UHPC - Construction material for floating homes, cities and sailing boats

In times when the living space in all major cities is

becoming ever more limited, architects, designers

and municipalities are discovering the living space

on the water whether it is a river or a coast. Yes, at

sea there are also plots and designs for floating

giant leisure facilities and living space.

These floating homes, hotels or leisure facilities are

designed to be sustainable and environmentally

friendly in terms of energy, water and waste

management.

Traditionally, floating homes are based on hulls of

various designs and materials as well as on existing

pontoon constructions.

Most metal or plastic hulls are used.

It has almost completely forgotten a very old and

proven technology in ship hull construction, the

Ferrocement.

Unfortunately, modern boat designers and designers

have not realized that concrete technology has

changed dramatically in the last twenty years.

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete materials

have long replaced industry standard concrete,

plastics and metals with success.

concrete hulls. Concrete hulls had advantages in the

past but also a lot of disadvantages. Older boat

builders may remember that they have made sleek

sailing yacht and motorboat hulls out of concrete

and still some of these yachts are sailing the seas

today.

UHPC products have been used in the offshore and

many other industries for decades, under the

toughest temperature, wear and corrosion conditions.

In architecture, UHPC is used for high-strength and

extremely thin structures. UHPC is already much

more environmentally friendly in processing than

previous plastic, glass fiber and metal processing.

Houseboats can be constructed entirely from

prefabricated UHPC hull and structures. Prefabricated

elements made of UHPC can be manufactured precisely

down to a fraction of a milimeter.

The advantage during processing is

• Low to no dust
• No hazardous raw materials
• No filtering or suction systems are necessary
• No odor nuisance
• No hazardous waste

Installation methodes

• Casting
• Spraying 

Most of the time it is possible to use glassfiber or

ceramic fiber reinforcement also as a construction

structure it is possible to use glassfiber or ceramic

fiber mesh.

Here UHPC offers ship builder and ship designer new

opportunities in the future. 

The advantages of UHPC ship structures are:

 - No porosity

  - Absolutely sea water resistance 
 - Over 70% of the nominal strength is reached 
    48 hours after spraying or casting 

 - Very smooth surfaces can be achieved without complex

    grinding work 

 - Anti-fouling painting is not necessary 

 - The life time surpasses that of all other marine materials

     several times 

 - Wall thicknesses of 10 mm or more are possible

     depending on the crosstalk and load 

 - An extremely high compressive and tensile strength

    compared to standard concrete

 - Extremely corrosion resistant
 - Extremely temperature resistant
 - Easy to work with 

 - Use of fiberglass and ceramic fiber reinforcement.

 - Metallic reinforcement is not necessary

 - Any body geometry and size can be made

 - We can combine UHPC concrete with special thermic

     insulation products

 - Resistant to environmental pollution

 - High mechanical load capacity

 - Shortly we will introduce a UHPC material that is

    unsinkable. We poured a big cube without a cavity

    and it floated. We knocked out parts of the cube and

    all parts swam.

At the moment we are also testing whether it is possible

to produce complete hull and superstructure constructions

in a special 3D printing process.

 

 

 

WPE DK International

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

The future of floating architecture with HPC and UHPC

With our HPC and UHPC Navy material system we offer architects, designers, construction companies and shipyards special materials with high strength and extreme resistance as an alternative to conventional construction materials such as steel, plastic and wood.
HPC and UHPC Navy is a high performance concretes and by no means comparable to standard concretes. HPB and UHPC Navy surpasses standard concrete by up to ten times in all technical aspects.
The material systems consists of an HPC or UHPC binder with quartz sand as an aggregate.
HPC and UHPC Navy can be processed as shotcrete, castable or mortar. As a reinforcement fiberglass, carbon fiber, plastic fiber or steel fiber mats can be used. In a multi-laminate construction of HPC or UHPC Navy they have very high strength and at the same time high elastic properties. HPC and UHPC Navy is waterproof from a layer thickness ofless than a 1/2 inc (10 mm). After 48 hours, UHPC Navy has reached 70% of its final strength.
You do not need special machines for processing. The processing should be carried out by professional companies. For private individuals, we always advise a supervisor of us or our partner to request for the manufacture of the hull.

