UHPC Floating platforms

The future will take place more and more on the water of the oceans, whether on the coast or in the open sea. UHPC Ultra high Performance Concrete will play a crucial role in this. The two main construction materials in the offshore sector so far are steel and concrete. However, both have significant disadvantages compared to UHPC.
On the one hand, there is resistance to salt water. Steel is very difficult to protect against corrosion and even then the construction still has to be serviced regularly and very time-consuming and expensive. Floating structures should have a lifespan of at least 100+ years in the future.
With normal concrete structures the problems are similar, if not more serious. Once extremely corrosive seawater has penetrated the steel reinforcement unnoticed, the repair effort is enormous. In addition, for this very reason, the construction must be extremely thick-walled. An anti-corrosion coating makes the entire construction additionally expensive and here too the entire construction must be checked regularly in short periods of time.
Special UHPC concretes have extremely high strength values ​​compared to normal concretes, they are waterproof after a wall thickness of a few millimeters and are absolutely salt water resistant. Some of our UHPC binders are also extremely temperature-resistant (up to max. 1200°C) and they are very good wear-resistant (resistant to wear and tear caused by moving ice floes). Due to the high strength values, structural elements can be optimized or minimized in terms of size and weight.
UHPC concrete will be the much cheaper material for the required service life.

As developers and producers of high-quality UHPC binder materials, we want to focus on three future projects:

1st project
Floating work platforms for energy generation and storage.
All the major offshore wind farm operators worldwide are currently planning not only to generate energy with wind turbines, but also to use this energy to produce hydrogen on site in the wind farm. Solar systems on the platforms should contribute to additional energy generation. The platforms can be manufactured in several standard segments and connected to form a network at sea. These platforms can be made from very lightweight UHPC. This UHPC material can be self-floating.

2nd project
Floating living and working platforms, artificial islands for the coastal area and for the open sea. Platforms
for residential buildings, hotels, schools, hospitals, office buildings and production facilities.
Please see the corresponding article below.

3rd project
Offshore missile launch sites
There are various ideas for implementing this. In Germany, launch sites on ships for small and medium-sized rocket systems for satellite transport are being considered and are already being planned. Elon Musk is planning rocket launch sites for converted former oil production platforms. In all of these plans, UHPC could contribute to intelligent, lasting solutions. Ships were built from UHPC more than 20 years ago and
offshore platforms with UHPC were significantly improved structurally and statically.
Please see the corresponding article below.

 

WPE DK International

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

Living and working on water and under water with UHPC as construction material

Since than 30 years, UHPC Ultra High
Performance Concrete has been used
worldwide in the offshore sector as
a foundation, repair and construction material.
In offshore wind power technology, UHPC
is used as a floating foundation construction.

Deep sea constructions with UHPC have
also been successfully tested down to a
depth of 3500 m / 11480ft. Together with a  
German university, we tested dome 
constructions with different concrete 
qualities and UHPC. Only UHPC was able 
to withstand the enormous water pressure.

Likewise, energy storage systems for

offshore wind turbines are currently being
developed, which consist of hollow concrete
balls measuring over 30 m in diameter,
which are sunk to a depth of 300 m. These
energy storage systems would also be ideal
for supplying energy to floating cities.

Living and working on water and under water
can be realized sustainably and without an
problems with UHPC Ultra High Performance
Concrete materials.

The first serious projects are already planned
and are about to be realized. International
architect groups are already working on
self-sufficient cities above and under water.
UHPC is an important building construction
material for the designs, which are designed for
extreme longevity with very little to no
maintenance.

The advantages are

• Absolute seawater resistance
• Extreme corrosion resistance
• Extreme compressive strength
• Extreme tensile strengths
• Almost any design geometry can be made
• Material combinations of all kinds are easily possible
• Installation methode same as standard concrete

An unusual bond and impact test with UHPC mortar

An unusual bond and impact test with UHPC mortar

This test was carried out by us more than 15 years ago. The aim was to test the adhesion of UHPC mortar in a pipe section. For this purpose, a pipe section was provided with only a few small anchors.

Only half the circumference of the pipe section was lined with UHPC mortar in a layer thickness of 25 mm / 1 inch. The half-circumference lining was chosen to increase the load in the event of an impact.

As you can clearly see in this video, the adhesive force of UHPC mortar is so great that it took several impacts and a deformation of the steel structure to release the UHPC mortar lining from the steel structure.

 

 

New use of recycled windmill rotor blades as aggregate for UHPC concrete

UHPC grouting material is used worldwide in the

in the offshore and onshore industry worldwide for more than 25 years. 

