CRC I2® APPLICATION CASES – SUSTAINABILITY

An increasing demand for documentation

UHPC AND THE ENVIRONMENT

In relation to various projects, a recurring question is how sustainable Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) CRC i2® is, often followed by a request for an environmental product declaration or EPD. The reason this is not "just" available on Hi-Con's website is that it does not make sense to compare the environmental "footprint" of producing a cubic meter of CRC i2® with a cubic meter of conventional concrete—because they are used in completely different ways.

Due to its strength and flexibility, significantly less CRC i2® is required to produce elements with comparable performance, such as a 10 m² balcony. Therefore, even though UHPCs, including CRC i2®, contain more cement per m³ than conventional concrete (cement is the primary source of CO2 emissions from concrete), the net result is that roughly the same amount of cement is used per m² of balcony whether it is made of CRC or conventional concrete.

What is Ultra High Performance Concrete?

NO STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE

Secondly, UHPC CRC i2® elements last over 200 years without structural maintenance.

Thirdly, CRC i2®-based solutions often have additional benefits, such as fewer trucks needed for transport, fewer support brackets, use of smaller cranes during assembly, fewer thermal bridges due to lower forces, etc.

Therefore, the materials cannot be directly compared on a 1:1 volume basis.

CHICANES IN ULTRA HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE

An example of how CRC i2® contributes to creating innovative solutions is in infrastructure—more specifically, chicanes and other types of traffic calming solutions.

Chicanes, speed bumps, and other traffic-regulating road installations are typically built on-site or made from conventional prefabricated concrete and placed in prepared holes in the pavement. However, they are difficult to maintain, especially in cold countries where road salt is regularly used, and the holes in the pavement make it costly to move them when traffic patterns need to change—requiring extra work with machinery, asphalt laying, etc.

Hi-Con has produced thin but strong chicanes for placement on top of the pavement in Brønderslev municipality. The weight is kept as low as possible, both to make them easy to move and to save resources.

With minimal maintenance required and the ability to last over 200 years, the municipality needs relatively fewer chicanes, which they can then reuse as needed. They are also kept low in height to allow large transport trucks to drive over them without additional, temporary installations on each chicane. This is resource-efficient.

In the future, we expect an increasing demand for "The Life Cycle Analysis" (LCA) of Cradle-to-Cradle assessments of potential projects and are currently working on how to best conduct these.

We hope you found this interesting. We will continuously update with more examples of how the unique properties of UHPC CRC i2® can be used to realize unique projects.

Editor’s note: Since this blog post was written in 2017, Hi-Con has completed both an LCA and an EPD. You can find the EPD at the link below:

Our EPD from 2024