he appeal of a post-pandemic return to normalcy is undeniable. Everyone is ready to leave the days of mask wearing and Zoom meetings behind and to return to the days of water cooler gatherings and all-staff meetings. However, even as we (hopefully) move past the pandemic, it is critical for companies to not lose sight of what they accomplished despite the pandemic. Companies across the world innovated more in one year than they had in the previous twenty years to keep business alive. The question we must now address is: how do we maintain those initiatives and innovative ways of working that allowed us to succeed throughout COVID-19 despite the temptation to return to “business as usual”?
In this session, Dr. Hataway will provide essential strategies to help you and your company grow your competitive edge in a post-pandemic world.
Join us for an exciting hour showcasing new initiatives of ICRI; innovations at the chapter level; and a high energy panel discussion exploring lessons from the pandemic that are re-shaping our industry.
On August 9, 2019, Tyson Foods' Holcomb, Kansas beef plant experienced the first large fire in the meat processing industry in nearly 20 years. The long-burning fire precipitated the collapse of a portion of the high roof over the mechanical mezzanine, which housed equipment for numerous critical plant processes. This took portions of the plant, the second largest in the United States, out of operation for months. The pressures of substantial business interruption costs, as well as the market consequences for cattle feeders from the Southern Plains region, necessitated a rapid response. This presentation highlights the investigation into the extent of damage to precast members, including visual inspection, nondestructive and laboratory evaluations, testing, simulation, and analyses. Based on this investigation, members were identified for repair or removal and replacement.
Concrete is the most widely used construction material and can be durable for hundreds of years; however, the main cause of concrete deterioration is from corrosion of reinforcing steel. Steel is thermodynamically unstable and will eventually oxidize to a lower energy state. The rate of deterioration in new and existing structures can be modeled to predict the service life based on the severity of the service environment, the concrete quality, the ingress of deleterious materials, and other factors to various degrees of success. This presentation will provide an overview of many of the service life models currently in use and provide an evaluation protocol for their application related to both new and existing structures.
The Avalon Mall parking facility is a four level above grade structure, consisting of three suspended parking levels (approximately 7,750sq.m. each) and one on-grade parking level connected to the existing mall with a new pedestrian bridge. RJC was the structural engineer of record. During construction of the parking structure extensive cracking of the suspended parking garage slabs was noted at two of the 24 pours. RJC undertook a visual assessment of the parking slabs in question to determine the extent of the noted cracking and determined over 750lin.m. of cracks ranging in size from 0.5mm to 6.5mm in width. Following the visual assessment destructive testing of the concrete was undertaken to determine its in-situ properties as well as to understand the full extent of the cracking.
This is your opportunity to learn what’s happening with ICRI. 2020 President Mark LeMay will host a recap of the past year, with 2021 President Elena Kessi providing some highlights of what to expect in the near future. We will update you on our newest class of 40 Under 40 recipients and acknowledge our Supporting Members. This is also our opportunity to introduce to you the association’s 2021 Board of Directors and express gratitude to those remarkable volunteers whose technical and administrative committee service ended in 2020.
The prestressed beams in the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Approach Spans were fabricated in about 1960 (west bound lane) and 1970 (east bound lane). The spans are 50-ft and 75-ft, respectively. The brackish water environment caused corrosion and failure of the bottom strands and deterioration and spalling of the cover concrete in many beams. A project in 2018 strengthened 30 of the more deteriorated beams as an alternative to posting or replacing the bridges. Carbon fiber composite wrap (CFCW) and external post-tensioning (PT) were used to strengthen the beams. Prior to construction, a PT mockup was done with one 50-ft (flexible filler) and one 75-ft (grout) beam to demonstrate that the contractor had the materials, equipment and staff to successfully do the external PT. This presentation describes the project’s mockups and construction and the anticipated increase in strength to be obtained from application of the CFCW and external PT.
The general sentiment around construction and modern technology is that the industry has been slow to embrace it. While this is true of the past, the current and future construction industry is all about modern technology. Not only does technology help to make the industry safer (something that has been a struggle for a very long time), but it is helping contractors to take back control of their budgets, to make smarter choices about project planning and equipment and is, consequently, pushing the green-construction trend forward. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a summary on the current technologies being used in the construction industry with a focus on concrete and to dig even further as to how these can be applied to repair projects. It will provide case studies on how using technology to bring ambient and concrete temperature, relative humidity and strength (among other) data online can help contractors be more efficient.
Shotcrete has been used widely for rehabilitation and retrofit of concrete structures. More and more large infrastructures, in particular, in the hydro power industry, is using shotcrete for major rehabilitation and retrofit. Recently, the US Army Corps of Engineers has been engaged in structural modifications to reinforced concrete draft tube exits from the turbines in the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam located on the Snake River, Washington. This presentation details the structural modification to the draft tube which was successfully completed using wet-mix shotcrete.
ICRI in-person conventions consist of numerous networking opportunities. In many cases, we catch up with old friends who we have not seen in a while, and get to know new friends. Great stories abound, including how ICRI members came to be involved in the organization. Tune in to hear some of these stories in a relaxed, “sitting-at-the-bar” exchange among notable ICRI leaders.