3D® Construction System - American Concrete Homes
Transcription
3D® Construction System - American Concrete Homes
3D® Construction System Strength of 3D Construction System Copyright © , 2001 STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 2 EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM A major part of inhabited areas all over the world pass for “earthquake areas”. Especially within the last few years it could be seen that apparently safe areas or areas with low or medium risk had to sustain unexpected heavy earthquakes. Due to the longevity of modern buildings there is a high probability that these buildings will be subject to earthquakes one day. Therefore, it seems to be indispensable to build structures with a certain resistance against earthquake forces. Buildings, which pass for ”earthquake resistant” have to fulfil a few basic prerequisites: • To reduce acting forces to a minimum the structure has to be built as light as possible. • The basic structure of a building has to ensure that all acting forces can be transferred to the foundation. • Deformations and cracks appearing under heaviest loads must not lead to an immediate collapse of the entire building. • Non-bearing parts have to have a certain strength, as well. Otherwise secondary parts may be dangerous for inhabitants even if the basic structure stays intact. Structures made from 3D panels fulfil these requirements in an ideal way. The EPS-core and the two thin concrete shells form a structure which shows both, i.e. high strength and a low weight. The reinforcing mesh with small mesh size on both sides of the wall makes a 3D structure more or less insensitive to cracks. Additionally, in contrast to brick walls non loadbearing walls made of 3D-elements are no danger to the inhabitants. 3D CROSS SECTION COVER MESH SHOTCRETE DIAGONAL EPS CORE 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 3 3D STRUCTURES 3D components are thin-walled reinforced concrete sandwich elements which can mainly transfer compression- and shear forces in the plane of wall. Therefore buildings erected as 3D structures are composed in a “box-like” way where 3D elements are interconnected. That means the joints between slab and wall or wall and wall in general transfer minor bending moments only. Forces acting horizontally on 3D buildings, such as earth quake forces, are transferred most effectively by 3D shear walls. The respective “box-like” infilling with 3D panel walls in Xand Y-direction of 3D buildings has to be provided. For dimensioning, 3D slabs and 3D walls can be considered independently of each other. A frame-like design of 3D buildings with heavy reinforcement in the joints is not necessary. BOX-LIKE STRUCTURE held by the slab immovable slab (diaphragm effect) LATERAL LOADS cross wall (shear wall) anchored in the foundation possibly boundary elements tension force compression force shear forces in the foundation anchors In areas with a high earthquake risk it is recommended to use strengthened boundary elements at the edge of a shear wall. These boundary elements are easy to carry out and they only contain a small amount of reinforcement. They serve as tension ties and form a structure with a very high resistance against earthquake forces. Unlike frame structures boundary elements are flush with the walls and therefore, they will not affect the architectural design. Especially in case of residential buildings a box-like 3D-structure is the best solution to receive high strength and meet architectural requirements at the same time. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 4 LOADBEARING CAPACITY To proof the strength of the EVG 3D Construction System numerous tests at several test institutes all over the world have been performed. All of these tests showed clearly that EVG 3D Panels can serve as wall panels for multi-storey buildings and as slab panels for residential buildings, office buildings and industrial buildings. The photo on the right side shows a test carried out by the company Insteel Construction Systems Inc. of Brunswick, Ga., USA. Please note the extra load of more than 4000 kg applied by the means of cement bags. Total load including dead weight of the slab amounts to more than 1400 kg/m², which is at least twice the load in usual residential buildings. The photo on the left shows one building out of a group of 4-storey buildings erected in Venezuela. The walls of these buildings not only have to resist the loads of 4 stories, but they are subject to major earthquake forces as well. The coastal area where they are built is considered as area with “highest earthquake risk”. Despite of all of these severe requirements the EVG 3D Construction System offers a rigid and strong structure that withstands all vertical and lateral loads. As can be seen on the photo no other structural elements like columns are used in combination with 3D panels. Under average conditions loadbearing capacity of walls made of 3D panels can be assumed to be sufficient for 5 to 8 stories. Even under most unfavourable circumstances a few extra reinforcement bars can extend the limits for 3D structures. A 4-storey building in an area with a high earthquake risk is still far below the limits of EVG 3D construction system. