Multiscale design of textile reinforced concrete structures

Research Project, 2023 – 2026

Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) offers the possibility to build corrosion resistant, slender, lightweight, modular, and freeform structures with relatively small environmental impact. The structural behaviour of TRC results from concrete cracking, interaction between the textile yarns and the adjacent concrete, and interfilament slip in the textile yarns. In earlier work, we have developed a two-scale modelling technique describing these effects. In this project, we will bring these state-of-the-art numerical techniques further into a multiscale framework for design of TRC structures. The aim is to discover and design the composite based on the engineering scale demands, incorporating opportunities and constraints from the subscale. Subscale models describe cracking, bond stress versus slip between yarn and concrete, and efficiency factors for strength and stiffness to account for interfilament slip. The subscale models will be integrated in an engineering scale optimisation framework, thus enabling a holistic design with optimised shape, topology, and spatial variation of thickness, reinforcement amount and orientation, concrete quality, bond properties and prestress. This four-year project has potential to create break-through in design of composite structures and forms the base for a new era of resource-efficient composite structures and materials in civil engineering. Furthermore, the findings are applicable also to design of other types of advanced composites.