A bridge for Brunei

Once completed, the bridge will serve as an important traffic artery connecting the mainland of the Southeast Asian sultanate with a new industrial complex on the island of Pulau Muara Besar. The bridge is a flagship development for Brunei and a prestigious project for the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC). As a result, correspondingly high demands were placed on the quality of the building materials from the very start. MC-PowerFlow 2151 and Centrament Retard 311 succeeded in establishing their superiority in what is a competitive international market of suppliers for concrete admixtures, delivering excellent results in the preliminary tests both for ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete components. Together with our local partner, C.Tech Sdn Bhd, we have been able to develop ideal concrete formulations for a wide variety of applications.
MC admixtures satisfy extreme requirements
The challenge lay not only in working the concrete under the hot climatic conditions of Southeast Asia, but also in the required resistance to seawater. In addition, the work had to be carried out with a CEM I cement (62.5R), an extremely fine but exacting grade intended to guarantee a very high level of strength and durability in the concrete. MC-PowerFlow 2151 was used for the bridge’s foundations and girders. Based on MC polymer technology, the high-performance superplasticiser is free of corrosion-promoting components, can be mixed quickly into the concrete and ensures extremely good liquefaction despite significant water savings. The project in Brunei achieved the required two hours of processing time for the concrete under outside temperatures between 35° and 40° Celsius.

Combined with Centrament Retard 311, MC-PowerFlow 2151 was just as successful in the construction of the bridge piers. The retarder’s liquefying effect not only prolongs the workability period, it also results in a flatter temperature curve, thus reducing the risk of temperature-related stress cracks. It likewise contributes to increased final strength in the concrete. The right mix ensured that the concrete’s application time was extended to up to four hours.
Both these MC admixtures proved their worth in Brunei in an offshore site under difficult climatic conditions, with very good results: the concretes exhibit optimised processing properties, the required strength levels and an outstanding quality of finish, thus complying with the high quality specifications of the client.