UHPC machine beds, frames and foundation for a high-tech machines

Various UHPC binder systems have been used by us for more than 25 years worldwide for different
industries such as cement plants, power plants, iron, steel and mining industries. Developed and produced as wear protection and industrial flooring or as foundations and anchoring systems for the offshore and engineering industries.

UHPC concretes are very suitable for machine beds and frames of any kind of high-precision drilling machines, grinding and milling machines.

The advantages
A very high surface quality. Due to the accuracy of the moulds, subsequent machining can often be dispensed with. With UHPC, an accuracy of 0.1 mm/0.004 in from the mould can be achieved when using suitable moulds. The accuracy can be increased to 0.005 mm/0.0002 in by grinding.
Very high pressure resistance
Very good stiffness and dimensional stability

Very good damping properties compared to cast steel constructions and same vibration damping as natural stone. The vibration damping of UHPC concretes is approx. 70 - 80% faster than standard cast steel constructions. Higher precision with faster processing speed.

Thermal properties:
Applicable up to 450°C/840°F without loss of engineering properties and dimensional stability.
High thermal shock resistance
Inertia during heat transfer
Low thermal expansion
Non-flammable

Very good flowability.
High integration capability. All types and sizes of anchors, pins, threaded sleeves, structural steel elements
and pipes can be cast without problems.
Extreme adhesion to cast-in fasteners and anchor elements.
Very high corrosion resistance
Due to the high strength development, material thicknesses and material weights can be calculated significantly lower.
UHPC castings can be removed from the mould within 24 hours and reach more than 70% of their final strength after 48 hours.
Faster delivery times
Drastically reduced costs
Elements made of UHPC can be recycled and reused like normal construction waste.
Due to the low energy consumption and low CO2 impact, the production is much more environmentally friendly than cast, steel and reactive resin concrete.


Technical data for UHPC Cast products

Density 2400 - 2900 kg/m3 / 168 - 181 lb/ft3
Compressive strength after 2 days 100 - 120 MPa / 14500 - 17500 psi
Compressive strength after 28 days 140 - 250 MPa / 20300 - 36200 psi
Flexural strength 17 - 29 MPa / 2755 - 4200 psi
Max. Process temperature 450°C / 840°F


Applications
UHPC is suitable
for foundations, beds and frame parts of highly dynamic machine tools
for foundations of highly loaded machines, e.g. engines, generators, turbines, etc.
for foundations in the paper, wood, printing and textile industries

WPE DK International

Phone: 0049 176 601 73146
E-mail: info@wpe-dk.dk
Homepage: www.wpe-dk.com

 

Wine and UHPC - How does it work?

We were approached by an architects office if we could imagine working on a redevelopment project. In this case, it is about the renovation of a very old wine cellar. 

The cellar floor in particular is in need of refurbishment, plus a few storage foundations for large wine barrels. In some places, the floor has, among other things, moisture damage. We could make the floor permanently watertight with a few millimeters of UHPC. The new flooring should be as bright as possible and have a specific structure, which is also possible with UHPC. 

The old cellar vault also needs to be renovated in some places and the architects wants to give a very large room for wine tasting a new design. First models with UHPC / old wood combinations will be executed by us in the near future. As wooden material we use, among other things, old grapevines.

UHPC concrete and residential housing construction - infinitely new possibilities

HPC and UHPC materials open up completely new worlds for architects, designers construction companies.

What is the difference between UHPC and standard concrete or natural stone?

The material  

HPC and UHPC binder systems are based on a very low cement content. All HPC and UHPC materials
are fully recyclable and have a service life of 100+ years. It is possible to mix HPC and UHPC binder systems with recycled aggregate. With HPC and UHPC binder systems, up to 50% construction material including reinforcement can be saved due to the high strength values.

The processing
HPC and UHPC materials can be easily processed as mortar, castable or Shotcrete material. The w/c ratio for our HPC and UHPC materials is between 0.22 and 0.17. There are no additives necessary. Pre-cast elements of all sizes and geometries can be produced in exactly the same way as large quantities of elements.

The design
HPC and UHPC surfaces and structures can be made extremely fine. This makes it possible to replicate almost all surfaces that occur in nature exactly. Whether in large or extremely fine size. HPC and UHPC can be combined with all kind of minerals, metals, plastics, pigments, woods, glasses, etc.

The resistance
HPC and UHPC is absolutely waterproof after just less than a 1/2 inch of layer thickness. HPC and UHPC is extremely corrosion-resistant, wear-resistant and easily resists all kind of animal attacks.

The properties
HPC and UHPC has a much higher compressive strength than very good concrete qualities. HPC and UHPC is very flowable and self-compacting in its casting version. HPC and UHPC concrete achieves its maximum strength within less than 48 hours.

