Chapter Four

4.0 LOSS OF PRESTRESS FORCE

4.1 Introduction
• One of design conditions for prestressed
concrete, at any section, is maximum applied
bending moment when the prestress force is
minimum. It is important therefore to obtain
an estimate of the minimum prestress force.

• There are several factors that cause the initial

prestress force to fall, some of which are
short-term while others are long-term (see
table below).
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Table: Prestress loses

Note that losses can be;

1. Before-transfer losses are the difference between what is
applied by the hydraulic jack, Pjack and what the concrete
feels at the transfer, P.

2. After-transfer losses are the difference between the transfer

force, P and the force at SLS
• Friction losses only affect post–tensioned
member and vary along the length of a
member, viz. the prestress force varies with
both time and position along the member.

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• Too high accuracy in determining the loss of
prestress force is not justifiable rather an
accuracy of ±10% is sufficient for most
purposes.

• The ultimate strength of prestressed concrete

members is very little affected by the initial
prestress force.

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• Furthermore:
 There is low probability of a member being
subjected to full dead and full imposed loading;
 There are partial factors incorporated in the
allowable concrete stresses.

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 Classification of losses
LOSS IN PSC Pre-tensioned Post-tensioned
PSC PSC
Elastic shortening loss Yes Yes
Shrinkage loss Yes Yes
Relaxation loss Yes
Creep loss Yes Yes
Friction curvature loss Yes
Friction wobble loss Yes
Draw-in loss Yes
4.2 Elastic Shortening
Consider a pretensioned member in which the
prestress force is applied at an eccentricity ‘e’
below the centroid of the section.
 Note that: the loss reduces prestress force
that intended to reduce the tensile behavior,
therefore, prestress force in tensile side is
always considered.
 This loss is before transfer!

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Elastic Shortening contd…

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Elastic Shortening contd…

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 Elastic Shortening contd…
• If tendons are closely grouped in tension zone, the
loss due to elastic shortening of concrete is
obtainable by considering fco as stress in concrete
at the centroid of the tendons.
• If the tendons are widely distributed throughout the
section, then the above approximation is no longer
valid else, individual treatment is required to
superimpose the effects.
• For a post-tensioned member change in tendon
strain just after transfer is equal to strain in
concrete at the same level. The loss of stress in
the tendon is given by Eqn (1).
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Elastic Shortening contd…

• In practice, the force in post-tensioned

members at transfer is not constant along the
member. It is, however, sufficiently accurate
to base elastic shortening loss on initial
prestress force Pi assumed constant along
the member.

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• The value of fco in Eqn (4) should reflect the
fact that the member deflects from its
formwork during tensioning and it is modified
by tension stress due to self-weight which
varies along the member. Thus:

… (5)

fco will vary along the length since generally both e and Mo varies

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 Elastic Shortening contd…
• For post-tensioned members elastic shortening
loss does not occur if tendons are jacked
simultaneously, because jacking would proceed
until the desired prestress force is reached.
• For sequential jacking there is loss of prestress
force in previously tensioned tendons, such that:

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Elastic Shortening contd…
 Loss in 1st tendon = mfco
 Loss in last tendon =0
 Average loss = mfco/2
• For pretensioned tendons it is assumed that
the total force is transferred at one time and
elastic shortening is mfco

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Example 4.1

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Solution

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Solution contd…

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Solution contd…

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• For pretensioned members and grouted post-
tensioned members the prestress force is
effectively constant.
• For post-tensioned members it will vary along
the length of the member.

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4.3 Friction

• In post-tensioned members there is friction

between the prestressing tendons and inside
of the ducts during tensioning.
• The magnitude of the friction depends on the
type of duct-former used and the type of
tendon.

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 Friction contd…
There are two basic mechanisms that produce friction,
namely:
• Curvature of tendon to achieve desired tendon profile
i.e. loss before transfer

• Deviation between center lines of tendons and ducts

(wobble-effects). Loss after-transfer

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 Friction contd…
• A small, but finite, portion of a steel cable partly
wrapped around a pulley is shown in figure below.
• Since there is friction between the cable and the
pulley, the forces in the cable at the two ends of the
section are not equal.
• The frictional force is equal to μN, where μ is the
coefficient of friction between cable and pulley.
Friction contd…

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Friction contd…

Fig. Tendon with several curvature changes

Friction contd…

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 Friction contd…
• In many large bridge decks tendons curves
both vertically and horizontally, and both must
be considered.
• Variation between actual centerlines of
tendon and duct is known as the wobble-
effect which is normally treated by
considering it as additional angular friction, as
illustrated below.

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Friction contd…
K is wobble coefficient

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Friction contd…
Equation (8) is equivalent to those given in
BS8110 which also recommend the following:
•K = 33 x 10-4 per metre, as the minimum;
•K = 17 x 10-4 per metre, if duct is securely held in
position during concreting;
•K = 25 x 10-4 for greased strands wrapped in
plastic sleeves.

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Friction contd…
• If (x/rps + Kx) < 0.2  Eqn (8) becomes P(x)
= Pi [1 – (x/rps + Kx)].

• Values of  for wires and strands against

different surfaces normally range between
0.12 and 0.55.

