ULTRA HIGH

STRENGTH
CONCRETE (UHSC)
Prepared by Shihab A. Ibrahim 20131679
Content
 Introduction
 Material properties
 Mixing
 Placing
 Compacting
 Pumping
 Curing
 Heat treatment
  Application
 Mix design
 Introduction
 Strength is on of the most important characteristic
characteristic of
hardened concrete. compressive, flexural and tensile are the
most common type of concrete strength.
 When the term “strength” use with concrete it will express its
compression
compression strength
 How ever there is no specific classification limits according to
strength but may
may be summarized
summarized as follow:
follow:
1. Normal strength concrete (10 Mpa  – 40 Mpa)
2. High strength concrete (40 Mpa  –100 Mpa)
3. Ultra high strength concrete (100 Mpa  – 800 Mpa)
 UHSC (Ultra High Strength
Concrete)
 This type of concrete is developed in the 1990s by Bouygues'
laboratory in France. It consists of a special concrete
concrete where its
microstructure is optimized by precise gradation of all particles in
the mix to yield maximum density.
 UHSC is composed of cement, fine sand, quartz powder, micro
silica, HRWRA (High Range Water Reducer Admixture) and steel
fibers optional to increase its concrete ductility and tensile strength.
 w/b ratio of this type of concretes are very low around ~(0.12-
0.15)*
  This new family of materials has compressive strengths greater
than 150 MPa , Modulus of elasticity up to 70 Gpa, and flexural
strength of 30 to 50 MPa, depending on the type of fibers used.
 Additionally,
 Additionally, it has a tensile strength of between 6 and 13 MPa that
is maintained after first cracking.
 UHSC (Ultra High Strength
Concrete)
 The absence of coarse aggregate is considered by the
inventors to be a key-aspect for the microstructure and the
performance of the UHSC in order to reduce the
heterogeneity between the cement matrix and the
aggregate. However, due to the use of very fine sand
instead of ordinary aggregate, the cement content of the
UHSC is as high as 600-1000 kg/m3 instead of 300-500
kg/m3 that are usually used for ordinary concrete.

 Nowadays, UHSC is regarded as a promising material for

special pre-stressed and precast concrete members,
including
including those within industrial and nuclear waste storage
facilities.
 UHSC (Ultra High Strength
Concrete)
  Although production
production costs of UHSC are generally
generally high,
some economical advantages also exist in UHSC
applications. It is possible to reduce or eliminate passive
reinforcement using steel fibers.
  And, due to ultra-high
ultra-high mechanical
mechanical performance of UHSC,
UHSC,
the thickness of concrete elements can be reduced, which
results in materials and cost savings.
 Material properties
Cement:
 Ordinary Portland cement type I/II/V can be used. The main
property that the cement must has its low amount of C 3 A and blain
properties according to ASTM C150. Some researches indicated
that the free C3 A cement gives higher strength than other types,
with respect to type of curing.
 Material properties

Sand:
 fine sand (passing ASTM
ASTM No. 30 sieve) are used.
 Fine sand, generally between 150 and 600 μm, is
dimensionally
dimensionally the largest granular material that are used in
UHSC.
Material properties

Micro-silica or Silica fume:

 Material properties

Super-plasticizer :
 Third generation of superplasticizer with high dosage (1.2  – 2.5 %)
are used for gaining workability in UHSC with w/c ratio lower than
0.22.
 The new generation of this kind of admixtures is represented by
polycarboxlate ether-based superplasticizers (PCEs). With a
relatively low dosage (0.15 –0.3% by cement weight) they allow a
water reduction up to 40%, due to their chemical structure which
enables good particle dispersion.
  Mixing
 Since UHSC is composed of very fine materials, the conventional
mixing method is not appropriate and the mixing method cannot
be the same.
  According to most researchers this is the common way for mixing:
mixing:
a) Drying of mixing powders (including cement, quartz sand,
crushed quartz and silica fume) for about 1 min at a
constant speed of 1800 r/min
b)  Addition of half
half volume of water
water containing
containing half amount of
SP
c) Mixing for about 3 min with a speed of about 285 r/min
d)  Addition of the remaining water and SP
e) Mixing for about 8 min at a constant speed of 1800 r/min.
 placing
 UHSC consist of fine material with highly cementitious property
and low W/C ratio that make the concrete to be very sticky.
sticky.

