02.13.06
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Brooklyn Courthouse
Links Security with Aesthetics
Known as the Link Structure, the recently completed
U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn, N,Y., exemplifies the use of concrete
to achieve the stringent security requirements established by the
General Services Administration since 9-11. The 16-story, 623,000-square-foot
facility, houses 25 courtrooms, 28 judicial chambers, and the U.S.
Marshall Service offices. More than 15,000 cubic yards of concrete
were used in this facility designed by Cesar Pelli Architects of
NYC and engineered by Urbitran of NYC.
The project received an award by the Concrete Industry Board of
NYC.
Contact Mike
Mota
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Student
Architecture Competition
Draws International Interest
Students from 73 colleges and universities
in six countries have registered to participate in the PCA-sponsored
Sustainable Concrete Design Competition. Member schools of the
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) have
received a second mailing of PCA Competition posters and program
guides early this week.
Winning students, their faculty sponsors, and schools will receive
cash prizes and software totaling nearly $40,000. The prize includes
a complete package of pcaStructurePoint©, concrete design
software, a retail value of $9,745, for each winning school. The
design jury will convene in May 2006 to select winning projects
and honorable mentions.
Contact
David Shepherd
Visit
www.acsa-arch.org
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Siemens joins MTC
The newest member of PCA's Manufacturing Technical
Committee (MTC) is Siemens Energy & Automation. Patrick Brady
will represent Siemens as an associate member of MTC.
PCA’s Manufacturing Technical Committee represents
the technical interests of portland cement producers in the United
States and Canada and has a special Associate Member category.
Associate Members are manufacturers of cement process equipment,
material suppliers, and cement industry consultants.
Contact Rick
Bohan
Visit the MTC
Web site
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Staggered
Steel Truss Stumbles in California
The influential Structural Engineering Association of California
(SEAOC) recommended against the use of staggered steel truss—a
relatively novel steel lateral framing system—in zones of
significant seismic activity.
Developed at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in the 1960s, the framing system arranges story-deep
steel trusses in a staggered pattern, which allows very large
column-free areas and low floor-to-floor heights. With fewer columns
than other framing systems, the staggered truss promises faster
fabrication and erection schedules and reduced foundation costs.
It has been used on a number of prominent projects in areas of
low seismic hazard. Because of the system’s apparent benefits,
the steel industry has expressed interest in using the system
in California and other places where seismic performance is a
major consideration.
The SEAOC Seismology Committee's position is that the staggered
steel truss system, in absence of supporting test results, lacks
the adequate performance qualities that would allow it to be used
as one of the seismic force-resisting systems permitted for zones
of high seismic risk.
Contact
Attila Beres
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Cement Companies Urged to
Adopt a Kiln
 The
Saylor Cement Kiln Preservation Society has received 501 (C) nonprofit
status, which permits donors to receive tax write-offs for their
contributions. The group hopes to restore century-old brick vertical
kilns built by David O. Saylor, the first American producer of
portland cement. The nine kilns operated from 1892 to 1904 in
Lehigh County, Pa. Cement from these kilns helped build famous
structures such as the Lincoln Memorial.
Lou Jany, Essroc Cement, is president of the Saylor Cement Kilns
Preservation Society. Jany hopes to raise $500,000 to complete
restoration of the kilns that began in 2000. "Our plan is
to create a new museum and possibly add a brick walkway dedicated
to . . . all who worked in the Lehigh Valley cement industry,"
says Jany. "We're still looking for major cement companies
to adopt a kiln."
Contact Lou
Jany at Essroc Cement
Visit www.saylorcementkilns.org
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Bridge Research Spans
TRB Sessions
PCA's bridge group helped keep concrete at the
forefront of the recent 85th Annual Meeting of the Transportation
Research Board in Washington, D.C. In cooperation with the Federal
Highway Administration, PCA's Shri Bhidé presented a workshop,
"Load Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) of Concrete Bridge Superstructures,"
attended by approximately 60 engineers. PCA also organized and presided
over two technical sessions in which eight papers on the design
and performance of concrete bridges were presented.
Contact
Shri Bhidé
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Chemical
Path of Ettringite Formation in Heat-Cured Mortar and Its Relationship
to Expansion: To provide a better understanding
of the DEF phenomenon, the present study investigated mortar systems
made with various mixing and curing parameters for detailed changes
in pore solution chemistry and solid phase development, while
corresponding changes in physical properties were also closely
monitored. This holistic approach enabled the development of a
correlation between the chemical and physical changes that occur
in the DEF-affected mortars (SN2526; $15.00; PDF only; free to
members).
