Source: American Concrete Institute Foundation, Farmington Hills, Mich.
The ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council (CRC) has announced $10,000 commitments to four projects:
• “Developing an Information Delivery Manual for Cast-in-Place Concrete Building Information Modeling (BIM)” and “Precast National BIM Standard – Phase III” under Georgia Tech School of Architecture Professor Charles Eastman, whose work is supported by ACI Committee 131, Building Information Modeling of Concrete Structures.
• “Round-Robin Test Series to Evaluate Models Developed to Predict the Lateral Formwork Pressure when Using Self-Consolidating Concrete,” under Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute’s Peter Billberg, an ACI member active on Committees 237 and 238, Self-Consolidating Concrete and Workability of Fresh Concrete.
• “Modeling Parameters and Proposed Acceptance Criteria for Rehabilitated Columns using Concrete, Steel, or FRP Jackets,” under Sergio Breña, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who is active on ACI Committees including 318, Structural Concrete Building Code.
The CRC advances knowledge of concrete materials, construction, and structures through research. In coordination with ACI technical committees, it solicits and selects research proposals, assists in financing and guiding research, and helps publish results. The CRC provides direct co-funding for research projects and recommends projects to other industry foundations for supplemental funding.
Project funding depends on organizations that participate as CRC Sponsoring Members. In 2011, the council was able to leverage $33,000 of its research funds into well over $700,000 of concrete industry research work. Those seeking to support CRC or gain funding can visit www.ConcreteResearchCouncil.org.