Reinforcement by polyurethane to stiffness of air-supported fabric formwork for concrete shell construction

Abstract

By spraying concrete on inner surface, air-supported fabric structures can be used as formwork to construct reinforced concrete shell structures. The fabric formwork has the finished form of concrete structure. Large deviation from the desired shape of concrete shells still remains as central problem due to dead weight of concrete and less stiffness of fabric formwork. Polyurethane can be used not only as a bonding layer between fabrics and concrete but also as an additional stiffening layer. However, there is little research on mechanical behaviors of the polyurethane shell structure. This paper presents experimental studies on an inflated fabric model with and without polyurethane, including relief pressure tests, vertical loading tests and horizontal loading tests. Experimental results show that the additional polyurethane layer can significantly enhance the stiffness of the fabric formwork. Compared with the experiment, a numerical model using shell layered finite elements has a good prediction. The reinforcement by polyurethane to improve stiffness of air-supported fabric formwork is expected to be considered in the design and construction of the concrete shell, especially dealing with the advance of shape-control.