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Friction contd…
The values of  may be reduced to as low
as 0.1 by lubricating the tendons prior to
threading them into ducts. If the ducts
are grouted the effect on bond must also
be considered.
The term due to wobble effect in Eqn. (8)
may be replaced by an equivalent additional
curvature of θ radian per unit length thus:
P(x) = Pi exp [-(x/rps + θx)] (9)
Where; θ = 0.005 – 0.010 radian per
metre.
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Figure: Frictional losses

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Example 4.2

For the beam shown below, determine the

minimum effective prestress force if an initial
prestress force of 3000 kN is applied;
•at the left-hand end only;
•at both ends.
Assume  = 0.25 and K = 17x 10-4

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Figure: Beam with multiple tendon curvature

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Solution:

(i)The total angular change for the full length of

the tendon;
(x/rps) = 18.75/121.93 + 12.5/77.39 +
18.75/121.93
= 0.469 radians
Minimum prestress force which occurs at the
right-hand end of beam if tensioned from left-
hand end, is derived from Eqn 8,

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 Solution contd…

thus;
P(x) = Pi exp [-(x/rps + Kx)]
T(x = 50) = 3000 exp[-(0.25x0.469+ 17x 10-4x50)]
= 2450.7 kN  loss is 549.3 kN ≡ 18.3% of initial
force.

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 Solution contd…

(ii) If the beam is tensioned from both ends,

minimum prestress is at centre of the beam, viz. x
= 25 m, thus;
(x/rps) = 18.75/121.93 + 6.5/77.39
= 0.235 radians.
Thus, T(x = 25) = 3000 exp[-(0.25x0.235+17x 10-4x25)]
= 2711.1kN loss 288.9kN= 9.6%

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 Solution contd…
• It will be observed that frictional losses in the
right-hand-span have been greatly reduced
by tensioning from both ends although the
prestress force at the centre support is the
same in both cases.

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Additional friction effects are found;
- Within anchorages, losses are of the order of 2%
and usually covered by the calculated duct friction
losses.
- Within the jack between piston and jack casing.
Although friction is a cause of loss of
prestress force principally in post-tensioned
members;
- In pretensioned members, friction losses occur if
tendons are tensioned against deflectors, the
magnitude of which will usually be determined
from tests.

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 4.4 Anchorage Draw-in
• This is tendon contraction during the process of
transferring the tensioning force from jack to the
anchorage.
• It is usually small depending on type of anchorages
used. In case of pre-tensioning;
• It can be compensated easily by initially over-extending
the tendon by the calculated amount of encourage draw-
in.
• This loses are loses after-transfer

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 Anchorage Draw-in…
• The draw in of the wedges can be up to 10 mm but
the loss is generally local.

• Draw in losses are not transmitted more than about 5-

10 mm from the live anchor.
 4.5 Variation of initial prestress force
along a member
• Consider the following illustration;

Fig. Anchorage draw-in

 Variation of initial prestress force
contd…

• Line ABC represents the variation in prestress

force away from the anchorage, based an
friction;
– Curvature changes
– Wobble effect
• AD represents loss of prestress due to draw-
in, ΔPA.

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• The combined effect of friction and
draw-in results in the prestress curve
DBC from which it is observed that
beyond point B, the force is
unaffected by draw-in.
• For most tendon profiles, the total
deviated angle is small thereby making
it possible to approximate AB and DB by
straight lines, as depicted below.
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Figure: Idealised prestress force distribution

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Variation of initial prestress force
Contd…

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Example 4.4

• For the beam shown below (similar to

previous example), determine the prestress
force distribution along the beam if the
anchorage draw-in is 5 mm. Assume Es =
195 kN/mm2, fpi = 1239 N/mm2, Aps = 2850
mm2, m = 7.5,  = 0.25 and K = 17 x 10-4
per metre.

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Solution

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 LONGTERM LOSSES

4.6 Concrete shrinkage

• The amount of shrinkage depends on the
humidity and the surface area to volume ratio.
• Once again, as the strands are bonded to the
concrete they undergo the same strain.
• The loss after-transfer.
• The loss of prestress is long-term and is given
by;

Ap=cross-section of area of tendons

Ep=Young’s modulus of prestressing steel
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 4.7 Concrete creep
• Creep is the ongoing increase in strain with time,
when stress is kept constant.

• The principal effect of the phenomenon of concrete

creep is reduction of prestress force caused by
shortening of the member with time.

• The loss is after-transfer.

• For lightweight aggregate concretes, the creep and

shrinkage effects are greater than, and the modulus
of elasticity less than, those of normal density
concretes. The loss of prestress force is therefore
greater with lightweight concretes.
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 4.7 Concrete creep …

• Creep causes a strain in the concrete adjacent to the

strands and over a long time.
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• The creep factor φ depends on a number of things
such as concrete quality and its age when loaded.
• Thus the strands slacken as before, and the loss of
force is:

Mperm is the moment due to the permanent loads such as

the prestress, dead load and superimposed dead loads
such as such as parapets and road pavement.
 4.8 Steel relaxation
• When maintained at a constant strain, prestressing
strand gradually loses its stress with time (like a guitar
going out of tune).
• It is due to a realignment of the steel fibres and is the
same phenomenon as creep.
• Depending on the quality of the steel, relaxation losses
can vary in the range of 3 to 8%.
• This losses is after-transfer.

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 4.9 Total Prestress Losses

If Pi is the initial prestress force then:

• effective prestress force at transfer for Pet =
Pi
• effective prestress force at service load Pes =
Pi
where  and  are short-term and long-term
losses respectively.

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 Total Prestress Losses Contd…

It is useful at initial design stage to

have an approximate figure for the
prestress loss, as indicated below.
 ≈ 0.90
 ≈ 0.75

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