The four ages of early prestressed concrete structures

Abstract

Unlike reinforced concrete, the history of prestressed concrete has been insufficiently studied. Little progress has been made on this matter since the first classical texts appeared in England, the U. S. and Germany soon after the Second World War and the life of Freyssinet was published after Spain returned to democracy. Some evidence of this gap is that some very well reputed textbooks on prestressed concrete, as well as recent and updated papers, still repeat those old chronologies. Although this trend occurs in some cases, some researchers have been making interesting and noteworthy advances in recent decades. Some of these advances are discussed here with new data pulled from the study of early patents on prestressed structures, and these resources are looked at from a new historical perspective: the four ages of prestressed concrete structures. Beyond application to concrete structures, this “four ages” perspective can also be useful for studying the history of prestressed structures made of other materials.