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SUMMARY:The OAK | Prototype of a concrete shell as building floor for circ
 ular sustainable construction - Robin Oval\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20220304T150000Z
DTEND:20220304T160000Z
UID:TALK170936@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mishael Nuh
DESCRIPTION:The construction industry is responsible for nearly half of th
 e carbon emissions of the UK\, while cement accounts for about 7% of the g
 reenhouse emissions worldwide\, due to the popularity of concrete and its 
 industrial application driven by productivity instead of sustainability. P
 articularly\, building floors represent around 60% of the mass of a buildi
 ng\, with an impact on the rest of the building and its foundations and re
 present a great potential for saving if we design floors as thin shells th
 at work in compression\, the natural behaviour of concrete\, instead of re
 inforced thick plates that work in bending.\n\nConcrete shell structures o
 ffer a structurally efficient solution as floor system to reduce the envir
 onmental impact of our buildings. Although the curved geometry of shells c
 an be an obstacle to their fabrication and their utilisation\, digital fab
 rication and affordable robotics provide a path for the automation of thei
 r construction in a sustainable manner at an industrial scale.\n\nThe appl
 icability of this structural system is demonstrated with the realisation o
 f a concrete shell floor system with a footprint of 20m2\, completed by co
 lumns\, tie rods and a levelled floor. The shell is prefabricated off-site
  in segments that are transported and assembled on-site\, which can be dis
 assembled at the end-of-life of the building to enable circular constructi
 on and increase the lifespan of our structures.\n\nThis talk presents the 
 conceptual and structural design of the system and prototype informed by a
 rchitectural\, engineering\, and construction requirements\; the automatio
 n of its fabrication\, thanks to an actuated\, reconfigurable\, reusable m
 ould and a robotic concrete spraying process\; the strategy and sequence f
 or its lightweight assembly and disassembly on-site using standard scaffol
 d elements\; and the assessment of its performance\, on a structural level
  thanks to a load test\, and on a sustainability level thanks to a life-cy
 cle analysis.\n\nACORN is funded by UKRI through the ISCF Transforming Con
 struction programme and is a collaboration between the Universities of Bat
 h\, Cambridge\, and Dundee (https://automated.construction/).
LOCATION:CivEng Conference Room (2-54) (Civil Engineering Building)
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