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 5 OPEN STRUCTURES WITHOUT INTERMEDIATE SUPPORT Due to the loadbearing capacity in plane of panel a lot of wide open structures can be built. structures which are not possible or not feasible with conventional materials. The roof shown on the left is part of a building in Malaysia. There is no intermediate support for the roof slab. The length of span is variable. At the centre of the building the width of the roof structure is in the range of 8 to 10 m. Beside the external walls only a few partition walls running in parallel to the roof panels have been arranged. Due to the special loadbearing behaviour of the EVG 3D Construction System no other loadbearing walls are required. Another special construction is the roof shown at the bottom. The clear internal length is some 11 m. The only walls required are the external walls. The residential building is built in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. During designing the structure special attention has been given to the safety against hurricanes. The house has to withstand 250 mph wind speed (approx. 400 km/h). In both cases the box-like structure provides for sufficient strength to build the roofs with a span of 8 to 11 m without intermediate support. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 6 3D - A SYNONYM FOR STRENGTH In October 1996 a dam near the Country Club and Golf Course of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico broke during a heavy thunderstorm. The force of the water washed out the ground below some foundations in this area. The below article was published in Cabo Life, a local newspaper: The dam holding back the lake near the 15th hole broke and the rest is history as the mass of water flowed and continued to flow toward the ocean. Without the breaking dam, little damage would have occurred. Across the paved roadway, 3-D Panel was putting the final touches on a twostory home. The flooding waters decided to course under the fairway view of that structure. The building, left high and (not so) dry, with no support from below, lost non of its tinsel integrity as may be seen in the photographs. Pete and Ed of 3-D Panel Construction need only to pour concrete footings under the existing columns, backfill with dirt, and the owners of the structure can rest assured that their home will stand safely throughout whatever nature may have planned for the future. 3D Panel homes, which some refer to as monolithic construction, prove once again that they will withstand not only winds in excess of 250 kilometers per hour, but, as is apparent, torrential flooding, as well. In this case, the 3-D Panel construction was stronger even than hurricane Fausto. Throughout the storm, the 3-D Panel building sustained no cracks or fissures interiorly or exteriorly - quite remarkable since the second floor patio is a 4.3-meter-overhang. It appears that the monolithic construction is so strong that the roof of the structure supported the foundation. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 7 IN THE EYE OF THE STORM Especially in the southern parts of the United States year by year a lot of houses are getting lost due to hurricanes. One of the worst hurricanes in the 20th century has been Hurricane Andrew. Also a group of houses made of 3D panels was exposed to this thunderstorm. The below article was published in the Washington Post. The first photo shows parts of a destroyed wooden structure in front of a 3D house. In the aftermath of Hurricane The Washington Post, September 10, 1992 Andrew, the debate is intensifying why so many houses were lost in South Florida, despite Dade County's strict building code requiring structures to endure winds of 190 kilometers per hour. Preliminary analysis indicates that many older cinderblock houses erected during the building boom of the 1980s suffered because of shoddy workmanship or shortcuts. One group of new houses that came through the storm virtually unscathed was built in 1991 by Habitat for Humanity, the international volunteer organization whose best-known house builder isformer president Jimmy Carter. The habitat dwellings were all constructed using a new process involving prefabricated polystyrene and wire panels sprayed with concrete. All 14 houses built in Liberty City in North Miami were structurally intact. And so was the house of Irma Cordero of Homestead, the site of the worst destruction. Cordero's one-story house (see the picture above) was fashioned from welded wire sandwich panels instead of wood frame construction. These panels are made by Insteel Construction Systems Inc. of Brunswick, Ga., which says it uses a technique developed in Austria a few years ago. The lightweight panels, which require minimal labor to install, consist of two parallel sheets of wire mesh connected by diagonal truss wires that pierce an insulating core of polystyrene 40 to 100 mm thick. The panels are attached to a concrete foundation and connected to one another with a special fastening tool. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 8 HURRICANE PROOF STRUCTURES Beside Florida the Caribbean Islands have to suffer frequent damage as a result of hurricanes. Especially in the last decades losses due to hurricanes have increased tremendously. The two photos on the right show buildings on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, short time after the hurricane Marilyn has passed in September, 1995. The first building is a concrete block structure with a wooden roof. The roof structure has been removed completely by the hurricane. Some of the external walls have been removed, as well. The entire upper floor had to be renewed. The second photo on the right shows a 3D structure close to the building on the first photo. A few days after hurricane Marilyn all cleaning work had been done and the only visible sign of the hurricane is the lack of foliage on trees (see left side of photo). Finally, the condominiums shown on the photo at bottom have been built in 1992 using 3D panels only. They suffered no damage from hurricane Luis in September, 1995. