Customer Reviews

Prestressed Concrete: A Fundamental Approach

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I used this book for a senior/graduate prestressed concrete class. The chapter headings looked appropriate. But the book is loaded with errors. As near as I can tell, no example in the book is correct. Early on I contacted the author about a few errors and got no meaningful response. Finally, I sent a partial list of errors and the names of my unfortunate students who bought the book to the publisher. They allowed my students to exchange the book.

Recovering from selecting this book and switching to other resources cost me many hours. Although, going through the books by Collins and Menn was very useful.

In my opinion, your best bet for a class is to contact PCI or start with M.P. Collins (out of print, but I found a used copy), the PCI handbook, and fundamental papers.

There are several reasons not to use this book. The most important reason is that several of the example problems are solved incorrectly. These are commonly numerical mistakes, but in some cases, they are logically incorrect. This makes it extremely difficult to follow the complex theory involved in prestressed concrete. I suggest using another prestressed concrete text.

The biggest problem is that there are so many typographical errors, that it is hard to trust the formulas presented. Flowcharted procedures are great. In most examples, you can't figure out how the author got to the solution. I had a grad class with 9 other professionals. We spent most of our time beating up the examples and the solutions in the solutions manual. Once we reached Ch. 4, it was a struggle to get what the author was saying. We only made it to Ch. 7. With a good text, we could have covered 50% more material. Students, call PCI to get free Design Manuals (not a textbook replacement) for the whole class.

Like all of Professor Nawy's books, this one is extremely badly written. There are numerous typos and mistakes, although some are kind of entertaining. The Reinforced Concrete Book for example discusses the "modulus of rapture" of concrete. The chapter on Unbonded Post-tensioning in the Concrete Construction book discusses "prostrating tendons".

This is probably not a bad book for an experienced engineer, and might even be considered a useful exercise, since nothing in the book should be relied on without checking at least one other reference. It is not a book that should be used to learn prestressed concrete design however.

There are seven of us (structural engineer / bridge designer) have been using this book successfully for our daily bridge design.
Our experience ranges from 20 + years to 3 + years. The clear detailed definition of each subject (theory), the recommended specifications from different organizations such as PCI, ACI, AASHTO, the step by step procedures, great example solutions and the flow charts gave us the opportunity not only to understand it well but also to be able to write it in several simple computer programs.
We have been enjoying using Dr. Nawy's book for years.

This book is full of errors. The publisher will do great service to the engineering profession (to humanity by extension) by immediately withdrawing this book from the market. Unorganized, incoherent, almost schizophrenic.

Sure there may be some typographical errors, but the subject of prestressed concrete design is itself complex and detailed. To address the complexity, the author lays down systematic methods that, in the end, is only limited to the abilities of professionals and students who use them. Furthermore, the structure of the subject matter and example problems offers practicing engineers a valuable reference for prestressed design.

I can't believe it! This book covers almost all there is about basic prestressed concrete theory, but also explains some specific and advanced topics. The state-of-the-art chapter about seismic design is a must-read for designers in high risk seismic zones. Full coverage of hybrid conections (PRESSS) with examples.

I used this book for a prestressed concrete class. The chapter headings looked appropriate. But the book is loaded with errors. As near as I can tell, no example in the book is correct. I sent a partial list of errors and the names of my unfortunate students who bought the book to the publisher. They allowed my students to exchange the book.

Your best bet is to contact PCI or start with M.P. Collins (out of print, but I found a used copy), the PCI handbook, and fundamental papers.

This book is must book for civil engineer. it include everything, i think Prof Nawy to a great job with this book for civil engineering he help to understood thing that was not clear to me, i recommend to buy it.