Textiles (Oct 2023)

Current and Future Trends in Textiles for Concrete Construction Applications

  • Martin Scheurer,
  • Danny Friese,
  • Paul Penzel,
  • Gözdem Dittel,
  • Shantanu Bhat,
  • Vanessa Overhage,
  • Lars Hahn,
  • Kira Heins,
  • Chokri Cherif,
  • Thomas Gries

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles3040025
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 4
pp. 408 – 437

Abstract

Read online

Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) is a composite material consisting of a concrete matrix with a high-performance reinforcement made of technical textiles. TRC offers unique mechanical properties for the construction industry, enabling the construction of lightweight, material-minimized structures with high load-bearing potential. In addition, compared with traditional concrete design, TRC offers unique possibilities to realize free-form, double-curved structures. After more than 20 years of research, TRC is increasingly entering the market, with several demonstrator elements and buildings completed and initial commercialization successfully finished. Nevertheless, research into this highly topical area is still ongoing. In this paper, the authors give an overview of the current and future trends in the research and application of textiles in concrete construction applications. These trends include topics such as maximizing the textile utilization rate by improving the mechanical load-bearing performance (e.g., by adapting bond behavior), increasing design freedom by utilizing novel manufacturing methods (e.g., based on robotics), adding further value to textile reinforcements by the integration of additional functions in smart textile solutions (e.g., in textile sensors), and research into increasing the sustainability of TRC (e.g., using recycled fibers).

Keywords