Fabric formwork for ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete structures

Using fabric formwork, it is possible to cast architecturally interesting, optimised structures that use up to 40% less concrete than an equivalent strength prismatic section, offering potentially significant embodied energy savings in new concrete structures. Fabric formwork allows elegant designs to be realised but its use also presents some unique challenges, including the practical provision of transverse reinforcement in slender, non-prismatic beam elements. This paper details how these challenges have been overcome with the use of ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete. Methods for the design, optimisation and construction of such elements cast using fabric formwork are illustrated and structural tests data are presented.