Employing B-Spline approach in parametric assessment of catenary shaped fabric-formed concrete beams

Abstract

Concrete significantly contributes to carbon emissions and ever growing need for infrastructure consequently demands an increase in this consumption. Ergo, making the reduction of concrete consumption a challenging task. This challenge can be tackled by nature driven approaches, which provide an intuitive strategy to achieve efficient structures with reduced volumes. In this research, parametric assessment of catenary shaped fabric-formed concrete beams was conducted. Bezier spline was used to frame the longitudinal profile with mid-span depth (dc), support depth (ds) and breadth (b) as guiding parameters for the overall topology of the beam forms. Fabric formwork manufacturing approach was employed, given the hanging nature of the topology of resulting beam forms The main objective of this investigation was to assess the structural response of these beams at various parametric cross-sectional variations with dc to ds ratio as 2:1. All beam specimens exhibited a flexural response hence signifying the efficacy of 2:1 ratio. Moreover, higher ds/b values exhibited an extended plastic phase. Whereas, an increase in volume prediction error was recorded as a result. Response surface methodology model equations predict elastic and plastic failures to an accuracy of about 85%.