Civil Engineering Association

Prestress Losses in Pretensioned High-Strength Concrete Bridge Girders

This report presents guidelines to help bridge designers obtain realistic estimates of prestress losses in high-strength pretensioned concrete bridge girders and thus achieve economical designs. These guidelines incorporate procedures that yield more accurate predictions of modulus of elasticity, shrinkage, and creep of concrete and more realistic estimates of prestress losses than those provided by the procedures contained in current specifications. This report will be of particular interest to engineers, researchers, and others concerned with the design of pretensioned concrete bridge structures.