Introduction
The rise of innovations can transform the business world in the future as it brings new opportunities for the companies to add the value for the company and improve customer satisfaction (Hyman, 2011). According to Esquivias et. al. (2010), many companies are missing the opportunity to develop their existing formats which could enable them to offer a superior value for its customers. Moreover, more adaptive companies are entering the market with new concepts that are more responsive for the consumer’s changing preferences (Esquivias et. al., 2010). The construction industry is also highly connected with innovations in terms of achieving efficiency and cost effectiveness (NRC, 2013). This report will be based on the innovative concrete products, particularly analyzing Ultra-High Performance Concrete. Furthermore, other existing modern trends and issues of concrete industry are also will be examined in brief.

Concrete industry
According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2012), concrete plays a significant role in the modern world. Being used for construction of the majority hospitals, residential and commercial buildings, schools, bridges, runways, roads it actually shapes the built environment around us (WBCSD, 2012). Moreover, with global annual concrete production of almost 3 tons per every human in the world, it is become the most used man made material in the world. Additionally, comparing to the other building materials such as steel, plastic, wood and aluminium the amount of concrete used globally is twice as much than all of them together (WBCSD, 2012).
The modern construction industry trends are closely linked with innovations of new materials, improvement of construction techniques and research is done continuously to improve economy and increase durability (Hooda et al, 2013). The manufacturers of concrete are also compelled to implement new technologies and techniques in concrete production to stay competitive and improve existing product in accordance with modern trends. There is a number of new different technologies that have changed concrete characteristics dramatically such as: * Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC) – type of concrete which does not require mechanical consolidation for placement, achieving inaccessible spots and minimizing the voids by the means of its own weight (NRMCA, 2011).

* Translucent Concrete – type of concrete prepared with an addition of optical fibers which are added to change the perception of concrete’s opaque mass (Picture 1), (PCA, no date).

* Picture 1. Translucent Concrete. Source: /http://kishaniperera.com/2012/04/translucent-concrete/
Picture 1. Translucent Concrete. Source: /http://kishaniperera.com/2012/04/translucent-concrete/
Ultra-High Performance Concrete – provides extremely high durability, workability and strength without using coarse aggregates (PCA, no date).
Ultra-High Performance Concrete

As it was mentioned above this report mainly will be based on the analysis of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC), which is also known as a Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC). According to the Pagan-Ortiz (2013), UHPC refers to a “relatively new class of advanced cementitious composite materials whose mechanical and durability properties far surpass those of conventional concrete”. The first developments of that type of concrete started more than two decades ago, with initial structural deployments occurring only in late 1990s (Pagan-Ortiz, 2013).

The first major structure in the world which was built with the usage of USPC was the “Sherbrook Footbridge” (Picture 2), erected in 1997 in Canada at The City of Sherbrook, Quebec (Blais and Couture, 1999). Since then, there were at least 26 other bridges have been built in Canada with the use of USPC (Pagan-Ortiz, 2013)
Picture 2. Sherbrook Footbridge. Source: Blais and Couture (1999).
Picture 2. Sherbrook Footbridge. Source: Blais and Couture (1999).

Table 1. UHPC Characteristics | STRENGTH | | Compressive | 120 to 150 MPa (200 MPa max)
(17000 to 22000 psi) | Flexural | 15 to 25 MPa (50 MPa max)
(2200 to 3600 psi) | Modulus of Elasticity | 45 to 50 GPa
(6500 to 7300 ksi) | DURABILITY | | Freeze/thaw
(after 300 cycles) | 100% | Salt-scaling
(loss of residue) | < 60 g/m2 (< 0.013 lb/ft3) | Abrasion
(relative volume loss index) | 1.7 | Oxygen permeability | <10-20 m2 (< 10-19 ft2) | Cl- permeability
(total load) | < 10 C | Carbonation depth | < 0.5 mm (< 0.02 in.) | Source: Portland Cement Association, (2013) |
The components of USPC include portland cement, silica fume, fine silica sand, quartz flour, high-range water reducer, water, and steel or organic fibers, which in result of mixing with each other provide high-strength, ductile concrete with enhanced durability (PCA, 2013). This type of concrete has enormous characteristics such as compressive strengths up to 200 MPa (29000 psi) and flexural strengths up to 50 MPa (7000 psi) (PCA, 2013). Table 1 represents the average characteristics which could be gained by using USPC in construction. These superior characteristics are the result of adding discontinuous fiber reinforcement to the mix (Strength) and chemical reaction between the combinations of fine powders sized maximum to 600 micrometer and admixtures (Durability). The ductility offered by the USPC, provide such an important feature to building as a “capacity to deform and support flexural and tensile loads, even after initial cracking” (PCA, 2013). Moreover, employment of USPC in the construction can simplify the work because of exclusion of reinforcing steel and the ability of the material to be virtually self placing or dry cast (PCA, 2013).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the trends in the construction industry were always changing, and a lot of research and development were done in order to improve the building technology and materials, to support such changes. As the modern and probably the future trends in the construction are linked with High-Rise buildings, such materials as USPC will replace an average concrete, in order to achieve cost effectiveness and better quality in the construction process.

References

1. Blaise, P.Y. and Couture, M., (1999) “Precast, Prestressed Pedestrian Bridge—World’s First Reactive Powder Concrete Structure,” PCI Journal, Vol. 44, No. 5, September/October 1999, pp. 60–71

2. Esquivias, P., Ramos, P., Souza, R. (2010) ‘Business Model Adaptation in Retail: A Growing Need’. The Boston Consulting Group, pp. 2-8

3. Hyman, P. (2011) ‘Ten Disruptive Technologies’. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 54, Issue 9

4. Hooda N., Singh P., Singh B., Verma V. and Dhiman S. (2013) “Modern Trends in Construction”. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering. Vol. 3, Iss. 3, Aug. 2013

5. National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (2011), “Self-Consolidating Concrete” [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.selfconsolidatingconcrete.org/ [Accessed on 10th October 2013]

6. National Research Council Canada, (2013) “ARCHIVED – Innovation affects the success of the construction industry v2n4-16” [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ci-ic/article/v2n4-16 [Accessed on 10th October 2013]

7. Portland Cement Association (no date), “Emerging Trends and Innovations in Concrete” [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.cement.org/buildings/emerging_trends_splash.asp#dbia [Accessed on 10th October 2013]

8. Portland Cement Association (2013), “USPC” [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.cement.org/tech/cct_con_design_uhpc.asp [Accessed on 10th October 2013]

9. Pagan-Ortiz, J. (2013), “Ultra-High Performance Concrete: A State-of-the-Art Report for the Bridge Community”. Federal Highway Administration [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/hpc/13060/ [Accessed on 10th October 2013] | | 10. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2012), “Sustainability with concrete” [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.wbcsdcement.org/index.php/key-issues/sustainability-with-concrete [Accessed on 10th October 2013]