Properties of HPC and UHPC Navy binder systems

• High pressure resistance
• High bending tensile strength
• Absolutely seawater resistant
• Frost and de-icing salt resistant
• Extremely high thermal shock resistance
• Constant temperature resistant up to 400°C /750°F
• In a special high temperature version resistant up to 1200°C / 2190°F
• As floating, very low dead weight
• Very fast curing
• High impact and wear resistance
• All kinds of installations are possible in the construction
• Very accurate production of prefabricated element is possible
• Very thin-layered structures can be poured off

This UHPC Navy material offers the possibility to design boat hulls, houseboats, pontoons, marinas, port facilities and transfer hotels, restaurants, schools, industrial facilities, entire residential areas and airfields on the water.

The lifetime can be assumed with 100+ years.



 

Comparison of UHPC and concrete during processing to precast concrete elements

The first UHPC Ultra High Performance Binder
was developed more than 30 years ago. Since
then they have been continuously developed.
The UHPC binders have been improved or new
ones have been developed and produced in
accordance with the requirements due to their
experience in a wide variety of application areas
and industries worldwide. From the beginning,
our UHPC binders were produced as mortar,
castable and shotcrete.

UHPC castables are inexplicably used to a much
lesser extent in the production of precast concrete
than standard concrete. These UHPC materials
could offer enormous advantages for manufacturing
as well as in the use of precast concrete parts.
Here are some applications and their advantages
compared to standard concrete:

 - Light weight of the UHPC elements. Due to the
    extremely high strength, smaller component cross
    sections can be selected, which leads to lower
    individual weights.
 - More elements can be loaded per truck, which leads

   to fewer loads.
 - Due to the lower individual weights, lower crane
    capacities are required.
 - The raw material requirement is drastically reduced
    due to the smaller component cross-section.
 - UHPC materials develop high strength values ​​in a
    short time. Our UHPC materials reach 70% of their
    nominal strength after 48 hours.
 - Shorter production times per element, higher cycle
    times - higher quantities per unit of time compared
    to standard concrete - lower unit costs.
 - Shorter delivery times.

UHPC binders are based on nanotechnology and 
are extremely fine.
Advantage:
It is possible to produce much more precise shapes.
Joints, edges do not require reworking. The more
precise the mold, the more precise the UHPC
element.
UHPC concretes do not form pores and are usually
self-compacting. This means that surface structures
can be achieved that cannot be achieved with standard concrete.

UHPC concrete is extremely resistant to most 
environmental influences
Advantage:
UHPC concretes are extremely resistant to
corrosion, de-icing salt and frost, which leads to a
much longer life expectancy than standard concrete
UHPC many times exceeds concrete, marble,
limestone, sandstone and many other natural stones.


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

UHPC concrete in the petroleum production and processing industry

In the oil producing and processing industry,
UHPC Ultra high Performance concrete can
and will be used in a variety of applications
such as securing material, repair material,
construction material, wear protection and
corrosion protection used.

For the use of offshore platforms UHPC is an
ideal construction, repair and corrosion material.
UHPC can be processed without problems in humid
environments. UHPC is water-permeable even in
low layer thicknesses. UHPC is absolutely saltwater
resistant and can be processed underwater. UHPC in
its high temperature version can be used up to
1000°C/1832°F continuous temperature. UHPC
retains much of its strength at this temperature,
whereas steel has long lost its strength. UHPC is
extremely resistant to rapid temperature fluctuations.

In crude oil processing UHPC can be used as
corrosion protection, wear protection, safety
construction or as construction material.

UHPC concrete are also particularly suitable for the
fracking industry and as oilwell cement.

In the oil refineries and oil ports, UHPC is a perfect

material for all security components. Here, security
can also be interpreted as security against terrorist
attacks. UHPC is extremely corrosion-resistant and
liquid-tight from a wall thickness of 10 mm. Pipes
can be protected against wear and corrosion from
the inside. Important and sensitive constructions
can be permanently protected against temperature
and wear with UHPC. There are already plans to
construct complete crude oil tanks from UHPC. In
case of fires, they would maintain their strength even
at extreme temperatures. Security-related buildings

and production facilities can be protected against a
terrorist attack. Port facilities and loading and
unloading jetty facilities can be permanently
protected against seawater corrosion.

Precast elements and Tilt-up manufacturing with HPC and UHPC concrete

HPC and UHPC concrete are very suitable for processing on the construction site in the Tilt-up system or in precast concrete plant. Residential housing and industrial buildings of all sizes can be manufactured using these two systems.

HPC and UHPC concrete has a long list of advantages over standard concrete

- High tensile strength- Extremely high compressive strength
- Very fast strength development
- UHPC elements have a very high production accuracy. If the mold is   exact, the element is exact.
- High chemical resistant
- Absolute corrosion resistant
- Even small layers already lead to an absolute waterproofness.

