Webinar Archives

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Lighter, faster and more cost effective than other forms of construction, Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) are quickly becoming the construction method of choice for all forms of construction including single and multi-family, hotels, schools, offices. Concrete contractors, masons and framers have an opportunity to learn how their trade can work with ICFs to enhance their competitiveness in today’s construction environment. The presentation will focus on how to communicate basic ICF detailing, design efficiencies, and other necessary information to designers who may not be familiar with ICF construction. Also included in the presentation will be information on how ICF’s can affect other sections of the specification, best construction practices, and tips on how to determine labor costs for an ICF project.

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Hot weather conditions are not solely related to the air temperature when placing concrete.  Those conditions are defined in ACI and ASTM documents.  This presentation will focus on being able to define hot weather conditions and its effects on concrete in the plastic and hardened state.  This presentation will also provide details on how to overcome the conditions of hot weather when placing concrete.

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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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Contractors want concrete to be as workable as possible to facilitate placement and consolidation without compromising performance in the hardened state. Concrete producers strive to consistently deliver expected performance attributes. Yet, hydration of Portland cement leads to a change in fresh concrete properties immediately after batching, most notably with respect to mix slump or workability. In air-entrained concrete mixtures, furthermore, modified slump can lead to changes in air content, typically a reduction, and potential rejection of the load. Invariably, rejected loads result in loss of revenue and reduced profits for concrete producers. This presentation will discuss workability retention and the various methods traditionally used to manage it. Additionally, an innovative, new admixture is introduced that provides workability retention without the adverse effects of current practices.

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Concrete provides structures with strength, rigidity, and resilience from deformation. These characteristics, however, result in concrete structures lacking the flexibility to move in response to environmental or volume changes. Cracking is usually the first sign of distress in concrete. Cracking of concrete flatwork is natural, expected, and accepted. However, cracks may affect appearance, performance, and maintenance costs. This presentation will discuss the various types of concrete cracks and how to best minimize their occurrence.

Learning Objectives:
1.    Understand the different types of cracking in concrete.
2.    Understand what causes concrete to crack.
3.    Understand how to evaluate the difference between structural cracks and cosmetic cracks
4.    At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will know how to minimize concrete cracks.

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Concrete is unique among building materials. Its formulation is highly influenced by its application. Design professionals and contractors have a greater influence on concrete formulation than they do with other building products. Concrete can be made stronger, lighter, more flowable, stiffer, less permeable, and even weaker depending on performance needs. No other building material is that versatile. This presentation will discuss how design and construction teams can implement ten simple strategies to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint today. The recommendations are listed broadly in order of priority, but not in order of impact reduction. All are important and should be implemented. In addition, the strategies are meant to achieve a lower carbon footprint without impacting other desired performance capabilities for the concrete.

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Concrete is a durable, resilient material that can provide many benefits to efficient, sustainable structures in the long term. While concrete does have an upfront CO2 impact, the industry is working to reduce GHG emissions and increase the efficiency of its products. This presentation will discuss technical innovations to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete and examine current process improvements that are pushing the industry forward to a more sustainable future.

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As computing power become faster and smaller it leads to advances in non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques for structural concrete condition assessment. We will explore some of the newest techniques in the market and discuss how they can be use on structures and construction projects. We will also review a practical approach to finding construction flaws such as honeycomb, void and cracking in new structures as well as scanning to map out corrosion damage in aging structures using many different Non-Destructive Testing techniques.

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A lot is known about Type I Construction (non-combustible) because it has been used for decades for multi-story construction.  Although Type IV Construction (heavy timber) is not new, it is just now beginning to be used with greater frequency in multi-story construction. This presentation will provide an overview of the building code as it relates to Type I and Type IV Construction. Case studies will be used to demonstrate relevant code sections that apply to Type I and Type IV buildings using the current Minnesota Building Code including:

    Chapter 5 – Area and Height limitations of Type I and Type IV
    Chapter 6 – Fire Rating requirements for Type I and Type IV
    Chapter 7 – Fire and Smoke requirements, shafts, sound assemblies  
    Chapter 9 – Fire and Life Safety requirements of Type I and Type IV
    Chapter 23 – Wood and heavy timber construction.  

In addition, materials and special inspections will be discussed for each type of building.

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Part of the Sustainable Structures Webinar Series: Prescriptive building code requirements represent provisions for the least safe structure that may legally be built in a jurisdiction. Over the past 20 years, the building design and construction industry have witnessed an increase in the number of trade-offs of passive fire safety features for active systems. As natural disasters attributed to climate change continue to escalate, the population of neighborhoods located along with the wildland-urban interface increases, and fire and emergency access to buildings in densely populated areas is obstructed, multiple drivers arise to consider more robust construction for our built environment.

The presentation will provide an overview of increased risks from natural and human hazards, identify approaches to mitigate their effects through voluntary and mandatory strategies and demonstrate the importance of incorporating standards for resiliency beyond minimum code requirements.