Prestressed slabs - New York City

[Akbarma]

Dear All,

I am fresher structural engineer working in New York City. Recently I came to know from some seniors in my office that Post tensioned/Pre stressed slabs are not used or are very unpopular in New York City. Can anyone tell me any reasons to why it is so ???.

 

[Philip86]

I would also be interested to know....

I am from australia, I remember hearing that Americans perfer steel in buildings because the Cost/availability of concrete is not the same as Australia, and hence steel is as just as easy, if not easier for construction. Would be interesting to know if this is true.

 

[bridgebuster]

Buildings or Bridges?

With bridge work in the city here are few things to consider:

1. A lot of the work is rehab, not much new work; many old bridges here are steel.
2. Sometimes on a bridge replacement steel works out better from the standpoint of roadway geometry
3. Preference. On the parkways there are a lot of concrete frames and arches, which was done for aesthethics. Elsewhere, steel was the material of choice. A lot of our bridges pre-date P/S, P/T concrete. As designers, we tend to stick with what we're familiar with.

There as P/S & P/T bridges in the city; more P/S than P/T

 

[graybeach]

It could be that there is more flexibility for future modifications with nonP/T-P/S slabs. It could also be some kind of union issue.

I worked on a rehab of a parking garage with P/T slabs. It was very difficult to remove the damaged portions and could have been dangerous. The work would have been much easier without the P/T.

 

[rapt]

It would also be much easier with bonded PT but the powers that control the industry in USA still insist on pushing unbonded PT.