- Customer requirements such as burglary resistant, fire resistant, storm resistant and acoustic properties as well as noise reduction can be easily met.
- Combinations with a high-performance insulation layer reduce energy costs by several times compared to wooden houses or brick houses.
- The required wall thicknesses are only a fraction of comparable housing designs.

Tilt-up elements
Tilt-up elements are manufactured using locally produced molds and concrete in a wide variety
of HPC and UHPC concretes produced by us achieve 70% of their nominal strength in just 48 hours, the average nominal strength of our UHPC concretes is 140 MPa / 20000 psi.

Due to the compessive and flexuaral strength, it is possible to work with considerably smaller wall thicknesses, which leads to substantial material reductions and costs.
The extremely fast development of strength leads to faster assembly, the overall completion time is significantly reduced, which can also lead to cost reduction.

Precast elements
Prefabricated systems have been used in Europe for more than 50 years. There is a huge amount of standard residential house design variations from small houses, garages, workshops to entire building

complexes. Architects design exceptional prefabricated houses according to customer requirements. The elements are already manufactured and prepared weeks in advance in a precast plant, so that only a few days are needed on the construction site for a complete completion.
The advantage is the very small footprint on site.
The elements come with trucks in the correct assembly order on the construction site. A crane positions the elements and very few fitters are needed for assembly. It can be installed all year round, regardless of the weather contitions.

New construction and repair of Jetties with UHPC concrete

For modern jetty constructions, UHPC concrete

offers many advantages compared to standard

concrete, steel or wooden constructions.

- All jetty elements can be prefabricated or cast
   on site in a short time.
- UHPC concrete has no or only extremely low
   pore volume and is thus absolutely seawater
   and corrosion resistant.
- UHPC concrete hardens under water. It can
   therefore be processed in and under water.
- UHPC concrete has a standard strength
   between 120 MPa/17400 psi and
   250 MPa/36250 psi.
- UHPC prefabricated elements can be made
   considerably thinner due to the very high
   strength and the absence of porosity, and
   thus with significantly less weight.

Due to the properties of UHPC concrete listed
above, such constructions do not require further
inspection. It can be assumed that the service
life is almost 100+ years.

Since UHPC concrete has very good wear and
impact resistance, harsh harbor conditions and
extreme environmental conditions such as ice
are no problem.

Installation

UHPC concrete can be produced by us as mortar,
casting compound or shotcrete mass. For processing,
a compulsory or pan pot mixer is needed. Our
shotcrete and castable UHPC material can also be
pumped over longer distances.

Repairs of damaged standard concrete, steel or 
wooden constructions

Jetties can be severely damaged by impact, corrosion,
rotting or faulty concrete processing. The repair
with UHPC concrete is simple and requires little
effort.

For preparation, remove any loose particles and
buildup such as clams, algae and the like.
A mold should be installed around the columns.
The water does not have to be removed from the mold.
The UHPC concrete is poured directly in the water.
The concrete displaces the seawater from the mold.
The mold can be removed after less than 48 hours.

This type of repair has been used for more than 20
years as a standard repair method on offshore platforms.

UHPC 3D printing

It is interesting to see today what printing results universities and printer manufacturers achieve.

The results are an interplay between printer technology and material technology. In my opinion today, very good results are achieved in the design areas with the printers, but many problems still have to be solved in professional architectural building construction.

There are

Compressive strength

The standard concrete reaches its maximum compressive strength after 28 days. For the printing technology unacceptable, here must be helped with accelerator. Printing speed and strength development must be matched and optimized without loss of strength.
UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete can be a solution. Strengths of over 200 MPa can be achieved here. Already during the UHPC binder production, we can adjust the strength development, as well as the flow characteristic. The addition of commercially available additives is no longer necessary.

Print speed

Of course you want an optimum speed, you want to process a large amount / weight of concrete in a very short time. The concrete should be able to support itself after a very short time and be load-bearing for ceiling elements.
With UHPC materials, large amounts of material are already processed in a short time using the wet and dry spraying process. The consistency of the UHPC print material can be adapted to the printer characteristic. UHPC materials already develop high strength values in short time in the standard qualities. However, this time can be extremely reduced by changing material production.

Statics

The print heads are usually small in diameter and the applied wall thicknesses compared to a masonry or a finished concrete wall are very thin. Static load-bearing walls can be printed for several floors, or double-skin walls must be printed in order to achieve a structurally stable construction. Do I have to print double-shelled?

Heat / cold insulation

If I print with a standard concrete I do not achieve any insulating properties. So I have to print double-shelled and fill the cavity with insulation material or retrofit an insulating layer from the inside.
At the moment we are the only ones who are able to combine a high pressure resistant material with an insulating material. This combination material is also pumpable.

