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.

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

New world of decorative UHPC concrete

With the new UHPC materials of extremely high, consistent quality, architects and designers have created completely new possibilities for elegant, filigree design. In particular, the new extremely temperature-resistant UHPC material qualities can enable new design and construction techniques.

Kitchen

Countertop
 - with UHPC temperature resistant up to 400°C /
    752°F
 - with high temperature UHPC temperature
    resistant up to 1000°C / 1832°F
 - extremely wear-resistant
 - thin plate thickness = low weight
 - all geometries possible
 - extremely good corrosion resistance
 - elegant plate design with wood, mineral and
   metal inserts
 - thin plate design with LED light design
 - extraordinary sink design
Design of wall coverings
Exceptional floor designs
Elegant lamp design

Living room
Design of wall coverings
Exceptional floor designs in geometries, surface structures, color scheme and high wear resistance
Elegant lamp design
New design options for open fireplaces
Exceptional table top combinations and geometries

Bathroom

Complete seamless shower and bathtub systems made entirely of UHPC or in combination with other materials
Design of wall coverings
Exceptional floor designs in geometries, surface structures and color design
Elegant lamp design


Other areas
Elegant, thin-walled, self-supporting staircase constructions
Elegant design of thin-walled balcony constructions
Terrace construction of extraordinary geometries
Pool area design
Outdoor and indoor pool design

Floor and walkway panel design in geometries, surface structures, color scheme and high wear resistance

A try to replicate clay with UHPC

We had a lot of fun developing our UHPC binder for historical applications. Of course, we do not just sit in the lab and develop recipes, we try the recipes for the lime plaster and of course stucco practically.

Since most of us are not talented, we invited an expert. After about a day our workshop looked like we were renovating it and just like the workshop some of the team members had to undergo general cleaning.

The final goal was to recreate clay with UHPC. Clay is a fantastic natural material. Actually, UHPC does not copy it, but it was a lot of fun for everyone to try.

Here is a general short form of what we have achieved and what not:

• We have developed a UHPC binder that can be mixed with extremely fine sand to a clay-like consistency
• We need only a few water for all processing steps
• We do not need a furnace for strength development
• We can set the processing time and hardening time during the production of the binder as desired.
• The UHPC binder must be mixed with water in a compulsory mixer.
• The UHPC binder can be mixed as casting compound or clay-like solid.
• The UHPC binder can be made in different colors.

We had the material processed by a potter. His verdict was that if we worked on some set screws in the recipe, we would produce an interesting material. We did not expect a better judgment. Our goal was to get the sound as close as possible in consistency and workmanship. I would say we are not that bad.

 

 

WPE DK International

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

Rehabilitation and restoration of historic constructions with UHPC - part 1

Obtaining historical constructions is an 

important task. Much has already been 
lost through time and war, few of which 
are important to obtain.

we could not produce original materials 
from different time periods, so we can 
not fulfill this part of the restoration of 
historical constructions.

But with UHPC Ultra High Performance 
Concrete, we are able to offer solutions 
to a wide range of problems in conserving, 
reconstructing and restoring historical 
constructions.

UHPC has many advantages for use

• It can look exactly like limestone, 
  sandstone or granite
• it can be just as hard as limestone, 
  sandstone or granite
• It can be made as stones in any 
  measure like limestone, sandstone or 
  granite
• It can take over any stone surface of 
  limestone, sandstone or granite
• It can copy extremely accurate copies 
  including traces of use in all the finer 
  points of limestone, sandstone or granite
• It can be made as a casting material or 
  as a mortar and processed as traditional 
  casting and mortar mass for limestone, 
  sandstone or granite
• It can be machined with traditional tools 
  depending on the desired hardness.
• It can have almost the same consistency 
  as plaster and can be processed as well. 
  For extremely high whiteness we added 
  Aalborg White cement to our UHPC binder, 
  the cement grade with the highest degree 
  of whiteness.
• UHPC can add ductility to modern plastic 
  or ceramic fibers, so the great strength 
  of the material movements of old buildings 
  can certainly go along without the cracks 
  becoming visible.
• UHPC is impermeable to water from an 
  average layer thickness of 10 mm.
• UHPC can also be processed under water 
  as cast or mortar
• However, it is extremely resistant to all 
  types of environmental influences
• It is extremely resistant to frost and de-icing 
  salt
• Wood and steel can be cast in UHPC, 
  re-stabilized, restored to their original 
  carrying capacity, and given very high 
  corrosion resistance for many decades

UHPC is not magic material it is based on a 
particular nanotechnology and the right recipe 
for the right mix, for the right aggregates, for the 
right material quality.

With UHPC we can mix almost anything, old 
minerals, old textiles, old wood, old hemp, old 
pigments, old ground rock meal - just about 
everything.


