PRESTRESSED CONCRETE

POLES ,PILES, SLEEPERS,

PRESSURE VESSELS AND
PAVEMENTS

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE POLES

The main advantages of prestressed concrete poles are:
Resistance to corrosion in humid and temperate climates and to
erosion in desert areas.
Freeze-thaw resistance in cold regions.
Easy handling due to less weight than other poles
Fire resistant , particularly to grass and bush fires near the ground
line.
Easily installed in drilled holes in ground with or without concrete
fill.
Lighter because of reduced cross-section when compared with
reinforced concrete poles.
Clean and neat in appearance and requiring negligible maintenance
for a number of years, thus ideally suited for urban installations.

Have increased crack resistance , rigidity and can resist

dynamic loads better than reinforced concrete poles.

SHAPES OF PRESTRESSED
CONCRETE POLES
The maximum moment of resistance in a pole is generally
required at the base and consequently , the maximum cross
sectional area is required at the base section.
Poles are generally tapered with a hollow core to reduce the
weight , which also helps in providing a race way for electric
wires.
Typical cross sections of transmission line poles widely
employed in different countries as shown in fig. 1.
For small lengths of up to 12 m, the square or rectangular
sections are preferable as they are easily manufactured and
occupy less space in transportation.

Fig.1 cross sections of prestressed concrete poles

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1)
2)

3)
4)
5)

Prestressed concrete poles for power transmission lines are

generally designed as members with uniform prestress since they
are subjected to bending moments of equal magnitude in opposite
directions.The poles are generally for the following critical load
conditions:
Bending due to wind load on the cable and on the exposed face.
Combined bending and torsion due to eccentric snapping of
wires
Maximum torsion due to skew snapping of wires
Bending due to failures of all the wires on one side of the pole
Handling and erection stresses.

The indian standard IS:1678-1960 provides for a load factor of

2.5 for transverse bending strength.
The flexural strength of the pole in the direction of the cable
line should be not less than one quarter of the strength in the
transverse direction.
Smaller load factors ranging from 1.1 to 1.5 are prescribed for
failure due to combined bending and torsion as a result of
snapping of wires.
Under over load conditions, progressive failure of the pole is
ensured by designing the critical section as under reinforced ,
which gives ample warning before failure.
The use of mild or high-strength deformed bars, in addition to
the high tensile wires , would impart sufficient ductility to the
member.

In the case of tapered poles with a reduced cross-section

towards the top, the effective prestressing force should
reduced in proportion to cross section by the techniques of
debonding or by dead ending or looping some of the
tendons at mid height.

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE PILES

Advantages

of prestressed concrete piles:

High load and moment carrying capacity

Standardization in design for mass production
Excellent durability under adverse environmental conditions
Crack-free characteristics under handling and driving
resistance to tensile loads due to uplift
Combined load moment capacity
Good resistance to hand driving loads and penetration into hard
strata
Piles can be lengthened by splicing
Ease of handling , transporting and driving
Overall economy in production and installation

Overall economy in production and installation

Adaptability to both developed and developing countries in
tropical, sub-arctic and desert regions
Use of solid and hollow cross-sectional configurations to suit
design requirements
Ease of connections with pile caps to form pier ,trestle and jetty
bents to support bridge or wharf decks
Effective use of fender piling to resist the kinetic energy of ship
impact
Particularly advantageous for deep foundations to carry heavy
loads in weak soils

TYPES OF PRESTRESSED
CONCRETE PILES
Bearing piles
Sheet piles
Combined hearing and sheet piles
Pier trestle and jelly bent piles (pile bents)
High tower and stack piles (subject to uplift)
Caisson piles
Anchor piles
Fender piles

CROSS SECTIONAL SHAPES OF

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE PILES

No. Cross
sectional
shape of pile

Merits

demerits

1.

Triangular

High ratio of skin friction

perimeter to cross sectional area

Low manufacturing cost but low

bending resistance

Square

Good ratio of skin friction

perimeter to cross sectional area

Low manufacturing cost ,good

bending resistance on major axes

Pentagon or
octagon

Approximately equal bending

strength on all axes , Good
penitrating ability ,Good columnn
stability

Prone to surface defects during

casting due to large no faces and
edges

No.

Cross sectional
shape of pile

Merits

Demerits

4.

Cirular

Equal bending strength on all

axes with absense of corners ,
good aesthetics and high
durability , min. wave and
current loads, good column
stability

manufacturing costs generally higher,

surface defects are unavoidable.

5.

