TexTaConStruct · Textile-reinforced tailored concrete structures
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-10-01 → 2023-01-31
- EU contribution
- €149,956
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Textile-reinforced tailored concrete structures
There is a compelling need to urgently reduce carbon emissions. A huge part of carbon emissions worldwide can be attributed to the construction industry, of which the concrete industry is responsible for a great part thereof. The Textile-Reinforced Tailored Concrete Structures (TexTaConstruct) project addressed a potential reduction of building industry-related carbon emissions through the use of textile reinforcement in combination with advanced structural engineering. Textile reinforcement is characterised by high strength and excellent durability, which has recently enabled the creation of lightweight filigree high-performance structures. The concrete used in combination with such reinforcement typically has a high strength. This is due to the small mesh width of the textile reinforcement, which only allows for the use of small aggregate sizes. Thus, a higher binder content is needed in the concrete mix design. Moreover, the concrete grade is typically chosen according to the most stringent requirements that occur within a structure. While the high-strength concrete complements the high-performance reinforcement in those critical areas, such high-performance concrete is not needed elsewhere. Considering that high-strength concrete typically requires a higher cement content this is coupled with high carbon emissions due to the CO2 intensity of cement production. Hence, more sustainable structures can be achieved if the concrete mix is graded within a structural element according to the performance requirements. The overall objective of the Fellowship was the realisation of the full potential of such functionally graded TRC structures to reduce carbon emissions through the explicit exploitation of the inert characteristics of the reinforcement material and cement minimisation.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
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.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union