High Performance Concrete: Exploring a New Material

Apart from its strength, high performance concrete possesses a number of other properties which make it advantageous for practical applications, such as durability, abrasion resistance, fast strength-development, excellent workability and self-desiccation. These advantages can, however, only be exploited if the mechanical behaviour of the material is well formulated. In this respect, due attention has to be given to those aspects of behaviour which could be expected to be less favourable. This paper presents a number of behavioural aspects of high strength concrete.