Rectangular
with or without
semi circular
ends

Greater bending strength

about the shorter axis, min.
surface to wave and current
forces

difficulty of orientation

6.

I and star

High bending resistance

high manufacturing costs, difficulty of

orientation

PILE SHOES
Pile shoes are required for driving through extremely sof
materials like buried timbers and rocky strata.
However , for driving prestressed concrete piles into sands, silts,
clays and soft shales, pile shoes are unnecessary.
Pile shoes are formed by thick steel plates or stubs welded to the
reinforcing bars anchors and firmly embedded into the pile tip as
shown in fig 1.
The shape of tip may be varied to suit driving conditions.
Field experience indicates that a square tip with chamfered
corners is preferable to a pointed or wedge shaped tip since the
latter causes the pile to deflect and develops high bending stresses
which result in the failure of the shoe and pile.

Types of pile shoes

TYPES OF PRESTRESSED SLEEPERS

1.

2.

3.

Two block sleepers connected by a pipe filled with concrete and

containing high-tensile bars compressing the concrete in the
blocks as shown in fig 2(a).
Longitudinal sleepers located continuously under the rails and
connected by flexible tie bars for gauge retention are shown in
fig 2(b).
Beam-type single piece prestressed concrete sleepers ,which are
quite similar to the conventional wooden type sleepers in shape,
length and supporting area as shown in fig 2 (c). These are
flexurally stiff over their entire length and providing greater
measure of rigidity to the track if the rails are tightly fastented to
the sleepers, preventing rotation at the seatings and buckling of
the rails.

Fig 2 (a)Two block R.C.C with

prestressed tie

Fig.2 (b) longrine laval longitudinal

blocks

Fig. 2 (c) beam type sleepers

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
PRESSURE VESSELS
Advantages:

Reduced possibility of sudden bursting failures triggered by local

cracking , due to the high redundancy of the tendon concrete
system.
High degree of strength reliability , since at the time of intial
tensioning , each tendon is proof tested in tension and concrete in
compression.
The unbonded tendon system provides for periodic surveillance so
that retensioning or replacement of damaged tendons is possible
during the service life of the reactor.
The concrete in the vessel walls being under triaxial compression ,
higher load factors are available against cracking and failure of the
material.

Ability to adequately anchor high pressure piping directly to the

concrete through penetration sleeves.
Experimental investigations indicate that stress concentrations
in concrete due to circular holes do not influence the static and
fatigue strength of concrete.
Excellent radiation absorption characteristics of high-strength
and high-density concrete.
Durability and resistance of concrete to moderate temperatures.
Feasibilty of construction bigger vessels to withstand higher
pressures in the larger plants of the future.

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE PAVEMENT

General features:
The

provision of joints at close intervals in a concrete pavements to permit

expansion or contraction is detrimental from the considerations of strength and
riding quality.

The

stresses in a slab resting on an elastic medium under the action of a

concentrated load increases as the load approaches the free edge and is a
maximum when the load is at the corner zones. Hence smaller slab sizes in a long
roadway result in a large number of high stress zones, such as corners and edges.

Due

to the differential vertical movement between adjacent slabs, the riding

quality of the road deteriorates as the number of joints increases within a given
stretch of the road.

ADVANTAGES OF PRESTRESSED

CONCRETE PAVEMENT
1.

2.

3.

To prevent the formation of shrinkage and temperature cracks

during the early life of the concrete.
Longitudinal prestressing can effectively eliminate the
formation of cracks in slabs.
Expansion joints and weak edge zones are entirely eliminated
by the introduction of moderate pre-compression in the
concrete slabs.

METHODS OF PRESTRESSING
PAVEMENTS

1.

2.

3.

Longitudinal prestressing of the slabs is achieved either by

external prestressing against rigid abutments or by internal
prestressing by means of tensioned bars or cables.The method of
external prestressing by using flat jacks against fixed abutments
at the ends of the slab has the following disadvantages:
Difficulty of providing unyielding abutments:yielding of
abutments reduces the prestress in the slab.
The compressive stress in the slab gradually decreases with
time due to the shrinkage and creep of concrete.
The system of external prestressing is applicable only to
straight cables lying wholly in one plane. If applied to curved
slabs, instability of the systems develops due to the buckling
effect.

The method of internal prestressing by different arrangement

of cables and anchorages lying within the slabs is ideally
suited for long runways. Typical lay-outs of cables and
anchorages used in the internal prestressing system is shown
in fig 3(a) , (b) , (c). The transverse prestress eliminates the
need for using dowel bars across the longitudinal joint.

Fig 3. internal prestressing methods for

pavements