Mostly, UHPC Grout has been used to make transition pieces and foundation systems for wind energy, oil production, tidal power plants and floating windmill platforms. There are also plans to use UHPC concrete as corrosion protection for the systems in these areas. It would be a safe, easy to install, cost effective and durable solution. Another development for the future is the combination of UHPC concrete and recycled rotor blade material. Several thousand used rotor blades from offshore and onshore wind turbines are lying on the ground around the world to be recycled or disposed of. Storage has become a very big problem in some countries. In many industrial
applications we use glassglass fibres, carbon fibres or plastic fibres asaggregates to our UHPC concrete. 

 

In order to carry out reuse, recycling and upcycling as standard in the near future, special UHPC concretes are the ideal combination partner. It should also be possible to add construction material from wind turbines to our UHPC with appropriate processing. This could then possibly be used again as foundation material for new onshore or offshore wind turbine.

UHPC the future competitor of steel in many applications

We know many people think UHPC is just
a concrete, possibly a special concrete and
with this concrete you do what you just do
with concrete, nothing more. People which
think in this way, should not continue to
deal with UHPC in the future and continue
to mix their old beautiful concrete.

The philosophy of hhbc-consulting is not
the simple replacement of concrete with
UHPC. That would be like replacing gravel
with diamonds.

We use UHPC in the construction industry
where it makes sense, in very specific areas
but our real competitor market in the future
is the steel market. There are a huge number
of applications where UHPC is better, more
durable, cheaper, easier and faster to
manufacture than steel.
UHPC is corrosion and wear resistant and in a HT Version also high temperature resistant (up
to more than 1000°C).


One example of many from the past years, Rolling bearing systems
A steel mill suffered damage to several rolling bearings in the area of ​​the rolling line (the area where the hot slabs are rolled at high speed and high speed to thinner plates). These rolling bearings are manufactured from a very special casting. The problem was that not enough bearing systems were available. These bearing systems are extremely expensive and have a very long delivery time.
In this case the steel plant would have had to wait more than 4 months. What would mean 4 months, the rolling mill could only be used to 30% of the capacity, a million loss.

By chance, we had heard of this problem in a
meeting for a machine floor renovation. We
looked at the drawings and specifications out
of pure interest. After a short internal
discussion, we made the following proposal
to the plant management:
We can copy the bearing completely made of UHPC. We could mix the UHPC material with graphite balls of a certain quality and size. We could achieve a high compressive strength of the material. We could process it to have similar surface roughness as the original bearing and what was extremely important we were sure to provide such a bearing to the factory in just four weeks.
We have provided the factory with the bearing systems within four weeks at one sixth of the original price. The bearings were in operation for 5 months, by 80% of the production capacity until they could be replaced with the newly made cast bearings. We have saved a lot of money for the plant with our UHPC solution.
´

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

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 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

The future of offshore wind energy with UHPC

Monopile wind turbine designs are still the most widely used standard foundation design in many coastal areas.
Jackets, Gravity base, Tripods and Tri-piles systems are also used depending on requirements and needs.
UHPC is used in all foundation techniques.

Monopiles

UHPC grouting material is used for the connection between monopile and transition pieces.
Monopiles have been deployed with even larger turbines in even deeper waters, currently up to 41 meters. 9 diameter monopiles are now in production. We estimate that more than 2000 monopiles worldwide have been installed with UHPC grouting and transitions pieces.

Benefits

• Extremely high strength
• Very good fatigue properties
• Minimal shrinkage
• Extreme bond between UHPC grouting material and steel
• Fast setting development
• Very high inner cohesion
• No mixing with sea water
• Absolutly seawater resistant
• Very low hydration heat
• No corrosion

Jackets
Jackets are generally considered to be better than monopiles for seabeds where the substrate is poor or deeper water. So here UHPC can be used in the "transition piece" and in the lower foundation.

Gravity foundations
Are well suited for rocky sea beds. The complete foundation system can be manufactured on land and then pulled into position with a ship and then sunk. Depending on the design, the entire foundation piece can be made from UHPC

The future - with floating foundation design

This includes

• Spar
• Semi-submersible
• Barge
• Tension-leg platform

Spars
First systems are already being tested. In the near future, a wind farm with spar systems is to be built off Scotland.
These systems can reach total lengths of over 90 meters, with about 75 m of them underwater. The entire underwater area can be made of UHPC.

Semi-submersible
Similar to the Spars, the whole underwater construction can be made of UHPC.

Barge
Barge systems are actually classic pontoon systems. There are now UHPC concrete available which in addition to their high strength also swim without the large cavities inside the barge must be generated.

