At the viaduct construction site in Xiantao urban area, nearly 100 UHPC-NC composite bent caps have been completed. This new material, known as "super concrete," has compressive strength 5 to 8 times that of traditional concrete and is being applied on a large scale in the main works of an expressway for the first time in China.

"UHPC is extremely sensitive to temperature and humidity, and construction in hot weather requires even more precise control," the technical director said, pointing to the UHPC bent cap formwork being poured. "We further optimized the rebar layout, introduced positioning fixtures, and used BIM model simulation to cut the on-site installation time for a single formwork to under half an hour, completely moving away from the traditional cast-in-place bracket process."

As of now, for the left carriageway of the Xiantao urban viaduct, 96% of pile foundations, 62% of piers and columns, 45% of UHPC-NC composite bent caps, and 44% of conventional bent caps have been completed. Once the viaduct is built, the space beneath it will be freed up for an 8-lane municipal road, thoroughly resolving the urban area's dilemma of "limited clearance and cramped sites."

Source:Jingchu Net