Nevada Captures the ‘America’s Cup of Civil Engineering’

Although from a distance it looked like an ordinary canoe race, the canoes and the competitors were not your typical boats and paddlers. They were civil engineering students from across the U.S. and Canada racing canoes made of concrete.

With equal parts technical skill, creativity and determination, the University of Nevada, Reno captured their first ever national Concrete Canoe title at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 21st Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition, June 21 at Montreal’s Olympic Basin.

"Argentum," their 19.5-foot-long, 160-pound, white canoe with blue and silver stain, defeated entries from top engineering schools from across the country, and ended the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s five-year winning streak.

The races, both endurance and sprint combined, counted for only 25 percent of the teams’ overall score. The remaining 75 percent was based equally on a technical design paper that highlighted the planning, development, testing and construction of the team’s canoe; a formal oral presentation, in which the team had to detail their canoe’s design, construction, racing ability and other innovative features, as well as defend their choices to the judges during a question and answer session; and the end product—the final racing canoe and project display, which were scored on aesthetics and visual presentation.
For more information on the competition, visit www.concretecanoe.asce.org.

May PPI: Steel, Asphalt Up Sharply

Steel prices increased for the seventh consecutive month, up a whopping 10.7% from April to May, according to the May Producer Price Index (PPI). (Click on graph to enlarge.)

Asphalt prices also rose sharply, up 5.1% from the previous month. Lumber prices gained 4.1%, while concrete remained stable with no price change.

During that the last year, steel prices are up 20.8%, asphalt is up 10%, and concrete is up 3.2%. Lumber prices have declined by 3.5%

Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. PCA provides this information to aid in the promotion of concrete and cement-based products.
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Contact Craig Schulz

PCA and McGraw-Hill Team Up for Ad Supplement on FDR

PCA and McGraw-Hill Regional Construction regional publications will again produce an advertising supplement on Full-Depth Reclamation (FDR) with cement in November. The  national supplement produced by PCA will appear in all 11 magazines of McGraw-Hill Regional Publications for a total circulation of 75,000. Reprints of this special section would be available for use as a marketing communications piece.

Each Regional Promotion Group has the option for additional coverage with an advertisement and a regional case history. These pages would appear adjacent to the special section in the magazine covering its region.

If you have ideas or projects for editorial content, contact Bruce McIntosh at PCA. If you are interested in advertising, contact Joan Callahan at McGraw-Hill.
Contact Joan Callahan.
Contact Bruce McIntosh.

ASTM Masonry Symposium and Call for Papers

Papers are invited for the Symposium on Masonry, sponsored by ASTM Committee C01 on Cement. The symposium will be held June 8, 2010, at the Renaissance Grand and Suites Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, in conjunction with the June 8-11 standards development meetings of Committees C01, C07, C12, and C15.

The scope of the symposium covers the usage, constructibility, selection, or specification of masonry materials or workmanship as they relate to masonry construction, research, restoration, or innovative techniques or new materials. The symposium will serve as a forum to gather and disseminate the latest information on all aspects of innovations in masonry, emphasizing the application of ASTM standards to those areas, and their coordination with building codes, project specifications, and international standards.
Visit the ASTM 2010 Masonry Symposium Web site for more information.

PCA Appoints Spiker as Regional Engineering Manager

PCA named Jerry M. Spiker, PE, AIA, LEED AP, as a regional engineering manager in the Engineered Structures department.  Spiker will offer technical assistance to engineers, architects, contractors, owners, and universities on the benefits of concrete structure buildings.

Spiker, located in Virginia Beach, Va., will provide support throughout the eastern portion of the United States.

Prior to joining PCA, Spiker was with the architectural and engineering firm MMM Design Group in Norfolk, Va.  He has more than 25 years of design and engineering experience and was the structural engineer of record for numerous steel, concrete, and masonry projects.   Spiker is the author of two Unified Facilities Criteria design guides and several guide specifications for the Department of Defense.  He also was instrumental in the adoption of the International Building Code by the Department of Defense.

Spiker is a registered professional engineer in North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida as well as being a registered architect in Virginia.  He holds a Masters of Business Administration from The College of William & Mary, a Masters of Engineering from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Contact Jerry Spiker.

