Urban furniture in fiber reinforcemenet concrete with high durability

Within the scope of the “NG_TPfib” R&D project, Exporplás and CiviTest have, in the recent past, developed a new typology of polypropylene fibers for the production of urban furniture of high durability by eliminating conventional steel reinforcements susceptive to corrosion. This reinforcement replacement strategy also allows the development of lighter and more elegant urban furniture with complex geometries at competitive costs, giving possibility for new generation of elements of added architectural and sculptural value. This paper describes the beginning research carried out for the development and production of this type of furniture and presents the main results obtained in the development of the material. In this context, the mechanical properties and some durability indicators of the material were characterized. Due to the prefabrication nature of the production technique adopted for this type of urban furniture, special care was done on the evaluation of the early age properties of this composite, mainly the post-cracking tensile capacity. For this purpose the evolution of the compressive strength and elasticity modulus were evaluated from standard compression tests, while inverse analysis with the results obtained in 3-point notched beam bending tests at different ages have provided the evolution of the post-cracking tensile capacity of this composite. For assessing some relevant aspects of the durability of this composite, its permeability by immersion and by capillarity was evaluated, as well as the influence of the chloride penetration by dry-wet cycles on the its post-cracking resistance. The present paper describes the experimental programs carried out and presents and discusses the relevant results.

Melo, F.; Costa, I.; Valente, T.; Frazão, C.; de Sousa, C.; Moreira, A.; Sá, J., “Urban furniture in fiber reinforcemenet concrete with high durability”, RILEM-SC: 3rd RILEM Spring Convention 2020, Guimarães, Portugal, 10-14 March 2020.

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