Joseph J. Bonasia’s scientific contributions

The economical design of prestressed concrete beams is of special interest to engineers concerned with the development of the present highway program. Several groups, such as the Bureau of Public Roads, the American Association of State Highway Officials, and the Prestressed Concrete Institute recognized the advantages of prestressed concrete and developed standard I-type sections for use as stringers on simple-span highway bridges. This paper illustrates how an electronic digital computer is advantageously used to select and design standard posttensioned prestressed concrete beams. Two charts are presented which provide information for the rapid selection of satisfactory beams used as interior stringers in simple span, composite beam highway bridges with AASHO H20-S16-44 live load, A description of the method of obtaining the required prestressing force and its location for the results obtained is also presented.