Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

Thin-walled, high-strength concrete elements exhibiting low system weight and great slenderness can be created with a large degree of lightweight structure using the textile reinforced concrete construction method. Within the framework of practical research in terms of material technology, a noise barrier, composed of a textile-reinforced, load-bearing concrete slab and a shell with a very high level of sound absorption, was developed with the objective of lowering system weight, and then implemented operationally in construction. Arising from the specifications placed on the load-bearing concrete slab, the following took place: an adapted fine-grain concrete matrix was assembled, a carbon mesh was modified, and this carbon mesh was built into the fine concrete matrix in a manner able to cope with the loading. In addition, a new absorbent shell was developed made from lightweight concrete with expanded clay as an aggregate. Based on the results, a formwork system at prototype scale was designed enabling noise barriers to be produced with an application-oriented approach and examined in practice. Objectives such as resource efficiency, cost reduction and a decrease in transport and assembly expenses were able to be practically implemented in construction within the context of the project. This meant that a substantial lowering of the load-bearing concrete slab’s system weight was possible, which led to a decrease in transport and assembly costs.