LCA, nanotech projects top ACI Foundation research funding round

Sources: American Concrete Institute Foundation, Farmington Hills, Mich.

The ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council will fund a record eight research projects this year, its budget buoyed by a one-time, $500,000 commitment the American Concrete Institute to address the industry’s growing need for such technical support. The projects are:

  • Pre-Standard for Performance-Based Design for Wind; principal investigator Don Scott, PCS Structural Solutions
  • Enhanced Ductility Reinforced Concrete Coupled Wall Systems; principal investigator John Wallace, University of California, Los Angeles, and Kristijan Kolozvari, California State University
  • Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Coupled Walls; principal investigator Christopher Motter, Washington State University
  • Shear Friction Capacity of Concrete Joints with High Strength Reinforcement; principal investigator Paolo Martino and Dawn Lehman, University of Washington
  • A Collaborative Study for the Development of a Standard Critical Chloride Threshold Test Method; principal investigator Ceki Halman, University of Missouri
  • Structural Nanomodified Concrete: An Investigation of Critical Properties; principal investigators David Corr and Surendra Shah, Northwestern University
  • Developing a Guideline for Life Cycle Assessment of Structural Concrete through Meta-Analysis and Harmonization; principal investigators Hessam Azari Jafari and Ben Amor, University of Sherbrooke 
  • Guideline Development for Use of Recycled Concrete Aggregates in New Concrete; principal investigator Matthew Adams, New Jersey Institute of Technology

“It is essential that the concrete industry continue investing in research, which is beneficial for effective design, quality, productivity, reduction in risk, and accelerated construction,” says ACI Foundation Executive Director Ann Daugherty. This year’s commitment from ACI, she adds, enables the Foundation to back more research than ever before.

Additional information on each of this year’s projects, including additional funding partners, research team, ACI committee involvement, is posted at www.ACIFoundation.org.