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

Aggregate, fibers and reinforcements for UHPC

Over the course of more than 25 years, we have combined and applied a large number of materials with our UHPC materials. The material combination was used as wear protection material, offshore material, floor material, building material (for buildings, bridges, halls, etc.), safety technology, shipbuilding, tunnel construction, etc.

We would like to show a small selection of aggregates, fibers and reinforcements, which we have used. The aim of our development work in the combination of UHPC with other materials is the possibility to create country-specific materials with UHPC.

For each of these aggregates, fibers and reinforcements, there is a little story why we chose the combination, how we processed it and the results. if you are interested write us and we will send you this collection of little stories.

Further information on the aggregates, fibers and reinforcements


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

Brighter and cooler city centers and brighter in tunnels with UHPC

An article reported on the increasing warming of

inner cities and possible future measures to reduce
heating.

City roads

In a test, some asphalt road with a specially
developed soil color was colored white as much
as possible and the temperature differences in
this road were measured over a summer period.
It turned out that the light road surfaces reflect
significantly more solar radiation and were
therefore "cooler" than the traditional asphalt
pavements.

Of course the pavement painting, the traffic and
thus exposed to wear and it would be necessary
to renew the floor paint at regular intervals.

A simpler and much more durable method is
the combination of asphalt and UHPC Ultra
High Performance Concrete binder. This
combination is used in many areas such as
industrial flooring, aircraft hangars, runways
and roads. This combination has a variety of
technical and cost advantages over standard
asphalt. Its main advantages are its extreme

resilience at any temperature and the much

higher compressive strength than Asphalt

alone.

The lifetime of this material combination is
several times higher than standard asphalt.
Likewise, this coating can easily withstand
the future traffic through its significantly
higher pressure resistance

The UHPC binder content can also be produced
on a white cement base. As you can see in the
photo, the binder would stain over the entire
layer thickness without the need for special
"coloring" measures.

Tunnel

In addition to reflecting solar radiation, very

light asphalt / UHPC surface has many other

advantages over traditional asphalt surfaces.
When used in tunnels, the light-colored road

surface reduces the energy costs for lighting,

the floor areas are evenly light, which increases

safety, and the surface is considerably less

flammable than standard asphalt surface. The

surface has a much longer service life with high

traffic loads than standard asphalt, which

drastically reduces repair times and repair costs

and increases traffic safety.

It can become very bright on the streets

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

Concrete of very high quality cement and desert sand, it works

It is possible to use desert sand as a building sand. Many will cry out and say that will not work. There are so many ancient arguments that are not and of course the international building standards. 

But what can we say, we took a new developed UHPC cement binder into the desert including a few bottles of water and a commercial mixer. We mixed our cement binder with nature desert sand (not cleanded not sieved) and water and after 24 hours we had a strength of 40 MPa and after 28 days more than 70 MPa. We are sorry dear experts and standards. Now we are working on the second generation of desert sand binders, which will become even more effective in terms of technical quaility and flexibility of handling.

Desert sand concrete could be used in many areas such as harbor construction, road construction,

airport construction, architectur and design.

In the construction of the Burji Khalifa approximately 257,500 qqm of sand were used, which corresponds to a weight of 396,000 tons.
This amount of sand could have been taken from the desert and it would have cost - nothing.

Some Arab states are showing great interest in this special UHPC cement binder. It can be very beneficial in helping to rebuild some Arab states or provide new architectural solutions.

If we find the right partners, the UHPC desert sand binders should be producible in every state with desert. Especially in states that have problems with the procurement of river sand but have a desert connection should be the desert sand binder an advantage. The local nature would thus be protected from considerable damage.

See also our UHPC desert concrete presentation

UHPC® Architecture on the sea coast

The big cities on the coasts and rivers have

big problems for the future. A problem is the 
lack of natural space for the permanent 
expansion of cities. Building ever higher 
skyscrapers is not a solution in the long run. 
One solution is to expand the construction 
site by adding fillings in the coastal area, 
as we see in Dubai and Singapore, among 
others. Another solution to the problem is 
the very old traditional construction of pile 
dwellings and houseboats, as they have 
always done in Asia.

Modern architecture has been thinking 
about its designs for a long time with interesting 
designs and projects about future life in coastal 
and river areas. Here, the old living concepts 
are reinterpreted. New materials such as 
UHPC® concretes can easily incorporate 
existing local living concepts and constructions 
and implement them in permanent concepts. 
UHPC® offers absolute seawater resistance with 
extremely high strength. Light, thin but 
high-strength constructions can be combined 
with local traditional materials such as bamboo.

