Carbon Concrete Days: New lightness of construction [Video]
The ninth carbon- and textile-reinforced concrete days took place in Dresden on September 26 and 27. The congress was organized by the C³ - Carbon Concrete Composite project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Tudalit Association. Venue was the Hilton Hotel located in the heart of the metropolitan city on the River Elbe, in close vicinity to the church Frauenkirche, the city’s landmark.
Dr.-Ing. Frank Schladitz, representative of the C³ executive board, welcomed the about 350 participants on behalf of the organizers. “More than 50 presentations in two days seems to be quite ambitious but we would like to report on the latest technologies in the field of carbon- and textile-reinforced concrete in a compact yet comprehensive manner, bringing all those interested up-to-date,” Schladitz stated.
First carbon-reinforced concrete building in Dresden
In their practice-oriented presentations, the speakers gave insight in their current research projects. They dealt with various fields of application for carbon-reinforced concrete, including façades, pedestrian bridges, sandwich elements, lightweight floor elements or prefabricated garages, for example.
On the occasion of the carbon- and textile-reinforced concrete days reference was also made to a very special project at the Dresden venue: The first fully functioning carbon-reinforced concrete building, called CUBE, will be built there by the end of 2019/early 2020. The construction method of the two-story building with a floor space of 200 m² is to be validated over ten years by long-term studies. The building will moreover be open to the public for speeches and presentations, thus increasing the user acceptance and providing the building as well as the new construction method to be experienced in reality.
Architecture award and accompanying exhibition
The 2017 architecture award was presented as part of the congress. The highest award went to Patric Trauschke of the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design of the University of Stuttgart honoring his design of a segmental, lightweight textile-reinforced concrete shell, being conceived as a multifunctional meeting place in the style of the UNESCO World Heritage site in Lausanne.
The accompanying exhibition provided the participants with the opportunity to gather information on innovations and current products in the field of carbon- and textile-reinforced concrete. Leading manufacturers of textile reinforcement, such as V. Fraas, Solidian or the Albani Group and Thyssen
Krupp Carbon Components, the first supplier of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer bars ready for the market, were also ready to answer the questions of all those interested.