From the course: InfraWorks: Bridge Design

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Overview of prestressed girders

Overview of prestressed girders - InfraWorks Tutorial

From the course: InfraWorks: Bridge Design

Start my 1-month free trial

Overview of prestressed girders

“

- [Instructor] Before we get into line girder analysis, let's talk a little bit about what prestressed concrete actually is. So, excuse my little finger paintings that's going to go on right now, I'm using my finger on a touchscreen to do some redlining magic. So here is a normal concrete beam, the top picture. And if we apply load to the beams, so we've got cars going over, for example. What's going to happen, is that beam is going to bend pretty much like this. And that's not what we want. Because when that happens, you end up with compression at the top over here, and tension at the bottom. Now due to this tension, and the fact that the concrete is basically elongating at the bottom, this is where cracks can develop. And that's why engineers add steel bars or tendons to concrete beams at the bottom section, and then stretch them, they put them under tension this way and this way. And this helps to resist the…

Contents