Vacuum-Assisted Die Casting Method for the Production of Filigree Textile-Reinforced Concrete Structures

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Concrete is the most widely used building material today. The enormous amount used goes hand in hand with high material consumption and CO2 emissions. Thus, building with concrete must be improved, becoming part of the solution on the way to climate-friendly building. Non-metallic fibres are an alternative to corrosion-sensitive steel reinforcement, and they enable the production of filigree, high-performance, structured components with low concrete cover. This article presents an alternative manufacturing method. Our thesis was that concreting under negative air pressure conditions (APC) allows the easy production of complicated, thin-walled geometries without defects or loss of mechanical properties. We firstly present the principle of the vacuum-assisted method and its technical realization. The proof of concept included the production and laboratory tests of different specimens, casted under normal and negative APC. The fine concrete’s properties were determined in flexural and compression tests. Textile-reinforced concrete was analysed in tensile and bond tests as well as in bending trials on 2.7 m long shell elements. To summarize, it can be stated that the mechanical properties achieved were comparable, independent of the manufacturing conditions. The production quality of the shell elements was improved by concreting under negative APC. Finally, an outlook is given to further improve the method.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number2641
Number of pages26
JournalBuildings
Volume13
Issue number10
Publication statusPublished - 19 Oct 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-8976-6680/work/145221992
ORCID /0000-0002-1596-7164/work/145224882
Scopus 85175005731
Mendeley d1330d7d-083b-3505-a4d2-7482677b59fa

Keywords

Keywords

  • experimental testing, shell structures, textile-reinforced concrete (TRC), standard tests, vacuum-assisted casting method

Library keywords