Twenty years-long French experience in UHPFRC application and paths opened from the completion of the standards for UHPFRC
Abstract
Ultra-high Performance Fibre-Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) has emerged as a fruitful result of research efforts based on three main ideas: strength and compactness improvement of cement materials by intense reduction of the water to binder ratio; efficient use of fibers to provide post-cracking tensile capacity and pseudo-ductility; and reduction of natural imperfections due to aggregate in limiting their size and selecting very high quality materials in an optimized grading. From twenty years, UHPFRC has demonstrated outstanding strength and resistance to transfer, so that durability and lightness of prestressed members have been mostly searched in structural applications. Later on, UHPFRC has been adopted to develop attractive façade and roofing components, owing to renewed aesthetic possibilities associated to durable mineral surface quality, lightness, semi-transparency and possible complex shapes.
Based on this experience the standardization process launched in France has resulted in three complementary standards, addressing UHPFRC structural design, material production and control (both documents published in 2016), and execution of structures (to be published by end 2018). Further expected development (deserving significant educational efforts) especially concern civil engineering facilities answering high durability and sustainability demands, light and efficient solutions for protection and structural repair, and architectural achievements in façades and public buildings.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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