Parabolschalen aus Hochleistungsbeton als Solarkollektoren

Parabolic shells made from high‐performance concrete for solar collectors Parabolic troughs for concentrating solar power plants are mainly built as spatial steel frameworks which support curved mirror elements pointwise. Today, significant cost savings can merely be expected from cheaper construction material as shown by a first prototype made from concrete [1]. Alternative concepts inspired by commercially established collector modules with an aperture width of about 6 m as well as large scale collector modules with an aperture width of up to 10 m have been developed within the priority program SPP 1542 „Concrete light” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in cooperation of the Technical University of Kaiserslautern and the Ruhr‐University Bochum. These concepts also differ with respect to support conditions and cross‐sectional shapes. They include single‐walled solid shells with additional bracings according to the flux of forces or employ void formers and associated effective values for bending and axial stiffness. Of course, both fulfill the strict requirements set on lightweight and material efficient structures. Most relevant actions on the parabolic shells result from self‐weight, wind loads and torsional moments due to the driving system, which are considered locally and globally to capture their influence on the shell's design.