Textile-reinforced tailored concrete structures

The concrete industry is facing major challenges in terms of the global climate crisis as this sector is accountable for 6 to 7 % of global carbon emissions.

The proposed research tackles this problem using a multidisciplinary approach with new materials and advanced structural engineering.

Textile reinforcement is a novel composite material that allows for a crucial reduction of the embodied CO2 when it comes to designing concrete components.

Due to the fact that textile fabrics are made of materials with chemically inert properties, the reinforcement does not need to be excessively protected from environmental impact by concrete cover.

In contrast to ordinary steel reinforced concrete (RC)-structures, which often appear massive in shape and execution, with a high wastage of cement that in many cases would not be necessary for the load bearing capacity, textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) allows for a reduction in the required material mass.

However, while the form optimization of TRC structures is advantageous in achieving CO2 savings, even greater gains can be realised if the concrete materials within the structural component are also optimized.

The fellowship will capitalise on the exciting potential to further decrease the embodied CO2 by functionally grading the concrete in profiled lightweight TRC elements according to the environmental and mechanical conditions the structure is subjected to.

The inert characteristics of the textile reinforcement offer new possibilities to incorporate concretes with low amounts of cement clinker whereby the concrete is graded to meet performance objectives while concurrently minimising the carbon intensity.

The combination of the extensive expertise of the applicant in the field of textile reinforcement and the fundamental knowledge of the host organisation on functionally graded concrete represents an ideal synergy to realise the fellowship research aspirations for next generation low carbon cementitious structures.