Stand strong

Ice plants have been built in the gulf to keep concrete protected from high temperatures.

Construction Week discovers the benefits of emerging concrete technologies and how significantly they are set to improve the quality of buildings in the Middle East.

Recent events, such as the building collapse in Deira, Dubai, have proved that compromising on the quality of building materials, such as concrete, can lead to disastrous consequences.

Substandard systems may be acceptable for construction companies who wish to cut corners but, for contractors planning to construct buildings that will stand the test of time, new technologies designed to improve the life-span and quality of concrete have emerged.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

“Customers are not only checking investment prices. Attributes like quality, flexibility, sustainability and service reliability are more important to them,” insists Rupert Plersch, managing director of KTI Plersch, which specialises in concrete cooling.

Strengthening your concrete

English Indian Clays manufactures High Reactivity Metakaolin (HRM), which is a chemical admixture that is formed upon the thermal treatment of kaolinite (a clay mineral).

Metakaolin prevents Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) - a concrete related problem that has a well documented history all over the world. This is caused by the reaction of highly alkaline cement paste with non-crystalline silica, which is found in many common aggregates, such as sand or crushed rock.

The product of this reaction is a gel that surrounds the aggregate in the concrete mix. This gel increases in volume with water and exerts an expansive pressure inside the material, causing loss of strength of the concrete, finally leading to its failure.

HRM is a pozzolan – a material which, when combined with calcium hydroxide, forms compounds possessing cementitious properties.

Experiments have shown that a mineral admixture like Metakaolin reacts with calcium to further lower the PH, reducing the potential for the formation of the ASR gel.

“We have seen a significant number of developers moving towards Metakaolin. It is the first choice of pozzolan in developed markets like Europe and the USA,” says English India Clays country manager for the UAE, Pramod Pillai.

The admixture, which can enhance concrete strength to more than 12,000 pounds per square inch, was first used in 1962 for large Brazilian dams.

And, the product was incorporated into The Californian, a 23-story, US $200 million condominium tower that opened in September 2005 in Los Angeles, to prevent the tower from damage caused by earthquakes.

HRM is a Dubai Municipality certified product and has been use in UAE for  eight years.