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.


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info@hhbc-consulting.de

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.


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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.

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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