Infrastructure
Today, in the USA alone there are 85 long-span suspension bridges that are more than 50 years old in need of deck repairs and 400,000 state bridges that are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. CALTRANS has identified 6,000 bridges in need of an overlay and there are over 1,000 major tunnels in the US. All of these structures can have their useful life significantly increased with UHPC overlays, UHPC girders, UHPC beams and UHPC connections.
The state of disrepair of the America’s transportation foundation has been met with historical funding from government by way of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (link it to official source), which represents a potential USD $1 trillion investment in infrastructure and approximately $40 billion of new funding for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation. The quantity of UHPC required to fix these bridges is in excess of $2 billion for just the UHPC materials alone.
The following is a select list of infrastructure applications highlighting where ceEntek’s UHPC 2.0TM properties provide a strong advantage for traction and growth:
- Very long-span bridges > 500 ft. – design with certain UHPC suppliers producing 300 ft bridges made entirely out of UHPC. With further optimization and post-tensioning clear spans using UHPC will increase.
- Hollow poles, piles and pipes – spun-cast, vibro-compaction and gravity methods have been used to produce hollow-circular elements. High-mast tapered poles have been spun-cast in self stressing prestressed moulds.
- Energy Grid – UHPC has been developed for power poles, cross-arms for high-voltage transmission and grillage foundations for soft soils and northern perma-frost.
- High Speed Mass Transit – guide rails for Mag-Lev has been developed in Japan in the early 2000’s. UHPC can also be used to produce the high abrasion resistant thin walled tubes for Hyperloop. The tubes can have unbalanced pre-stressing to produce smooth gradual curvature in the tube.
- Repair and Rehabilitation – with our aging infrastructure the repair and rehabilitation market is a very large opportunity where UHPC can extend the service life well beyond the original intended life. This is currently one of the large markets for UHPC for uses such as, pier jacketing, deck overlays, connections between precast bridge elements and beam-end repairs.
- High Security – UHPC has high resistance again terrorism or accidental impact due to its toughened matrix. The material has been used in safes / vaults, armouring of embassies and other installations requiring improve protection or security.