Aligned Interlayer Fibre Reinforcement and Post-tensioning as a Reinforcement Strategy for Digital Fabrication
OPEN ACCESS
Author / Producer
Date
2020
Publication Type
Conference Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
OPEN ACCESS
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Digital Fabrication with Concrete (DFC) brings many new possibilities for the design and production of concrete structures, promising to revolutionise the concrete construction industry. While technological and material challenges have already been overcome to a large extent, there is still a lack of sufficiently mature reinforcement solutions. Therefore, most digital technologies encounter difficulties in producing load-bearing concrete members. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) is one of the most promising reinforcing strategies for DFC due to its capability for producing complex geometries. In conventional FRC, the fibres are dispersed randomly in the concrete matrix; for DFC applications this (i) forces to re-engineer the concrete processing (pumpability and rheology), and (ii) requires using very short and expensive fibres due to pumpability constraints. This paper presents a new reinforcement strategy for using FRC in layered DFC technologies that overcomes the stated limitations of conventional FRC. It consists in adding fibres right after the deposition of each layer of concrete in a controlled amount and orientation and providing a post-tensioning reinforcement in the perpendicular direction. The mechanical behaviour, as well as the potential and first implementation steps in the Concrete Extrusion 3D Printing and Eggshell technologies under development at ETH Zurich, are discussed. The mechanical results show a significant increase in tensile resistance of the aligned interlayer fibre reinforcement compared to conventional FRC. However, for large-scale applications, the main loads still need to be carried by post-tensioning reinforcement.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Book title
Second RILEM International Conference on Concrete and Digital Fabrication. DC 2020
Journal / series
Volume
28
Pages / Article No.
622 - 631
Publisher
Springer
Event
2nd RILEM International Conference on Concrete and Digital Fabrication (Digital Concrete 2020) (virtual)
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Digital fabrication with concrete; Concrete structures; Fibre reinforced concrete; Fibre alignment
Organisational unit
09469 - Kaufmann, Walter / Kaufmann, Walter
03708 - Gramazio, Fabio / Gramazio, Fabio
03709 - Kohler, Matthias / Kohler, Matthias
09566 - Dillenburger, Benjamin / Dillenburger, Benjamin
03891 - Flatt, Robert J. / Flatt, Robert J.
02284 - NFS Digitale Fabrikation / NCCR Digital Fabrication