UHPC Ship hulls and floating platform construction

Standard concrete

Ship hulls were made of standard concrete in the past and are still used today for some special ships.
During World War I and World War II, standard concrete ships were built as a solution to the steel shortage. They were mainly used to transport goods such as oil and cargo, and some were even used as floating pontoons for military purposes.

However, the use of standard concrete in shipbuilding has some disadvantages. Standard concrete is a heavy material that makes ships slower and less fuel efficient than ships made of lighter materials such as steel or aluminum. Concrete is also prone to cracking and corrosion, which can weaken the ship's hull over time and affect its seaworthiness.

Most ships today are built from materials such as steel, aluminum and fiberglass, which are lighter, stronger and more durable than standard concrete.

Standard concrete is also prone to cracking and corrosion, which can weaken the hull over time and affect its seaworthiness.

UHPC Concrete

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a type of concrete characterized by its extreme strength,
durability and ductility.

The use of WPE DK UHPC offshore binder and carbon fiber reinforcements for marine and floating structures can result in significant improvements in mechanical properties, such as extremely high compressive and tensile strengths, much higher stiffness, and very high crack and absolute corrosion resistance.

The mixing of UHPC concrete is similar to that of standard concretes. Ship hulls can also be built today using a lamination process similar to fiberglass processing. Collision tests have shown that UHPC floating offshore structures are much stronger than plastic or steel or aluminum structures.

The expected lifetime of UHPC concrete under the harshest ocean conditions is several times longer than steel, aluminum or plastic structures.

Today it is no problem to create an Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) floating platform. UHPC is
a type of concrete that has exceptional strength, durability, and ductility, making it an attractive material for marine structures that are exposed to harsh environmental conditions.

The use of UHPC in floating platforms can offer several advantages over conventional materials. For example, UHPC can provide higher strength and stiffness, extreme high durability, and absolute resistance to corrosion, which are essential properties for a floating platform to withstand the forces of wind, waves, and currents.

One challenge in creating a UHPC floating platform is achieving the necessary buoyancy. UHPC is a
dense material, so it is important to design the platform's structure to ensure it has enough buoyancy to float. This can be achieved by using lightweight materials in the design, such as foam or hollow steel columns, or by incorporating air chambers within the platform's structure to increase its buoyancy. Today we have in our UHPC binder systems also self-floating UHPC concrete with density below 1.

UHPC ship and platform structures are more sustainable than previous construction materials. UHPC concrete structures can be recycled and reused as a building material in any country without much effort.