Durable advanced Concrete Solutions (DaCS)

Design and construction for coastal and arctic regions (2015-2019)

Concrete structures for severe conditions face three main challenges:

• strict environmental requirements,
• more severe exposure conditions, and
• impact of construction activities in frontier regions.

Kvaerner is the world leader in marine offshore concrete structures and aims to further develop competitive, safe, robust and HSE friendly offshore concrete structures for new markets including arctic areas. Structures located in such areas are subjected to severe frost and ice exposure which implies new types of loads and wear.

Kvaerner's partners for this research project were: AF Gruppen, Axion (Stalite), Concrete Structures, Mapei, Multiconsult, NorBetong, Norcem, Statens Vegvesen, NTNU, SINTEF, Skanska, Unicon and Veidekke.

The project offered mutual and beneficial cooperation between the land-based and offshore industries. The project has built a strong pool of knowledge, making the Norwegian industry prepared to provide the high quality, durable concrete structures required for the future.

The following research areas were defined:

• Early age cracking and crack calculation in design
• Production of frost resistant concrete
• Concrete ice abrasion
• Ductile, durable Lightweight Aggregate Concrete