UHPC - Asphalt Combination for high speed race circuits

Many friends and customers of our UHPC
Ultra High Performance Concrete material have repeatedly asked us in the past why there are streets, lanes, squares, etc. with UHPC Phalt (UHPC Phalt semi-flexible wearing course consist of an open-graded asphalt filled with high strength UHPC mortar) content that are exposed to extreme traffic and environmental conditions but are not race tracks. 

We are big fans of automobile or motorcycle

racing. We are also very confident that we can

develop and deliver extremely good pavement 

systems for high speed racetracks or city courses.

Unfortunately, we have no contact with the

operators, organizers or architects. 

If you think about it, UHPC Phalt is a very

good solution for the strain of the racetracks.

With a standard road asphalt surface, the quality

can only be changed via the quality of the

asphalt. The new thing is that at UHPC Phalt

the quality of the surface can be changed via

the quality of the asphalt and the UHPC. So

there are combinations that standard asphalt

cannot offer. In addition, the expected lifetime without loss of quality of the combination 

covering is several times longer.

The original idea for developing this material

combination was to line roads, runways and

industrial roads with extreme traffic loads and

extreme environmental conditions with an

extremely hard and heavy-duty UHPC-Asphalt

combination. The implementation of this idea

was very successful, as the experiences of the

last 25 years show.

The UHPC Phalt material combination can

be set so that it is extremely abrasion-resistant /

wear-resistant or extremely load-bearing or

extremely resistant to temperature changes. In

city streets, the UHPC Phalt surface does not

lose its properties even after years of continuous traffic.

So there should be enough reasons to use this
surface on high-speed racetracks and street
circuit racetracks.

Technical advantages of UHPC Phalt

- Very high wear resistant
- Very high pressure resistant
- Extreme low material deformation
- Constant temperature resistance
   from - 60°C/-76°F - +90°C/+194°F
- Very simple and fast installation
- Very short curing times
- Can be laid on asphalt concrete or
   similar substrates
- Installation with standard laying
   machines
- Cheap material costs
- Extremely long durability
- Very high corrosion resistant
- Variable surface design
- Variable layer thicknesses

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

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

UHPC/Asphalt system versus concrete for pavement, industrial flooring and roads

What is UHPC Phalt?

UHPC Phalt is a grouted macadam comprising 
an open graded asphalt that is flooded with high 
strength microsilica based mortars. The open 
graded asphalt is mixed to a design mix at a 
local asphalt plant and delivered to site in tipper 
trucks. It is placed via traditional paving techniques.

The UHPC Phalt mortars are delivered in 
1 tonne bags and mixed via a continuous flow 
pump machine. The mortar is mixed for a certain 
amount of time to achieve correct viscosity then 
flooded via a large hose onto the asphalt matrix.

How does the whole construction 
thickness fit together?

UHPC Phalt can be laid at depths of 30 mm / 
1,18 in upwards (typically maximum depth used 
is 40 mm / 1,57 in). UHPC Phalt is the top layer 
of the pavement that is supported by a basecourse 
layer. The basecourse layer can vary dependent 
on environment and loadings, internal or external 
applications. Preferred basecourse materials to 
support the UHPC Phalt topping are high modulus 
macadam basecourse or Foamix recycled binder 
course. CBM bases are ideal for use for large 
internal areas. 
The UHPC Phalt pavement structure (DPH + 
Basecourse) is laid onto varying depths of Type 1 stone/capping dependent on the CBR value of 
the sub-grade. 

Advantages of UHPC  Phalt

• Very high load carrying capacity

• Frost and rew resistant

• Jointless laying

• Quick installation

• High early strength

• Temperature resistant from - 60°C/-76°F - 90°C/194°F

Where is UHPC Phalt used?

• Airports
• Ports
• Lorry marshalling areas
• Service yards
• Acces roads
• Bus stations / depots
• Waste management facilities
• Car parks
• Indoors for warehouse floors
• Anywhere that concrete is conventionally used 
  
  
  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

Heat problems with concrete and asphalt highways

Problem asphalt roads
Asphalt streets lose their strength very quickly
as the temperature rises. Many highways, for
example, lead through desert areas in the USA
and Australia.
Driving heavy trucks in such areas push the
soft asphalt ahead or aside. The result is that
the trucks have to drive slower because of the
uneven road, which can certainly lead to
logisticalproblems and motorists who have to
drive in truck asphalt trails do not feel this as
a rest and drive slower. In residential areas,
out-of-the-way asphalt tracks cause noise
pollution as cars literally jump over these
tracks. If buses or trucks pass through these
streets, you can hold your cupboards in the
living room.