Floating residential and industrial concepts can 
also be realized with UHPC®, and not just above 
water. The first underwater concepts have 
already been implemented worldwide with new 
hotel concepts. Recent plans also include 
entire artificial islands on which hospitals, 
workshops, hotels, kindergartens, residential 
complexes including leisure facilities are built.
Some international architecture firms are 
interested in using UHPC® Ultra High 
Performance Concrete in their living concepts, 
because the advantages of this material are 
unique in their variety and quality.

UHPC® offshore constructions are already in 
use in areas with extreme environmental 
conditions. UHPC® is very wear-resistant, 
among other things, moving ice masses is 
not a real problem for a UHPC® construction. 
UHPC® materials have no pores, are therefore 
extremely corrosion-resistant and offer an 
extremely long repair-free service life.


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

Design with UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete

UHPC is a very flexible and extremely easy
to combine material. It can be easily molded
as a mortar and very easy to pour as a casting
compound.
Processing times can be set during material
production. Depending on which aggregate
has been mixed in, UHPC can be very well
retrofitted or polished.
UHPC can also be very hard and machining
would only be possible with diamond tools.
With UHPC it is possible to cast extremely
fine structures. The reason for this is the
processing of nanomaterials in the binder
system. Thus copies of historical originals
can be cast, which are almost 99.9%
identical to the original, all cracks, pores,
cracks, etc. of the original are shown in
the copy.
UHPC with very high compressive strengths
of more than 240 MPa enable design designs
that are exceptionally large but are light in
weight.
UHPC materials are resistant to almost all
environmental impacts.

Concrete breakwater as a coastal defense

In recent weeks, I have met people from the Coast Guard in
some European countries. I wanted to learn more about the
current protection of coastal areas, because I think we can
work together with our experience in the application of
UHPC® (Ultra High Performance Concrete) in the offshore
industry to develop some new solutions to make our shores
safer against soil erosion, beach erosion, eroding cliffs and
shoreline erosion.

 

Hard costal protection structures are

• Sea dykes
• Sea walls
• Revetments
• Groynes
• Offshore breakwater

For all these structures, UHPC® can be used, directly casted or sprayed, as precast concrete elements or as a combination with asphalt as UHPC®Phalt.
Many of these solutions come from the experience and applications
of our mining, road construction and offshore operations.

We use UHPC® in port areas, jetty constructions, underwater 
foundations for wind turbines, tide power plants, canal locks,
sheet piling and hydroelectric power plants.

UHPC® is beneficial for these applications because

UHPC® is absolutely seawater resistant, lifetimes of 100
   years are quite possible
UHPC® is already watertight compared to standard concrete
   in low layer thicknesses
UHPC® achieves extreme strength
UHPC® is extremely corrosion resistant
UHPC® is extrem wear resistant
UHPC® can be shaped in any geometry and any natural
   stone surface can be replicated
UHPC® does not require a repair service
UHPC® including reinforcement can withstand enormous
   loads.

What I particularly noticed here are these particularly
ugly breakwaters, that make the whole coastal area safe
but also make the nature of the coast less attractive.
Some of these constructions give me the impression
that coast is protected for the next war.

Dear architects and designers, it must be possible to
develop according to the nature of the coast correspond
to breakwaters and tsunami fuses.
Already for years we supply UHPC® material for
artificial rock landscapes. They are so integrated in
nature that they can hardly be distinguished from the
real rocks.


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

Renovation of buildings and monuments whether new or antique with UHPC®

UHPC® materials have many advantages over
other materials in the rehabilitation of buildings
whether new or antique, historic or monuments.
The biggest advantage is probably its enormous
adaptability to the existing building fabric.

- UHPC® materials can improve the load
   bearing capacity or decide on a structural
   design that is under attack.

- UHPC® material can be applied thinly to
   protect the existing construction against all
   kinds of environmental influences over a
   very long period of time.

- Since UHPC® materials can be mixed very well
   with a variety of materials, whether new or
   antique, replicas can be created which have a
   higher resistance and bearing capacity than the
   original ones.

- Most natural stones and their structure could be
   copied with UHPC®. The copies can be given the
   structure by the casting mold or subsequently
   processed or polished like a natural stone.

- UHPC® materials that can achieve
   extremely fine and accurate structures can
   achieve absolutely identical replicas with a
   correspondingly high mold quality.

- Similarly, old facades can be repaired and
   completely replaced as a copy of the original 
   catch, but in a much thinner plate thickness
   than the originals so that there is still enough
   space for modern insulation in the most cases.

- Due to the very good flow properties, joints
   and cracks can be filled without extensive
   preparatory work.

- There is no need for special tools to use UHPC®
   material.

- UHPC® can use as mortar, cast or spray
   material.

