Setting up a cementitious model with pre-tensioned cable without a duct

Bcavender

Hello,

As a learning process, I have created a 15" rectangular member with a 1/8" steel, standard lay wire rope just off its bottom.

To keep it simple for now, I am assuming that the individual wires wound into the rope construction will provide enough grip for the block material to hold it (vs a cylindrical wire w only friction to retain it and the forces are low enough to neglect the likelihood of pullout.)

What I would like to do is pretension the cable to X pounds of tension and pour/cure the cementitious material.

On release of the external pretension, I would like to solve for the deflection/stresses in the block and wire.

I would appreciate guidance on how to properly construct this problem in Mecway.

Best regards,

Bruce

Victor

Here's one approach using spring elements for the wire and pre-tension section. You have to define the preload as a length adjustment rather than a force so you'd need to look at the axial force in the solution and modify the pre-tension section to tune it.

It's probably more convenient to use beam/truss elements for the wire with thermal stress for pretension.

Bcavender

I see the two counterbalancing, spring elements each 7.5" in long.

I am having difficulty seeing how to take this to the next level of computing stresses with many elements horizontally along the model. I am thinking your process here is iterating the displacement until the tension in the element arrives at the desired pretension level. Do I have that right?

I am missing here about how the x,y,z displacements work together with the two pretension sections of 0.01" each.

Appreciate your help!
Have a great weekent!
Bruce