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 9 GRANITE MOUNTAIN RESERVE In January of 1992, the Insteel 3-D Panel System was selected for use in the construction of all exterior load bearing walls in four buildings to be erected in the Mojave Desert at Granite Mountain Reserve, California. The unique complex was to house the University of California arid-zone research facility and was designed using 3-D panels to meet exacting thermo-insulating specifications to achieve 96% energy independence. The project was funded jointly by the National Science Foundation, Southern California Edison, Inc., and the University of California. On June 28, 1992, this area of California was struck twice by earthquakes measuring 6.5 and 6.9 on the Richter Scale (the second quake was the worst recorded in over forty years). The epicenter of these quakes was located only 80-110 kilometers from the research facility site. According to Dr. Phillippe Cohen who resides at the site, the facility was subject to continuous shaking at one point for over one full minute. Incredibly, the four buildings in the facility, some with walls over 7.3 meters in height, showed no signs of any damage despite the existence of large areas of glass. A full structural analysis of the building was ordered and the findings, testimony to the remarkable strength and integrity of Insteel 3-D Panels, are summarized in the letter at right. Of particular significance is the sentence which reads, “There was no sign of any crack or damage of any kind to the superstructures and foundations.” 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 10 A 6-STOREY MODEL To ensure earthquake resistance, some tests in renowned research centers have been carried out. One of these tests was a model of a 3D building built on a scale of 1:6 at the Tongji University in Shanghai, China. The model consists of panels with a size of 400×200×30mm. The cover mesh has a yield strength of 210 N/mm². Cube strength of micro concrete was measured to be 10 N/mm². The model was subject to El-Centroearthquakes of different intensity starting with a 7-degree earthquake. According to the test report the model lost structural integrity when it came to a 9-degree earthquake After this earthquake the model was unable to bear the lateral loads. Nevertheless the building did not collapse. In a real building the inhabitants will not get injured by collapsing walls or slabs. • During the frequently occurred 7-degree earthquakes no fissures appeared on the tructure. The structure worked elastically. • During the 8-degree earthquakes cracks on top of the ring beam of the first storey propagated little. During the other earthquakes , the crack propagated gradually, though growth was not very intensive. • During the 9-degree earthquakes the model lost its capability of standing the lateral loads. However, the structure did not collapse. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 11 EARTHQUAKE FORCES Movements during an earthquake lead to forces in horizontal and vertical direction. Mostly the walls or columns are able to transfer forces in vertical direction to the foundation in a safe way. On the other hand the structure of many buildings is insufficient to sustain major lateral loads. The total horizontal force acting on the building results from the weight of the building and the maximum horizontal acceleration during the earthquake. As a consequence, lateral forces are acting mainly at the level of the floor slabs of a building. Due to the kind of vibrations the lateral load will not be distributed uniformly to the individual floor slabs. The lateral load in the upper stories is significantly higher than the load acting on the first storey. The exact distribution depends on the height and kind of the structure. In addition, the total force in horizontal direction depends on the kind of structure, too. Within elastic constructions like frames the deformation of the structure leads to a significant absorption of lateral forces. In contrast to frames, stiff constructions with shear walls show small deformations only. Therefore, the full amount of lateral loads have to be applied to this kind of buildings. The biggest internal forces generated by lateral loads are acting in the first stories of a building. In the upper stories the internal forces are significantly smaller. Therefore, additional stiffening is mainly required in the first stories of a building. MULTI-STOREY BUILDING WITH LATERAL LOADS LATERAL LOADS SHEAR FORCE BENDING MOMENT H5 th 5 storey H4 th 4 storey H3 rd 3 storey H2 nd 2 storey H1 st 1 storey foundation 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 12 FAILING OF FRAME STRUCTURES This kind of structure very often can be found in the first storey of multi-storey buildings. They are used mainly as car parks or for shops and offices. To resist an earthquake the connections between columns and frames or columns and the slab has to have sufficient strength. Additionally, these connections have to be carried out with ductile steel. Otherwise the movement during an earthquake will lead to a brittle failure. Especially in case of a basement floor built as a frame structure with additional stories made from walls the problems are substantial. Due to the wall structure the upper stories are heavy and, additionally, they are too stiff to allow a significant damping of lateral loads. Even if the building has been constructed carefully the earthquake strength is limited. REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAME moments in the beam connection between beam and column lateral load moments in the columns connection to the foundation moments in the columns During an earthquake the frame structure has to resist additional moments and shear forces. The biggest moments are acting in the connections between column and foundation and column and beam. Therefore, insufficient connections will effect strength significantly. