Determine about the Prestressed concrete

Prestressed concrete is a special type of concrete in which internal stresses of a suitable nature, magnitude and distribution are intentionally induced so that undesirable stresses, generated from external loads are counteracted upto a desired degree or are completely eliminated. As tensile stresses are undesirable for concrete, compressive stresses are, infact, introduced in concrete as per the requirements by the use of stretched reinforcement (which is called tendon in prestressed concrete terminology). It should be appreciated that the introduction of compressive stresses in concrete improves the apparent tensile strength of it because the tensile stresses (due to external loads), induced later, have to first nullify these compressive stresses first. So, tensile stresses are wiped out upto the extent compressive stresses are introduced in concrete due to prestressing.