It is often the case that the critical stress limit at midspan of a simply supported beam is the limit on the tensile stress on the bottom face under the final conditions. To satisfy this limit it is economical to use the largest possible eccentricity that can be accommodated within the cross section. With the midspan eccentricity chosen, the minimum required prestressing force could be estimated from Eq. ( 6-16 ). Figure 6-19 illustrates how the conditions are modified if small tensile stresses are permitted in the concrete. With tension in the concrete the internal lever arm can be smaller under the initial conditions and larger under the final conditions, thus permitting a larger range of moment. The condition that the tensile stress on the bottom face does not exceed fb can be written as