Date and time: 21-06-2023 15:00
Location: Lecture hall D
Topic: Steel fibre reinforced underwater concrete floors - A probabilistic finite element approach
Description: Underwater concrete (UWC) floors are a common construction type in the Netherlands. The current designs are expensive because a structural top floor is applied on top of the UWC floor. By adding steel fibres to the UWC floor, we can eliminate the need for a structural top floor, making this a more economical and sustainable design.
The main challenge of these steel fibre-reinforced underwater concrete (SFRUWC) floors is preventing cracking so there will be no leakage. The main cause of cracking is the restrained thermal shrinkage during the cooling phase of the hardening process of fresh concrete. However, there are currently no guidelines for the construction of fibre-reinforced UWC floors and the prevention of thermal shrinkage cracking. This thesis aims to address this issue by investigating how the failure probability of steel fibre-reinforced UWC floors can be determined and what are the most influential design parameters.
Track: Structural Engineering