A review on the potential application of ultra-high performance concrete in offshore wind towers: insights into material properties, mechanisms, and models

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), characterized by its high strength and toughness as well as durability, provides a promising solution for the construction of offshore wind towers (OWTs). This paper comprehensively reviews the durability and the dynamic mechanical properties of UHPC for OWTs under the impacts of the marine environment. Furthermore, the modifying effects of additives, including supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and reinforcing fibers, as well as nanofillers on UHPC are explored. Overall, UHPC possesses a dense microstructure that impedes the intrusion of harmful substances, and owing to the incorporation of additives, UHPC exhibits outstanding dynamic mechanical properties, making it an ideal material for applications in OWTs subjected to vibration fatigue and dynamic impact loads. Incorporating SCMs into UHPC can improve the durability and environmental benefits while maintaining similar dynamic mechanical properties concurrently. Nanofillers can serve as a beneficial supplement to steel fibers providing improved durability and dynamic mechanical properties by endowing UHPC dense microstructure and high system energy. Various models of marine environmental and loading actions on UHPC, examining ion transport, matrix degradation, and constitutive models, are concluded to gain insight into the underlying destructive mechanisms. These underlying mechanisms and the theoretical models further deepen the understanding of the service performance of UHPC in marine environments, thus providing the design guidance for the potential applications of UHPC in OWTs.