prestressed slabs - new york city
 

prestressed slabs - new york city
dear all,
i am fresher structural engineer working in new york city. recently i came to know from some seniors in my office that post tensioned/pre stressed slabs are not used or are very unpopular in new york city. can anyone tell me any reasons to why it is so ???.
i would also be interested to know....
buildings or bridges?
with bridge work in the city here are few things to consider:
1. a lot of the work is rehab, not much new work; many old bridges here are steel.
2. sometimes on a bridge replacement steel works out better from the standpoint of roadway geometry
3. preference. on the parkways there are a lot of concrete frames and arches, which was done for aesthethics. elsewhere, steel was the material of choice. a lot of our bridges pre-date p/s, p/t concrete. as designers, we tend to stick with what we're familiar with.
there as p/s & p/t bridges in the city; more p/s than p/t
it could be that there is more flexibility for future modifications with nonp/t-p/s slabs. it could also be some kind of union issue.
i worked on a rehab of a parking garage with p/t slabs. it was very difficult to remove the damaged portions and could have been dangerous. the work would have been much easier without the p/t.
it would also be much easier with bonded pt but the powers that control the industry in usa still insist on pushing unbonded pt.