Design of Prestressed Concrete to AS3600-2009, 2nd Edition

For the construction of mankind’s infrastructure, reinforced concrete is the most widely used structural material. It has maintained this position since the end of the nineteenth century and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Because the tensile strength of concrete is low, steel bars are embedded in the concrete to carry the internal tensile forces. Tensile forces may be caused by loads or deformations, or by load-independent effects such as temperature changes and shrinkage.