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General Overview of Post-Tensioned Concrete Design


Matthew Stuart, P.E., S.E., P.Eng.


Course Outline

This one-hour online course will enable you to obtain a general understanding of the most commonly used structural design philosophy and analysis of post-tensioned concrete in the industry today. This course will define the difference between pretensioned and post-tensioned concrete, and will establish the basis of design for post-tensioned concrete. A description of the methods of design including primary and secondary moment effects,load-balancing, preliminary sizing of members, tendon arrangement, losses and service and ultimate strength analysis will be provided. This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

primary and secondary moment effects
load-balancing
preliminary sizing of members
tendon arrangement

Course Introduction

he structural design of reinforced concrete can be divided into two categories;

  1. conventionally reinforced
  2. prestressed

Prestressed concrete design can be further subdivided into pretensioned and post-tensioned reinforcement. This subject of this course covers the design of post-tensioned concrete only.

This course deals primarily with the design philosophy and analysis of post-tensioned concrete. For detailed design and computational aspects of post-tensioned concrete structures, the reader should refer to PDHonline Course s133: Post-Tensioned Concrete Design Spreadsheet Program.

Course Content

The course content is contained in the following PDF file:

General Overview of Post-Tensioned Concrete Design

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

If you have trouble reading any of the material on line, it is recommended that the course material be printed out for better resolution.

Course Summary

The design of post-tensioned concrete uses the load-balancing method to represent the uplift provided by eccentrically placed stressed tendons. Typically the number of strands required is determined by service stress conditions rather than ultimate strength design. Placement of tendons and stressing sequences impacts both the design and construction of a post-tensioned concrete structure. Friction and wedge set losses have to be included in the calculation of the net post-tensioning force. Secondary effects resulting from the restraint of supporting members has to be accounted for in the ultimate strength design of any continuous section.

Related Links

For additional technical informaion related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

Post-Tensioning Institute - PCI
Post-Tensioned Concrete for Today's Market- Seattle DailyJournal of Commerce
Post Tensioned Slabs - Concrete Network.com

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

Take a Quiz


DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.com or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.