Synopsis

Macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete has its roots in the late 1990’s. Thus, it is a relatively new technology but has reached maturity as an engineered construction material and today it is widely used in all forms of underground construction.

Temporary and permanent shotcrete linings, precast tunnel segments, final tunnel linings, and railway track slabs for instance are applications that benefit from the advantageous properties that the fibres contribute to concrete, rendering the brittle concrete into a ductile, robust, durable and sustainable composite construction material. Significant cost savings can be achieved by the use of fibres, mainly by partial or total replacement of ordinary reinforcement, as well as by improving the serviceability and durability.

Its many advantages over steel reinforcement have established itself a strong position in the marketplace and continuous research and development opens up more fields of applications.

This short course gives a comprehensive overview on the possibilities and the potential of macro synthetic fibre reinforced concrete in underground construction, covering fibre technology, material’s properties, testing and quality assurance, designs, normative situation, durability and sustainability as well as research. These topics will be illustrated by case histories related to its specific field of application.


About the Speaker

Dr Ralf Winterberg specialises in fibre reinforcement for concrete and its application development. After two employment positions as Technical Director and Managing Director successively in German companies, he started his own Engineering Company in Germany specialising in the development of fibre reinforced concrete solutions and its applications in 2004. Since 2005, he has been a consultant to a 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), a market leader in structural synthetic fibre reinforcement, headquartered in Japan, to take up the role of Group Chief Engineer for their worldwide network.

He is currently the President of Macro Synthetic Fibre Association (MSFA).