Analysis of the Prestress Transfer Bond Problem Incorporating Cohesive Cracking of Concrete

Accurate prediction of prestress transfer bond is a difficult task. A sound theoretical basis is lacking to complement the experimental evidence available in the literature. An analysis procedure treating cracked concrete as an anisotropic material is presented here. Using this approach, improved transfer length predictions can be made. An analytical solution for the formulated non-linear nonhomogeneous differential equation is not feasible. Hence a numerical solution obtained using a modified fourth order Runge- Kutta method as an initial value problem is successfully applied. The numerical results were found to be accurate and the solution technique efficient.