Thin-Walled Precast Elements Prestressed with CFRP

Prestressed thin walled concrete structures, folded slabs or shell elements, used to be widely used as precast elements because of their lightness, economy and aesthetics. Today, such structures have virtually disappeared from the construction industry. One reason for this was damage, often due to reinforcement corrosion caused by insufficient concrete cover. For a renaissance of these elegant components, corrosion-resistant reinforcements are required, for example made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP, or carbon for short). CFRP reinforcement is particularly suitable for prestressing owing to its high tensile strength. If CFRP reinforcement is designed in the form of textiles, the low thickness of the fibre strands allows for reduced concrete cover for the required bond and an uniform force distribution into the concrete. As a result, CFRP and concrete (CFRP reinforced concrete) can be used to create structural elements that are material efficient and are lightweight, durable and sustainable due to low material consumption. This article deals with thin-walled precast elements prestressed with CFRP as well as a proposal for ensuring sufficient failure warning. Precast elements with different geometries, from simple slabs to double-curved shell elements, which have been investigated theoretically and experimentally, are presented.

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