Prestressed concrete contains steel rods or cables that are stressed before the product is made to counteract the stresses the finished construction will be under.
It adds enormous strength to concrete products enabling much longer concrete structures to be used. This increased strength crucially enables concrete products to be made thinner and lighter.
Prestressed concrete is one of the most durable and widely used construction materials with applications including high-rise buildings, bridges, foundations, nuclear reactors and offshore drilling platforms.
The benefits of prestressed concrete, in comparison with precast or in-situ concrete include:
- Lower construction cost
- Thinner slabs meaning less weight (and less material, so lower costs)
- Longer spans Fewer joints
- Lower maintenance costs
- Quicker construction (and so lower costs)
- Smaller manufacturing plant (and so lower costs)
- Transport economies
Prestressed concrete panels can be used in a number of ways including horizontal panels, vertical propped or cantilever panels, sandwich panels with an in-situ infill or flat as roofing. At RSG, we typically provide solid, prestressed concrete panels ranging from 80-280mm thick.