ABSTRACT
This paper presents the analysis of a concrete shell designed with an ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete: Ductal®, produced by Lafarge. It pertains to a new generation of cementitious materials conceived on a multi-scale reinforcement concept that allows for an improved damage resistance. The analysis carried out in this study is performed in two steps. Firstly, an inverse analysis is carried out to find out the post-cracking constitutive relation of the material. For this aim the experimental results of three-point bending tests are fitted by the numerical results obtained by the finite element simulation of these tests. Secondly, this stress-displacement curve is used to analyze a folded plate roof. With the aid of the obtained numerical results, together with the high performance characteristics of new materials such as Ductal®, it is argued that lightweight thin concrete shells could have renewed interest to designers and a promising structural alternative to many applications.
