Partial prestressing. A commentary

It is emphasized that the philosophy of design for prestressed concrete structures is generally that of eliminating flexural tensile cracking. It is shown that this concept is tempting from a theoretical viewpoint, but cracking owing to secondary effects (in composite beams, at beam junctions and around anchorages) is in reality unavoidable. In partial prestressing, flexural cracking is permitted but is controlled by the use of auxiliary reinforcement. It is a combination of reinforced and prestressed concrete.