MEMBRANES - 2011-37 - Concrete Shell Structures
MEMBRANES - 2011-37 - Concrete Shell Structures
MEMBRANES - 2011-37 - Concrete Shell Structures
Formwork
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete shell structures, often referred to as ‘thin shells’, have been around since the
1930’s. The design of these thin shells was stimulated by the desire to cover wide spans in an
economically attractive manner. Typically, the thickness of concrete shells is relatively small
compared to the curvature and span. The main reason for concrete shells to be economically
feasible (especially from a material point of view), is that shells are structurally efficient in
carrying loads acting perpendicular to their surface by in-plane membrane stresses. Bending
moments may occur locally to satisfy specific equilibrium or deformation requirements, but
are considered relatively small in general. The construction process of concrete shells was
considered extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming. From the 1960’s the interest in
concrete shell structures suddenly decreased. The reason for this was that the biggest
motivation for designing concrete shells, reducing material costs, was losing ground to the
rapid increase of labour costs.
In the last decade, curved (concrete) structures in general seem to have (re-)gained
popularity, supposedly due to the vast developments in digital modelling technology. In
contrast to a few decennia ago, nowadays literally all ‘thinkable’ shapes are easily drawn by
Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and even calculated by advanced Finite Element
Modelling (FEM) software. Nevertheless, the construction process of concrete shells seems to
have lacked the same degree of development as the design and engineering processes.
Although Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) equipment is available in some industries,
the limiting factor at the moment, with respect to the realisation of concrete shell structures,
turns out to be the manufacturability and adaptability of the formwork system.
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
This paper provides a new perspective on the construction process of concrete shell
structures and introduces a new cost saving approach for constructing (single curved) concrete
shells using Vacuumatics formwork.
Figure 1: Gaussian curvatures: clastic (a), anti-clastic (b) and cylindrical (c)
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
Figure 3: Analytical Forms: translation surface (a), revolution surface (b) and ruled surface (c)4
Since no digital design and calculating equipment was available in that time, the
mathematical formulas were not only essential for drawing and calculating these structures,
but also aided the actual construction process. The majority of the thin concrete shell
structures were constructed by pouring wet concrete onto a rigid wooden formwork, often
assembled from straight elements. This construction process required many skilled craftsmen
(Figure 4).
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
several ‘natural’ phenomena, like air pressure, gravity and material flow, to design thin
concrete shells (Figure 5). Due to the experimental character of his approach, these shapes can
be referred to as ‘Experimental Forms’3. Structural calculations were made by conducting
load tests on small-scale models which were interpreted for the design of the full-scale
concrete structure.
Figure 5: Isler’s Experimental Forms, based on air pressure, gravity and material flow 5
From structural point of view, in particular Isler’s shells based on gravity, behaved
superior to the Analytical Forms from the 1930’s. The explanation for this is that these shapes
obey the laws of nature under their own weight (pure compression or pure tension), whereas
Analytical Forms are merely approximations of these ‘natural’ forms.
As Isler’s designs were not easily described analytically, the construction process was
considered somewhat more complex than it was the case with Analytical Forms.
Nevertheless, Heinz Isler managed to design his formwork is such a clever way (using
amongst other things prefabricated curved wooden segments) that he was able to re-use it
numerous times, even integrating thermal insulation into his formwork system6 (Figure 6).
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
larger group of designers is able to design and even calculate almost any thinkable shape. The
term ‘free-form’ has become an integral part of modern design, effectively utilising CAD,
FEM and even CAM technology (Figure 7). In spirit of Isler’s afore mentioned terminology,
this third type of shell geometry will be referred to as ‘Digital Forms’3. With these types of
structures the shell shape is no longer based on structural efficiency (and thus material
reduction), but rather derived from aesthetics and spatial functionality.
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
the past, we can conclude that the largest number of shell structures is constructed by means
of conventional timber formwork. In the last few years several ‘new’ techniques have been
developed (like CNC moulds, fabric formwork, adjustable moulds using independently
activated pistons), but only minor success had been reached on replacing timber moulds,
mainly due to lack of adaptability or lack of repetition for prefabrication, or due to a large
waste production or simply because of too large initial (start-up) costs. Therefore, the need
arises for an economically attractive or perhaps ‘low-tech’ formwork system, that discards the
abovementioned disadvantages altogether.
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
4 VACUUMATICS FORMWORK
Inspired by the aforementioned philosophy, now Vacuumatics formwork will be discussed
with respect to the construction process of (single curved) concrete shell structures.
Furthermore, the analogy with the construction process of gridshells will be illustrated. First,
a small introduction on Vacuumatics and gridshells in general.
