Background:
A factory from an industrial sector (confidential) has a tower to raise material through it. On many occasions, the material falls and impacts against the internal walls (structural), which are also submitted to vibrations and thermal cycles (20oC to 300oC). The walls, made of concrete, are significantly damaged and they need an urgent intervention to avoid the risk of collapse of the structure. The factory failed with three different protective layers applied in the last 5 years, damaging even more the tower with the interventions.
Why to use UHPC?
UHPC is the material that fulfils at the same time the conditions required for this reparation:- The thickness of the protective layer should be minimum to maintain the internal dimensions of the tower. UHPC performance allows it. This thin layer should guarantee a perfect bonding to the current structure to avoid that vibrations and thermal cycles break it. UHPC toughness and bonding capacity can guarantee it.
- The material should allow a fast intervention to minimize the downtime of the factory: UHPC can provide ≈40% of its total compressive strength after only 24 h. In this application and with rudimentary means, up to 5 m of tower high were done per day, requiring no more than 10 days to complete an action that will not require maintenance in decades.
Advantages:
- Durable and reliable solution.
- Can be done with traditional tools.
Achievements:
- Largest Formex® work made in Africa (2021).
- Tower under service in less than 2 weeks (reduced downtime).
