Advanced mechanical properties and frost damage resistance of ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete

- Glass powder decreases porosity of ultra-high performance concrete.
- Glass powder increases hydration process of Portland cement.
- Mixture of ultra-high performance concrete can be prepared with decent technology.
- Addition of micro steel fibres in ultra-high performance concrete do not increase resistance to salt-scaling.

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) mixture with advanced mechanical and durability properties was created using decent mixer. Usually UHPC is made with advanced and sophisticated technology. In experiment UHPC was prepared with high intensity mixer “EIRICH R02”, then mixture was modified and prepared in rotating pan mixer “Zyklos ZZ50HE”. Rotating pan mixer is similar to mixer which has common concrete plants. Experiment results revealed that UHPC with W/C = 0.30 and advanced mechanical and durability properties can be prepared. In experiment tremendous amount of micro steel fibres (up to 147 kg/m3) were incorporated in UHPC. Concrete with excellent salt scaling resistance and great mechanical properties was obtained. Compressive strength was increased about 30% from 116 MPa to 150 MPa and flexural strength was increased about 5 times from 6.7 to 36.2 MPa. Salt-scaling resistance at 40 cycles in 3% NaCl solution varied from 0.006 kg/m2 to 0.197 kg/m2. There were a few attempts to create UHPC and UHPFRC with decent technology, however, unsuccessfully till now. In the world practice this new material is currently used in the construction of bridges and viaducts.