Concrete Industry Management (CIM) students at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU in Murfreesboro, place concrete in a U-shaped wall section formed the day before. The placement was part of a research project funded by the ASCC Education, Research and Development Foundation, based in St. Louis, Missouri, titled “Evaluation and Examination of ACI 347.3R ‘Guide to Formed Concrete Surfaces’.”
ASCC participants in the field work were Dr. Ward Malisch, principal investigator for the project, and Dr. Bruce Suprenant, ASCC technical director. The students are part of Dr. Heather Brown’s Senior Concrete Research class. Dr. Brown is co-investigator for the project.
The class has been evaluating different methods of measuring the area of air voids (bugholes) on surfaces based upon time needed for measurement, cost of measuring equipment and the accuracy and precision of different methods. These walls will serve as permanent control surfaces on which multiple measurements can be made using several methods.
The “Guide to Formed Concrete Surfaces” (ACI 347.3R-13), produced by ACI Committee 3467, Formwork, defines four quality levels of formed concrete surfaces and provides methods to achieve and evaluate them. The project was developed in response to ASCC members’ concerns with the Guide’s recommendations for specifying concrete surfaces.
Additional funding for the project has been provided by the RMC Foundation of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the ACI Foundation’s Concrete Research Council.
The ASCC Education, Research and Development Foundation was created by the American Society of Concrete Contractors In 1989 to fund education and research to advance the quality and productivity of concrete construction.
The ASCC is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of those who build with concrete, and to providing them a unified voice in the construction industry. Members include concrete contracting firms, manufacturers, suppliers and others interested in the concrete industry such as architects, specifiers and distributors. There are approximately 535 member companies in the United States and 12 in foreign countries.
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