Summary
The high strength and low modulus of elasticity of resin-bonded glass-fibre tendons have prompted consideration of their use in prestressed concrete. The paper describes development work carried out with this material and reports on the testing of eight prestressed beams. Failure loads show agreement with those calculated by the strain compatibility method. Considerable difficulty was encountered in developing a satisfactory anchorage. The use of the correct stress at tensioning and the avoidance of surface damage at casting are shown to be very important, and bond and transmission characteristics were found to be similar to those of steel wire of the same diameter. Bondedfibre tendons may successfully be employed in prestressed units if their initial anchoring stress does not exceed 0·45 of the short-term strength.
