TAILORING STRUCTURES WITH TEXTILE-REINFORCED CON-CRETE TO REDUCE WEIGHT

By carefully removing material in structures with limited plasticity, such as reinforced concrete (RC), the bearing capacity can be increased. This, however, comes at the cost of a lower stiffness. Here we investigate the tailoring of RC-structures, where the thickness of the structure at certain locations is reduced to 30 mm by inserting novel textile reinforcement. Subsequently, such a tailored beam was cast and tested. The results indicate that this tailoring concept not only saved 10% of the material, but also retained a high stiffness. The concept therefore shows great potential towards a more resource-efficient use of materials.