The heat resistance
HPC and UHPC in its standard version can withstand temperatures up to 450°C/842°F permanently.
UHPC in its high temperature version can withstand temperatures up to over 1000°C/1832°F permanently. A normal fire, wildfire and bushfire even over a longer period of time can not damage a UHPC construction.

The facade
Vertical and horizontal gardens can be created with HPC and UHPC facades and roof structures. The HPC and UHPC specially produced for these applications is very light, is rot-resistant, waterproof, and plant roots cannot penetrate it. It can be laid seamlessly on a flat roof. For vertical (facade) gardens, combination constructions according to the design of architects or garden designers can easily be made in any size.

The insulation
UHPC can be combined with a variety of modern high performance insulation materials. With these
combinations, it is possible even at extreme outdoor temperatures without great expenditure of
energy to achieve pleasant internal temperatures easily. UHPC in this combination is extremely high energy efficient. 

 

The lightweight HPC and UHPC binder
We have developed lightweight HPC and UHPC mortars, castable and sprayable concretes that offer up to 50% weight savings compared to standard concrete.

The security
UHPC in a certain combination of materials is extremely well burglary resistant.

 Areas where UHPC offers great advantages

• Pool decks

  

• Curbs

• Steps

• Wall 

• Concrete ramps

• Swale

• Drive ways

• Footings, foundation, slabs

• Pads, additions, floors

 

UHPC in alternative and regenerative energy production

UHPC materials are used in all processes of alternative and active native energy production used as the material for foundations, as a lining-material for protection against corrosion, wear and as a construction material. Due to the diverse application possibilities and the superior properties compared to standard concrete qualities, UHPC are increasingly used in the mentioned areas. UHPC has the advantage that it can be processed just like standard concretes.

Hydroelectric power plants or storage power plants
Due to the extreme corrosion resistance of UHPC concrete constructions with a much higher reinforcement density per volume can be used. This can significantly increase the strength of the construction or the wall thicknesses or layer thicknesses can be reduced while maintaining strength.
In the right combination UHPC is very resistant to wear and cavitation.
Since UHPC already reaches 70% of its maximum nominal strength in the standard quality after 48 hours and in the special quality after only 12 hours.
UHPC is available as mortar, casting material and shotcrete material.

Tidal power plants
Some tidal power plant systems are already being used in Europe and Asia. There are now a lot of technical variations of tidal power plants for the coasts but also for directly in the sea. One thing all needs a stable seawater resistant and durable foundation.
Based on the experience gained with the foundation systems of the offshore wind power plants, high quality UHPC materials are ideally suited for this purpose. In particular, the enormous adhesive power of UHPC in anchoring and bolt system is required here. What is once shed in a UHPC foundation can no longer be removed from the foundation, even with enormous forces. Not only in this regard, UHPC is many times superior to normal standard concrete.

Biogas power plant

Biogas has been produced in many small plants in the past. There are already very large production facilities in Europe. The plants have corrosion and wear problems due to the production process. Especially wherever standard concrete was used. Here, a UHPC protective layer of a few millimeters can be used to achieve permanent corrosion protection. To achieve a very long service life, UHPC concrete should be used for the new construction.

Railway bridge repair or new construction with UHPC concrete

One of our many bridge projects we have this year. They are highway bridges and railway bridges. In this case, a railway bridge that was built shortly after the war from simple steel girders and heavy concrete. There are up to 65 freight trains passing this bridge daily.

It is not yet clear if the bridge can be repaired with UHPC or if the bridge has to be completely rebuilt from UHPC. There are still some reports necessary.

The advantage of UHPC in a repair is the UHPC as corrosion protection, as joint and crack filling and as additional static reinforcement can be used easily. The repair time can be minimized by the extremely fast setting time.
In the case of a new building, the size of the bridge can be easily used with a UHPC precast technology, which also reduces the blockage of the rail track to a minimum.

UHPC Shotcrete for new construction and repair projects

UHPC Shotcrete is a high strength, high density, fast curing UHPC concrete consisting of a UHPC nanobinder system and ceramic or mineral aggregates.

Due to the very high compressive strength in combination with a high material packing density and hard aggregates, a flexible and easy-to-process sprayable UHPC concrete with material properties that exceeds those of normal concrete by many times. All UHPC Shotcrete products are selfcompacting.

The high material density of UHPC Shotcrete prevents the penetration of liquid or gaseous foreign substances. UHPC Shotcrete achieves the maximum material properties only by wet spraying.