Inherent Mercury Controls Within The Portland Cement Kiln System-Model of Mercury Behavior Within the Manufacturing System: Understanding the behavior of mercury within cement kilns will help kiln operators devise ways to measure mercury emissions accurately and reduce mercury emissions. This project has been divided into two activities with the objectives to: 1) assemble and analyze mercury mass balance data from portland cement facilities, and 2) develop a model of mercury behavior within the manufacturing system. Schreiber & Yonley Associates (SYA) conducted the investigation into mercury mass balance data, and Reaction Engineering International (REI) developed the model of mercury behavior in the Portland cement kiln system, which is presented in this report (SN2841a; no charge; PDF only).
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Thickness Design Systems for Pavements Containing Soil-Cement Bases: With the proposed move to a national Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide, PCA initiated this study to review the proposed models for soil-cement base and cement modified soils. To provide a smooth transition to the new design procedures researchers evaluated the laboratory procedures needed to provide the input material properties for resilient modulus and modulus of rupture. In addition, software tools were developed to introduce the concepts of mechanistic design to pavement designers (SN2863; no charge; PDF only).
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U.S. And Canadian Cement Characteristics: 2004: This report summarizes yearly average data on chemical and physical characteristics of hydraulic cements produced in the U.S. and Canada in 2004. Included are data on portland cements, blended cements, masonry cements, plastic cements, mortar cements, and cements meeting ASTM C1157. This report also compares and contrasts the 2004 data on portland cements with historical data available since 1950 ( SN2879; no charge; PDF only).
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Comparison of the Life Cycle Assessments of an Insulating Concrete Form House and a Wood Frame House: This report is an update of Life Cycle Assessment of an Insulating Concrete Form House Compared to a Wood Frame House (Marceau and VanGeem 2002). It presents the results of an assessment of the environmental attributes of concrete construction compared to wood-framed construction. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted on a house modeled with two types of exterior walls: a wood-framed wall and an ICF wall. The LCA was carried out according to the guidelines in International Standard ISO 14044, Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines. The house was modeled in five cities, representing a range of U.S. climates: Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, Washington (DC), and Chicago. (SN3041; no charge; PDF only).
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Comparison of The Life Cycle Assessments of a Concrete Masonry House and a Wood Frame House: This report is an update of Life Cycle Assessment of an Concrete Masonry House Compared to a Wood Frame House (Marceau and VanGeem 2002). It presents the results of an assessment of the environmental attributes of concrete construction compared to wood-framed construction. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted on a house modeled with two types of exterior walls: a wood-framed wall and a CMU wall. The LCA was carried out according to the guidelines in International Standard ISO 14044, Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines. The house was modeled in five cities, representing a range of U.S. climates: Lake Charles, Tucson, St. Louis, Denver, and Minneapolis. (SN3042; no charge; PDF only).
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Air Emissions Data Summary for Portland Cement Pyroprocessing Operations: PCA sponsored the compilation of air emission test data obtained at cement plants after 1999.  Member companies provided post-1999 test reports subject to 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart LLL.  Reports indicate the average dioxin-furan emission rate at 0.046 ng TEQ/NM3@ 7% O2.  Many of the emission test values were close to the minimum detection limits of EPA Method 23.  Preheater and preheater-precalciner kilns had slightly lower emissions than wet and long dry kilns.  Kiln fuel type had no apparent impact on dioxin-furan emissions.  Comparison of post- and pre-NESHAPS dioxin-furan emission concentrations indicate overall reduction in the average dioxin-furan emissions from the cement industry (SN3048; no charge; PDF only).
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Tire-Derived Fuel: Scrap tires can be an environmentally sound source of energy in the manufacture of cement.  This newly updated 4-page Sustainable Manufacturing Fact Sheet shows how the popularity of tire-derived fuel has increased over the past two decades and summarizes its environmental benefits (IS325; $15.00 for pack of 50, no discounts; PDF is free).
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Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Cement Microscopy: The International Cement Microscopy Association’s annual conferences offer an excellent variety of high-level papers on cement- and concrete-related issues, providing both researcher and practitioner with a valuable source of technical information. Authors include international experts from universities, research institutes, and other organizations. (CD029; $25.00, no discount).
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2008 IEEE Cement Industry Technical Conference: The 2008 Cement Industry Technical Conference, co-sponsored by IEEE and PCA, presented 24 technical papers on topics in the categories of Environment, Maintenance, and Safety; Power Generation and Distribution; Automation; General Practices; and Drives. The focus on new technologies and operational innovations along with case studies make these annual proceedings a major resource for cement plant personnel and others involved with the cement industry. The CD contains subject and author indexes, and is word-searchable (CD080; $50.00, no discount).
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RCC Pavement Provides Performance and Economy at Denver International Airport: This two-page case study describes the design and construction techniques used for a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) pavement at the Denver International Airport. The RCC pavement is used as a stockpile area during snow removal operations. RCC was selected over the asphalt alternative because it had the quality characteristics of an industrial concrete pavement at a cost less than the asphalt alternative (PL625; $10.00 for pack of 25, no discounts; PDF is free).
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Structural Evaluation of the Point Michaud Road Pavement Rehabilitation Using Full-Depth Reclamation With Portland Cement: A comprehensive evaluation of the expected performance of the first full-depth reclamation (FDR) with cement project in Nova Scotia was conducted by Dalhousie University. A combination of ground penetrating radar and falling weight deflection testing was used to evaluate the thickness and elastic modulus of a 6.8-km-long asphalt concrete test section. According to the fatigue models, FDR provides significantly longer service life under similar traffic loading compared to the alternative of complete removal and replacement (SR021; no charge; PDF only).
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