World-leading concrete expert Professor Chris Burgoyne introduces viewers to pre-stressed concrete. This is the third in the Bare Essentials of Concrete series: the key things people who are studying construction or who are working in construction need to understand about concrete.

Professor Burgoyne is head of the Structures Lab at the University of Cambridge. In this video he describes the principles behind pre-stressed concrete, its properties and applications and how engineers use the principle in structures.

Learning outcomes

The effect of applying compressive force to connected elements.
How a compressive force eliminates tension in a beam.
The advantages compared with reinforced concrete.

About the Bare Essentials of Concrete Series

This video is part of the Bare Essentials of Concrete Series, funded by CITB and Construct, in which Professor Chris Burgoyne draws on his many years of practice as a leading researcher in concrete and in teaching to provide viewers with what he regards to be the key knowledge that construction professionals need to understand about concrete. Accompanying this series are two related series: the Bare Essentials of Concrete; and the Bare Essentials of Reinforced Concrete.

Bare Essentials of Reinforced Concrete – What is Reinforced Concrete? is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at info@thinkup.org