This week, we’ve compiled our top 10 record breakers in concrete. From old to new, this list will give you an idea of the best of the best in the world of concrete!
1. Oldest Man-Made Concrete
The earliest recordings of concrete structures date back to 6500BC by the Nabataea traders in regions of Syria and Jordan. They created concrete floors, housing structures, and underground cisterns. This later gave way to modern concrete practices and inspired standard portland cement mixtures. Contrary to popular belief, the Ancient Romans were not the first to create this innovation and did not implement this until around 500 years later, though they were the first to use the material widespread and on a much larger scale.
2. First Concrete Road
Court Avenue in Bellefontaine, Ohio is recorded as the first concrete road in the United States. Built in 1893, George Bartholomew pioneered his own concrete mix which had surprising compressive strength and set out to pave America’s first concrete street. The majority were skeptical of this method, as dirt roads were more familiar, and believed the pavement would not be long-lasting. Bartholomew’s method proved successful and was strong enough to see little damage for the first several decades. The road required only $1400 for maintenance in its first fifty years! Great job, George!
3. Tallest Concrete Structure
The Burj Khalifa, a skyscraper located in Dubai, is currently the tallest structure in the world. Standing at a total height of 829.8 metres (or 2,722 feet), almost tripling the Wilshire Grand tower in Los Angeles, the Burj Khalifa has been used as a platform for the Guinness world record for the highest BASE jump from a building! The primary structure of this building is reinforced with 330,000 m³ (431,600 yd³) making it the strongest concrete structure in the world! The project cost $1.5 billion USD and took approximately 6 years to complete.
4. Largest Concrete Pour
This year Safari Group, Mazsaya Consulting Engineers, Oscar Construction Co Ltd, and CONMIX Ltd. completed the largest continuous concrete pour at 20,246 m³ (26,480.76 yd³). The pour took place from April 13-16, 2017 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and was poured for a new mall project. This world-record continuous pour lasted 62 hours and took 140 individual trucks to deliver the concrete. Between four construction companies, there were approximately 622 people on the job.
5. Longest Concrete Bridge
The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge is the world’s longest bridge, spanning 102.4 miles (165 kilometers). The bridge is located on the rail line between Shanghai and Nanjing in Eastern China, and and cost approximately $8.5 million. The bridge employed 10,000 workers and took 4 years- time, completing in 2010. Danyang-Kunshan has held the Guinness World record title of “longest bridge in the world” since 2011.
6. Largest Concrete Dam
The Three Gorges Dam located in Hubei province, China is said to be the largest concrete dam in the world, containing 27.2×106 m3 (35.6×106 cubic yards) of concrete! With this record size, this power station’s installed capacity is also a record high. The project began in December of 1994, and opened in 2003, costing $37 billion to build. This power-generating dam also currently holds the title of, “heaviest concrete structure” (see number 8).
7. Longest Concrete Tunnel
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is the world’s longest and deepest traffic tunnel with a length of 57.09 km. The tunnel runs through the Alps in Switzerland, and is a component in one of the largest environmental protection projects in Europe. LafargeHolcim supplied 1.3 million m3 of high-tech concrete for various sections of the tunnel.
8. Heaviest Concrete Structure
Coming in for a second round is the Three Gorges Dam from Hubei province, China, holding the title of the world’s heaviest concrete structure, weighing in at 144,309,356,753.51 pounds… of concrete that is! The hydroelectric dam spans the Yangtze River making it the biggest concrete dam in the world. Talk about record breaking…
9. Largest Concrete Producer
LafargeHolcim is the world’s largest concrete producer. Lafarge, a French-based building materials company, and Holcim, a Swiss-based building materials and aggregates company, decided to combine efforts. The company merged in 2015 with the new name LafargeHolcim, combining over 180 years of experience. Together, they produce around 427 million tons of concrete yearly. LafargeHolcim has a local presence in 80 countries with over 1400 ready-mix plants around the world!
10. Largest Concrete Boom Pump
The world’s largest truck-mounted concrete boom pump was created by Putzmeister America, a producer of machinery for the concrete placing industry, and successfully used by Associated Concrete Pumping. The 70Z-meter pump features 227 feet of vertical reach and 212 feet of horizontal reach. It features a five-section Z-fold boom for maximum flexibility and has a 59-foot outside turning radius. The 70Z’s 10 axles come off the ground to steady its 176,000 pound weight.
6 Responses
Among the record setting structures, what is the highest strength concrete?
Hello, thank you for your question. The highest strength concrete class is the Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). According to Portland Cement Association (PCA), “the material is typically formulated by combining portland cement, supplementary cementitious materials, reactive powders, limestone and or quartz flour, fine sand, high-range water reducers, and water. The material can be formulated to provide compressive strengths in excess of 29,000 pounds per square inch (psi) (200 MPa).
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For the last point, you should check a bit:
The Putzmeister M70 WAS the largest pump in the world, then Sany (who, guess what, now own Putzmeister) released a 86 metres boom pump, then, this time it’s come from Cifa-Zoomlion, “Pump 101” was released. Behind this name, a 101 metres boom pump sat on a Scania truck with 7 axles.
Cifa (Zoomlion) built the largest truck mounted “concrete boom pump” 101 meter. A six section boom, 5th & tip sections are light weight composite material.