Concrete Canvas

The canvas is formed with a PVC backing to render water proof and the cement is the type able to set underwater.  The fiber then acts as reinforcement.

Its obvious use, cement tents notwithstanding, will be slope protection and ditch lining related to roadwork.  Present methods are generally unsatisfactory and often need excessive earth movement.  This will lend itself to a whole range of new strategies for civil engineering.

For example, we can suddenly produce a berm or dike to the maximum stable slope configuration and then simply cap it with a concrete canvass that is then extended down into any erosional zones.  The berm then remains dry through all weather conditions and thus retains structural integrity.

Such strategies can easily slash the earth moving bill for earthen structures in half.

It is also obviously a great solution for retaining ponds as mandated for the mining industry that are vulnerable to damage from excess water seepage.  Again we are looking at not building grossly over engineered structures.

Concrete Canvas

2 MAY 18, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/concrete-canvas.html

Concrete Canvas was covered back in 2005 in Wired. 

BBC News - Concrete Canvas allows aid teams to construct solid structures in emergency zones quickly and easily. It is a fabric shelter that, when sprayed with water, turns to concrete within 24 hours.

* It is available in 5, 8 and 13 millimeter thicknesses.

* It is ceramic and will not burn

* Once hydrated it remains workable for 2 hours and hardens to 80% strength in 24 hours. Accelerated or retarded formulations can be produced as specified.

* It uses 95% less material than conventional concrete

* It can be used for fast shelters, roofing, retaining walls, basement lining, weed inhibition, flood defense, water tanks and many other applications

The Concrete canvas website

A bag weighing 230 kilograms (approximately 500 pounds) inflates into a shelter with 16 square meters (172 square feet) of floor space. Cost is estimated at £1,100 ($2,100), while an equivalent-size Portakabin (a type of portable building widely used in the United Kingdom) costs about £4,000 ($7,700). The same-size tent costs about £600 ($1,150).

Concrete Cloth featured in the April edition of External Environment Product Review

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