Railway bridge repair or new construction with UHPC concrete

One of our many bridge projects we have this year. They are highway bridges and railway bridges. In this case, a railway bridge that was built shortly after the war from simple steel girders and heavy concrete. There are up to 65 freight trains passing this bridge daily.

It is not yet clear if the bridge can be repaired with UHPC or if the bridge has to be completely rebuilt from UHPC. There are still some reports necessary.

The advantage of UHPC in a repair is the UHPC as corrosion protection, as joint and crack filling and as additional static reinforcement can be used easily. The repair time can be minimized by the extremely fast setting time.
In the case of a new building, the size of the bridge can be easily used with a UHPC precast technology, which also reduces the blockage of the rail track to a minimum.

UHPC Shotcrete for new construction and repair projects

UHPC Shotcrete is a high strength, high density, fast curing UHPC concrete consisting of a UHPC nanobinder system and ceramic or mineral aggregates.

Due to the very high compressive strength in combination with a high material packing density and hard aggregates, a flexible and easy-to-process sprayable UHPC concrete with material properties that exceeds those of normal concrete by many times. All UHPC Shotcrete products are selfcompacting.

The high material density of UHPC Shotcrete prevents the penetration of liquid or gaseous foreign substances. UHPC Shotcrete achieves the maximum material properties only by wet spraying.

Fields of application for UHPC Shotcrete

 - Repair of bridges

 - Repair of dams and reservoirs

 - Seismic retrofit

 - Repair of sewers

 - Ground support - Stabilisation

 - Soil nailing

 - Tunneling

 - New construction of pools

 - New construction of foundation

 - Landscape design

 - Pools

 - Tanks

 - Domes

 - Foundation

UHPC - Grouting material for the Offshore industry

Our UHPC grouting products are a pumpable and developed for offshore application and has been used widely in connection with structural strengthening 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 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.

Our UHPC grouting products 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.

UHPC for fire-safe escape routes and rescue rooms

With UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete),
escape routes in hospitals, public buildings, hotels,
shopping mall, restaurants, office towers, stairways,
elevator shafts and production facilities can be
designed safely and fireprotected.

Today escape routes in all areas can be designed
safely and in a modern design with UHPC materials.
Even the interior (fire resitant furniture) in escape
areas can be elegantly and filigree made of UHPC.

Our standard UHPC concretes achieve compressive

strength of up to max. 210 MPa / 30500 psi and a
flexural strength up to max. 27 MPa / 3900 psi. We
produce UHPC materials as mortar, castable and
shotcrete.

The UHPC material grades can easily withstand
continuous temperatures up to 450°C / 842°F without
loss of strength. The high temperature resistant UHPC
can withstand continuous temperatures up to
1200°C / 2190°F with only a very small loss of strength.
Our UHPC materials are extremely temperature shock
resistant and impermeable to water, so that the damage
caused by extinguishing water is very low.

It is also possible for us to combine UHPC materials
with extremely effective thin layer insulating
materials so that even existing concrete or steel
structures are permanently protected against heat and
that at very low wall thicknesses and material weights.

Garden-, park and costal design with UHPC

Garden and park design
From small private gardens, lakes, rivers and parks of all types and sizes, UHPC is an ideal material for nature-identical structures.

With UHPC, objects such as buildings, rocks, waterfalls, natural stones, etc. can be perfectly integrated into nature.
The benefits of UHPC for the architect and designer are

• UHPC can be easily processed on site or as a prefabricated element of any size and geometry
• UHPC achieves much higher strength values ​​than concrete
• UHPC is extremely corrosion resistant
• UHPC is water impermeable even in small material thicknesses
• UHPC can be processed as a mortar, casting compound or as a spray mass
• UHPC can also be processed under water
• UHPC is absolutely seawater resistant
• With UHPC, the finest surface textures can be achieved
• UHPC is an ideal combination material. It can be combined with nearly all minerals, metals, glasses and plastics without problems
• It can be achieved in constructions that are placed in nature or in water lifetimes up to 100 years.

If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact our partner in Houston Texas Asante.
He has many years of experience with garden, park and coastal design in conjunction with UHPC

Contact
ASANTE, Houston Texas
Douglas Miller  phone 774 208 1766

Shore and coastal design
UHPC of the right quality withstands extreme loads from nature. In addition to the advantages

already described above, the following advantages can be added for the shore and coastal design

• UHPC is extremely resistant to wear and impact in the right composition
• UHPC does not lose its strength either at extremely low temperatures (-180°C / -292°F) or at extremely high temperatures (450°C / 842°F)

UHPC is much better for coastal protection and tsunami protection than standard concrete or steel.

UHPC use under extreme cold conditions in the offshore industry

UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete in his

high quality material version is an interesting

alternative to steel in many applications in

water and ice.

Benefit of UHPC

 -  UHPC is extremely resistant to wear and can

        withstand even the hardest ice floes.

 -  UHPC does not require corrosion protection.

