The diagonal cracking strength of continuous prestressed concrete beams

Abstract

Synopsis Results of tests on 20 two-span un bonded prestressed concrete I beams failing infiexure and shear under symmetrical point loads are presented. Under shear failure, the mechanism offailure being that of diagonal tension cracking only, a fracture criterion suitable for concrete is adopted to predict this cracking strength. Various existing methods of predicting the cracking strength of pre-tensioned and post-tensioned I beams are compared with the present proposal.