Shear Resistance of Prestressed Concrete Beams Using High Performance Lightweight Aggregates

Abstract

 The high performance lightweight aggregate which was developed recently in Japan has a water absorption ratio of under 5% and a specific gravity of between 0.8 and 1.2. These characteristics are superior to conventional lightweight aggregates. However it is known that the shear capacity of concrete beams using conventional lightweight aggregates is lower than that of normal aggregate concrete beams having a same compressive strength. The authors prepared prestressed concrete beam specimens using the high performance lightweight aggregates with a prestress of 3.0N/mm². and verified the effect of the prestressing in improving the shear capacity. The test results demonstrated that the shear capacity of the prestressed concrete beams using the high performance lightweight aggregates was improved significantly by prestressing.