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

Offshore hydrogen storage system made of UHPC

 

Since the beginning of this year, we have been working with several companies on an offshore project to
store hydrogen.
The hydrogen is to be produced and stored on a floating platform off the coast. Several storage units are planned that can be exchanged. The storage units are planned to be made of UHPC concrete.
For the construction, it is currently planned to use UHPC concrete with a compressive strength of over 200 MPa. Currently, the static and constructive calculations are being worked on. The first drafts are expected in two months.

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.

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 Grouting of Pile Jacket Annulus at RS 16 Platform, for ONGC, Bombay High, India

Larsen and Toubro Ltd  was engaged in installing two new platforms in the Bombay High field, but due to issues with the specified pressure grouting technique, the jacket pile connection could not be completed on the last remaining leg on the RS 16 platform.
A Danish company was contacted in April 2009 and immediately mobilised all their grouting equipment and personnel together with around 80 tons of special UHPC grouting materials to Mumbai.
UHPC grouting material was specified due to its high compressive strength and modulus of elasticity in the region of four times higher than conventional grouts. In addition, the highly viscous and cohesive nature of UHPC prevents the risk of cement particles washout or being mixed with
water, making UHPC grouting material ideal for use in underwater conditions.

Working from Sapura 3000, a DP Heavy Lift and Pipe laying Vessel, grout hoses were connectedby divers to the pile grout inlet underwater at a depth of 46 meters. Grouting works were carried out 24 hours to expedite completion and all grouting works were
completed within 16 hours. The topside was installed 36 hours after completion of the grouting.


The use of UHPC materials have been proven to provide fast and efficient solutions to structural installations and repairs in the offshore environment.

Repair and new construction of concrete structures at coastal areas with UHPC

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 oxygen this zone is 
where the problem is.
 In icy regions ice sliding by 

a structure will tear and wear the structure. 

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete is here 

an ideal construction material or protection layer.

Sea level rise
It is likely to lead to greater flooding, 
salinisation and erosion in coastal areas, 
affecting millions of people worldwide and 
costing billions of dollars of damage.
Today, a lot of big cities are right on the 
coast or at estuaries. Changes in sea level 
or in severe storms or torrential floods 
directly hit these cities. Most cities have
not yet realized this danger and have not 
yet taken any protective measures. Such 
safeguards include raising defenses, 
implementing flood storage and construction 
of new river barrier systems.

Many important industries are located 
particularly in Asia directly on the coast. 
Without future active coastal protection, 
this industry will be a major problem for the 
respective country.

Prefabricated concrete elements made of 
special UHPC concrete are ideal for effective, 
long-lasting coastal protection.
The elements can be made slim and light due 
to the enormous strength. They are easy to 
transport and assemble. They are extremely 
corrosion resistant and virtually repair-free. 
The expected lifetime far exceeds that of 
standard concrete elements.

Areas of application are

• Marine structures
• Coastal protection
• Quay construction
• Weir, dock and wharf construction
• Jetty construction

In many coastal industries seawater is used for 
process cooling. In steel or concrete pipes, the 
water is pumped directly from the sea into the 
corresponding production.

To ensure the necessary process cooling 
permanently, it is extremely important that the 
water supply is always constant. A reduction 
by the flow rate, for example, a reduction in the 
conveying cross section of the pipeline can 
result in the worst case to a stop in the production 
or cause damage to the system due to overheating.

In most cases, standard concrete qualities is used 
in the manufacture of concrete pipes.

These tubes have a rough and porous surface. 
Shells of all kinds can be very firmly and 
permanently anchor on the basis of porosity in the 
concrete structure. Especially pipes in cooling 
water or cooling water channels must regularly 
notify the mussel case be removed.

In the removal the firmly anchored mussel beds a 
part of the concrete surface is also always removed, 
which can cause the concrete reinforcement may 
corrode. The result is a time consuming and costly 
repairs to the existing concrete structure.

UHPC concrete has a compared to standard concrete 
extremely low porosity and a very high wear resistance. 
These characteristics make it is not possible to 
permanently anchor the shells in concrete. Removal of 
the mussel beds is quick and does not damage the 
concrete surface.

Standard concretes can effectively protected with a 
10 - 20 mm UHPC layer for a very long time.


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

UHPC - Standard concrete comparison

Standard concrete
A mixture of cement binder + sand + gravel + water

UHPC concrete
A mixture of UHPC binder + sand + water

One of the most important quality parameters
when comparing standard concrete and UHPC

Standard Cement Binder                         UHPC Binder         

is water/cement ratio and compressive strength.

The water/cement ratio is the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of cement used in a concrete mix.
A lower ratio leads to higher strength and durability, water/cement ratios of 0.4 to 0.5
are more typically used for standard concrete qualities. For higher-strength concrete, ratios of 0.20 - 0.18 are used.

Despite the extremely low w/c value, UHPC materials of high production quality 

can be processed in much the same way as 

concrete.

Among other things, the low w/c value
means that the pore volume is extremely low
or even absent, which leads to very high
compressive strength (up to 240 MPa) and
very high corrosion resistance. UHPC is also
self compacting.