4.1 Vacuumatics
Vacuumatic structures, or Vacuumatics, consist of structural aggregates (particles) that are
tightly packed inside a flexible membrane envelope (skin). The structural integrity is obtained
by applying a (controllable) negative pressure, or partial vacuum, inside the surrounding skin,
hence prestressing and stabilising the particles in their present configuration by means of the
atmospheric (air) pressure. This process is referred to as ‘vacuum prestressing’. When
subjected to bending forces, the particles take up the compressive (contact) forces, whereas
the tensile forces are mainly taken up by the membrane envelope (Figure 9). The tensile
strength (and even the flexural rigidity) can be substantially enhanced by adding a piece of
reinforcement (e.g. a piece of textile) in the tensile zone of the structure (analogues to
reinforced concrete).
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
4.2 Gridshells
An interesting approach for the design of shell structures in general was (re-)introduced by
Frei Otto in the 1970’s, as he put new life into the structural principle of gridshells10.
(Gridshells, also known as lattice shells, were originally pioneered by the Russian engineer
Vladimir Shukhov in 1896). Gridshells, are basically shell structures where material has been
removed to create a slender lattice grid pattern. Where in plain shells load paths are available
all over the surface, in gridshells the internal forces are transferred via discrete members.
Inspired by the suspension models of Antonio Gaudi, Frei Otto designed his gridshells by
inverting the form of a suspended soap film or that of a flexible suspending net10 (Figure 11).
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
From construction point of view, the powerful concept that lies behind gridshells is that the
construction starts from a flat surface. The straight members are assembled on ground level as
a flat mesh. The final shape of the structure is obtained by locally forcing (i.e. deforming by
pushing and pulling) the members perpendicular to the surface and fixing the connections and
boundaries once the shell reached it desired (equilibrium) shape (Figure 12). To allow this
transformation to take place, the connections of the grid need to be initially ‘flexible’,
enabling scissor motion as well as sliding motion.
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
10
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
When inverted, the Vacuumatics formwork (and with this the intended concrete structure)
behaves like a shell structure under pure compression. Self-evidently, the inverting process
might be considered a rather delicate operation, in particular in case of relatively large shell
structures.
In addition, the deformation of the Vacuumatics structure due to its dead-weight can even
be restricted (or rather regulated) if desired by increasing the level of vacuum pressure (and
thus the flexural rigidity). In other words, an equilibrium state will be reached at a relatively
smaller deflection. Even the opposite is possible, as the derived suspended deformation can be
enlarged by locally manipulating the structure (i.e. pulling parts the structure downwards or
moving the edges of the structure inwards).
It needs to be taken into account, that in this case the gravitational forces in fact initiate the
deformation process, which requires the structure to have a certain minimal degree of (initial)
flexural rigidity. A big advantage, is that with this method no inversion of the formwork in its
the final shell shape is required. A simple example of lifting a piece of paper by its symmetry
axis, perfectly illustrates the potential of this method (Figure 16). Once the structure reaches
its intended shape, the edge supports need to be fixed in order to stabilise the shell, before the
concrete (e.g. shotcrete) can be applied.
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Frank Huijben, Frans van Herwijnen and Rob Nijsse.
6 CONCLUSION
The construction process of concrete shell structures appears to be the limiting factor with
respect to realisation of concrete shell structures in a economically attractive manner. There
for, a new impulse is required to keep up with digital modelling technology used in design
and engineering. From a theoretical point of view, it would make sense to consider the way
shell surfaces are generated (analytically, experimentally or digitally) as the most effective
construction method. Inspired by this philosophy, Vacuumatics formwork provide a relatively
intuitive and ‘low-tech’ approach for constructing efficiently shaped concrete shells, by using
principles derived from ‘nature’ as well as real-time gridshell construction, hence saving time,
labour as well as material.
REFERENCES
[1] D. Billington, Thin Shell Concrete Structures, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill Book
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[2] E. De Anda Alanís, Félix Candela 1910-1997, The Mastering of Boundaries, Taschen
GmbH, Köln DE (2008).
[3] R. Verhaegh, Free Forms in Concrete, The fabrication of free-form concrete segments
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[4] H. Pottmann, A. Asperl, M. Hofer and A. Kilian, Architectural Geometry, Bentley
Institute Press, Exton Pennsylvania US (2007).
[5] E. Ramm and E. Schunck, Heinz Isler Schalen, Karl Krämer Verlag, Stuttgart DE (1986).
[6] D. Billington, The Art of Structural Design, A Swiss Legacy, Princeton University Art
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[7] T. Sakamoto and A. Ferré, From Control to Design, Parametric/Algorithmic
Architecture, Actar Barcelona ES (2008).
[8] F. Huijben, F.v.Herwijnen and R. Nijsse, Vacuumatics 3D-Formwork Systems:
Customised Free-Form Solidification, IV International Conference on Textile
Composites and Inflatable Structures, Structural Membranes 2009, Stuttgart DE (2009).
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Analysis, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures
(IASS) Symposium 2010, Spatial Structures – Permanent and Temporary, November 8-
12 2010, Shanghai CH (2010).
[10] J. Hennicke and E. Schaur, IL 10 Gitterschalen – Gridshells, Mitteilungen des Instituts
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