Synopsis

Fibre reinforced concrete is in use commercially in the construction industries since the late 1970s.  Starting with steel fibres in applications of minor structural relevance, such as pavements and temporary shotcrete linings, today, fibres are well established in a continuously growing variety of structural applications. Permanent shotcrete linings, precast tunnel segments, pre-stressed girders and railway track slabs for instances, are applications that the beneficial properties of fibres offered to concrete and rendering the brittle concrete into a ductile, robust, durable and sustainable composite construction material. Significant cost savings could be achieved by the use of fibres, mainly by not only total or partial replacement of ordinary reinforcement, but also by improving the serviceability and durability in concrete.

Macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete has its roots in the late 1990s. Though, it is a relatively new technology but it has reached maturity as an engineered construction material and is today widely used in all forms of concrete construction. Its many advantages over steel reinforcement have established itself a strong position in the marketplace as well as continuous research and development opens up more fields of applications.

This presentation gives a comprehensive overview on the possibilities and the potential of macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete, covering the fibre technology, properties of the material, testing and QA, design aspects, normative situation, durability and sustainability as well as research. These topics will be illustrated through case histories related to the individual field of application.


About The Speakers

Dr. Ralf Winterberg specialises in fibre reinforcement for concrete and its application development. After two employments as Technical Director and Managing Director respectively in German companies, he started his own Engineering Company in Germany for the development of fibre reinforced concrete solutions and applications in 2004. Since 2005 he has been working also as a consultant to the Fibre Division of Officine Maccaferri S.p.A., headquartered in Italy, supporting their worldwide subsidiaries in the technical market development of their Fibre Division.
In February 2010 he joined Maccaferri Asia Headquarters in Malaysia, as Business Development Manager and Technical Director of the Fibre Division Asia/Oceania. In July 2014 he joined BarChip Inc. (formerly Elasto Plastic Concrete), the market leaders in structural synthetic fibre reinforcement, headquartered in Japan, to take up the role as Group Chief Engineer for their worldwide network.
He is currently the president of the Macro Synthetic Fibre Association (MSFA).


Who Could Benefit From The Course
Engineers and Managers in construction and Tunnelling industry where explosives are used.