MIT CSHub reviews carbon uptake mechanisms in concrete

Sources: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub, Cambridge; CP staff The process by which cement-based products sequester carbon dioxide is key to understanding the life cycle impacts of the world’s most widely subscribed building material. In a three-point question & answer sequence, MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub Deputy Director Hessam AzariJafari describes how CO2 uptake is a key lever in the…

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W.R. Meadows adds waterproofing lines in Gemite deal

Sources: Gemite Products, Mississauga, Ontario; CP staff Concrete protection materials specialist W.R. Meadows Inc. has extended its waterproofing and restoration offerings with the acquisition of Gemite Products. A family-owned operator based in Hampshire, Ill., W.R. Meadows has served as exclusive Gemite distributor in Canada and U.S. regions outside the East Coast for 20-plus years.  Gemite Products was founded more than…

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French promenade excellence

A reinforced concrete pathway around the Bastia fortress in Corse-du-Sud, France, took home the top award in the seventh annual ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, which showcased dozens of innovative concrete projects from around the world. Constructed at the foot of the Bastia fortress on the island of Corsica, the Aldilonda promenade is a sinuous path set into rock,…

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Cornell’s Hover, ACI 318’s Moehle join Florida tower investigation team

Sources: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.; CP staff The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has named members of a technical team investigating the June 2021 partial collapse of the reinforced concrete Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla. Cornell University Professor of Civil Engineering Kenneth Hover and ACI Committee 318 Immediate…

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ACI 133 to help federal agency investigate Florida tower collapse

Sources: American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich.; CP staff ACI Committee 133 on Disaster Reconnaissance will coordinate a team to assist National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) structural engineering experts study the progressive failure of a 12-story reinforced concrete structure, Champlain Towers South, in Surfside, Fla. ACI Executive Vice President Ronald Burg cited the action in a statement on…

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Engineer publicizes 2018 assessment of failed Florida condo tower

Sources: Morabito Consultants, Sparks, Md.; CP staff An October 2018 inspection report offered a cautious take on structural concrete conditions at the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association’s Surfside, Fla. property: A 12-level building whose collapse in the early a.m. hours of June 24 has triggered a massive search and rescue effort for more than 100 persons. 

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Basalt rebar clears mechanical, physical property gauges at Sherbrooke

Source: Basanite Industries, LLC, Pompano Beach, Fla.  Basanite Industries reports successful completion of testing to prove the concrete reinforcing potential of BasaFlex, a family of basalt fiber reinforced plastic bar products offering practitioners a lightweight, corrosion resistant alternative to conventional steel reinforcement. 

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NRMCA research finds cause to revisit ACI 318 chloride limits

Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; CP staff

In collaboration with Dr. Neal Berke of Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Tourney Consulting Group, NRMCA has completed research to a) establish a relationship between the calculated total (initial) chloride content and measured water-soluble chloride content in hardened concrete; and, b) potentially give ready mixed producers latitude in mixture adjustments on projects bound by ACI 318 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete.

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Structural, thermal mass add up to data center protection

Cemex i

St. Louis-based Ascent LLC, a builder and operator of highly secure data centers is promoting its latest facility on the strength of mass, reinforced concrete: 15-in. walls and a 13.5-in. roof enclosing 42,600 sq. ft. of space. Dubbed DAL1 for its Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex proximity, the new Plano, Texas, facility is built to withstand exposure to 360-mph winds, well above the National Weather Service’s 200-mph threshold for (Enhanced Fujita Scale) EF5 tornadoes.

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