Depending on the quality of the asphalt, it is
tacky even at slightly higher temperatures and
at very high temperatures these surfaces can
neither be entered nor driven on without causing
damage.
A UHPC®-Asphalt combination can be thought
of as an asphalt matrix filled with UHPC®Ultra
High Performance Concrete. Thus, a large
proportion of this lining is UHPC® concrete,
which does not stick and temperature resistant
is well over 200°C/392°F. This combination is
still very stable even in extreme temperatures
up to 90°C/194°F in desert areas.

Problem heating asphalt roads and 
adjacent houses
There is an interesting article from a company
that measured the heating of an asphalt road
andadjacent house walls in a residential area.
Then they have provided the black asphalt
pavement with a white topcoat. The road
temperatures and house wall temperatures
were measured again. The result of this
temperature measurement was much lower
than the first measurement without coating.
If the walls of houses also get a light coat the
sunshine reflection is even better. We see this
idea as a solution but not a lasting, economical
solution.


Solution heating of the asphalt surface 
and adjoining houses
As for the heating of the road surface we work
with a UHPC® binder with a very high degree of
whiteness, which makes the road seem much
brighter than the standard asphalt surface. It is
used in tunnels or production halls to save energy
for lighting. Compared to the two-layer solution
standard asphalt and white coating layer, everything
is in one system and the UHPC® Phalt system is much
more durable and more economical than the
two-layer model.


Solution concrete highway
Many kilometers of roads have already been laid
with fiber-reinforced UHPC® concrete in Europe. In
addition to the extremely high strength values, which
are far above that of standard concrete, they also
achieve extremely low abrasion and are absolutely
frost and salt-resistant. The thermal stability in both
the minus and in the plus range is a lot better
compared to standard concrete. During processing,
of course, the same machines can be used as in a
standard concrete processing. Such lining is used
today on airports, highways, harbor area etc.

Solution asphalt roads

About 15 years old asphalt roads or asphalted
areas are lined with a combination system made
of asphalt and UHPC® binder. This ideal
combination of an asphalt matrix that is cast
with UHPC® Binder achieves a significantly
higher load resistance even at ground
temperatures of up to +90°C / 194°F compared
to a standard asphalt. Abrasion resistance is
much higher than standard asphalt. Such
lining is used today on airports, highways,
harbor area etc.

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

UHPC - Use in recycling plants

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete
application in recycling plants for

• Synthetic substance - Recycling
• Plastic - Recycling
• Military equipment - Recycling
• Paper - Recycling
• Metal - Recycling
• Precious metal - Recycling
• PCBs - Recycling
• Nuclear - Recycling

The reprocessing of paper, plastic, chemical 
waste, rubber and metals has become an 
extremely important commodity market for 
the producing industry. Much more metal 
raw material is recovered from reprocessing 
than mining.
The material required for reprocessing is 
stored on large exterior and interior surfaces. 
Here, the bearing surfaces are mechanically 
attacked as well as the corrosive liquids 
extremely.
Many existing concrete surfaces show 
considerable damage, which does not 
guarantee the smooth and safe transport 
of the stored goods for reprocessing.
UHPC floor systems are best suited for 
these loads due to their hardness and 
wear resistance. These floor systems are 
laid without joints. Due to the very high 
material density, penetration of corrosive 
liquid with professional installation is 
almost impossible.

UHPC floor and pavementsystems are 
UHPC Phalt and UHPC TopLayer.

UHPC Phalt is a combination of traditional
asphalt with UHPC concrete. The result is a
ground or street blast with the flexibility of asphalt 
and the very high compressive strength and 
wear resistance of UHPC concrete. The 
processing and processing time is extremely 
easy and cost effective.
UHPC TopLayer are floor coverings made of 
UHPC concrete for very high mechanical loads. 
The material thickness is only a fraction of 
standard screeds or concretes.
UHPC TopLayer are extremely corrosion 
resistant and can be installed almost on any 
flooring. UHPC TopLayer achieve compressive 
strengths of far more than 140 MPa


Applications
- Indoor and outdoor pavements in storage areas
- Roads
- Material bunker
- Chutes
- Pneumatic transport systems
- Scrapyard pavement
- Dedusting systems

Benefits for UHPC Wear Protection
- Flexible layer thickness
- Overhead installation possible
- Jointless installation
- Extreme high compressive strength
- Very high wear resistant
- Very good corrosion resistant
- Adapts each of surface geometry
- Fast curing at ambient temperature

Benefits UHPC Phalt and UHPC Top layer
- Extreme high tensile strength
- Extreme high impact resistance and ductility
- The jointless surface prohibits damages on trucks
- Can be applied thin on even the weakest base
- Freeze/thaw resistance
- Fast curing -short stop time
- Cost efficient alternative where a weak base
  requires a change in both wearing course and
  course



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