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Abstract

A prestressed composite structure (48) and method for making same. The ferroconcrete prestressed structure (48) includes a tensile member (10) which includes a steel I-beam (12) which has on its upper flange (16) a plurality of shear connectors (14). The beam (12) is bent or bowed by pushing on the center region of the beam (12) with a screw jack (28) or the like while forces are applied to the first and second ends (21) and (23), respectively, of the beam (12). The end forces can simply be due to the weight of the beam (12) or can be supplemented, in one embodiment, through the use of threaded rods (32) and (38) which interconnect the beam (12) and a dummy beam (26). The bowed beam (12) has a convex surface (42) on which a compressive layer (46) is attached. Preferably, a concrete layer (46) is utilized with the concrete bonding to an upper flange (16) of the beam (12) and the concrete layer (46) encasing or enveloping the shear connectors (14) to make the composite unit (48) act as a single structural device. Once the concrete layer (46) has sufficiently cured, the bending moment created by the screw jack (28) and rods (32) and (38) is removed and the resulting composite structure (48) is prestressed and is therefore better able to withstand dead and live loading.

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First Claim