BUILDINGCONSTRUCTION

DOUBLY CURVED
SURFACES
SUBMITTED TO-

SUBMITTED BY-

AR.MEENAKSHI MEHTA
AR.SHUBHPREET KAUR

PARUL BHYAN
KRITI MODI

Doubly curved surfaces are basically part of shell

structure:Where as shell structure can be defined as:-

Shell structure
Three Dimensional structure.
Curved solid slab or membrane.

Two types of shell structures:Single curvature shell- cylindrical or parabolic form.

Doubly Curved Shell- spherical & other complicated
form .

HELL STRUCTURE-CHARACTERISTIC

Very very thin membrane

Acting like stressed skin
Edges restrained to eliminate bending stresses
Only direct stresses within its thickness
Zero gradient surface

SHELL STRUCTURE-EXAMPLES
NATURAL EXAMPLES
BAMBOO ROD
CRAB SHELL
BIRD EGG

IN HISTORY
A. labour was relatively cheap, various free form surfaces (mainly shell
structures) were build Made of concrete.
B. A double curved formwork used, of which the construction process was
very time consuming.
. The construction of these building has stagnated. The main reason is the
increased labour cost over time.
A. Mainly, most double curved surfaces are only applied in projects with a
high profile and aboveaverage budget.
Example- Derneue zollhof (1999), by Frank owen gehry
.The formwork that is needed to cast the concrete for these double curved
elements can only be used for one single element shape.
A. formworks are made of wooden mould or
B. EPS foam CNCmilled into the desire shape.

 This makes the construction very expensive, since a formwork is more

economical if it can be reused many times.
building could only be build after
modification and rationalization of
the shape, to be able to construct it in an
economically feasible way.
An example of this is the Sydney
Opera.
The double curved surface was split up
into elements that could be prefabricated.
The shape of the surface after that was
adapted, so that all of the
elements could be made using the same
formwork.
Instead of a lot of different uniquely
shaped formworks, one formwork could be
reused many times, making this project
feasible.

Sydney opera
house

FLEXIBLE
FORMWORK
A feasible method for mass production of uniquely shaped double
curved elements could perhaps be formed by a flexible formwork:
a formwork that can be adjusted in every desired shape
It consists of a flexible layer that can be deformed into the desired
curved surface by
adjusting, for example, pistons, actuators or pins.
The adjustable supports could be placed against each other, a pin bed, or
with interspaces.
There has to be an elastic material on top of these supports, which must
deform into the desired shape, to make the mould surface.

Actuator mould, tested by

K. Huyghe and A. Schoofs

Concrete is poured horizontal in

the mould

Deformed mould and concrete

METHOD OF POURING CONCRETE IN FORMWORK

TO GET DESIRE SHAPE
The flexible mould could be deformed before the concrete is poured, or
with the fresh concrete already on top of it.
Deforming of the mould with the fresh concrete on top of it means that the
weight of the concrete helps to push the mould into the desired shape.
Deforming of the mould without concrete gives large forces at the supports
to pull the mould into its form.
ADVANTAGE OF STARTING WITH A HORIZONTAL MOULD IS THAT
A. There is no contra mould needed,
B. The thickness of the element can be controlled easily and the pouring is
relatively easy and quick.

Double curved mould, plate model

A model is proposed that describes this behaviour if the flexible layer is
a plate

Double curved mould, plate model

Double curved mould, strip model

Double curved mould, strip model

Possibility is to build the mould surface out of strips instead of a plate.
An advantage is that the strips can slide among each other,
And so the extension in a double curved shape does no longer lead to
large normal stresses.
A disadvantage is that an additional material is needed that covers
the strips.
A. The strips are aligned in two directions.
B. The bottom layer is at the supports on the short direction of the
formwork,
C. The top layer is placed on top of the bottom layer and forms the

The top strips are only connected to the bottom layer in the middle, to make sure
that the strips can slide alongside each other.
The behaviour of the strips is of a single curved element.
In this case also only compression forces at the supports are favourable.
The concrete weight will push the mould into its form then.
The model also gives the maximum displacement between the supports.

Buckling of the edge at

the

The set up consisted of six by eleven supports, a

screwthread and nuts with a hollow pipe to make
the support point adjustable in height,
A frame held the supports at a horizontal level, to
pour the concrete at.
This frame could be lowered with a crane to deform
the mould,
Test one,
with a plate as mould layer, failed due to buckling of
the plate.
Test two,
with the strips mould, using two different geometries
gave satisfying double curved concrete elements

Double curved strip

surface

Double curved strip surface

test two

Production sequence double curved element

Picture Time Action
1. t = 0 min. The mould is ready for the concrete. The mould is horizontal and rests
on a plate
which istemporary supported. At t = 0 adding water to the mixture,
start
hardening of the concrete.
2. t = 8 min.
Pouring the concrete into the mould.
3. t = 15 min. Smoothening of the fresh concrete.
4. t = 49 min. Lifting the formwork to be able to remove the temporary struts.
5. t = 47 min. Deforming of the mould.
6. t = 48 min. The end of deformation process. The element has the final shape.
7. t = 1 day
After one day of hardening the element is removed from the mould.
8. t = 1 day
The element above its mould.
9. t = 1 day
The final element on the supporting points.