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

UHPC Rehabilitation of concrete structures

Due to the old age and the increased and
rapidly increasing loads, for example due
to traffic and environmental influences,
an enormous number of concrete structures
are in need of renovation or have to be
completely replaced by new, more robust
structures. The renovation effort in the
infrastructure area is gigantic worldwide.
The focus here is on bridges.

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete
materials have many decisive advantages
over standard concretes when renovating
concrete structures. By using UHPC concretes,
material costs, assembly costs and assembly
times can be reduced and the service life of
the repaired concrete structures can be
extremely increased. Standard construction
machines can be used when installing UHPC
concrete.

The goals of repair or repair assembly are in
general

The restoration of stability and a stable concrete 
cross-section
Due to the enormously high strength values ​​of
UHPC compared to standard concrete and its
very fast strength development, the stability of
the construction can be quickly restored.
UHPC mortar, castable and shotcrete materials
can be used.

Increasing the load capacity
UHPC materials offer the structural engineer and
bridge designer the option of significantly
strengthening areas of the bridge structure that are
subject to high loads.

Maintenance or restoration of corrosion protection 
and frost resistance
UHPC is an almost non-porous material that is
absolutely frost and de-icing salt resistant, even
with a very thin layer of material. UHPC is also
absolutely seawater resistant and can also be
processed underwater. Thanks to these properties,
the repair effort for exposed reinforcements is
significantly lower than for standard concrete.
Only half of the material coverage is required
compared to standard concrete

Restoring or increasing the frictional resistance of 
the concrete surface
Through the addition of ceramic or mineral additives
and their very high adhesion to the UHPC material,
any friction coefficient can be guaranteed over a very
long period.

Restoring or increasing the fire resistance of components
UHPC HT (high temperature resistant) materials are
endurance-resistant up to over 1000°C /1832°F. All UHPC
materials are extremely resistant to shock temperature loads.

Increase thermal insulation
UHPC and UHPC HT in combination with extremely
thin high-performance insulating materials can lead to
high-strength and highly insulating structures.

Permanently closing cracks with a static and sealing function
UHPC Castable are based on nanotechnology, they are
extremely thin and penetrate into the smallest pores or
cracks and seal them permanently.

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

Special UHPC materials are virtually the bridge material of the future

Bridges are among the oldest, most important and most prominent construction tasks of humanity. For a long time, bridge construction was mainly characterised by functional criteria, but nowadays more and more attention is paid to visual appearance. Highly developed building technologies can be used to create exciting, previously unimaginable constructions.


Several characteristics of UHPC make it a desirable construction materials. With increased compressive (more than 200 MPa) and tensile 
strengths, the material lends itself well to 
structural applications by allowing higher loads 
to be supported. By utilising the higher strengths, 
traditional structural components can also be 
reduced in size and weigth.
Another benefit of UHPC is the high density and
none porosity of the material making it essentially 
impermeable to water and chlorides, thus making 
the material highly durable. Both characteristics 
also make UHPC attractive in areas of high impact 
and where water or chloride ions can corrode steel 
reinforcement. 

Advantages

• High compressive strength
• Fast development of compressive strength
• High wear and impact resistant
• Absolute frost and thaw resistant
• Impermeable to fluids but still vapour permeable
• Anti corrosive features
• Good bonding to sub-bases, aggregates and reinforcement
• High temperature resistant
• Fast curing
• Sort repair stops
• Jointless lining

Elements of a bridge that can be executed with UHPC

• Bridge foundation 
• Bridge bearings
• Bridge supports
• Bridge deck and bridge deck pavement
• Prestressed concrete foundation 

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

The world of UHPC in the past, today and in the future

In this blog we want to share our experiences
with UHPC material. It is astonishing that
UHPC technology was developed almost 30
years ago and yet the knowledge among
architects, designers, constructors, engineers
and concrete specialists is extremely low and
is not available in many parts of the world.
UHPC offers so many possibilities for everyone.

With this blog we hope to bring a little more
information about UHPC to everyone
involved in concrete. It is not a magical,
difficult material, it is a very well thought-
out concrete that can be processed by any
fitter.

The UHPC products we report here are our
own product development.
My Team which support me and I have run a
lot of practical projects in the international
industry in the last 25 years.

We invite everyone to ask us questions about UHPC.

Here's a selection of industries where we had
done UHPC projects. In the further course of
the blog we will go into detail about these
projects and the associated experience.

- Cement industry
- Power industry
- Automobil industry
- Security industry
- Offshore oil and gas production
- Offshore wind turbines
- Industrial floors
- Road construction
- Civil construction
- Design
- Architecture
- Food industry
- Steel industry
- Mining industry
- Marine Industry
- Airports
- Habours 

WPE DK International

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