Protection of river banks and bridges with UHPC technology

At a meeting of local councils in the alpine

region, hhbc-consulting and WPE DK were

invited as guests to discuss possible

rehabilitation and protection of river banks

and bridges. Due to climate change, especially 

in the mountainous regions, the streams and 

rivers are flooded with enormous amounts 

of water as a result of enormous amounts of 

rain and continuous snow melt. In addition 

to the water flowing at high speed, ever 

greater quantities of debris are also being 

transported. Water and debris are increasingly 

damaging bank and bridge structures. For the 

most part, they are not designed for these 

quantities.

One of the main points of this discussion,
was the rehabilitation of the massive damage
caused by scree and water masses on the
construction of the riverbanks, especially in
areas of river diversion and river guidance
in villages and towns.

Particularly the rising water masses among
other things by massive lasting rains and
resulting high flow velocities with scree
movements give rise to concern.

As one of the possible solutions for the future,
the use of UHPC Ultra High Performance
Concrete as a refurbishment material and as
construction material for renewed protective
installation was discussed.

UHPC concrete would offer concrete with its
extreme strength (over 140 MPa - 240 MPa),
very high wear resistance and extremely high
corrosion resistance.

In addition, a joint-free processing is possible.

Due to these characteristics, the design of river

banks and river diversions with artificial rock

constructions made of UHPC was discussed.

As assembly methods for UHPC, assembly

pre-fabricated elements, casting or spray-on-site

(Shotcrete) assembly was discussed.

Since UHPC develop within 48 hours 70% of its

nominal strength are very fast in assembly methods

and thus the repair time is very short.

Due to the many years of experience we have in
offshore and coastal areas, first projects have
been agreed.