Durability cannot be promised, must be proved
In October 2016 the company RDC installed in Spain the first world UHPC application in the field of aquaculture: The floating mussel farms. This innovation aimed to solve the durability problems that the marine environment causes to the traditional structures, which are made of eucalyptus wood. Despite that this first element proved to have a […]
UHPC for offshore floating solar farms
Good morning everyone! This week I want to use the blog to continue speaking about structural applications that may be competitive with UHPC. Particularly, I want to mention the possibility of using UHPC precast elements for the development of the offshore floating photovoltaic farms, a field that is still unexplored at commercial level. You may […]
Is UHPC (more) flexible?
This post is to clarify an issue that occasionally confuses the readers, particularly when they are starting to understand what UHPC is. This issue is with regards to the stiffness of UHPC. Sometimes it is possible to see UHPC elements that have a noticeable deflection while they are being handled or manipulated. This leads some […]
Are Self-Healing technologies interesting for UHPC?
Good afternoon everyone! I am happy to launch this first post of autumn 2022. Let’s talk about the UHPC and the Self-healing technologies. Today I am providing my point of view of a question where I really would like to receive the perspective from you, the readers. I am wondering if the self-healing technologies may […]
Where has UHPC the highest potential to grow?
Good morning! Today I will try to elaborate an answer to the question that I launched in a LinkedIn poll few days ago: In which sector do you think that UHPC has the highest potential to grow? I divided the answer in three parts: ❶ What the audience (41 voters) answered, connecting it with their […]
Technological Readiness Levels (TRL): A useful tool for the development of floating UHPC farms
Summary This special post shows the development of prefabricated UHPC floating farms (we will call them “rafts” in advance) to solve the problems of durability of the traditional structures, made with eucalyptus beams submitted to fatigue and under an XS3 exposure class. The research and industrial scale up carried out is explained through the nine […]
Offshore UHPC floating structures
Hello everyone! It is great that you read us even in the summer period! As you know, we are located in Spain and these days the temperature is extremely high. In our city, Valencia, last Saturday 13 of August we reached 41oC, beating by far the 38.4oC record of year 2017. Luckily are we closed […]
Ultra-light UHPC slabs for many applications!
Good morning! Today I want to make a well-deserved mention to one of the most versatile precast elements that can be done with UHPC: The slab. UHPC slabs can provide efficient solutions in modular housing, balconies, structural flooring, industry, and civil engineering among others. Their main advantage compared to ordinary concrete slabs is that, for […]
History of the UHPC structures in Spain
Good morning friends! Here I come with the second post of June, which marks the beginning of the summer! Last week I was reading one of these papers that starts listing relevant applications made with UHPC up to date. I noticed that they did not mention any from Spain, and possibly the reason is that […]
Horizon Europe project NATURSEA-PV (2022-2026)
Background: The Horizon Europe project Natursea-PV (Novel Eco-Cementitious Materials and components for competitive, durable and bio-inspired offshore floating PV substructures) funds the research and development of novel materials for substructures oriented to floating photovoltaic systems in offshore environments. Particularly, an eco-UHPC is going to be developed for the design of a system composed by beams […]
