From the course: Practical Engineering
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Prestressed concrete
From the course: Practical Engineering
Prestressed concrete
- Talk to any concrete professional, and they'll tell you the number one rule of concrete is this. It's pretty much guaranteed to crack. But not all cracking is considered equal, and there's a way to reinforce concrete to minimize its negative impacts. Hey, I'm Grady, and this is Practical Engineering. Today we're talking about prestressed concrete. (cheerful music) (calm music) Despite its excellent qualities as a structural material, concrete has some weaknesses too. One that we've discussed in previous videos is that it has almost no strength against tension. Concrete can withstand a tremendous amount of compressive stress, but when you try to pull it apart, it gives up easily. Concrete's other weakness is that it's brittle, it doesn't have any give, or stretch, or ductility. Combine these two weaknesses, and you get cracks. Concrete loves to crack, and if you're designing or building something made of concrete, understanding how much and where it's going to crack can be the…
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