Novel Application of

Post-Tensioning Solves
High-Rise Design Challenges
Solution provides long spans and efficient transfer of horizontal and vertical forces

by Bijan O. Aalami, Florian B. Aalami, Jeffrey Smilow, and Ahmad Rahimian

P
ost-tensioning is used to reduce deflection, control estate development in the history of the United States and the
cracking, and add strength in a wide range of concrete largest development in New York City since Rockefeller
construction projects, including both new construction Center. The project covers 28 acres (11.3 ha) on the west side
and retrofit of existing structures. The two principal of Manhattan, and when it is completed in 2024, 125,000
characteristics of post-tensioning are the precompression that people per day will work at, visit, or call Hudson Yards
is applied to the concrete and the uplift that is generated to their home. The site will include more than 17 million ft2
offset gravity loads. A third characteristic of post-tensioning is (1.6 million m2) of commercial and residential space, state-of-
the generation of hyperstatic (secondary) forces in statically the-art office towers, more than 100 shops, a collection of
indeterminate structures. restaurants, approximately 4000 residences, 14 acres (5.7 ha)
Hyperstatic forces were recently used to resolve a major of public open space, and a 750-seat public school. Half of the
challenge facing the structural design of 55 Hudson Yards, a project extends over an existing rail yard; the 30 active train
high-rise in New York City, NY, that will be partially tracks are slowly being covered by a massive platform that
constructed over and supported by an existing structure. The will hold three towers, a retail complex, a 6 acre (2.4 ha)
design scheme required the columns of the existing structure public square, and a new cultural space. The construction is
to provide partial support for the new construction. The expected to be completed in 2019 and is taking place while
challenge was to match the anticipated reactions of the new the trains remain in operation.
construction, which are governed by the building’s
architectural design and construction scheme, to the location 55 Hudson Yards
and capacity of the columns of the existing structure. A prominent part of the project is a 51-story commercial
While the combined capacity of the columns of the existing office building, 55 Hudson Yards (Fig. 1). One of the first
structure could support the weight of the new construction, the fully concrete-framed high-rises of its class in New York City,
distribution of the reactions from the new construction was the tower will include over 1.3 million ft2 (120,773 m2) of
considerably different from the capacities of the existing office space. The developers wanted the building to provide
supports. Among the several options explored, the use of modern, efficient floor spaces uninterrupted by columns, and
post-tensioning, configured to generate a set of hyperstatic with floor-to-ceiling windows. The solution comprises
reactions so that the reactions from the new structure matched long-span post-tensioned flat slabs supported by a central core
the capacity of the existing supports, proved to be the most and perimeter columns (Fig. 2). The architects are Kohn
practical and effective scheme. This article presents the Pedersen Fox Associates and Kevin Roche John Dinkello and
highlights of the design challenge and details how the Associates, and the structural engineer is WSP | Parsons
hyperstatic actions associated with post-tensioning were used Brinkerhoff. ADAPT Corporation was consulted on the
to achieve the design objective. post-tensioned aspects of the design.
Using post-tensioned flat slab construction with lightweight
Hudson Yards concrete allowed floor spans of up to 45 ft (13.72 m). It also
According to its developers, Related Companies and eliminated the need for interior beams. This reduced the
Oxford Properties, Hudson Yards is the largest private real floor-to-floor height, allowing the required office space to be

58 OCTOBER 2016 | Ci | www.concreteinternational.com

 Fig. 2: Plan of typical high-rise (tower) level (Note: Green designates
area of future stair opening, additional slab reinforcing is required;
yellow designates no future slab penetration is these areas, limited
small sleeves may be allowed; and white designates area for small
penetration, sleeves, and poke-throughs)

Fig. 1: Rendering of 55 Hudson Yards

accommodated within a total building height of 780 ft (237.74 m).

