HPC IN STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS AND IN BUILDING COSTS

High Performance Concrete (HPC) opens new perspectives to several applications in civil engineering. The possibility of using HPC in order to have adequate strength at an early age is analysed here by considering the real situation of a small span bridge, located in an industrial area, that was open to traffic 24 hours after casting since the compressive strength, equal to 80 MPa, reached the design value. Due to the strategic location of the bridge, this allowed savings in industrial costs related to the limitation or interruption of heavy traffic over the bridge. Concrete with an enhanced toughness, due to the presence of steel fibres, was used for prestressed thin-web roof elements. Experimental results from full-scale elements show that steel fibres can almost totally replace conventional (welded mesh) reinforcement. Once again, HPC enables lower construction costs due to reduced labour needed for the placement of the welded mesh. Finally, some considerations on the development of the building codes with respect to the new concrete performances are presented.

• INTRODUCTION

• A CASE OF STUDY OF EARLY AGE STRENGTH: A SMALL SPAN BRIDGE

• FINAL INSPECTION

• A CASE STUDY OF ENHANCED CONCRETE TOUGHNESS FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS: A COVERING ROOF ELEMENT IN SFRC

• HPC IN BUILDING CODES

• CONCLUDING REMARKS

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• REFERENCES