Prestressed concrete
Hormigón pretensado
- Date
- 1928 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Eugène Freyssinet (1928 patent); P. H. Jackson (1886)
- People
- 👤 Eugène Freyssinet1879–1962
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Concrete pre-compressed with tensioned steel cables, which eliminates cracking and allows much greater spans. Freyssinet made it viable with high-strength steels.
What it led to
- Great-span bridges and viaducts of the post-war era
- Prefabricated beams and industrialised construction
- Tanks, dams and slender structures
Built on
- Portland cement1824
- Early reinforced concrete1849-1867
- Reinforced concrete (Monier, Hennebique)
- High-strength steel
Made possible
- Balanced cantilever bridge construction with cast-in-place segments1950-1951
- Precast beams
- Segmental (voussoir) bridge
- Post-tensioning