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CCS Answers
What are CCS?
CCS are rapidly deployable, inflated structures that harden on hydration to form durable concrete buildings. They enable high quality permanent buildings to be constructed with comparable time and effort to temporary soft skinned structures. Installation is extremely simple and requires no heavy lift cranes and no training. The units are modular in design and can be expanded to meet operational needs.
How did the concept for CCS originate?
The concept originated from the idea of using inflation to create a purely tensile surface to use as the formwork for perfect compressive forms, thus using the properties of concrete most efficiently. The Concrete Cloth was developed over a 3 year period and thousands of iterations, including developing a plant to produce the cloth continuously.
Research was conducted in Uganda, visiting camps in the field and interviewing refugees and 22 UN Agencies and NGOs over a 5 week period. New Orleans was also visited in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as well as a user feedback forum in Geneva with staff from the all the major aid agencies.
The development has been iterative, beginning with 1/8th scale prototypes and trial samples and progressing to full scale prototyping and testing.
How long has Concrete Canvas been in operation?
The idea for Concrete Canvas has been around since 2003 when the 2 company founders met while studying for a postgraduate degree in Industrial Design Engineering. The company Concrete Canvas Ltd was set up in August 2005 to develop and commercialise Concrete Canvas Shelter and surrounding technologies in Concrete Cloth.
Is it possible to purchase a CCS or CC?
Concrete Canvas have established a production facility in South Wales, for the commercial manufacture of both Concrete Canvas Shelters and Concrete Cloth. Please contact us at sales@concretecanvas.co.uk if you would like to place an order.
What do you need to deploy a CCS?
The building comes supplied with everything required for construction, including a full set of deployment instructions and H&S information (Annex D). Construction is extremely simple and requires only access to power for the blower unit (can be provided as 110 or 240V) and a water supply (approx 1000lt for the CCS25 and 2000lt for the CCS54). The water does not need to be potable, and bore-hole water, river water or seawater can be used. No major ground excavation or foundation work is required.
Have you done any analytical testing on CCS?
The University of Bath has completed Finite Element Analysis of CCS54 structures. The result showed that the shelter can withstand all specified load cases including a person standing on the roof, uneven snow loading and Hurricane force winds. In addition it proved that the shelter can be earth-bermed with up to 0.75m of wet sand on the sides of the structure and 0.5m on the roof.
What are the weights of each shelter variation?
The weights of the shelters are continually dropping as we develop both Concrete Cloth and Concrete Canvas Shelters. A basic guideline for the CCS25 and CCS54 are 1800kg and 3100kg respectively, significantly less than any other comparable semi-permanent and permanent structures.
How do the shelters perform thermally?
Concrete Canvas Shelters have excellent thermal properties and have been designed to allow earth or snow berming. This provides both improved thermal insulation and a large thermal mass which helps maintain a constant internal temperature by dampening temperature fluctuations between night and day. This is especially important in desert environments where the temperature can vary from extreme heat in the day to below freezing at night.
What is earth or snow berming?
Earth or snow berming is the practice of using earth or snow against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss and to maintain a steady indoor air temperature. Concrete Canvas Shelters, when earth bermed, will also provide protection against small arms fire and shrapnel.
What size of shelters are available?
There are two shelter variants available with 25sqm and 54sqm of floor space (known respectively as CCS25 and CCS54). Visit 2.4 for further illustration. The technology can be scaled up to provide larger structures and we are continually investigating the ideal size requirements of various applications of Concrete Canvas Shelters.
Is it possible to repair CCS?
Yes. Concrete Cloth can be used to patch Concrete Canvas Shelters as it bonds extremely well to itself. Alternatively a standard cement mortar may be used.
Is it possible to connect shelters together?
Concrete Canvas Shelters have been designed as part of a modular system: units can be easily linked together enabling the space to be tailored to the application. The prefabricated units can be expanded as required, by docking units end-to-end to allow an uninterrupted flow of internal space. The double doors are reversible allowing the blades to be changed from outward opening to inward opening to facilitate docking.
What is the lifespan of a CCS?
CCS units have a design life of 25 years. This is based on accelerated age testing of the Concrete Cloth for a range of environmental conditions. CCS units are manufactured from 3 constituent elements, the Concrete Cloth, plastic liner and steel doors. All 3 have been independently tested to the relevant British and International Standards.
How do you demolish a CCS?
Concrete Canvas Shelters can be demolished using simple hand and/or power tools or by conventional demolition using heavy equipment. Concrete Canvas Shelters are thin walled structures. When demolished, they constitute a very small volume of debris which can be reused as hardcore in rebuilding operations.
CC Answers
What is CC?
Concrete Cloth (CC) is a flexible cement impregnated fabric, that hardens on hydration, to form a durable, water and fire proof concrete layer. It has many applications in both civil and military sectors.
What is the lifespan of CC?
CC has a design life of well over 10 years. The material will withstand extremes of temperature, UV, high humidity and will not be adversely affected by mould, mildew or rot.
How is CC currently used?
CC has a range of civil engineering applications including ditch lining, erosion control, flooring and flood defences. In the defence sector, applications include sandbag and gabion reinforcement, rapid track way and dust suppression.
What testing has been completed on CC?
The Concrete Cloth has been extensively tested to BS EN 12467, which includes accelerated age testing for freeze-thaw, wet-dry cycles and cyclic heating (up to 60ºC), replicating the effects of a range of climates.
Can CC be set underwater?
Yes. Setting CC underwater ensures that the material is fully hydrated and provides maximum strength. Results from washout testing, conducted in accordance with the industry standard BS 8443-2005, showed that CC loses only 3% of mass against 30-40% for standard Concrete and 10-15% for underwater Concrete.
How much does CC cost per square metre?
Pricing of CC is volume dependant. Please email sales@concretecanvas.co.uk specifying CC type, quantity and delivery point.
Can I get a sample of CC?
Concrete Canvas can provide hardened 4” swatches of CC material free of charge. However, given the volume of sample requests we receive, we do ask that the customer pays for delivery. Please email sales@concretecanvas.co.uk specifying your delivery address.
