Pre stressed concrete

Pre stress concrete is a method for overcoming concrete's natural weakness in tension. It can be used to produce beams, floors or bridges with a longer span then is practical with ordinary reinforced concrete. Prestressing tendons are used to provide a clamping load which produces a compressive stress that balances the tensile stress that the concreting compression member would otherwise experience due to a bending load. Traditional reinforced concrete is based on the use of steel reinforcement bars inside poured concrete. Prestressing can be accomplished in three ways: pre-tensioned concrete, and bonded or unbounded post-tensioned concrete.