Precast concrete façade

As a prefabricated element, reinforced concrete walls have a high degree of precision with short installation times. Since concrete consists of natural components and is extremely durable with low material consumption, walls made of reinforced concrete are also considered sustainable construction. [...]

Not only in commercial and industrial construction, but also in residential construction, building with prefabricated or semi-prefabricated elements is becoming increasingly important. Repetitive shapes and dimensions can lead to savings through serial production in the precast plant. Early and detailed planning is essential for prefabrication in the factory, as changes are sometimes not possible or can only be achieved with great effort after the concreting process. [...]

Basic advantages of exterior walls made of prefabricated reinforced concrete elements:

• Relatively inexpensive building material
• High load-bearing capacity Good
• sound insulation and fire protection
• High heat storage capacity
• Special economic advantages due to series production
• Short construction time due to high degree of prefabrication
• High dimensional accuracy
• High surface quality for exposed concrete, plastering work can be omitted

Precast walls are usually concreted horizontally and are therefore easier to compact than upright concrete in-situ concrete walls. For example, prefabricated walls can generally be manufactured in lower wall thicknesses. In practice, however, building physics reasons such as sound insulation or fire protection requirements often speak against a reduced wall thickness.

In the case of prefabrication in the factory, the architect and structural engineer work closely with the precast plant.

With a regular and repetitive window and door arrangement, the use of prefabricated elements is economical for perforated façades. The elements are usually single-storey and up to 10 m long. The wall panels are usually designed as a single-shell prefabricated element, in which insulation and facing layer are applied on site, or as a multi-layer sandwich panel. [...]

Image: Sketch of precast concrete elements - bauwion

Prefabricated reinforced concrete elements are connected to each other using prefabricated connection systems made of steel or cast steel components. These enable easy assembly of the elements on the construction site.

Image: Sketch of loop connections - bauwion

• Steel cable loops embedded in concrete on both sides of the narrow side of the wall elements and a reinforcing steel installed on site are poured with mortar.
• Turnbuckles: During the concreting process, an anchor is concreted into a recess on the narrow side of a wall element. A turnbuckle is inserted into this recess, through which the elements to be connected are screwed together on both sides. The walls can be loaded immediately.

Source: bauwion