 

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

UHPC - Offshore structural repair

UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete) offshore grouting products are a pumpable and developed for all kind of offshore application and has been used widely in connection with structural strengthening and corrosion protection of offshore platforms.

Such UHPC grouting products have been used offshore in connection with

• Strengthening of intact tubular members
• Reinforcement of joints
• Repair of damaged members
• Pile-sleeve connections
• Strengthening of double skin sections

An example of a spectacular application of such solutions with respect to member repair is for a
member having experienced hydrostatic collapse,
where the member was re-inflated and filled with
ultra high performance grout. In another case
our solutions were applied in connection with a
pile-driving refusal (changing the intended shear
key connection to a plain pipe connection).
UHPC grouting high strength material was used
as grout material in stead of the intended
conventional grout. In the above selected cases
the design strength of the members was
re-established due to the extreme effect offered
by high strength materials and at the same time the solutions was economically attractive.

One of the main advantages of using UHPC grouted solutions in connection with repair is the easy accommodation of geometrical irregularities. Structural components subjected to some kind of damage
(from installation, impact or accident) often
show some dents or imperfections. The use of ultra high
performance grout in connection with repair
improves the performance hereof as the UHPC
grout serves not just as a filling material but
as a strong structural component.

UHPC grouting materials are suitable for

casting both above and below water. Due
to viscous consistency of the mixed materials
there is no risk of washing out cement
particles or mixing with water when cast
below sea level. 

The UHPC grouting products for offshore
have been developed having very low
shrinkage so that the grout and surrounding
steel remains in physical contact after curing.
Further, these products has been developed
to show limited heat development during
the hardening process eliminating the risk
of thermal cracking. 

WPE DK International

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

UHPC - a material for many applications in onshore and offshore wind energy production

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete has been used for many years in offshore wind

and onshore wind energy production.

We produce our UHPC for these applications. The new grades UHPC are currently being tested and will be available to the market later this year.

Monopile wind turbine designs are still the most widely used standard foundation design in many coastal areas. Jackets -, Gravity base -, Tripods - and Tri-piles systems are also used depending on requirements and needs.

UHPC grouting is used in all foundation techniques.

Monopiles

UHPC grouting material is used for the connection between monopile and transition pieces.

We estimate that more than 2000 monopiles worldwide have been installed with UHPC grouting and transitions pieces.

At the moment we are working on the 4th generation of grouting material. In addition to the technical improvements, the fulfillment of a wide variety of environmental requirements is the prime objective of the development.

Benefits of using UHPC grouting material for the transition piece

• Extremely high strength
• Very good fatigue properties
• Minimal shrinkage
• Extreme bond between UHPC grouting material and steel
• Fast setting development
• Very high inner cohesion
• No mixing with sea water
• Absolutly seawater resistant
• Very low hydration heat
• No corrosion

Tripile

A Tripile foundation consists of three steel piles driven into the seabed after which a three-legged transition piece structure is slid into the three piles. The overlaps between piles and transition piece are grouted with UHPC concrete.

The UHPC concrete connections evenly distribute the forces from the three-legged transition piece to the piles

Tripod

A Tripod support structure/foundation is secured in place by driving three piles into the seabed through a sleeve in each of the three corners.

UHPC concrete is pumped into the annuli between pile and sleeve to ensure a strong and durable connection.

Jacket

Jacket foundations are secured to the seabed by four piles placed in a sleeve in each corner and driven into the seabed. Jackets are generally considered to be better than monopiles for seabeds where the substrate is poor or deeper water. So here UHPC grouting can be used in the "transition piece" and in the lower foundation.

Gravity foundations

Are well suited for rocky sea beds. The complete foundation system can be manufactured on land and then pulled into position with a ship and then sunk. Depending on the design, the entire foundation piece can be made from UHPC. UHPC will be perfect for slip casting the entire foundation.

                                                       
After the use of UHPC grout in offshore wind energy generation, the experience gained in onshore wind energy production has also been exploited.

Steel Tower

So far, steel towers in cylindrical or conical segment construction have been the state of the art.

Depending on the required hub height, up to five segments were mounted on top of each other. With the new tower heights, the segment diameters are getting bigger and bigger and the road transport between production and the site is becoming an ever greater problem.

