Public health, safety, and welfare
For the 2019-2020 school year, the ABET criteria for student outcomes include “an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, […]
Insights
Concrete exposure classes
Concrete exposure classes are part of a decades-long trend toward performance specifications. Traditionally, specifications were prescriptive. That is, they specified what the concrete must be. So there might be limits […]
The ABCs of floor flatness and levelness
What do we mean by floor flatness and levelness? ACI 117.1R-14 defines flatness as “deviation of a surface from a plane” and levelness as “deviation of a line or surface […]
The ethics of technical writing
While looking for something else, I happened on the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Rules of Practice regarding engineering communications. Here’s what they say about the ethics of technical […]
Natural cement in Minnesota and beyond
When we think of cement, it’s usually portland cement, which is made from limestone and clay. In Minnesota, we have to import portland cement because most of the carbonate rock […]
Low-activity waste at Hanford site
The National Academy of Sciences has published our committee’s final report, in which we address the public comments on our previous reports and the study overall. Our committee provided oversight […]
Making use of marginal fly ash
Electric utilities are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants from their power stations. More and more, they are shutting down their coal-fired plants in favor of natural […]
How many cylinders: a pot roast story
How many cylinders does it take to determine the compressive strength of concrete for acceptance testing? To quote ACI 318, A strength test shall be the average of the strengths […]
Embodied carbon in concrete
The January 2020 issue of Architect, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, quotes Julie Buffenbarger in its article on zero-net-carbon structural materials. Seeking to reduce the carbon footprint […]
ASCE concrete canoe competition: what we learned
Every year the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) sponsors a concrete canoe competition. Winners of the regional competitions, along with a few wildcard teams, are eligible for the national […]