Fields of application for UHPC Shotcrete

 - Repair of bridges

 - Repair of dams and reservoirs

 - Seismic retrofit

 - Repair of sewers

 - Ground support - Stabilisation

 - Soil nailing

 - Tunneling

 - New construction of pools

 - New construction of foundation

 - Landscape design

 - Pools

 - Tanks

 - Domes

 - Foundation

UHPC - Grouting material for the Offshore industry

Our UHPC grouting products are a pumpable and developed for offshore application and has been used widely in connection with structural strengthening of offshore platforms.

Such UHPC grouting products have been used offshore in connection with

• Strengthening of intact tubular members
• Reinforcement of joints
• Repair of damaged members
• Pile-sleeve connections
• Strengthening of double skin sections

An example of a spectacular application of such solutions with respect to member repair is for a
member having experienced hydrostatic collapse, where the member was re-inflated and filled with ultra high performance grout. In another case our solutions were applied in connection with a pile-driving refusal (changing the intended shear key connection to a plain pipe connection). UHPC grouting high strength material was used as grout material in stead of the intended conventional grout. In the above selected cases the design strength of the members was re-established due to the extreme effect offered by high strength materials and at the same time the solutions was economically attractive.

One of the main advantages of using grouted solutions in connection with repair is the easy
accommodation of geometrical irregularities. Structural components subjected to some kind of damage (from installation, impact or accident) often show some dents or imperfections. The use of ultra high performance grout in connection with repair improves the performance hereof as the UHPC grout serves not just as a filling material but as a strong structural component.

Our UHPC grouting products are suitable for casting both above and below water. Due to viscous consistency of the mixed materials there is no risk of washing out cement particles or mixing with water when cast below sea level. 

The UHPC grouting products for Offshore have been developed having very low shrinkage so that
the grout and surrounding steel remains in physical contact after curing. Further, these products has been developed to show limited heat development during the hardening process eliminating the risk of thermal cracking.

UHPC for fire-safe escape routes and rescue rooms

With UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete),
escape routes in hospitals, public buildings, hotels,
shopping mall, restaurants, office towers, stairways,
elevator shafts and production facilities can be
designed safely and fireprotected.

Today escape routes in all areas can be designed
safely and in a modern design with UHPC materials.
Even the interior (fire resitant furniture) in escape
areas can be elegantly and filigree made of UHPC.

Our standard UHPC concretes achieve compressive

strength of up to max. 210 MPa / 30500 psi and a
flexural strength up to max. 27 MPa / 3900 psi. We
produce UHPC materials as mortar, castable and
shotcrete.

The UHPC material grades can easily withstand
continuous temperatures up to 450°C / 842°F without
loss of strength. The high temperature resistant UHPC
can withstand continuous temperatures up to
1200°C / 2190°F with only a very small loss of strength.
Our UHPC materials are extremely temperature shock
resistant and impermeable to water, so that the damage
caused by extinguishing water is very low.

It is also possible for us to combine UHPC materials
with extremely effective thin layer insulating
materials so that even existing concrete or steel
structures are permanently protected against heat and
that at very low wall thicknesses and material weights.

Garden-, park and costal design with UHPC

Garden and park design
From small private gardens, lakes, rivers and parks of all types and sizes, UHPC is an ideal material for nature-identical structures.

With UHPC, objects such as buildings, rocks, waterfalls, natural stones, etc. can be perfectly integrated into nature.
The benefits of UHPC for the architect and designer are

• UHPC can be easily processed on site or as a prefabricated element of any size and geometry
• UHPC achieves much higher strength values ​​than concrete
• UHPC is extremely corrosion resistant
• UHPC is water impermeable even in small material thicknesses
• UHPC can be processed as a mortar, casting compound or as a spray mass
• UHPC can also be processed under water
• UHPC is absolutely seawater resistant
• With UHPC, the finest surface textures can be achieved
• UHPC is an ideal combination material. It can be combined with nearly all minerals, metals, glasses and plastics without problems
• It can be achieved in constructions that are placed in nature or in water lifetimes up to 100 years.

If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact our partner in Houston Texas Asante.
He has many years of experience with garden, park and coastal design in conjunction with UHPC

Contact
ASANTE, Houston Texas
Douglas Miller  phone 774 208 1766

Shore and coastal design
UHPC of the right quality withstands extreme loads from nature. In addition to the advantages

already described above, the following advantages can be added for the shore and coastal design

• UHPC is extremely resistant to wear and impact in the right composition
• UHPC does not lose its strength either at extremely low temperatures (-180°C / -292°F) or at extremely high temperatures (450°C / 842°F)

UHPC is much better for coastal protection and tsunami protection than standard concrete or steel.

UHPC use under extreme cold conditions in the offshore industry

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete in his

high quality material version is an interesting

alternative to steel in many applications in

water and ice.

