Webinar Archives

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The webinar covers Minnesota's cement/concrete trends and where the market is headed in the next few years. We will examine economic growth scenarios that may unfold under differing assumptions regarding COVID-19. Where are the growth opportunities? Will there be structural changes to the construction market following the recession? The presenter is Dave Zwicke who is Sr. Director of Economic Analysis at the Portland Cement Association.

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Making a decision that requires ethical consideration is usually not easy. Rarely are we faced with an ethical question that has a corresponding answer that is clearly black and white. Doing the ethical thing can require effort and determining the correct path may include many variables that cause us to pause and consider what the right decision is. In this presentation, the speaker will discuss some scenarios that illustrate the grey area that can be "ethics." The presenter will work through the scenarios an offer insight on determining the correct and ethical way to proceed through a decision-making process.

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This presentation provides an overview of extended joint slabs primarily used on industrial warehouse floors. An overview of the stresses that must be controlled in order to extend joints will be discussed. Two case studies of extended joints will be presented; one of which is the Twin Cities metro area.

Learning Objectives:
1.    Address the reasons why joints are extended.
2.    Explain how shrinkage and thermal stresses have an impact on joint spacing.
3.    Review the families of technology associated with extended joints.
4.    Define joint widening and how this can impact slab performance.

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WJE carried out independent studies related to the 2018 collapse of the FIU Pedestrian Bridge in Miami. Most significantly, WJE developed and tested full-sized specimens to evaluate the significance of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB’s) finding that the construction joint between the northernmost diagonal and deck was left in an as-placed condition, rather than intentionally roughened as required by the project specifications. The webinar also describes WJE’s independent review of shear friction strength in accordance with the AASHTO Code.

The presentation describes the details of the experimental program that demonstrated that, had the construction joint been roughened as required by the project specifications, the collapse would not have occurred. Contrary to NTSB’s findings, the contractor’s failure to roughen the surface was the primary cause of the collapse.

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Green building is the concept of constructing buildings we need today without depleting resources for future generations. In the new world of sustainable building, information about the strength, durability, and indestructible nature of concrete as a resourceful building material is emerging. Amid the teardown-and-replace mentality still pervasive in the world today, concrete stands out defiantly. Try to replace concrete with an alternative building material, and you'll be hard pressed to find a substitute possessing the same thermal qualities, design flexibility, and permanence. This presentation will discuss where we are at as a green industry and the various ‘green” efforts that have been used in concrete production, such as substituting relatively high percentage of cement by fly ash (up to 100%), the use of other natural pozzolans, and development of concrete with recycled or waste materials. The presenter will also discuss where the industry might be headed in the future. Finally, problems in the realization of and potential barriers to green concrete construction are also discussed.

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Concrete is used in nearly every structure we build today, including buildings, bridges, homes and infrastructure. With greater emphasis placed on sustainability, design professionals are faced with the challenge of meeting traditional design criteria with evolving criteria that support green building and efforts to reduce impact on climate change. Performance-based specifications for concrete represent an important synergy with sustainability initiatives because they provide the opportunity to optimize mixtures for performance that can also reduce environmental impacts. Prescriptive specifications often adversely impact the environmental footprint of concrete structures. This presentation outlines how concrete performance can be improved while lowering environmental footprint by implementing performance-based specifications.

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Like any industry, the construction sector is heavily influenced by technology. Even more so in recent years. While materials such as concrete might not conjure images of sci-fi films, lasers and androids, the industry itself has been immeasurably shaped by technological innovations, and this is set to continue. This presentation will discuss current and future technologies that will help automate processes, boost productivity, increases savings, and assist in reducing carbon emissions, all while improving communication and collaboration amongst all construction trading partners. New technologies like in truck concrete monitoring, sustainability trends, fleet tracking, inbound materials management, and other new technologies will be discussed.

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Gary Klein addresses how the strut-and-tie method is implemented for various types of discontinuity regions such as deep beams, corbels, and post-tensioning anchorage zones. Jeremiah Fasl shares an example of how the method was used for design of the crane support beam at Barbours Cut Terminal at the Port of Houston.

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Concrete is used in nearly every structure we build today, including buildings, bridges, homes, and infrastructure. With greater emphasis placed on sustainability, design professionals are faced with the challenge of meeting traditional design criteria with evolving criteria that support green building and efforts to reduce impact on climate change. When looking at the environmental impact of a building, it is important to assess every stage of the environmental life cycle, from material extraction and product manufacturing to building operations and maintenance through to end-of-life. Concrete offers many environmental attributes that help reduce the overall environmental life cycle impacts of a building. This learning session explores how life cycle assessment can be used to measure and lower the environmental impacts of concrete buildings.

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Mass concrete (or thermally controlled concrete) typically requires implementing thermal control measures to reduce maximum temperature and mitigate temperature difference. Specified temperature limits and thermal control requirements can affect mix design proportions, materials selection, reinforcement details, construction operations and compliance to specifications for the work. Many specifications still limit concrete temperatures to overly conservative default values without recognizing concrete properties and performance that allow alternative temperature limits more suitable for the specified work while maintaining quality and improving constructability. This issue frequently results in challenging scenarios that create design difficulties and unnecessary constructability problems for mass concrete. This presentation focuses on the implementation of today’s knowledge of mass concrete and best practices to overcome mass concrete challenges and facilitate solutions in projects. A special emphasis will be given to the technical updates provided for mass concrete requirements and guidance progressing in North America industry standards.