Sarah McGuire

With President Trump’s border wall plans heavily in the works, a North Carolina company is ready to get their hands dirty. Partnering with a construction company in Texas, a bid application to build a concrete wall using a patented ballistics concrete that has the capability to absorb bullets and dangerous scraps from explosions has been put forth. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now As stated by Clayton Amidon, officer of Amidon, Inc. – the manufacturers of this bullet-resistant concrete, it may look and feel like regular concrete, but unlike its counterparts, it carries with it unique absorption qualities.To date and not surprisingly, this particular concrete mainly attracted clients from the Government of Defense, the United States Marine Corps, the Air Force, the Army and so forth. For example, as a…

Naturally, precasters spend a large amount of their time working to understand the chosen materials that go into their concrete mix designs. But how important is the order to which they choose to introduce these various components into the mix? Also known as sequencing, the order that they choose is critical. When sequencing is done properly, it can ensure that the admixtures are working as needed, can save wear and tear on the mixtures, help to avoid issues such as inhomogeneous mixing or balling and finally ensure the desired final properties for their products are attained. Below is a brief summary of NCPA’s Sequencing in Mix Design article. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now The first and foremost factor that affects sequencing is the type of mixer that is being…

Australia is currently working on a large-scale infrastructure project known as the Sydney Metre Job. Unfortunately, a key component of Australia’s biggest public transport infrastructure project has recently been the subject to a critical technical report that describes an elevated viaduct span fail located at a stitch joint between two precast segments. The fail took place in September of last year and has led to serious setbacks for the job. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now The affected section, also known as the Skytrain section, is one of the 115 spans under construction using this precast segmental span-by-span method. The method calls for erecting a series of precast box girder segments that are supported by an overhead gantry, which are then stressed longitudinally.It was last November when engineering consultant Aurecon…

According to ACI 347-04, “Guide to Formwork for Concrete”, bug holes are surface voids in concrete defined as small regular or irregular cavities that usually do not exceed 15 mm in diameter. They are the result of the entrapment of air bubbles in the surface of formed concrete during placement and consolidation. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now Commonly occurring in vertical cast-in-place concrete such as walls columns and beams, bugholes vary in number and size and are influenced by many outside factors. Such factors are that of the condition of the material, the release agent type and application thickness, concrete mix characteristics and finally practices for placing and consolidation.Although the ACI 301-05 and ACI 301-10 do not specify a defined number of bugholes that are deemed permissible for vertical…

Fly-ash, a component found in burning coal, is a common aggregate added to the composition of concrete as a means to increase strength. But because coal is being used less in the generation of electricity in particular states, including California, the issue of fly ash shortages needs to be addressed. That is, with these shortages, road construction and other concrete-dependent projects are threatened to be slowed down as there is not enough fly ash being generated to manufacture enough concrete. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now With this in light, companies such as 3M are now working to develop new pozzolans or natural pozzolans which are derived from volcanic rock rather than coal.The city of Corona and the Corona Chamber of Commerce partnered on a symposium in order to bring…

When the image of concrete enters one’s mind, an object with the inherent characteristics of solidity, heaviness and opaqueness presents itself as this is the only form in which we have been exposed to. However, with the development of new concrete mixtures, this is about to change. Often dubbed as the ‘quintessential material’ and an ‘indispensable material’, engineers are now expanding concretes’ sculptural and expressive possibilities. Explore 12 Futuristic Technology Trends Solving Concrete’s Biggest Challenges. Download our 2025 Innovations Calendar! Download Now By switching the ingredients of traditional concrete with transparent ones, or embedding fiber optics, translucent concrete has now become a reality. That’s right –we are talking about concrete that acts both as window and wall – simultaneously glowing, ethereal and structural. Though as with any new material, challenges and problems related to cost and manufacturing ease are hurdles…