The influence of prestressing on the twisting phenomenon of beams

The prestressing technique is often employed in engineering practice to increase the bearing capacity of concrete beams in bending. Nevertheless, prestressing has been also applied successfully in numerous cases of steel members, bars or trusses. Whilst in members with concrete sections buckling instability is unlikely to occur, the phenomenon of twisting instability may appear in prestressed steel beams under bending as a special case of the lateral-torsional instability. In the present work, the influence of prestressing on the stability (twisting instability) of a simply supported beam induced by a rectilinear tendon is thoroughly studied. Useful results are gathered and presented in the form of interaction axial force—moment diagrams that can be used for a preliminary design of beams against twisting instability.