More
information
Volumetric Measurement in Water Bath – An Inappropriate
Method to Measure Autogenous Strain of Cement Paste:
Volumetric and linear measurements of autogenous strain should
in principle give identical results. However, the results from
the volumetric method are typically 3 to 5 times the results from
the linear technique, depending on the type of cement paste and
the experimental conditions. In this study, absorption of water
from the buoyancy bath through the rubber membrane is identified
as the principal artifact of the volumetric method and cause of
most of the discrepancies between volumetric and linear measurements
(SN2925; $15.00; PDF only; free to members).
More
information
ACI 318-05 and PCA Notes on CD: The
ACI 318-05 Building Code (LT287) and PCA Notes (EB705)
are linked electronically to help designers apply the Code provisions.
Code sections are linked to corresponding explanations in the
PCA Notes. Code requirements and equations used in design
examples of the PCA Notes are linked to the corresponding
Code sections. The CD uses Adobe Acrobat to search, find, and
print information (CD064; $189.00; PCA member price $143.00).
More
information
Sustainable Solutions for Structural Engineers:
This reprint from the November 2005 issue of Structural Engineer
magazine contains two special reports that describe important
business considerations, recaps a sustainable design project,
and lists green products to help designers serve clients’
sustainable solutions (RP429; $5.00 for a pack of 100, no discount).
More
information
Soil-Cement Solutions: Contains project
profiles for (1) performance of soil-cement stream bank protection
during 2004–2005 heavy rain events in Santa Clarita, Calif.,
where the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works approved
soil-cement for stream bank protection in 2003; (2) soil-cement
armor on the upstream slopes of the 15-billion gallon (56.8-billion
liter) Tampa Bay Regional Reservoir in Tampa, Fla., which was
completed in early 2005; and (3) a large soil-cement erosion control
drop structure on Moss Creek, east of Big Spring, Tex. (PL073;
$5.00, less discount; PDF is free).
More
information
Rolling Out RCC on I-285: Reprint of
an article that appeared in the November 2005 issue of Dixie
Contractor describes the use of roller-compacted concrete
(RCC) in rebuilding 34 miles of shoulder on the Atlanta I-285
beltway. The speed of construction and economy of RCC pavements
led the Georgia DOT to implement a project to remove existing
failed asphalt shoulder on the busy Atlanta interstate highway
and replace it with RCC. A companion video for this project produced
by the Georgia DOT is also available as CD065 (RP132; $7.00 for
a pack of 25, no discounts).
More
information
Concrete Homes: Built-In Safety: Reformatted
from VHS to DVD, this 8-minute video documents the results of
tests comparing the tornado and hurricane resistance of concrete
walls to wood- and steel-frame walls. Wall panels were subjected
to the impact of a 15-pound wood stud traveling at 109 miles per
hour. The frame walls failed to stop the airborne hazards. The
concrete walls successfully resisted the impact. This DVD also
includes the Built-in Safety Technology Brief (IS306)
and Investigation of Wind Projectile Resistance of Insulating
Concrete Form Homes research report (RP122), both in PDF
format (DVD511; $7.95, no discounts).
More
information
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PCA's education and training group
will conduct the following courses at PCA's Skokie, Ill., facility.
Customized and off-site courses are also available. For more information
or to register, contact Julie
Lisiecki.
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PCA Spring Committee
Meetings
March 6-8,
2006, Chicago, Ill.
Contact Michelle Nyquist
Register
online
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2006 Professional
Promoters' Workshop
April
10-12, 2006, St. Louis, Mo.
Contact
Dan Sladek
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PCA Fall Committee
Meetings
September 10-13, 2006,
Chicago, Ill.
Contact Michelle
Nyquist |
PCA Spring Meeting
April 2-4, 2006, San Antonio, Tex.
Contact
Jan Farnsworth
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ASCE 2006 Structures
Congress
May 18-21,
2006, St. Louis, Mo.
ASCE |
PCA Fall Meeting
October 29-31, Sea Island, Ga.
Contact
Jan Farnsworth
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IEEE-IAS/PCA Technical
Conference
April 9-14, 2006, Phoenix, Az
Register
online |
PCA Financial and Administrative Executives
Conference
July 30-August 1, Coronado Island, Calif.
Contact
Michelle Nyquist
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The
Executive Report is distributed free of charge to members
of PCA and to individuals interested in PCA activities or the
cement, concrete, and construction industries.
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847.966.6200 info@cement.org
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1250
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.408.9494 fax 202.408.0877 |
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©2006 Portland Cement Association
All rights reserved
The Portland Cement Association conducts
market development,
research, education, and government affairs work on behalf of
its members—cement companies in the United States and Canada.
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