 -  UHPC is absolutely seawater resistant.

 -  UHPC has tremendous strength.

 -  UHPC can easily withstand temperatures from 

        -180°C / 356°F to + 500°C / 932°F without

        being damaged.

 -  UHPC can adapt to all geometries.

 -  UHPC can be processed locally by local

        installers without special machinery.

 -  UHPC can be processed as casting compound,

        mortar or as a shotcreating compound.

 -  From UHPC very small as well as extremely

        large prefabricated elements can be manufactured.

 -  UHPC can be used to statically carry parts.
 -  UHPC is very resistant to a variety of chemicals.

 -  High temperature resistant UHPC does not lose

        its strength even at high temperatures.

 -  UHPC has a lower weight than steel.
 -  UHPC is made more sustainable than steel.

 -  UHPC can also be processed in damp areas

        and underwater.

For some years, UHPC has been used in the offshore

industry to repair oil rig platforms. You could
imagine producing whole oil rig platforms made of
UHPC. The foundations for all offshore wind
turbines worldwide are manufactured using UHPC
materials. In the past, complete ships were made
from UHPC.

Port facilities, jetties, quay walls, weirs, dykes, etc.
were already made from UHPC. UHPC offers new,
long-lasting options for coastal protection and life
on and in the water.

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

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

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.
´

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

Protection of river banks and bridges with UHPC technology

At a meeting of local councils in the alpine

region, hhbc-consulting and WPE DK were

invited as guests to discuss possible

rehabilitation and protection of river banks

and bridges. Due to climate change, especially 

in the mountainous regions, the streams and 

rivers are flooded with enormous amounts 

of water as a result of enormous amounts of 

rain and continuous snow melt. In addition 

to the water flowing at high speed, ever 

greater quantities of debris are also being 

transported. Water and debris are increasingly 

damaging bank and bridge structures. For the 

most part, they are not designed for these 

quantities.

One of the main points of this discussion,
was the rehabilitation of the massive damage
caused by scree and water masses on the
construction of the riverbanks, especially in
areas of river diversion and river guidance
in villages and towns.

Particularly the rising water masses among
other things by massive lasting rains and
resulting high flow velocities with scree
movements give rise to concern.

As one of the possible solutions for the future,
the use of UHPC Ultra High Performance
Concrete as a refurbishment material and as
construction material for renewed protective
installation was discussed.

UHPC concrete would offer concrete with its
extreme strength (over 140 MPa - 240 MPa),
very high wear resistance and extremely high
corrosion resistance.

In addition, a joint-free processing is possible.

Due to these characteristics, the design of river

banks and river diversions with artificial rock

constructions made of UHPC was discussed.

As assembly methods for UHPC, assembly

pre-fabricated elements, casting or spray-on-site

(Shotcrete) assembly was discussed.

Since UHPC develop within 48 hours 70% of its

nominal strength are very fast in assembly methods

and thus the repair time is very short.

Due to the many years of experience we have in
offshore and coastal areas, first projects have
been agreed.

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.

Mixer for UHPC Ultra High Performance Concrete

What is the use of the best UHPC Ultra
High Performance Concrete product if
you do not have the right mixer to mix
this product perfectly? If possible, a
mixer can handle casting compound,
mortar and Shotcrete mass without it
has an effect on the finished UHPC
product.
There are a lot of different mixer types
in the international market. Some may
mix casting compound, other mortar
compound and yet another Shotcrete

mass. Only a few can mix all the masses
well and few of them can mix the UHPC
products perfectly.
We prefer more than 25 years compulsory
mixers or pan pot mixers called. They
have never disappointed us on all our
international construction sites. They are
very sturdy, at least we use and they are
very easy to handle.

Different mixers can be used for different

requirements and markets.

In general, shaft or pan pot mixers are the

best choice for all applications and markets.
For industrial applications such as Offshore,

wear protection, industrial flooring, corrosion

protection, etc., where the highest quality

requirements are set, the best mixers must

also be used, i.e. pan pot or shaft mixer.
Furthermore, our UHPC requires mortar

qualities for mixing powerful pan pot or

shaft mixers.

When mixing UHPC Cast, we recommend

using pan pot or shaft mixers. It is also

possible to mix with standard UHPC Cast

material. With smaller quantities of UHPC

Cast it is also possible to use a hand mixer.
We have used a large number of mixers

worldwide in our more than 25 years of

assembly work. Most mixers failed because

they are underpowered. It is just a difference

to mix a UHPC or a standard concrete.

For our customers we have put together an

information brochure about mixers, which

you can get from us free of charge in paper

format or as a download.

Laboratory mixing devices can also be used

for small quantities of up to one kilogram of

mixing material or, if the performance is right,

kitchen mixing devices can also be used.
We and our worldwide partners have pan pot

or shaft mixers with different services in our

workshop. You can hire these mixers for

processing on request.
You can also get a list of international mixer

manufacturers with whom we have already

worked.

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