Durability and fatigue strength
There are a wide variety of machines used in the industrial sector (compressors, turbines, rotating machines, centrifugal pumps, etc). Most of them require a foundation, which is generally made of reinforced concrete. The foundation is submitted to dynamic loads, and in some cases to temperature cycles or impacts. These effects may crack it, generating a loss of stiffness that affects to the performance of the machine and that may even damage it at short-term. The use of UHPC instead of ordinary concrete for these foundations has several benefits:
Advantages:
- UHPC reaches almost half of its compressive strength after 24 h, so the machine can be installed and come into operation after only few hours.
- The high bonding strength of the UHPC matrix to the steel reinforcement and to the steel fibers reduces the possibility of cracking. In case that they appear, UHPC provides a significant post-cracking mechanical capacity. This provides an excellent fatigue strength to the UHPC option.
- The depth of the foundation can be lower than with ordinary concrete, reducing the amount of material consumed and gaining space that is available for other uses.
- UHPC has an exceptional resistance to high temperatures, performing better than other options with ordinary concrete. Besides, the corrosion strength is significantly higher than for steel or ordinary concretes.