Spectacular concrete constructions

This feasibility study, a European research project, was undertaken by 14 partners, one of which was PASCHAL-Danmark A/S, in Aarhus.
It involved a sculpture 24 m long, 6 m high and 6 m wide being built on the company's own plant premises.
The finished concrete construction now stands on the company premises of PASCHAL-Danmark A/S in Aarhus; according to official sources it received 9 million Euros in funding as a European research project.
The final touches were finished by mid-March 2014. PASCHAL-Danmark A/S took the completion of the sculpture as an opportunity to invite customers and project partners to Aarhus in May 2014.

Anyone who is interested can view the reinforced concrete structure, made up of some 30 m³ of concrete, on the PASCHAL plant premises in Aarhus.

One aspect of this demonstration project was to explore how formwork, formwork systems and concrete forms with double curvature for reinforcement can be created using robot-assisted methods which are both efficient and save on resources, the aim being to bring them into practice in the construction industry.
Pressure-resistant polystyrene was used to shape the concrete construction. A robot which had been “fed” CAD data milled both the upper and lower mould from polystyrene blocks. The reinforcement following the mould was also curved by an industrial robot, with crossing rebars being joined mechanically.
The entire construction was “framed” by the LOGO.3 formwork system and supported using PASCHAL shoring.
Before the extremely flowable, self-compacting concrete was cast, various concretes were tested to ensure that results were optimal. Once the right concrete mix had been found, but before it was actually cast, a membrane was laid over the formwork surface.
To make sure that the upper mould could not float upwards when the concrete was cast, the construction was limited vertically using PASCHAL formwork.

“Now that this demonstration project has come to a successful close, PASCHAL can imagine working on the continued development of this formwork technology, for example so that it can be employed when building concrete bridges” explained the Managing Director of PASCHAL-Danmark A/S, Michael Støvelbæk.

This is the second time that PASCHAL has taken part in a test project. The first project was Danish, and the results have been on display on the plant premises at PASCHAL-Danmark A/S in Glostrup, near Copenhagen, since 2010.

Computer animation of the reinforced concrete sculpture during the planning stage.
Beneath it, for comparison, a photograph of the sculpture itself from a similar viewpoint.
It has yet to be decided whether the shape looks more like a fish or a mammoth

It can be seen clearly how the different polystyrene blocks are piled up to create part of the overall form, while the PASCHAL formwork and shoring provide a load-bearing framework.