NRMCA expands Technology in Practice series

Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.

NRMCA has introduced three new topics—bringing the total to eight—in its Technology in Practice (TIP) series of information sheets for industry personnel to educate themselves on general quality control/quality assurance and technical topics. The introduction is part of a broad quality initiative headed by NRMCA’s Research Engineering and Standards (RES) Committee which created the TIP series.

The three new topics are TIP 6: Aggregate Moisture and Making Adjustments to Concrete Mixtures, which outlines concepts on aggregate moisture for mixture proportioning and production of concrete; TIP 7: Creating and Using Three Point Curves for Laboratory Trial Batches, which details the process of developing lab trial batch information for mixture submittals; and, TIP 8: Concrete Yield, which lays out the process for determining yield of concrete and evaluating problems with yield.

The NRMCA TIPs are modeled on the popular Concrete in Practice (CIP) series. While the CIP series was developed as basic technical topics for the ready mixed industry to use with its customers or others involved in concrete construction, the TIP series is written for ready mixed concrete industry personnel to support internal education on general quality control/quality assurance and technical topics. The TIPs cover topics on standards and testing and are written in a simple format with numerical examples when appropriate. The other five topics available for the TIP series are:

  • TIP 1: Quantifying Concrete Quality—provides ideas on identifying items to measure and quantify the impact of a quality goal that positively impacts the company’s bottom line;
  • TIP 2: Establishing the Required Average Strength of Concrete—summarizes the general process of establishing the required strength for concrete based on the strength specified in project specifications in accordance with ACI standards;
  • TIP 3: Aggregate Sampling for Laboratory Tests—discusses procedures to ensure that samples obtained for quality control tests are representative of the stockpiles or other storage locations from where they are obtained;
  • TIP 4: Aggregate Sample Reduction for Laboratory Tests—addresses procedures to properly reduce the size of a larger field sample to a smaller size that is required for laboratory tests; and
  • TIP 5: Capping Cylindrical Concrete Specimens with Sulfur Mortars and Unbonded Caps—summarizes the key points in the applicable standards for capping strength specimens and the reasons for these requirements.

Portions of each TIP topic can be viewed and purchased on the NRMCA website or by contacting NRMCA’s Jacques Jenkins at [email protected], or 888/846-7622, ext. 1165.