The building features 10 floors of larger base construction Fig. 3: Overview of tendon layout of a typical floor
topped with 41 typical levels for a total of 51 floors. A
multi-level transfer structure has been designed to direct loads
from the exterior tower columns to the offset lower column (1219 mm) wide. The specified superimposed dead load was
grid. The composite transfer structure is composed of three 35 lb/ft2 (1.68 kN/m2), and the design live load was 50 lb/ft2
floor slabs and a series of transfer walls and “walking” (2.39 kN/m2), not reduced. The specified 28-day strength was
columns. Post-tensioning in two of these slabs is used to resist 7000 psi (48 MPa) for the lightweight concrete (120 lb/ft3
the horizontal tensile forces developed in the composite [1922 kg/m3]) in the floors and 12,000 psi (83 MPa) for the
transfer levels. Profiling of the tendon ties through the transfer normalweight concrete in the columns and core walls. The
plate provide added uplift to support the load from above. design of each slab considered three zones specified by the
This unique transfer system is described in more detail later owner: areas for future large openings, areas for small
in this article. penetrations, and areas with post-tensioning that should not
The floors in the tower feature a central core and open, be penetrated in the future.
beamless unobstructed space that extends 38.5 ft (11.74 m) The floor system reinforcement consists of unbonded
from the core wall to the perimeter (Fig. 2). In the base post-tensioning tendons and conventional reinforcement. The
structure, the floors span as far as 44 ft (13.4 m). The typical tendons were grouped and configured to meet the developer’s
floors are 9 in. (229 mm) thick flat slab construction with a requirement of large tendon-free regions at the center of the
perimeter beam that is 30 in. (762 mm) deep and 48 in. floor panels (Fig. 2 and 3), allowing tenants greater flexibility

www.concreteinternational.com | Ci | OCTOBER 2016 59

 for creating internal access between the floors or other
structural modifications. The 0.5 in. (13 mm), 270 ksi
(1860 MPa), seven-wire strand tendons (Fig. 4) were supplied
by Amsysco, Inc., and installed by the primary concrete
contractor Cross Country Construction, LLC.
The projection of the building beyond the central core,
shown on the right of the structural model of the building
(Fig. 5), is supported on the column ends of the existing
Metropolitan Transit Area (MTA) ventilation building. A
post-tensioned wall system was developed in the new
construction over the existing building to bring the reactions
from the new construction to within the allowable values of
the existing supports.

Post-Tensioned Wall
The existing ventilation tower had been designed with
designated support locations to accommodate future
development at the Hudson Yards project. The architectural
requirements and the massing of the proposed new
construction, however, led to a potential overloading of two of
the interior existing support locations, while the exterior
support locations were underused. WSP | Parsons Brinkerhoff
evaluated several design and construction approaches to
redistribute the loads, including the use of a large steel truss in
combination with the delayed casting of the central columns.
Load redistribution would have been achieved by initially
spanning the exterior columns with the steel truss. The central
columns would be cast only after sufficient load had been
Fig. 4: Layout of post-tensioning and nonprestressed reinforcement
transferred to the outer supports. After installation of the
central columns, the remaining construction load would have
been distributed among all supports.
Another option, developed in collaboration with ADAPT,
was to redistribute the loads using post-tensioning tendons
draped from the 10th floor at locations near the exterior
columns down to the 8th level at the two interior columns.
This alternative allowed ducts to be placed during the level-
by-level construction of a concrete wall. Multistrand tendons,
supplied by Freyssinet, Inc., would be fed through the ducts
and could be stressed from the 10th level, where segments of
the wall would terminate. Calculations showed that the proper
load rebalancing would occur if the tendons were stressed
after completing construction of the 20th floor.
Using post-tensioning in a cast-in-place wall provided a
simple solution for rebalancing the reactions on the existing
structure, with minimal requirements to manipulate the
construction sequence. It also avoided the need for mixing
structural steel construction with concrete construction and
was shown to be less expensive to implement than the steel
truss option.
The design concept of the post-tensioning alternative is
based on the hyperstatic forces from post-tensioning. In a
statically indeterminate structure, the restraint of the supports
to the movement caused by post-tensioning results in a set of
forces in the structure; these forces are referred to as
Fig. 5: Structural model of 55 Hudson Yards hyperstatic actions. In the structural design of post-tensioned

