Development of a new composite beam using P. S. concrete and steel

This research is to present the development of a composite prestressed and precast reinforced concrete (RC) beam which can reduce the construction period and cost. The reason is that the composite prestressed beams contain embedded special anchorage units at the ends of the beams to improve the performance of connection by placing pre-fabricated anchorage unit in the prestressed precast concrete beam and constructability by adopting steel connection in the prestressed precast concrete beam. Two 12 m beam specimens have been prepared for the experimental evaluation and analysis of flexural capacity. The specimens of MPS12S and MPS12L have been tested and analyzed to evaluate the flexural performance of the composite prestressed and precast beams. The flexural performance tests proved that the new composite beam systems show satisfactory safety factor under service load condition, and any severe noticeable cracks have not been observed at the loading points and connection points. The design methods of the new composite beam systems have been developed based on experimental study. �� 2012 American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved