The Benefit of Using High-Performance Concrete for Prefabrication.

This article outlines a numerical study on the benefit of using High-Performance/Strength Concrete for fabrication of concrete elements. For this purpose a comparison is done between the cost of existing beams with normal strength concrete and optimized beams made of High-Performance/Strength Concrete. A background is given concerning the most essential properties of High-Performance/Strength Concrete such as strength, creep, shrinkage, carbonation and fire resistance. The results indicate that it is necessary to improve the structural configuration of the beams to fit with 16-mm strand in order to achieve an economical outfit. The direct cost reduction after optimization of the section was 15%. Also other advantages such as about 35% reduction of the required amount of carbon dioxide in order to produce cement for the same type of beam, lower cost of transport, and a decreased dead weight of the structure compared with the use of normal strength concrete motivates High-Performance/Strength Concrete for these types of structures.