New-Gen DRAMIX® Fiber Reinforced Precast Segment Allows Eco Efficiency & Performance
Benoit de Rivaz, Global Technical Manager, Bekaert Underground Solutions
As mentioned in the fib bulletin 83 on Fibre Reinforced Precast Segment: for sustainable use of structural concrete, environmental and mechanical performances of concrete structures must have the same importance. Through sufficiently high mechanical performances, the structural safety of a construction is ensured. Contemporarily, a low environmental impact guarantees a sustainable development, which is, in accordance with the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations (March 20, 1987), a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Mechanical excavated tunnels (tunnels excavated with a TBM – Tunnel Boring Machine) are more and more used in Civil Engineering. In these tunnels, the lining is made assembling precast segments used by the TBM as reacting elements in the excavation process. The use of Fibre-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) allows to reduce or eliminate the traditional reinforcement in the precast segment production. Over the last few years, the use of this technology has increased.