With high-profile uses in the mesh walls of the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée in Marseille and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, fibre-reinforced concrete is used to create complex architectural components. To optimize its use in terms of performance and cost, a working group led by Lafarge Group in partnership with the CSTB developed new benchmarks for sizing this innovative material.
Its excellent tensile strength and ductility, thanks to the incorporation of metal fibers, make high performance concrete a preferred material for use in architectural elements of buildings. In the past, however, the conditions of use resulted in suboptimal performance of the material’s properties. The partial safety factor used was restrictive and did not consider the ductility offered by this type of material. This resulted in oversizing during use.
In 2014, to adjust the quantities of fiber-reinforced concrete required to meet specific uses, Lafarge Group and the CSTB led a working group of experts from Betsinor Composites, Eiffage and the CERIB (French Concrete Industry Design and Research Center). The collaborative research took a performance-focused approach and determined a partial safety factor specific to fiber-reinforced concrete for particular geometric configurations. This saves on material and optimizes project costs, without compromising reliability. The outcome will be shared with all manufacturers to advance industry practices.
Energy & Environment 