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 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

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