Another effect of the low pore volume in UHPC
is the extremely high content of wetted surface,
e.g. on steel reinforcements against concrete.
This leads to very strong connection of steel
and UHPC. If you wanted to pull a standard
reinforcing steel out of a UHPC block you
needed enormous tensile forces compared to
a standard concrete reinforcement.

Due to the extremely low pore volume and the

high pressure and tensile strength combined
with the exclusive use of sand as aggregate, the coverage of the reinforcement can be reduced. Likewise, the distance between the reinforcing bars could be reduced.

In this context, UHPC can be used to make
concrete structures that are closer to steel structures than the ones in their dimensions
and bearing capacities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WPE DK International

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

 

UHPC - Wear protection system for coal fired power plants

Large quantities of materials like hard coal,
lignite and ash are handled in a coal fired
power plant. To ensure a constant production,
most of the conveying (hydraulic or pneumatic),
storing and production equipment must lined
with wear protection products.

Based on the long experience in wear
protection system engineering for the most
of the OEMs of grinding and mill systems
like impact mills, vertical roller mills,
hammer mills etc., together with our
partner WPE DK we can offer standard and
custom made UHPC wear protection lining
systems.

We supply custom made solutions and
engineered systems like pipe components
with electrical wear control or pipe
components with a combination lining of
wear and heat reduction linings.

For circulation fluidised bed steam power
plant we engineer and install dedusting and
ash transport systems with a high quality
wear protection linings or combination
linings of wear and insulating material.

We deliver and install special custom
made wear linings for different burner systems.

We engineer and produce 
lining systems for mill suppliers like: 

Loesche            LM Verical Mill
Gebr. Pfeiffer   MPS Vertical Mill
ALSTOM         SM Mill, Raymond Roller Mill
HITACHI         Vertical Roller Mill
FLSmidth         ATOX Vertical Roller Mill

UHPC Installation areas

Cyclones                                                                        Cellular wheel sluice
NID-Systems for flue gas cleaning                                Chutes  
GSA-Systems for flue gas cleaning                               Pumps
Pneumatic transports systems                                       Ventilator housing and blades
Hydraulic transport systems                                          Coal mill
Trough chain conveyors                                                Burner systems
Submerges chain conveyors                                         Ash silo
Apron conveyors                                                           Coal bunker

 

WPE DK International

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

HPC and UHPC Facade elements

In modern architecture, facades and wall elements made from a wide variety of materials today.

The classic is still Italian marble like carrara, lasa bianco classico, lasa bianco vena oro.

The beauty of these natural stones is undisputed but the processing of these natural stones is very expensive and also has its limits in durability and plate sizes. The larger the façade or wall panels are desired by the architect, the thicker the panels become, the higher

the weight of the single panel becomes, the more complex
the handling becomes during assembly on site.

The future of the facade architecture is designed with UHPC 
(Ultra High Performance Concrete). UHPC fiber reinforced conctrete is a material with outstanding properties compared
to today's standard concrete.

We produce the highest quality UHPC binders worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience in research, development and production, we can meet a variety of customer needs.

Our UHPC binders can be combined with almost all mineral
and metallic materials.

With our service team we support precast plants worldwide
in the optimal handling of UHPC.

Facade and wall panels can be produced as sandwich
panels in a wide variety of material combinations.
Examples would be
UHPC / insulating material
UHPC / wood
UHPC / glass
UHPC / gypsum
UHPC / metals
UHPC /minerals

We can not only reproduce a variety of natural stone 
structure and color with pigments and special mixing 
technology, it is also possible to produce a variety of 
surfaces from polished to various roughnesses to 
coarse structures.

Depending on the combination material, UHPC
layer thicknesses of less than 15 mm are possible.
We have already used UHPC layer thickness of
less than 5 mm on wood.

Complete UHPC seamless frames can be made
for any kind and geometry of façade openings.
This kind of seamless facade element
construction in any geometry, design and size
is not possible with natural stones.

Due to the significantly higher compressive strength 
(100 - 160 MPa / 14500 - 23000 psi), much thinner 
and more elegant load-bearing structures, like frames 
for glass facdes are possible. Likewise, considerably 
higher spans of prefabricated parts are possible.
UHPC is fire-resistant up to 450°C / 840°F. In the high 
temperature resistant version UHPC HT a permanent 
temperature resistance up to 1200°C / 2190°F can be 
achieved.

Facade construction can be produced with UHPC in a 
fineness which until now was not possible with 
standard concrete.

The finished elements produced with UHPC casting 
compound do not require any or very little surface 
finishing. The dimensional accuracy is so exact after 
hardening that it is only necessary in extreme cases 
of extremely high production accuracies in the 
hundredth of a millimeter range.

Due to the extremely fine components, fine or smooth 
surface structures can be produced. Only the quality 
of the mold limits fineness or smoothness. 
UHPC can be casted almost poreless and capillary-free. 
Therefore all products made from UHPC are extremely 
resistant to any environmental 
influences. For this reason, UHPC is 100% seawater 
resistant.

 

 

WPE DK International

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