60 OCTOBER 2016 | Ci | www.concreteinternational.com

 configure the reactions to act in the direction and amounts
required by design. This feature of post-tensioning was used
to alter the reactions from the building loads so that they were
within the allowable range of the existing supports.
Figure 7 illustrates the application of the concept to the
55 Hudson Yards concrete frame. The hyperstatic reactions
(a) from the post-tensioning in the wall were designed so that the
column reactions framing into the wall were within the
support capacity.
W1 through W4 are the reactions from the superstructure at
the base of the columns. Based on the elastic distribution of
(b)
loads in the proposed structure, the W2 and W3 reactions
exceeded the capacity of the existing supports, while the
reactions at W1 and W4 were less than the capacity of their
supports, but by different amounts. A total of three hundred
and sixty-seven, 0.6 in. (15 mm) strands, providing a total of
approximately 14,000 kip (62,275 kN), grouped in mostly
31 strands per tendon and arranged as shown, were used to
(c) create the hyperstatic forces H1 through H4 at the base of the
columns, where H2 and H3 are upward forces, and H1 and H4
are downward forces. The sum of the forces H1 through H4
is zero, but they transfer a load totaling over 5000 kip
(22,240 kN) from central supports to the end supports. This

(d)

Fig. 6: Hyperstatic reactions from prestressed members: (a) free member;

(b) tendon forces; (c) restrained member; and (d) hyperstatic forces

members, the hyperstatic effects must be calculated and

accounted for along with the other loads on the structure.1
Figure 6 explains the concept of support reactions in
post-tensioned members. The internal forces generated by
post-tensioning tendons deform the member that contains
them (Fig. 6(a)). Depending on the loads on the member and
the amount of post-tensioning, the post-tensioning forces can
actually lift the member off its supports. The forces generated
by the post-tensioned tendons and applied to the member that
contains them are always in static self-equilibrium (Fig. 6(b)).
That means they sum up to be zero. They will deform the
member if the member is free to deform, as shown in Fig. 6(a).
If the supports of the post-tensioned member are fixed, they
will prevent the member from deforming at the connections to
the supports (Fig. 6(c)). The resistance to the movement of the
member caused by the post-tensioning forces results in a set
of reactions at the supports (Fig. 6(d)). These reactions are
referred to as the hyperstatic forces from post-tensioning.
Because the forces that generated the reactions shown in
Fig. 6(b) are in self-equilibrium, the sum of the resulting
hyperstatic forces must also add up to be zero, but the
direction and the value of each reaction can be configured
through the post-tensioning design. Through judicious
selection of tendon profile and tendon forces, it is possible to

www.concreteinternational.com | Ci | OCTOBER 2016 61

 Fig. 9: Mechanics of generation of tensile forces in the lower slab in
spreading the load from smaller to larger slab footprint

Fig. 7: Schematic elevation of the lower wall section and its supports

Fig. 10: Forces on typical span of enlarged floor (Note: DL is dead

load; LL is live load; Wp is uplift from post-tensioning (PT))

A nontraditional but beneficial aspect of post-tensioning in

the design is the extended role of the tendon ties in the
transition slab between the smaller footprint of the tower, and
the larger podium floor below. Figure 9 displays the
mechanism of generation of tensile forces in the lower slab.
Figure 10 illustrates the forces on a typical span of the lower
floor, followed by the required adjustment in the strength
design of the floor.
In-plane tension generated in the lower floor can be
Fig. 8: Partial view of construction at Level 8 resisted by adding nonprestressed reinforcement, post-
tensioning tendons, or combination of the two.
Post-tensioning to resist tension from the floor transition
results in the net building reactions R1 through R4, which do can be profiled to provide uplift (Wp) in addition to tension.
not exceed the support capacity. The uplift counteracts the effects of dead (DL) and live (LL)
Figure 8 provides a partial view of the construction of the loads, but requires an adjustment in the safety design of the
post-tensioned wall at Level 8 in the building. Ducts (white) slab from the common case.
for multistrand bonded tendons are being positioned along the While tendons have been used as tie members before,
path specified in the design. The vertical reinforcing bars on profiling of tendon ties and recognizing their participation in
each side of the wall extend up from the level below. The providing the flexural strength of the member they pass
remainder of the wall reinforcement will be placed after the through is novel. Equation (1) is the load combination
installation of the ducts has been completed. Slab commonly used for strength demand of post-tensioned
reinforcement, including unbonded reinforcement (green), is members (Sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.11 of ACI 318-142), where
also being placed. HYP is the hyperstatic effects from flexure of member caused