 placing of this type of concrete need skilled person due to the

behavior of material and proper technique of placing
Compacting
 *Due to highly fineness of material and cementieouse
cementieouse
property the concrete does not fill every parts perfectly.
 *There is special process for removing air bubles in the
concrete that says "Pressure application", before setting
and durring setting a pressure will apply to the concrete
so as to remove the air voids.
 *If not, it needs long vibration to make sure of filling any
portion of the element.
 *For precast members recommended to use table t able
vibrator to gain better result.
 Curing
 Concrete must be properly cured if its optimum properties are to
be developed . An adequate supply of moisture is necessary for
ensuring that hydration is sufficient for reducing the porosity to a
level such that the desired strength can be attained.
 There are some type of curing regime that can be made to
ensuring the hydration of the material:
1. 27 °C water.
2. 60 °C water for 7 days.
3. 60 °C, 95% RH, mist chamber
for 7 days.
 Curing
 From Figure, it is found that curing at 60 °C show a remarkable
compressive strength at the first 7 days, that is almost equal to the
28-day compressive strength of UHSC under standard water
curing at 27 °C. This indicates that curing temperature has a
significant effect on the early strength development of UHSC . The
increased early strength is due to the rapid hydration of cement at
higher curing temperatures of 60 °C compared with that of 27 °C.
Moreover,
Moreover, the pozzolanic reactions are also accelerated by the
higher curing temperatures.
 Heat treatment
 It has been reported that the strength development of ultra-high-
performance concrete is strongly temperature dependent. Post
setting heat treatment is essential to produce concrete with ultra-
ultra -
high strength.

 Type of heat treatments:

1. 20 °C dry air for 16 h & 48 h
2. 100 °C oven dry for 16 h & 48 h
3. 250 °C oven dry for 16 h & 48 h

Effect of temperature and heat-treatment duration

on compressive strength of UHSC in 3 days
 Heat treatment
 From Figure, it is found that the compressive strength of UHSC
increases rapidly with temperature, from 20 °C to t o 250 °C. When
the UHSC samples are heattreated at a temperature of about 100
°C for 16 and 48 h, compressive
c ompressive strengths of about 120 MPa can
be achieved in 3 days. However,
However, compressive strengths go up to
about 200 MPa when the UHSC samples are heattreated at a
temperature of about 250 °C for 16 and 48 h in 3 days, a very
high strength value. The increases are much more, when
compared with that at room temperature of 20 °C. Increased heat-
treatment temperature would lead to long C –S –H chains and this
phenomenon could be attributed to the progression of cement
hydration as well as pozzolanic activity of silica fume and crushed
quartz.
  Advantage of UHSC
 UHSC results in smaller sections and significant weight
reductions.

 Reduced elements number of structural elements.

 Greater energy absorption during seismic events.
 Dense microstructure of UHSC provides excellent
protection against corrosion.
 Excellent chloride penetration resistance and lower water
Disadvantage of UHSC:
 *Highly brittleness limited the usage of this
concrete, but by adding fiber material the ductility
will improve.
 *high cost, with fiber 1242$ while without fiber
332$ for one cubic meter,
meter, (5-10) times expensive
than HPC.
 *Applying pressure to mix and applying heat
treatment in the field has got technological
difficulties and cost.
 *Implementation.
 *There is less research about how it stand in long
Mix design
  Application
 Precast concrete units
 High-pressure pipes
 Blast resistant structures
 Seismic resistant structures
 Security enclosures
 Walkways
 Long span bridges
 Nuclear waste containment structures
 Application
 First prestressed hybrid pedestrian bridge at Sherbrooke in Canada
in 1997.
 The thickness of the bridge was only 35 mm.
 Application
 Replacement of steel beams of the cooling tower in Cattenom in
France in 1997
 Application
 Two heavy traffic bridges built at Bourg-lès-Valence
Bourg-lès-Valence in France build
in 2001
 Application
 Sunyudo (Peace) footbridge in Seoul, Korea the largest UHSC
bridge in the world with a single span of 120m
 Application
 Sakata Mirai Footbridge was planned to replace the old prestressed
concrete pedestrian bridge that had been built about 40 years ago
in Sakata city, Japan .
 Application
 In addition to the its reputation as the tallest bridge in the world, toll-
gate of the Millau Viaduct in France,
France, is one of the best ever made
UHPC roof which was finished in 2003.
 Application
 Hybrid bridge over across the River Fulda in Germany in 2004 was
a pedestrian and cycle track bridge with a length of 133.2 m and
longest single span of 36 m.
 References
 “Optimal conditions
conditions for producing reactive powder concrete”
C. M. Tam, V. W. Y. Tam† and K. M. Ng
 “Ultra-High Strength Concrete Mixtures Using Local
Materials” Srinivas Allena and Craig M. Newtson
 “Fresh and Strength Properties of New Cementitious
Composite Material Using Reactive Powder” Masami
UZAWA, Yoshihide SHIMOYAMA and Shigeo KOSHIKAWA.
 “Material Property Characterization of Ultra -High
Performance Concrete” PUBLICATION NO. FHWA -HRT-06-
103