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Textile reinforced concrete for sustainable, lightweight applications
Concrete reinforced with steel is globally the most used construction material. It is easily formable in a fresh state and has a good durability, even under harsh environmental conditions. The function of steel in concrete is to improve the tensile strength of the material and to control cracking both under hardening of the cementitious binder and applied loads. Steel can corrode under atmospheric conditions. In concrete, however, it is protected from corrosion due to the high alkalinity (high pH) within the concrete that allows the steel to remain passive. Different causes can lead the steel to loose its passivation such as carbonation or chloride attack.
Among others, a strategy to avoid steel corrosion is either to increase the concrete cover to a certain minimum thickness (making concrete elements heavier) or replace steel with a non-corrosive material. The latter can be applied in the form of textile reinforcement. Textile reinforcement is ideal if the thickness of a concrete element needs to be minimized, e.g. concrete walls or façade panels. TRC increases sustainability by saving material. Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) is therefore being increasingly applied for thin concrete façade applications or even for strengthening applications of damaged concrete.
Textile reinforcement consists of a multi-directional open grid or mesh structure. The configuration of this reinforcement allows for a fine-grained concrete to flow between the spacings. The fibers used are typically made of glass, glass made from basalt, carbon or other materials having high tensile strength. The textile is in most cases impregnated with a polymer in order to protect the fibers during production and from corrosion in the alkaline environment (glass or basalt-based fibers), and in some instances to help improve the bond between the textile and the cement paste.
We can provide the following expertise:
- Development and design of TRC
- Guidance for TRC applications
- Experimental characterization of mechanical properties of TRC at different research levels
- Numerical modelling of TRC
- Sustainability analyses of TRC
- Production methodology of TRC
You will find a competent partner with RISE, based on our expertise on these topics, which we have built up through years of research and development. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in this fascinating new type of reinforced concrete.
References:
M. Flansbjer, N. Williams Portal, D. Vennetti, U. Mueller, Composite Behaviour of Textile Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete Sandwich Façade Elements, Int. J. Concr. Struct. Mater. 12 (2018) 1–17.
N. Williams Portal, M. Flansbjer, U. Mueller, Analysis of the flexural behavior of textile reinforced reactive powder concrete sandwich elements using optical measurements, in: Eighteenth Int. Conf. Exp. Mech., Brussels, Belgium, 2018.
U. Mueller, N. Williams Portal, V. Chozas, M. Flansbjer, I. Larazza, N. da Silva, K. Malaga, Reactive powder concrete for façade elements – A sustainable approach, J. Facade Des. Eng. 4 (2016) 53–66.
More information
At the moment, most applications for TRC are for façade envelopes. This is due to the fact that textile reinforcement is not yet generally approved for structural applications and regulations for façade elements (e.g. cladding or sandwich elements) are less stringent.
For more information please visit our project web pages: