Leichte Schalen aus hochfestem Beton als Parabolrinnen solarthermischer Kraftwerke

Lightweight shells made of high-strength concrete for parabolic troughs in solar power plants - conceptual design and creation of a prototype

Parabolic troughs are a kind of solar power plants that concentrate solar rays. Up to now, these collectors are usually made of spatial steel frame works which support mirrors point-wise. However, alternative construction principles are feasible. In the framework of priority program 1542 "Concrete light" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) subproject "Leichte verformungsoptimierte Schalentragwerke aus mikrobewehrtem UHPC am Beispiel von Parabolrinnen solarthermischer Kraftwerke" demonstrates that alternatives made from concrete can be competitive and even economically beneficial. A first prototype of a lightweight but high-strength concrete trough has been built in cooperation of Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. Its specific feature is not only the use of concrete instead of steel, but even the novel supporting structure. Based on numerical simulation deflections from significant action effects are analyzed on a true to scale trough structure. An accuracy analysis approved the trough's efficiency. This contribution focusses on the issues design and creation of a first prototype and discusses results on its assessment by numerical efficiency analyses.