Prestressed concrete is the most durable, reliable, and strongest concrete that is widely used for the construction of mega buildings and bridges. It has made significant contributions to the construction industry, the precast manufacturing industry, and the cement industry.
Advantages of Prestressed Concrete
The followings are the advantages of prestressed concrete:
- A longer span length increases untroubled floor space and parking facilities.
- Thinner slabs are important for high-rise buildings as with the same amount of cost, it can construct more slabs than traditional thicker slabs.
- As the span length is larger, fewer joints are needed than in traditional RC structures.
- Because of fewer joints, maintenance cost also becomes reduced during the design life as joints are the major locus of weakness in a concrete building.
- Under service loading conditions, the structural member sections remain untracked. As a result steel corrosion is reduced and long-term durability is achieved.
- As full member section is utilized here, a higher moment of inertia, less deformations, and high shear capacity is achieved with a lower section size.
- It requires a smaller amount of construction materials.
- Better finishing of placed concrete.
- It resists stresses that are higher than normal RCC structures and is free from cracks.
- Rapid construction with better quality control is possible.
- Less maintenance is required.
- For repetitive construction, prestressed concrete is more suitable than regular concrete without prestressing.
- In this type of concrete, multiple uses of formwork are possible. It can reduce the formwork amount.
Disadvantages of Prestressed Concrete
The followings are the disadvantages of prestressed concrete:
- It requires high-strength concrete and high-tensile-strength steel wires.
- The main disadvantage is construction requires additional special equipment like jacks, anchorage, etc.
- Concrete prestressing requires skilled technology. It needs highly skilled workers under skilled supervision.
- Construction cost is a little higher than RCC structures as it costs higher for high-strength materials.
Related Articles of Prestressed Concrete
- What is Prestressed Concrete?
- Types of Prestressed ConcretePrestressed Concrete.
- Applications of Prestressed Concrete