Steel girders, reinforcements

Even with 3D printing, you can not ignore reinforcements and support structures, or you can remain eternally restricted to small, simple and low-rise building constructions. How can I optimally combine carrier structures, steel reinforcements with a single printing process?

Last but not least interesting design

So far I have seen the obligatory pressure bulges on all prints. For the beginning, this may be fine but soon you should have printing technologies that ensures a sharp-edged pressure even on the wall corners. A rework of the walls in the flat areas to get is cost and time consuming. Of course, when I use the printing technology, I also want to print exceptional geometry and thin-walled constructions.

I have a note at the end

If all my misgivings can be wiped out the question remains if I want to print a large building, I need a fairly large printer technology which is not even built and dismantled and I need a very fast continuous flow of material to the printer when the printer should work quickly.

I do not want to know misunderstood. I think 3D printer technology is very interesting for the future and I know that some engineering companies are working on technical solutions. As part of our material development, we also work on a flexible, extreme fast-curing, high-compressive strength material for the printer producer. In close technical agreement with the respective printer manufacturer, we can adapt our UHPC materials to the requirements and provide test material to the printer manufacturer.

UHPC - Facades and Balconies

Many facades of public buildings such as
train stations, airports, banks, administrations,
etc. have almost incredible design in addition
to the necessary thermal function.
Then there are the steel and glass facades,
admittedly they fulfill their function perfectly,
but that's pretty much all that can be said
about them. And there are the old facades
that have aged with pride, which are made of
stones with some figures that bear history.

Each of these facades can tell a story, which
one can certainly not say of glass and steel
facades.
UHPC concrete can perfectly combine the
modern with the proud old design. UHPC
concrete is a modern material for the future
with incredible properties. It offers flexibility
in design, security in temperature and wear
resistance, durability in extreme strength and
very high resistance to almost all environmental
influences, detail in design, easy to use
compared to other materials, it can be processed
on site worldwide.

Facades of houses and balconies were almost
always characterized by their marked simplicity.
For some years now, more and more architects
and designers have been dealing with this area
and also because of the climate discussion.
Today you can see more and more interesting
solutions for facades and balconies of residential
buildings. Simple smaller and larger rectangular
balconies are disappearing more and more and
are being replaced by new balcony geometries.
The old idea of ​​greening facades is increasing
in urban centers. Today it is called the vertical
garden. In the course of this development, the
balconies also became gardens and, for some
architects, veritable forests.

Here too, UHPC concrete offer architects and
designers a variety of new technical and design
options. Due to the extremely high strength
values, balcony slabs can be made much thinner
than with a standard concrete or the balcony area
can be increased significantly with the same slab
thickness as with a standard concrete. As with
the facades, in addition to the strength, the

extremely high resistance to environmental
influences and the resistance to fire is a factor
of great interest.

Corrosion problems at offshore wind turbines solved with UHPC concrete

You have the solution already built in your
wind turbine system UHPC Ultra High
Performance concrete material was already
used in the first wind turbines and has been
stable to date and not replaced.

UHPC is absolut seawater resistant and you
can cast it into the seawater if necessary. No
elaborate preparation is necessary and the
corrosion protection will last for at least 100
years without having to be repaired.
Most system suppliers for offshore wind
turbines have known this for a long time.
 
The UHPC material would have to be
modified a bit, that's all.
We modifed it and it work together
with a simple installation system perfect.

The assembly costs and the operating costs
for a complex anode/cathode system is
several times higher and this electrical
system must be monitored regularly.

Well, there are several ways to tackle the
corrosion problem
- You let it rust because the system is already

   so old
- You can apply an extremely complex anti-
   corrosion paint system. Very expensive and
   the durability is extremely limited.
- UHPC is applied to the steel structure as a
   protective layer.
   A relatively simple and safe installation with
   a durability of more than 50 years
- UHPC is used as a constructive measure to
   improve or stabilize the load-bearing capacity
   of the foundation
- UHPC is brought up as a constructive measure
   in connection with the design of an artificial
   reef around the foundation in order to improve
   the situation of the marine fauna.

UHPC - Environmental and Sustainability

The hhbc-consulting and WPE DK Team feel responsible for
working in close cooperation with architects,
designers, engineers, urban planners and
construction companies for a more sustainable
future.

