Shaped Textile Reinforcement Elements for Concrete Components

Abstract

By now the application of Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) for facade constructions can be considered as state of the art. Especially ventilated curtain walls made of TRC and sandwich elements made in combination of TRC-layers and foam cores recently are realized in pilot projects which are predominantly located in Aachen, Germany. The Life funded Insu-Shell façade of the Institute fuer Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University gives an example of such a pilot project. Furthermore, a pedestrian bridge has been built in Albstadt, Germany. The enormous potential of TRC-applications is shown in these practical projects. All projects have been completed successfully and present good results in terms of the surface quality, the design freedom, the wall thinness and the ecological performance. A networked process chain was aimed at and approached and finally implemented. Apart from this, all these projects incorporating impregnated textile reinforcements reveal unanswered questions regarding production of shaped reinforcement elements, their ability to bear loads and their durability. Particularly the transformation of a 2D-warp-knit fabric to a reinforcement element (textile reinforcement cage) is a challenge, which needs to be addressed further. Since the beginning of 2012 a new transfer project called Shaped textile reinforcement elements for concrete components (T08) within the framework of the Collaborative Research Center 532 `Textile Reinforced Concrete - Development of a new technology` is funded. That challenge is to be solved in the T08 project in cooperation with Institutes from the RWTH Aachen University and industry partners led by the Institute of Structural Concrete of RWTH Aachen University.