Concrete Tower

More and more, as an alternative to steel towers, concrete towers are also produced and assembled in cylindrical, conical or polygonal segments. A disadvantage compared to the steel towers is the high wall thickness, which makes larger foundations necessary

The advantage is

• Favorable vibration characteristics, which leads to reduced noise emissions.
• Long life expectancy
• An ideal solution for high tower high and large rotor diameter
• Transport cost savings due to possible on-site manufacture
• The use of special UHPC concrete grades can lead to slender constructions and thus rougher component weight.
• Lower component weight can also make the foundation dimensioning more favorable, which can lead to cost reduction. The material experiences in the offshore transitionpiece technology can also be of advantage when using UHPC grout in the imbed ring assembly (connection tower / foundation).
• Since UHPC concrete of high quality have virtually no pore formation, they are extremely resistant to corrosion.
• There are little or no maintenance costs.
• The individual segments can be transported more cheaply than is possible with the steel segments.
• On-site fabrication is the use of slipforming is another option including the use of local concrete raw materials for the production of high-quality UHPCs.
• Furthermore, it is possible to produce extremely exact segments with UHPC grout material, which requires no or very little post-processing of the segment abutment surfaces.
• Our UHPC materials reach at least 70% of their rated strength in less than 48 hours, which can lead to lower manufacturing costs for segment production and delivery times can be drastically reduced.

Hybrid towers

This type of tower construction is a combination of concrete (lower part) and steel construction (upper part). IT combines most of the advantages of steel tower and accentuated tower technology. Here, too, the use of UHPC can lead to additional benefits and savings in terms of material and financial resources.
A segment construction or on-site casting by slipforming are possible. This reduces the costs of transport and reduces the foundation geometries.

 

WPE DK International

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

                                                        

UHPC Applications for the Offshore Windmill Technology

Monopiles

75% of the capacity installed or under construction offshore is based on the monopile concept UHPC concrete.
Whereby transition pieces are grouted to piles by applying a monopile foundation consists of a steel pile driven into the seabed and a transition piece slid onto or into the pile. After adjustment of the verticality of the transition piece, the space between pile and transition piece is grouted with UHPC concrete which is mixed and pumped through flexible hoses into the annulus.

Tripile

A Tripile foundation consists of three steel piles driven into the seabed after which a three-legged transition piece structure is slid into the three piles. The overlaps between piles and transition piece are grouted with UHPC concrete.
The UHPC concrete connections evenly distribute the forces from the three-legged transition piece to the piles.

Tripod

A Tripod support structure/foundation is secured in place by driving three piles into the seabed through a sleeve in each of the three corners.
UHPC concrete is pumped into the annuli between pile and sleeve to ensure a strong and durable connection.

Jacket

Jacket foundations are secured to the seabed by four piles placed in a sleeve in each corner and driven into the seabed.
A strong, cost-effective connection between pile and jacket substructure is ensured using UHPC concrete.

 

WPE DK International

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

UHPC concrete as structural construction and corrosion protection material in Offshore projects

UHPC concrete is through its properties, such as
high E-modulus, high strength, and low
permeability excellent for rehabilitation,
protection and strengthening of offshore structures.

The splash zone is without doubt one of the more
aggressive environment for wood, concrete and/or
steel. Here you have the movement of the water
inducing wear on the structures, high level of
 oxygen inducing a perfect corrosive environment.
In salt water chlorides are present all over but
combined with good access of oxygenthis zone is
where the problem is.
 In icy regions ice sliding by
a structure will tear and wear the structure. UHPC
is here an ideal protection layer.


Splash zone protection is in general made on pillars
standing in water, and is made by creating a mold
around the pillar and cast the UHPC into the
mold.
When the UHPC has set the mold can be removed.

In case of wood pillars wood will usually rot over
time, leading to insufficient load bearing capacity of
the pillars. A mold can be placed around the pillar
and a UHPC pillar is created by casting.



Oil and gas platforms

When oil is pumped out of the ground the buttom

of the ocean will sink, which means that the
platform itself will sink slowly. As the ocean will
cover more and more of the legs of the platform
the wave forces influencing the platform will
increase over time. Eventually the strength of the
platform is not high enough to sustain heavy
storms.
 The strengthening of the platform is done
by filling the legs or part thereof with UHPC. This
will stiffen the structure and increase the strength
of this. By special engineering it is possible only
to fill part of legs, ie areas of the connections of
the steel.


Harbour fronts


Harbour fronts, piers and jetties are usually
subjected to splash zone issues a long with the
occasional impact by ships.
Splash zone issues being hammered with ice
and debris and of course the corrosion from salt,
water and oxygen.
 UHPC has the necessary
strength and impact resistance to withstand these
forces and the impermeability of the UHPC
prevents chlorides, water and oxygen in
penetration the protection layer which makes
corrosion impossible.



 

WPE DK International

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