IPACS - Improved Production of Advanced Concrete Structures
Brite-EuRam project BRPR-CT97-0437

Technical content
(public)

Internal project site

Project members


Scancem (Coordinator)
Cementa AB
Betongindustri AB
NCC AB
Skanska teknik AB
LTU Luleå


Norwegian public roads
administration
NTNU Trondheim
Elkem AS
Norcem AS
Selmer ASA


TU Delft


TU Braunschweig


ENEL
ISMES

During the construction phase and the subsequent life span of advanced structures costs can be significantly reduced, in particular by avoiding premature damage in the construction stage. A fundamental issue in order to achieve this is proper planning and production of the structure. With e.g. new high performance concretes it is of utmost importance that the right quality is maintained throughout the construction period. Otherwise heavy reduction in robustness and resistance can be the result. Crucial here is the risk of early age cracking of the concrete due to restrained volume changes from the temperature and shrinkage during the hardening period.

An expert System will be developed to plan and control the production of concrete structures. The Expert System will contain modules of varying simplicity and refinement which can be used in the following phases of a construction project:

  • the predesign phase - to get rough estimates of the cost and efficiency of alternative production methods
  • the design phase - for detailed planning of concreting (choice of materials, cooling and/or heating methods, insulation of formwork, formstripping time etc.)
  • the construction phase - for updating the influence of weather changes, fluctuation of material properties and temperatures on target crack risks.
  • the maintenance phase - to check maintenance costs and repair needs.
Project coordinator: Mats Emborg mats.emborg@ce.luth.se