How Do UHPC Openwork Components Ensure Structural Strength in Openwork Areas? Coordinated Design, Material and Process Solutions

UHPC hollow-out components have become a popular choice for high-end buildings thanks to their lightweight, open decorative effect, but the hollow-out areas tend to form structural weak points. Design optimization, material upgrades, and process control must work in synergy to ensure structural strength meets standards. As a professional manufacturer of UHPC hollow-out components, Qinglong ensured strength for UHPC components with a hollow-out ratio exceeding 50% in the Ouargla Hotel project in Algeria, accumulating mature technical solutions.

Design optimization is the core of ensuring strength at hollow-out areas, using structural simulation and joint reinforcement to avoid weak points. Qinglong uses finite element analysis software to perform mechanical simulation on hollow-out components, modeling stress distribution under self-weight, wind loads, and other actions, and optimizing hollow-out shapes and arrangements to avoid stress concentration—prioritizing circular and elliptical hollow-outs (with uniform stress distribution) while avoiding sharp corners (which easily cause stress concentration). Stiffening ribs are set at the edges of hollow-outs (width ≥50mm, thickness ≥1.2 times the component thickness) to form a "frame-type" support structure that disperses the load on hollow-out areas. Through stiffening rib design, the UHPC hollow-out panels of the Ouargla Hotel in Algeria maintain a flexural strength ≥22MPa even with a hollow-out ratio above 50%, meeting the mechanical requirements of exterior wall decoration. For large-area hollow-out components, modular design is adopted: the small modules after splitting are convenient for production and transport, reduce the load pressure on each individual module, and improve overall structural stability.

Material performance upgrades provide strength support for hollow-out areas, with a focus on optimizing the fiber ratio and the cementitious system. Qinglong uses a combined addition of high-modulus alkali-resistant glass fibers and steel fibers (total fiber volume ratio 2-3%): steel fibers (length 12-15mm, diameter 0.2-0.3mm) improve compressive and impact resistance, while alkali-resistant glass fibers (length 6-12mm, diameter 13-18μm) improve flexural and crack resistance. The fibers are evenly distributed at hollow-out edges, forming "fiber bridges" that inhibit crack propagation. The cementitious system uses high-grade cement compounded with composite mineral admixtures (fly ash, slag powder) to improve the interfacial bond between cement paste and aggregates, giving the UHPC matrix a compressive strength ≥150MPa and providing a solid material foundation for hollow-out areas. In the UHPC faux-wood translucent panel project at Shanghai New World Century Plaza on Nanjing East Road, fiber reinforcement technology kept the hollow-out areas structurally strong even with light-guide rods densely arranged, with no deformation or cracking whatsoever.

Process control ensures the forming quality of hollow-out areas and prevents defects during production. Qinglong adopts an automated spray molding process with precise spraying targeted at hollow-out areas, ensuring even distribution of fibers and slurry without fiber agglomeration or slurry accumulation. Spray pressure is controlled at 0.3-0.5MPa to guarantee compactness at hollow-out edges (porosity ≤5%), preventing strength reduction caused by insufficient compactness. Mold design uses high-precision CNC engraved molds with mold gaps at hollow-out areas ≤0.5mm, ensuring smooth, regular hollow-out edges after forming, free of burrs or chipped edges. A dedicated water-based release agent is selected to avoid contaminating hollow-out edges, which would affect subsequent decorative effects and strength. In the UHPC hollow-out exterior wall panel project at the Yangshengtang Pharmaceutical Hangzhou Industrial Park, precise process control achieved a surface flatness error of hollow-out areas ≤±1mm, uniform compactness, and a full pass rate in strength testing.

Qinglong's UHPC hollow-out component strength assurance solution has been successfully applied to multiple landmark projects at home and abroad. The hollow-out ratio can be flexibly adjusted between 30% and 60% according to design requirements, meeting both strength and decorative effect requirements. For designers and owners, strength assurance of hollow-out components is key to project safety. Qinglong provides customized solutions for every hollow-out component project through its integrated "design-material-process" technical system, perfectly balancing the lightweight, open decorative effect with reliable structural safety. As UHPC technology continues to develop, the strength limits of hollow-out components keep being pushed forward. Qinglong will continue to pursue innovation, providing more product choices for architectural decoration that combine aesthetics with performance.