induce high stresses in reinforce-
ment coils suitably positioned to resist the expansion transmitted through the
grout. The results for 150 mm transfer length specimens are most encourag-
ing since a load transfer of oyer 50% has been achieved within this short
length.Tendonscanbeover-tensionedinpractice to offset other losses,
and load transfer losses of 5% and 10% can readily be tolerated on assumed
transfer lengths of 600 mm or more, so that the present test results show that
this technique is a practical proposition for 6.35 mm 7 wire strand. Com-
bining a pretensioning technique with a post-tensioned method simplifies very
substantially the permanent anchorages and could give considerable economic
advantages.

Acknowledgements
13. The Authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance which has
been provided by the Science Research Council and to thank Sika Ltd for
donating certain additives.

References
1. EVANS R. H. Research and developments in pre-stressing. J . Znstn Civ.Engrs,
1951, 35, Feb., No. 4, 231-261.
2 . MIDDLETON C . I. Prestressedconcretewithspecialreference to anchorage and
bond. University of Birmingham, MSc(Qualification)thesis, 1973.

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