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 13 FAILING OF WALL STRUCTURES The strength of walls has to be sufficient to be considered as shear walls. Walls made from bricks are hardly able to resist the acting lateral loads. Due to the kind of brick walls damage through an earthquake is to be expected. Even smaller aftershocks following the main earthquake may destroy an already damaged brick wall. In contrast to brick walls a wall made of reinforced concrete is capable to bear horizontal shear forces. Even if the concrete wall was subject to a certain damage it can resist the forces during aftershocks. Prerequisite to do so is a continuous reinforcement with wires in a small distance. Otherwise the width of cracks can be dangerous. Anchoring of walls in the foundation has to be ensured, as well. In general, brick walls have no connection to the foundation. Due to reasons of cost reduction walls made of precast reinforced concrete elements also very often do not contain sufficient connection reinforcement to the foundation. The connection to load bearing walls in the next storey often is too small, as well. SHEAR WALLS connection to the slab or the next storey boundary elements shear forces diagonal compression forces shear forces connection to the foundation In general, shear walls need boundary elements with additional reinforcement. This reinforcement is subject to tension forces and has to be properly anchored in the foundation and slab or in the shear wall in the next storey. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 14 3D-WALLS AND SLABS The strength of 3D-structures mainly depends on interaction between 3D-shear walls and boundary elements. Therefore, the amount of reinforcement in the boundary elements is decisive for the overall strength of the structure. 3D WALL WITH BOUNDARY ELEMENTS SIMPLE DESIGN STRENGTHENED DESIGN 20 30 5 20 4ø12 8ø12 30 10 ø8/20 5 45 splice mesh ø8/20 73 83 73 83 14 14 ø8/20 ø8/20 25 16 16 16 ø8/20 ø8/20 25 16 25 25 Such an additional reinforcement is required for just some walls and increases the total amount of reinforcement only insignificantly. At the same time, strength of the entire structure is increased considerably. ring beam in the slab compression in the 3D wall scheme of a wall reinforcement in a multistorey building lateral forces boundary elements in the wall 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES STRENGTH OF EVG 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 15 STRENGTHENING WITH 3D PANELS 3D panels can be used both for the construction of new buildings and for the strengthening of already existing structures. For both cases, the basic requirements are the same. Loadbearing parts of new buildings and additional stiffening in existing buildings have to fulfil the following prerequisites: • The weight of the total building may be increased by a small amount only. On the one hand the vertical load on the existing foundation is restricted. On the other hand, in case of earthquakes, heavy walls will generate additional lateral loads. • The flexural rigidity of the additional structure has to be the same or higher than the rigidity of the existing building. Using a frame structure to stiffen a building with walls can not be recommended. The frame needs substantial deformation to bear lateral loads. Therefore, the wall structure will be destroyed before the frame has an effect on the earthquake resistance of the building. • The connection to the existing structure has to be ensured by means of drilled anchors. To do so it is recommended to use epoxy resin. • Shear walls mainly have to bear diagonal compression forces. To reduce danger of buckling the wall must not be too slender. In case of a thick concrete wall the weight of wall has to be taken into consideration, as well. Of course, the wall needs continuous reinforcement and the distance between the wires has to be as small as possible. Otherwise wide cracks may appear or parts of the wall can break off. Finally, shear walls have to be arranged in a way, that they create a structure with the same stiffness in all directions. Mostly, this results in a certain number of shear walls in the two main directions of a building. Possibly some non-bearing light walls have to be replaced by 3D-walls. concrete 3D ELEMENTS EPS concrete Due to the low weight and the high compression strength 3D panels are the ideal material to create shear walls. In existing buildings, where it is difficult to work with form work, 3D panels are easy to erect and to spray with shotcrete. Anchors can be drilled in existing structures and placed with epoxy resin to increase the strength of the connection. 3D CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM STRENGTH OF 3D STRUCTURES