The manufacture of components from ultra‐high‐performance concrete (UHPC) is generally a very labor‐intensive and time‐consuming process. Flow production techniques can automate this complex manufacturing process and thus make it more efficient. One possible flow production technique is the extrusion process developed in this project. In this process, tubular structural elements are manufactured from UHPC, which are designed to withstand predominantly axial loads. Thanks to the extrusion process and the special structure of the UHPC‐tubes, there is no need for formwork or conventional reinforcing steel. To ensure the consistently high quality of the UHPC tubes, a sensor system was developed to monitor the extrusion process. By evaluating the data using artificial neural networks (ANN), a quality assurance concept was developed that detects anomalies and monitors the uniformity of the bar elements. This enables early countermeasures to be taken in the event of impending errors in the extrusion process. Combined with an adaptive modular design, this process promises considerable savings in terms of time and costs.
Meyer et al. (Mon,) studied this question.