Automated Construction- Reinforcement : Lifting Prefabricated Reinforcement Cages

Abstract: The construction industry is moving towards an increasingly industrial production and one step towards this is to use prefabricated rebar cages. A new concept is being tested where tied rebar cages are produced on the construction site by industrial robots. The industrial robots produce the rebar cages based on a geometric model and when finished they are lifted to the casting site with the help of a crane. In order for this concept to become an efficient process, it must already be possible to evaluate the stability of the rebar cages in the early design phase to be able to efficiently determine whether it is possible to lift the rebar cages to the casting site after production. The scope of this thesis is to investigate what is required to create a numerical model with help of data from a geometric model in an efficient way in order to determine whether a rebar cage can be lifted. This thesis is limited to one specific rebar cage that has already been created in the CADprogram Tekla Structures by the contractor Skanska Sweden AB. The process of what is required when creating a numerical model with data from a geometric model is limited between the analysis software LUSAS Bridge and the CAD software Tekla Structures. To be able to determine what is required in order to create a numerical model with data from a geometric model in the analysis software LUSAS Bridge in an efficient way a survey was performed. The survey includes the necessary steps to create a numerical model of a tied rebar cage from a geometric model and the problems that occurs along the way to get an efficient process. In order to determine if the geometric model of the rebar cage is liftable a linear analysis was created in the analysis software LUSAS Bridge. The analysis was created with data from the geometric model created in Tekla Structures and with experimental results from a study where tied connection strength and stiffness were evaluated. The analysis was created to simulate a rebar cage for a bridge foundation in scale 1:2 that is lifted in four lifting points. The lifting points in this analysis is modeled as supports while the rebar cage is subjected to an acceleration force to simulate a lift. The analysis is performed in two parts, first when the tied connections have full stiffness capacity and the second part when the stiffness is decreased to be able to evaluate what happens to the stability of the rebar cage. In order to determine if the rebar cage is liftable two conditions are looked at, (1) stress in rebars and (2) forces in the joint elements. The results from the study show that in order to create a numerical model of a tied rebar cage in an efficient way some improvements must be done in the analysis software LUSAS Bridge. The most time-consuming process when creating a numerical model of a tied rebar cage are the connections. In order to create these tied connections in an efficient way some new functions must be created in LUSAS Bridge where the software can generate different types of tied connections. The results from the analysis show that the stress in the rebars at the lifting points is the criterion that is most critical when the rebar cage is lifted. The maximum stress reached 356 MPa with the utilization rate of 81,9% when the connection stiffness has full capacity. When the connection stiffness was adjusted, it was also shown here that the stress was the criterion that is most critical. The analysis for 50% connection stiffness capacity showed a maximum stress of 402 MPa with the utilization rate of 92,4%, this shows an increase of 10,5% of the utilization rate when the IV  connection stiffness is decreased with 50%. Based on these results, it can be stated that the rebar cage can be lifted if four lifting points are used. It can also be seen from the results that the stiffness in the connections has a very small impact on the behavior of the cage and therefore the placement of the rebars contributes more to the stability.