Beams prestressed with external tendons have a number of attractions for engineers. They allow a reduction in weight, since concrete is not provided merely to act as cover to tendon or duct; they allow the tendons to be inspected for signs of corrosion and tendons can be replaced or retensioned if necessary. External prestressing is also an ideal application of tendons made of new materials, such as aramids; since the tendons are brittle, it is necessary to avoid the strains concentrations that occur at crack locations with bonded tendons. Since aramids fibres are non-corrodable , there is no problem about the lack of alkaline environment. The main difference in behaviour between bonded and unbonded tendons is that the deflected shape of the unbonded tendon is not the same of the beam. The force change in unbonded tendons depends on the overall geometry of the beam. This work presents a rigid plastic analysis for predicting the force in unbonded tendons , which takes into account the overall geometry of the beam, concrete strenght, reinforment index, as well as the effects of the friction at deflector points. The method is validated with a good agrement with experimental results, provided that a good aproximation of the rotational capacity of a critical section and/or the relative position of the neutral axis are known. A numerical parametrical study of the flexural resistance of concrete beams prestressed with external tendons is carried out, with particular attention paid to those beams prestressed with aramid tendons. This study used a computer program developed by Campos(1993) based on the finite element method for the analysis of concrete structures prestressed with both bonded and unbonded tendons , including external prestressing. A relationship between the rotational capacity of a critical section and the relative position of the neutral axis was stablished. The usage of this relationship together with the rigid plastic model lead to a good agreement with experimental results. Beams prestressed with external tendons have a number of attractions for engineers. They allow a reduction in weight, since concrete is not provided merely to act as cover to tendon or duct; they allow the tendons to be inspected for signs of corrosion and tendons can be replaced or retensioned if necessary. External prestressing is also an ideal application of tendons made of new materials, such as aramids; since the tendons are brittle, it is necessary to avoid the strains concentrations that occur at crack locations with bonded tendons. Since aramids fibres are non-corrodable , there is no problem about the lack of alkaline environment. The main difference in behaviour between bonded and unbonded tendons is that the deflected shape of the unbonded tendon is not the same of the beam. The force change in unbonded tendons depends on the overall geometry of the beam. This work presents a rigid plastic analysis for predicting the force in unbonded tendons , which takes into account the overall geometry of the beam, concrete strenght, reinforment index, as well as the effects of the friction at deflector points. The method is validated with a good agrement with experimental results, provided that a good aproximation of the rotational capacity of a critical section and/or the relative position of the neutral axis are known. A numerical parametrical study of the flexural resistance of concrete beams prestressed with external tendons is carried out, with particular attention paid to those beams prestressed with aramid tendons. This study used a computer program developed by Campos(1993) based on the finite element method for the analysis of concrete structures prestressed with both bonded and unbonded tendons , including external prestressing. A relationship between the rotational capacity of a critical section and the relative position of the neutral axis was stablished. The usage of this relatio