Case Studies

The Pont de Thouaré-sur-Loire bridge in northwestern France was built between 1879 and 1882. In order to keep up with modern traffic flows and correct years of corrosion, the aging, quarter-mile long bridge underwent a complete renovation in 2017. Today, the original brick vaulted structure now features Ultra High-Performance Fiber reinforced concrete slabs resting on new metal bridge components.

Manufactured by Birmingham Concrete Design (BCD) in Irondale, owner Michael Morris used SMARTUP UHPC to build a conference room table for National Cement Company’s plant in Ragland. Designed to showcase the material’s ability to take complex, slender shapes and fill intricate molds without consolidation methods (like vibration), the table now serves as a striking example of the material's possibilities.

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is investigating the use of prestressed H-piles made with ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC) instead of traditional steel. The ALDOT funded research project is a collaboration between the University of Alabama, Forterra Precast and Smart-UP UHPC.

UHPC has been a major component in many Accelerated Bridge Construction or ABC projects. To date, the major use of UHPC has been in prefabricated bridge element construction; sometimes called closure pours. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently utilized UHPC for prefabricated bridge element connections on a series of five bridges in North Texas.