Structural Fiber Reinforced Concrete Elements

Abstract

The building industry offers a wide range of materials which can be used for the production of various structural elements. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) is a material which is more frequently utilized for concrete structures. The reason is its physical and mechanical properties which contribute to traditional concrete elements and structures various economical benefits such as structure subtlety, part or full elimination of conventional reinforcement, resistance to mechanical loading and surrounding environment. Therefore, it is necessary to search for appropriate structures where the benefits of FRC could be used. First of all it is necessary to seek for structures which owing to their geometry and intended use seem to be appropriate for FRC application. It can be either new structural elements or existing structural elements made of a different material. During a material optimization there are many parameters to take into account which include production costs, manufacturing technology, structural behaviour, ultimate bearing capacity and durability of proposed member. The efficiency of material optimization is determined by comparing these parameters. While it is relatively easy and cost efficient to determine and evaluate the production costs, structure durability and manufacturing technology, to describe the structural behaviour of innovative elements is a complex task. However there are many sophisticated software which are capable to accurately simulate the behaviour of structural elements by using modern computational methods. At the end of feasibility study, experimental testing is conducted on full-scale pilot elements with the aim to verify their real behaviour as well as to optimize the computational model. As a result, many innovative FRC based structural elements have been developed at Czech Technical University in Prague in cooperation with construction companies.