Recently build project with a double curved shape is the

EPFL rolex learning centre, sanaa in switzerland (2010),

The floor of the building is made of

concrete and has the same double
curved shape as the roof.
To make the double curved floor,
temporary scaffolding with a wooden
formwork was needed to support the
concrete .
This wooden formwork was also CNC
milled.
This was also an expensive project.

Buildings
Philips Pavillion
Place Brussels, Belgium Year 1958
Architect Le Corbusier
Structural engineer Iannis Xenakis
Precast/insitu Precast concrete
elements placed on temporary
scaffolding
Formwork Stabilized sand on which
the precast
elements are poured at.
Each element hada unique shape.

Philips Pavilion

Der Neue Zollhof

Place Dusseldorf, GermanyYear 1999
Architect Frank Owen Gehry
Structural engineer AG Hubertus
Zimmerling
Precast/insitu Precast and insitu
Formwork EPS foam that is milled into
the 3D shape.
Concrete High strength concrete with
steel
reinforcement.
Der Neue Zollhof

Jubilee Church
Place Rome, Italy , Year 2004
Architect Richard Meier
Structural engineer Arup
Precast/insitu Precast, elements are
placed with a special crane and
tensioned afterwards.
One formwork for all of the elements.
All of
the elements have the same shape.
ConcreteBenz
Mercedes
Selfcleaning
museum
concrete
Place Stuttgart, Germany, Year 2006
Architect Un Studio
Structural engineer Werner Sobek
Ingenieurs
Precast/insitu Insitu (column precast)
Formwork Wooden formwork, by Peri
Gmbh
Concrete Fairface concrete B55, with
steel
reinforcement

Jubilee Church

Mercedes Benz museum

Haydar Aliyev Cultural Center

Place Baku, Azerbaijan
Architect Zaha Hadid
Structural engineer Adams Kara Taylor Engineers
Precast/insitu Precast panels, Steel trusses that
supports the panels Formwork The geometry is
maximum optimized that the elements have
limited different shapes.
Likely for each shape a formwork is made.

Sydney Opera House

Place Sydney, Australia, Year 1961
Architect Jrn Urzon
Structural engineer Ove Arup &
Partners
Precast/insitu Precast Formwork Steel
formwork. The shells are made in a way
that as many as possible elements had
the same shape, so the less different
formworks where needed.
Connection A bolted connection and
cables that arepost tensioned

Haydar Aliyev Cultural

Center

Sydney Opera House

Existing techniques
Timber mould

With the use of timber any shape mould

can be made.
The formwork surface is mostly plywood
or fibreboard.
With good surface protection the
moulds or parts of it could be reused.
Rectangular moulds are easy to make.
Double curved shaped moulds can be
made,
But require a lot of knowledge of the
woodworkers.
In some cases CNCcutting or milling is
used to make sure that the wood gets a
curved shape.
Double curved moulds are laborious to
adapt to another shape,
And therefore not very suitable for
mass production of nonrepetitive
double curved elements.

Steel mould
Instead of wood steel can be used
for formworks.
Due to the higher costs of a steel
mould compared to timber,
The formwork has to be reused as
often as possible.
Steel moulds are therefore mostly
used in
the precast industry.
A double curved mould can be
made of steel,
But is only economical if it can be
reused many times. So it is not
suitable for unique shaped
Foam formwork
elements.
With the use of CNC computer technique a foam
block, mostly expanded or extruded polystyrene
(EPS/XPS), can be milled or by wire cutting shaped
into the desired form. These blocks need a
temporary support to resist the concrete pressure,
A wall element for Der Neue Zollhof. The moulds
can be reused, if the same shape is needed.
In cases where all of the elements have
uniqueshapes this formwork technique is an
expensive process, because for
every element a unique foam formwork is needed. Foam formwork for Der Neue

Foam, polyether, was used as a border for the formwork.

It fulfilled the function of withstanding the horizontal concrete pressure, but it
was also flexible enough to follow the deformations of the mould.
Due to the porosity of the material it needed a protection layer. The concrete can
not be poured directly to the foam.
The moisture in the concrete would otherwise be absorbed by the foam.
In this test the foam therefore was sealed using a silicone sealant. Due to the
sealant, the elements got a rough surface.