18 PRESTRESSED CONCRETE [Ch.

The aggregates used in the manufacture of normal concrete members are

usually satisfactory for use in prestressed concrete. However, due to the
higher strengths required for prestressed concrete, difficulty has been experi
enced, in some localities, in finding suitable natural aggregates
for prestressed
construction. Lightweight aggregates of the expanded shale or clay type
have been used with good results in this country and particularly in the
West. Care must be exercised in employing lightweight aggregates in
prestressed concrete in order to assure that a reasonable estimate of the
volume changes which occur with the lightweight concrete are taken into
account when estimating the loss of prestress. The performance of the
lightweight-concrete structural member at ultimate moment should also be
studied with care.
Frequently, in fabricating prestressed members for state or federal pro
jects during the winter months, manufacturers are required to conform to
standard specifications which were originally written for job-site winter
concrete. Such specifications frequently provide that concrete cannot be
placed when the temperature of the ambient air reaches a particular mini
mum value and that the aggregates and mixing water shall be heated in such
a manner that the plastic concrete does not go below a specific value. Al
though these specifications may be necessary for concrete which is to be
placed and allowed to cure without having the surrounding air artificially
heated, such specifications frequently have a detrimental effect on the
concrete used in plant-produced products which are steam cured. There
is no question that the aggregates used in precasting plants should be kept
sufficiently warm to prevent ice or frost from being in the plastic concrete and
that the plastic concrete should not be allowed to freeze. However, it is
known that higher concrete strengths are obtained for concretes mixed and
placed at lower temperatures than for concretes which are mixed and placed
at higher temperatures (Ref. 16). The use of very-hot mixing water can
have a very serious detrimental effect on the strength of concrete and par
ticularly on the early strength.

1–10. Application of Prestressed Concrete. Prestressed concrete,

when properly designed and fabricated, is crack free under normal design
loads as well as when under moderate overload. This is not true in rein
forced-concrete construction where, due to the shrinkage of the concrete and
due to the great difference between the strain in the steel at design stress and
the maximum tensile strain which concrete can withstand without cracking,
the concrete must be cracked in order for the steel to be working at normal
design stresses. Prestressed concrete requires the use of high-quality con
crete; such concrete cannot be used to good advantage in reinforced-concrete
flexural members. The same is true of high tensile-strength steel: It must
be used in prestressed concrete and cannot be used with good results in
reinforced concrete, since the width of the cracks in the tensile flange would