62 OCTOBER 2016 | Ci | www.concreteinternational.com

by post-tensioning. It is applicable to the common case when Project credits
the tendons are anchored at the slab edge, leading to Developer: The Related Companies and Oxford Properties
compression in the slab. The moments from this expression Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Kevin Roche
are to be resisted by the combined contributions of John Dinkello and Associates
prestressing and nonprestressed reinforcing bars. Main Contractor: Gilbane Building Company
Equation (2) is the load combination when the tendon is a Concrete Contractor: Cross Country Construction, LLC
tie and is profiled. The uplift resulting from profiling of the Structural Engineer: WSP | Parsons Brinkerhoff
tendons, and the effects of uplift on the flexure of the slab— Post-Tensioning Consultant: ADAPT Corporation
hence the hyperstatic actions—remain unchanged. However, Post-Tensioning Suppliers: Amsysco, Inc., and Freyssinet, Inc.
the tendons will not be available to resist the demand
moment, as their force P is usurped by the sloping columns. References
In this case, the applicable demand moment derived from 1. Aalami, B.O., Post-Tensioned Buildings: Design and Construction,
Eq. (2) has to be resisted by nonprestressed reinforcement first edition, PT-Structures, 2014, 396 pp.
and added post-tensioning. 2. ACI Committee 318, “Building Code Requirements for Structural
Concrete (ACI 318-14) and Commentary (ACI 318R-14),” American
U = 1.2DL + 1.6LL + 1.0HYP (1) Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 2014, 519 pp.

U = 1.2DL + 1.6LL + 1.0Wp (2) Selected for reader interest by the editors.

ACI member Bijan O. Aalami is ACI member Jeffrey Smilow is Executive

Emeritus Professor of San Francisco Vice President, USA Director of Building
State University, San Francisco, CA; Structures at WSP | Parsons Brinkerhoff
Legend, Fellow, and Life Member of and is responsible for all building structures
the Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI); and operations throughout the United States. As
Founder and Principal of ADAPT an integral member of the firm’s leadership
Corporation. He is a recipient of the team, he also oversees all building related
ACI Design Award for application of engineering disciplines. He has over 38
advanced engineering to a notable years of design experience in steel and
concrete structure. He has published extensively on analysis concrete and has developed a portfolio of high-profile projects
and design of post-tensioned structures. A renowned educator, including the World Trade Center Tower Three, Columbia University
he has held courses on post-tensioning in more than 35 countries Manhattanville, and the Citi Field New York Mets Stadium, among
worldwide. He is an Honorary Member of the Argentine many others. His work was instrumental in renovating landmarks
Structural Engineering Association and former Vice Chancellor such as the Plaza Hotel and Grand Central Terminal. A Fellow of the
and Professor at Arya Mehr (now Sharif) University of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), he is a licensed engineer
Technology, Tehran, Iran. in multiple states.

Florian B. Aalami is CEO of ADAPT ACI member Ahmad Rahimian is USA

Corporation, a structural engineering Director of Building Structures at WSP |
and software development company, Parsons Brinkerhoff. He is the recipient of
specializing in analysis and design of numerous awards from engineering societies
concrete structures with extensive for various projects, including the 2007 AISC
national and international activities. He Special Achievement Award, 2005 ASCE-
is the recipient of 2013 ACI Charles S. CERF Charles Pankow Award for innovation,
Whitney Medal, awarded to ADAPT and the ENR Excellence Award as one of the
Corporation for its contributions in the Top 25 Newsmakers of 2003. In his 30 years
area of software used to design concrete structures. He at WSP, he has engineered numerous projects worldwide ranging
received his PhD from Stanford University, Stanford, CA. He is from high-rise commercial and residential towers to stadiums and
an active member of the PTI DC-110, Building Information transportation facilities. His projects are counted among the world’s
Modeling (BIM) Committee. most iconic and award-winning structures, such as One World Trade
Center and The Shard in London, UK. He received his PhD from the
Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Brooklyn, NY. A Fellow
of ASCE, he is a licensed engineer and licensed structural engineer
in multiple states.

www.concreteinternational.com | Ci | OCTOBER 2016 63