Benefit of UHPC

 -  UHPC is extremely resistant to wear and can

        withstand even the hardest ice floes.

 -  UHPC does not require corrosion protection.

 -  UHPC is absolutely seawater resistant.

 -  UHPC has tremendous strength.

 -  UHPC can easily withstand temperatures from 

        -180°C / 356°F to + 500°C / 932°F without

        being damaged.

 -  UHPC can adapt to all geometries.

 -  UHPC can be processed locally by local

        installers without special machinery.

 -  UHPC can be processed as casting compound,

        mortar or as a shotcreating compound.

 -  From UHPC very small as well as extremely

        large prefabricated elements can be manufactured.

 -  UHPC can be used to statically carry parts.
 -  UHPC is very resistant to a variety of chemicals.

 -  High temperature resistant UHPC does not lose

        its strength even at high temperatures.

 -  UHPC has a lower weight than steel.
 -  UHPC is made more sustainable than steel.

 -  UHPC can also be processed in damp areas

        and underwater.

For some years, UHPC has been used in the offshore

industry to repair oil rig platforms. You could
imagine producing whole oil rig platforms made of
UHPC. The foundations for all offshore wind
turbines worldwide are manufactured using UHPC
materials. In the past, complete ships were made
from UHPC.

Port facilities, jetties, quay walls, weirs, dykes, etc.
were already made from UHPC. UHPC offers new,
long-lasting options for coastal protection and life
on and in the water.

www.hhbc-consulting.de
info@hhbc-consulting.de

The jungle of short names for high strength concrete

I would like to try to clarify the jungle of
short names of high strength concrete
 names in the literature. The reason for
this is, that I have once again read a technical
master thesis from the field of civil
construction of a European university and
where only with short descriptions is
thrown around.

The first high-strength cement binder with a
compressive strength of well over 100 MPa
was developed in Denmark more than 30 years
ago. The aim of the development was to
produce a high-strength cement binder, which
was also very successful. At that time, the
focus was on the binder and not on possible
aggregates or reinforcement systems. For this
reason, an extremely high-strength binder was

always used in all the discussions.
Much later, to the dismay of many, the term
UHPC appeared in the literature. In our opinion,
this term UHPC cannot be clearly defined. It
also seems to be a fad to further water down this
term and everyone who thinks he has understood
ultra high-strength concrete creates his own short
form.


I would like to list the short forms here and provide
appropriate comments.

The UHPC binder is made of a special grade of 
cement, microsilica and superplasticizer.

UHPC    Ultra High Performance Concrete

Consists of UHPC binder + aggregates, which

can have different material grades and grain sizes
There are no standards which additives and surcharges of
which material quality and grain size must be used.

HPC    High Performance Concrete

Consists of cement + aggregates + additives
There are no standards which additives and surcharges of 
which material quality and grain size must be used. Likewise, 
there are no standards about the technical properties.

RHPC    Reinforced High Performance Concrete

Consists of cement + aggregates + additives and
unspecified reinforcement
There are no standards which additives and surcharges of 
which material quality and grain size must be used. Likewise, 
there are no standards about the technical properties. There
is no specification for material quality, dimensions and 
quantities for the reinforcement

HRUHPC    Heavy Reinforced Ultra High Performance Concrete

Consists of UHPC binder + aggregates, which
can have different material qualities and grain
sizes, and an unspecified reinforcement
There are no standards which additives and surcharges of 
which material quality and grain size must be used. 
Likewise, there are no standards about the technical 
properties. There is no specification for material quality, 
dimensions and quantities for the reinforcement

SFRC    Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Consists of cement + aggregates + additives +
steel fibers
There are no standards which additives and surcharges of 
which material quality and grain size must be used. Likewise, 
there are no standards about the technical properties. For the 
fibers there is no specification of material quality, dimensions
and quantities.

RPC    Reactive Power Concrete

Consists of cement + sand + quarz powder, 
silica fume, steel fiber and superplasticizer
There is no standards of the quality of cement, sand 
silica fume must be used.


Anyone, university, technical literature or expert, will
take part in this Babylonian jumble without bothering
to really specify UHPC. At the moment many talk
about many things, but only a few about the same.

In my opinion, there should be only one UHPC binder
quality with one name and what is admixed to like
aggregates, fiber, reinforcements and much more is up
to the user. The UHPC binder manufacturer should only
manufacture according to the UHPC binder specification.

If one agreed internationally on a technical specification,
there would be very few UHPC producers from that day
on and many would have to name their products
differently or dramatically improve their material quality.

www.hhbc-consulting.de
info@hhbc-consulting.de