The Nest of Engineers

Ordinary concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension. Even reinforced concrete, where steel bars are used to take up the tension that the concrete cannot resist, is prone to cracking and corrosion under low loads. Prestressed concrete is highly resistant to stress, and is used as a building material for bridges, tanks, shell roofs, floors, buildings, containment vessels for nuclear power plants and offshore oil platforms. With a wide range of benefits such as crack control, low rates of corrosion, thinner slabs, fewer joints and increased span length; prestressed concrete is a stronger, safer, more economical and more sustainable building material. The introduction of the Eurocodes has necessitated a new approach to the design of prestressed concrete structures and this book provides a comprehensive practical guide for professionals through each stage of the design process. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of design: Fully consistent with Eurocode 2, and the associated parts of Eurocodes 1 and 8 - Examples of challenges often encountered in professional practice worked through in full - Detailed coverage of post-tensioned structures - Extensive coverage of design of flat slabs using the finite element method - Examples of pre-tensioned and post-tensioned bridge design - An introduction to earthquake resistant design using EC 8. Examining the design of whole structures as well as the design of sections through many fully worked numerical examples which allow the reader to follow each step of the design calculations, this book will be of great interest to practising engineers who need to become more familiar with the use of the Eurocodes for the design of prestressed concrete structures. It will also be of value to university students with an interest in the practical design of whole structures.

336 pages - Publisher: CRC Press; 1st edition (December, 2008) ... Language: English - ISBN-10: 0415448549 - ISBN-13: 978-0415448543 ...

High strength fibre composites (FRPs) have been used with civil structures since the 1980s, mostly in the repair, strengthening and retrofitting of concrete structures. This has attracted considerable research, and the industry has expanded exponentially in the last decade. Design guidelines have been developed by professional organizations in a number of countries including USA, Japan, Europe and China, but until now designers have had no publication which provides practical guidance or accessible coverage of the fundamentals. This book fills this void. It deals with the fundamentals of composites, and basic design principles, and provides step-by-step guidelines for design. Its main theme is the repair and retrofit of un-reinforced, reinforced and prestressed concrete structures using carbon, glass and other high strength fibre composites. In the case of beams, the focus is on their strengthening for flexure and shear or their stiffening. The main interest with columns is the improvement of their ductility; and both strengthening and ductility improvement of un-reinforced structures are covered. Methods for evaluating the strengthened structures are presented. Step by step procedures are set out, including flow charts, for the various structural components, and design examples and practice problems are used to illustrate. As infrastructure ages worldwide, and its demolition and replacement becomes less of an option, the need for repair and retrofit of existing facilities will increase. Besides its audience of design professionals, this book suits graduate and advanced undergraduate students.