Potentials for the precast industry
High-performance materials need to be used to an increasing extent if the construction industry intends to truly respond to global issues such as resource conservation, sustainability, primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Besides other aspects, this trend increasingly involves testing of structural components under exceedingly high test loads that come very close to in-service conditions. For this purpose, the Institute of Building Materials, Concrete Construction and Fire Safety (iBMB) at TU Braunschweig and the Braunschweig Materials Testing Institute are currently installing a “Center of Large Force” (CLF) in Braunschweig to enable structural component tests under extreme conditions. This center includes a 10 MN compression test machine, a 10 MN tensile test machine, and a strong floor with 2 MN test cylinders. At the very heart of the CLF, however, is a specially designed 30 MN tensile/compression test machine.
This one-of-a-kind machine was already successfully used in various research projects, including tests of precast columns with high bearing capacity and tests of high-strength tendons and cables for international bridge construction projects, as well as calibration of very large force transducers in cooperation with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig (PTB; National Metrology Institute of Germany).
The 30 MN tensile/compression test machine, and the CLF as a whole, enables a wide range of application-oriented research, for instance to investigate the behavior of full-size precast elements made from high-performance concrete. These options simplify product release and approval procedures and open up new opportunities and potentials for innovative, high-performance precast construction products that also respond to the above-mentioned issues by providing future-proof solutions.
