Crack Resistance of Prestressed Reinforced Concrete Beams with Wire Rope Reinforcement

One of the main objectives of capital construction worldwide is to increase the efficiency of construction. To achieve this, a significant improvement in the quality of concrete and reinforced concrete is required. Nowadays, in developed countries, one of the key directions for enhancing the efficiency of concrete and reinforced concrete is reducing their density by using inexpensive and high-quality local porous fillers. In recent years, the use of concrete structures with porous fillers based on ceramporite in load-bearing reinforced concrete structures has allowed for the improvement of their technical and economic indicators and the reduction in their own weight by up to 35%. This, in turn, is considered an essential factor in seismic zones, and therefore, special attention is paid to these issues. This article presents the data of experimental and theoretical studies obtained from investigating the crack resistance of prestressed lightweight reinforced concrete flexural elements with wire rope reinforcement. The main factors influencing crack resistance were considered, including the effects of two types of porous filler (ceramporite), two types of concrete, concrete strength, percentage of reinforcement, and level of precompression. The tests were conducted using short-term and repeated loadings. Based on the analysis of the obtained data, some refinements have been made to the methodology for calculating the crack resistance of such structures according to current design standards.