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Chances of textile reinforced concrete - an overview

Curbach, M. / Jesse, F.

Two major areas for the use of the new material can be recognised. First of all textile structures might be used alternatively to traditional building material and secondly the substantial advantages, including the versatility may open new kinds of application. Especially the production of prefabricated parts seems to be favourable. Lowering transport costs can be achieved due to the lower weight and a much better quality control is possible in a plant. Therefore all improvements such as thin walls, savings of reinforcement material, higher strength, and longer working life can be exploited. The material might perform well as: facade elements, cable drains, noise protection walls, ventilation ducts, hollow lintel, etc. Many of those items were already produced from asbestos cement or even today from glass reinforced cement. With the use of textile structures made of glass fibres the features can be even better, because the reinforcement fraction and the wall thickness can be minimised, and the load capacity can be increased. The huge demand on adapting existing structures to current conditions is one of the grand challenges. The technique using lamellae and the later application of untensioned reinforcement is expensive and the problems connecting the reinforcement in the pressure area or in the support area are well known. With the use of textile reinforcement there might be a solution to drop the expenditure dramatically because the thickness of the layers can be reduced. A further advantage is the two dimensional reinforcement compared to unidirectional ones. The textile reinforcement may consist of a plain, and/or a shell-shaped structure. This structure have to be embedded in the matrix and kept in position by the matrix. The introduction of woven structures in plasters and the application of textiles as load bearing components in reinforced concrete are discussed.