Fabric,as a flexible formwork for concrete,gives builders,engineers,and architects the ability to form virtually any shape.This technique produces a superb concrete surface quality that requires no further touch up or...Fabric,as a flexible formwork for concrete,gives builders,engineers,and architects the ability to form virtually any shape.This technique produces a superb concrete surface quality that requires no further touch up or finishing.Woven polyolefin fabrics are recommended for this application.The texture of this fabric allows water from concrete mix to bleed,and therefore reduces the water-cement ratio of the mix.Due to the reduction in the water-cement ratio,a higher compressive strength in fabric-formed concrete is achieved,which is also suggested by earlier studies.The current research study was conducted to investigate and document the changes in concrete strength and overall quality due to these woven polyolefin fabrics.Use of fabric formwork will result in a decrease in construction cost,construction waste,and greenhouse gas emissions.Two sets of tests were conducted in this research study:a comparison of the compressive strength of fabric-formed versus PVC-formed concrete cylinders,and a comparison of the behaviour of the fabric-formed columns versus cardboard-formed reinforced concrete columns.Variables in this research were limited to two types of fabric that included one with coarse and one with a more refined texture,and two types of concrete that included ordinary and flyash concrete.The laboratory results revealed that the effects of fabric formwork on concrete quality in a large member are limited mostly to the surface zone and the core of the concrete remains the same as a conventionally formed concrete.Even though fabric-formed cylinder tests showed an average of a 15%increase in compressive strength of the concrete samples,the compressive strength of the reinforced columns did not dramatically change when compared to the companion cardboard formed control columns.This research confirmed that fabric formwork is a structurally safe alterna-tive for forming reinforced concrete columns.展开更多
The use of structural insulated panels(SIPs)for wall and roof assemblies in residential and commercial buildings is a well-known construction technique.SIPs typically use a combination of either expanded polystyrene f...The use of structural insulated panels(SIPs)for wall and roof assemblies in residential and commercial buildings is a well-known construction technique.SIPs typically use a combination of either expanded polystyrene foam(EPS)or polyurethane foam(PUR)as the core material.The covering or skin is predominantly oriented strand board(OSB).The OSB is either bonded to the foam with adhesive in the case of EPS,while polyurethane is used to provide adhesion with PUR SIPs.This paper presents the results of research that investigated the use of industrial hemp mat used as a skin for soy-based polyurethane foam panels.A series of tests were conducted to investigate moisture resistance and flexural behaviour on hemp mat foam panels.Moisture absorption behaviour was evaluated on three specimen types:uncoated,earth plaster and tung oil treated hemp mat.The absorption coefficient Aw was determined for all specimens.The tung oil treated specimens exhibited a water absorption coefficient that was 5.3%of that for untreated hemp mat panel specimens.Flexural tests were conducted on dry specimens with earth-plastered hemp mat,tung oil coated hemp mat,OSB and,untreated hemp mat skins.Tung oil provided resistance to tension failure and increased capacity to withstand considerable deformation without tensile failure in flexural specimens.Compared with pure foam specimens,untreated hemp mat improved flexural performance by 16.3%.展开更多
文摘Fabric,as a flexible formwork for concrete,gives builders,engineers,and architects the ability to form virtually any shape.This technique produces a superb concrete surface quality that requires no further touch up or finishing.Woven polyolefin fabrics are recommended for this application.The texture of this fabric allows water from concrete mix to bleed,and therefore reduces the water-cement ratio of the mix.Due to the reduction in the water-cement ratio,a higher compressive strength in fabric-formed concrete is achieved,which is also suggested by earlier studies.The current research study was conducted to investigate and document the changes in concrete strength and overall quality due to these woven polyolefin fabrics.Use of fabric formwork will result in a decrease in construction cost,construction waste,and greenhouse gas emissions.Two sets of tests were conducted in this research study:a comparison of the compressive strength of fabric-formed versus PVC-formed concrete cylinders,and a comparison of the behaviour of the fabric-formed columns versus cardboard-formed reinforced concrete columns.Variables in this research were limited to two types of fabric that included one with coarse and one with a more refined texture,and two types of concrete that included ordinary and flyash concrete.The laboratory results revealed that the effects of fabric formwork on concrete quality in a large member are limited mostly to the surface zone and the core of the concrete remains the same as a conventionally formed concrete.Even though fabric-formed cylinder tests showed an average of a 15%increase in compressive strength of the concrete samples,the compressive strength of the reinforced columns did not dramatically change when compared to the companion cardboard formed control columns.This research confirmed that fabric formwork is a structurally safe alterna-tive for forming reinforced concrete columns.
文摘The use of structural insulated panels(SIPs)for wall and roof assemblies in residential and commercial buildings is a well-known construction technique.SIPs typically use a combination of either expanded polystyrene foam(EPS)or polyurethane foam(PUR)as the core material.The covering or skin is predominantly oriented strand board(OSB).The OSB is either bonded to the foam with adhesive in the case of EPS,while polyurethane is used to provide adhesion with PUR SIPs.This paper presents the results of research that investigated the use of industrial hemp mat used as a skin for soy-based polyurethane foam panels.A series of tests were conducted to investigate moisture resistance and flexural behaviour on hemp mat foam panels.Moisture absorption behaviour was evaluated on three specimen types:uncoated,earth plaster and tung oil treated hemp mat.The absorption coefficient Aw was determined for all specimens.The tung oil treated specimens exhibited a water absorption coefficient that was 5.3%of that for untreated hemp mat panel specimens.Flexural tests were conducted on dry specimens with earth-plastered hemp mat,tung oil coated hemp mat,OSB and,untreated hemp mat skins.Tung oil provided resistance to tension failure and increased capacity to withstand considerable deformation without tensile failure in flexural specimens.Compared with pure foam specimens,untreated hemp mat improved flexural performance by 16.3%.
