New model makes it easier to build sustainable structures of textile-reinforced concrete
[Two examples of textilereinforced concrete structures Photos by Udo Jandrey and Robert Mehl] By reinforcing concrete with textiles instead of steel, it is possible to use less material and create slender, lightweight structures with a significantly lower environmental impact. The technology to utilise carbon fibre textiles already exists, but it has been challenging, among other things, to produce a basis for reliable calculations for complex and vaulted structures. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, are now presenting a method that makes it easier to scale