Free Form Shell
Pneumatic Forming of Hardened Concrete (PFHC), a new very resource efficient concrete shell construction method, was invented by Prof. Benjamin Kromoser and Prof. Johann Kollegger (TU Wien). Concrete shells are efficient supporting structures, but the problem is that the formwork is still very labour and material intensive. The functioning of the construction method is comparatively easy: At first a flat concrete plate with wedge-shaped outlets is casted. After the concrete is hardened, an air cushion placed underneath the plate is inflated and the post-tensioning tendons at the circumference are tensioned until the final form is reached. Glass fibre reinforced plastic rods used as reinforcement absorb the occurring strains in the concrete plate. If the flat plate is produced with high accuracy, the construction method allows to build very precise concrete shells. The construction was practically tested for the erection of a free formed concrete shell with the plan measurements of 17.6x10.8 m and a height of 2.9 m. The thickness of the shell was 50 mm.
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2016 Journal article
Hawkins, W; Herrmann, M; Ibell, T; Kromoser, B; Michaelski, A; Orr, J; Pedreschi, R; Pronk, A; Schipper, R; Shepherd, P; Veenendaal, D; Wansdronk, R; West, M Flexible formwork technologies - a state of the art review. STRUCT CONCRETE. 2016; 17(6): 911-935. DOI: 10.1002/suco.201600117
Kromoser, B; Huber, P Pneumatic Formwork Systems in Structural Engineering. ADV MATER SCI ENG. 2016; DOI: 10.1155/2016/4724036
Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Kromoser, B.; Kollegger, J.: (2016): Building concrete shells without formwork and falsework. [fib Symposium 2016, Cape Town, 21. - 23. November 2016]
2015 Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Kromoser, B; Kollegger, J Pneumatic forming of hardened concrete - building shells in the 21st century. STRUCT CONCRETE. 2015; 16(2): 161-171. DOI: 10.1002/suco.201400057
Kromoser B.; Kollegger J.: (2015): Application Areas for Pneumatic Forming of Hardened Concrete. Journal of the IASS, 56, 187-198; ISSN 1028-365X
Kollegger, J.; Foremniak, S.;Kromoser, B.; Reichenbach S.; (2015): Egg-Graben-Brücke, Wildbrücke AM2, Lafnitzbrücke - Anwendung von neuen Bauverfahren für Brücken in Österreich.. [25. Dresdner Brückenbausymposium, Dresden, 9.3. - 10.3.2015] ; ISBN: 978-3-86780-421-9
Kollegger, J.; Kromoser, B.: (2015): Neue Tragwerke – Eine Betonkuppel zum Aufblasen. [59. Betontage Ulm, Ulm, 24. - 26.2.2015]
Kromoser, B.; Kollegger, J.: (2015): Building shells from initially flat hardened concrete plates. [IASS 2015, Amsterdam , 17.8. - 20.8.2015]
Doctoral Thesis
Kromoser, B.: (2015): Pneumatisches Verformen Von Ausgehärtetem Beton - Die Errichtung Von Betonschalen Aus Ursprünglich Ebenen Platten . ; TU Wien, Institut für Tragkonstruktionen - Forschungsbereich für Stahlbeton und Massivbau