Development of UHPC

Already during the development of UHPC Binder,
our goal is to use raw materials that are as
environmentally friendly and energy-efficient
as possible in production. At the suppliers of
cementitious binder systems, we pay attention to

their activities regarding environmental protection
and sustainability. Microsilica as well as fly ash
are waste products that we reuse but they come
from processes that consume enormous amounts
of energy. That is why we use these products in
very controlled quantities. In some of our UHPC
products we have been able to do without
microsilica or fly ash.
We plan to set up production facilities in Asia,
North America, South America and Africa in
order to use local resources and to limit
transport routes to a minimum.

Processing of UHPC

Our UHPC products can be mixed with 50% less
water than standard concretes. The water cement
value in our products is 0.2 to 1.8. In some
countries of the world there is a permanent lack
of water, which is only balanced with seawater
treatment plants that consume considerable
amounts of energy. If less water is needed for the
inforastructure, there is more drinking water for
the people.
Only sand is required for processing our UHPC
binders to concretes with a compressive strength
above 100 MPa and no gravel.
Due to the low precast weights the energy
consumption to the transport of production to site
is much lower.
As a substitute for the admixture of sand, a wide
variety of recycled materials can be used. Our
UHPC binder systems are ideal combination partners.

We have developed a new UHPC binder system that

can completely dispense with the previously
required sand and gravel qualities. Which will
drastically reduce the depletion of sands in the river
and coastal areas and the high-energy international
export.
In the future, we plan to drastically reduce the
production of UHPC materials in accordance with
our quality guidelines to various countries with
local raw materials in order to reduce the
high-energy material transports.

Application of UHPC

Due to the high compressive strength, the component
geometries can be selected smaller compared to
standard concretes, which leads to lower material
consumption and thus to lower component weights.
Our UHPC materials are many times more resistant to
all environmental influences than standard concretes.
Thus, the expected lifetime is several times higher than
standard concrete with almost no repair.
Even today, UHPC materials can completely replace
steel constructions in many areas and achieve a multiple
service life without corrosion protection and repair work.

From our high-density, buoyant UHPC concretes, ships
or islands with high load-bearing capacity and service
life can already be produced today. UHPC materials
are absolutely resistant to seawater.

The better the concrete quality is and with UHPC concrete
it is many times better than with standard concrete, the
longer the usage phase.

UHPC concrete for precast production

UHPC concrete has many commercial as well as technical

advantages over standard concrete for the production of 

precast concrete elements.

More and more architects are specifying UHPC concrete 

as a standard material for their façade design. There are 

no design limits for façade constructions.
In recent years, we have developed UHPC binder systems 

that can be processed into lightweight concretes or 

insulating concretes, especially for façade construction.

- We produce UHPC materials with a strength of

   40 MPa to 240 MPa.
- Our UHPC materials reach 70% of their maximum

   nominal strength within 48 hours. Faster strength

   developments are possible on customer request.
- We only need sand, not gravel, to process UHPC

   concrete.
- With our UHPC Desert Sand Binder, desert sand

   can also be processed without any problems.
- All of our UHPC materials are self-compacting

   and need no or very little vibration.
- Our UHPC materials have extremely little to no pore

   development.
- The nanotechnology development of our UHPC

   binders enables extremely fine surface structures to

   be created.
- With the use of fibre reinforcement it is possible

   to create very thin structures of high strength.

- For prestressed elements, the pre-tensioning force
   of UHPC material can be chosen to be much higher
   due to their very high strength than standard concrete.

- Very good flow properties for casting complicated

   geometry and filigree surface structures.

Processing of UHPC binders
Only a shaft or pan pot mixer is required for

processing.
The UHPC binder is mixed with sand or desert

sand and a very small amount of water.
It is not necessary to add additives.

Applications

• Double walls 
• Pre stressed elements 
• Tubes
• Bridgedeck elements
• Stairs
• Piles
• Supports
• Tunnel segments
  
• Facade elements
  
• Balconies
• Sea defence units
  
• Floor tiles in large geometries                
  
• Security
  
• Vertical garden (facade) elements
• Sewage pipes and box culverts
• Floating elements
  

UHPC Supervisor projects worldwide

Today we completed our 100th Supervisor project

Since the first customer request more than 20 years ago, we have meanwhile completed projects with UHPC materials in more than 35 countries around the world. We looked after offshore, corrosion, wear protection, concrete rehabilitation, architecture, hydraulic engineering, road construction, etc.
On behalf of our customers, we have carried out assembly projects, trained fitters on site, carried out complete assemblies independently, assessed damage, worked out repair solutions, etc.
Our current project was the rehabilitation of 10 km of lanes at Europe's largest flower auctioneer.

Here some impressions of our worldwide jobs

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