Prestress Loss Distributions along Simply Supported Pretensioned Concrete Beams

The prestressing forces in prestressed tendons undergo a process of reduction over a period of time. A common assumption is that prestress loss is constantly distributed throughout the span of a simply supported pretensioned concrete beam. The purpose of this work is to investigate the accuracy of this assumption. The types of prestressed concrete beams investigated in this work include the following three typical types of tendon profile: (I) straight strands, (II) single-point depressed, and (III) two-point depressed. The major findings derived from this work are: (1) The total prestress loss is not constantly distributed throughout the span of a simply supported pretensioned concrete beam with any of the three types of tendon profiles, (2) The variation of prestress loss along the span of a pretensioned beam caused by elastic shortening of concrete or creep of concrete is much more significant than that caused by shrinkage of concrete or relaxation of tendons, and (3) The type of tendon profile in a simply supported pretensioned concrete beam has significant effects on the pattern of prestress loss distribution along the beam.