Light-Weight High Performance Concrete for Modular Floating Structures
LITEFLOATCON develops light-weight high-performance concrete for modular floating structures, and moves researchers between eight institutions in Europe and Asia to build the expertise to keep improving it.
Floating homes, offshore platforms and marine infrastructure need concrete that is both light enough to float and durable enough to survive decades in chloride-rich water. Conventional concrete is too heavy and too permeable for the job.
LITEFLOATCON builds an international and intersectoral partnership for research on innovative light-weight high-performance concrete (LWHPC) and its application to multi-purpose modular floating structures for coastal space utilisation.
The work runs from material development through to structural and hydrodynamic validation: mix design with supplementary cementitious materials and waste-derived aggregates, fatigue characterisation under cyclic marine loading, modular structural units and their inter-module connectors, coupled fluid–structure interaction of large floating arrays, and life-cycle analysis feeding into design guidance.
Under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Staff Exchanges scheme, researchers second to partner institutions for extended placements, carrying methods, instrumentation know-how and data across the consortium rather than developing them in isolation. UK participation is co-funded through the UKRI Horizon Europe Guarantee.
Eight objectives take the work from material formulation to design guidance.
Six work packages, each led by a partner, covering the work from material development to design guidance.
| WP | Title | Lead |
|---|---|---|
| WP1 | Project management and coordination | OsloMet |
| WP2 | Development of mix design for LWHPC with enhanced strength and durability | Northumbria University |
| WP3 | Fatigue analysis of LWHPC | UCLM |
| WP4 | Modular floating structure using LWHPC | OsloMet |
| WP5 | Coupled fluid–structure interaction of large floating concrete modular systems | University of Plymouth |
| WP6 | Practical application of LWHPC | OsloMet |
The researchers leading the work packages and partner teams.
Associate Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Coordinator · WP1, WP4 & WP6 leadGonzalo Ruiz López
Professor, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
WP3 leadProfessor of Marine Renewable Energy, University College Cork, Ireland
Partner leadNatt Makul
Professor of Civil Engineering Technology, Phranakhon Rajabhat University, Thailand
Partner leadThree beneficiaries and five associated partners across Europe and Asia.
The project team has established the material platform the later work packages build on, across three connected research strands.
Thin fly ash–cement and lime slurry coatings applied to expanded clay aggregate seal its pores, cutting water uptake and improving resistance to chloride penetration in seawater — by a process designed to be adaptable to industrial production.
Fly ash, calcined clay and wood furnace fly ash partially replace Portland cement, drawing on materials available in partner regions. The mixes keep lightweight densities while reducing embodied carbon.
Surface-treated waste polypropylene is being tested as a structural aggregate, with the treatment method developed at Northumbria and scaling work under way at Monash University Malaysia — valorising plastic waste in structural concrete.
OsloMet and Monash University Malaysia are developing standardised lightweight concrete modules that assemble into large platforms, zoned by connector rigidity so that various forms of renewable energy generation can share a single structure.
The University of Plymouth, with OsloMet, is modelling how articulated module arrays respond to waves, comparing a staggered layout against the conventional parallel one to see how the offset geometry changes motions and the forces carried by the connectors.
21 August 2026 · Department of Civil Engineering, Mahindra University, Hyderabad, India · hybrid
The workshop on light-weight high-performance concrete for modular floating structures brought together researchers from the UK, India, Malaysia, Spain, Thailand, South Korea and Norway. Eleven presentations covered mix design, recycled and plastic aggregates, fatigue, life-cycle assessment, microwave-accelerated curing, seismic design, floating infrastructure and precast implementation.
The event opened new collaborations beyond the consortium and has led to several follow-on funding proposals being prepared by partner teams.
Peer-reviewed articles and conference contributions acknowledging funding under grant agreement No. 101129716. All peer-reviewed articles are deposited in an open-access repository.