UHPC: Opportunity and Challenge for the Design of Ultra-Lightweight Prestressed Concrete Structures (PreULight)
Principal researchers:
JUAN NAVARRO GREGORI
JOSÉ ROCÍO MARTÍ VARGAS
Team members:
- PEDRO SERNA ROS
- ESTER GIMÉNEZ CARBÓ
- CARMEN CASTRO BUGALLO
- TECHNIC: F.J. MARTORELL ROMERO
Funding agency:
Duration: 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2025
Reference: CIAICO/2022/045
Summary
Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is a cement-based composite material that combines three technical advances in concrete: (a) high compressive strength, exceeding 150 MPa; (b) ductile behavior under tension due to the presence of steel fibers, which can provide a strain-hardening response under deformation, accompanied by multiple cracks depending on the volumetric ratio of the fibers, isotropic distribution, or favorable orientation; and (c) a special selection of fine and ultrafine aggregates, resulting in dense packing and high fluidity that facilitates its placement, leading to increased durability.
This project combines the technique of prestressing, widely established in the field of civil engineering structures and in the industrial prefabrication and building construction sectors, with the use of UHPC to advance qualitatively and quantitatively towards innovative designs of ultra-lightweight structural elements.
The general objective is to implement a specific methodology for the design, fabrication, and determination of the stress-strain states of prestressed ultra-lightweight UHPC structures, based on the following specific objectives: (a) Develop design proposals for prestressed ultra-lightweight UHPC structures; (b) Experimentally verify the frontier/innovation aspects introduced in the design proposals; (c) Experimentally simulate the stress-strain states of different project situations; (d) Create digital twins to simulate the state of the proposals during fabrication and different project situations; and (e) Produce a prototype of a structural element to validate the methodology.
