St. Thomas Engineering Students Will Demonstrate Prototypes May 10
In addition to my work at Beton, I teach the technical writing component of the Senior Design Clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering. The university is […]
Insights
NT Build 492 provides data for durable concrete
NT Build 492 is a test that determines the diffusion coefficient of concrete. Diffusion is the movement of a dissolved substance under a concentration gradient. That is, ions in solution […]
Write an informative abstract
In scientific papers and other types of technical reports, the abstract provides a brief summary of the research and findings. If you’re doing a literature search to get the background […]
Write an effective executive summary
For technical writers, the executive summary is one of the most challenging aspects of a report. A good executive summary contains everything the busy executive needs to make a decision […]
Can you get a representative sample of concrete?
A representative sample of anything is an unbiased selection from the whole population. It’s a statistical concept that applies to everything from opinion polls to laboratory testing. In principle it […]
Make sure you take good concrete cores
We often receive concrete cores from our clients for petrography or other types of testing. When we haven’t witnessed the coring, we can’t always tell whether a core represents damaged […]
Sustainability is fashionable
In addition to my work with Beton, I teach technical writing as part of a two-semester capstone course in the School of Engineering at the University of St. Thomas in […]
Buffenbarger receives ACI’s Concrete Sustainability Award
Beton’s Julie Buffenbarger is the recipient of the 2019 Concrete Sustainability Award from the American Concrete Institute (ACI). Buffenbarger received the award at the organization’s spring convention on March 24, […]
Aggregate suspension mixture proportioning method makes for high performance concrete
Many people think of high performance concrete in terms of compressive strength. However, strength is not the only or even the most important design criterion. The concrete must be easy […]
Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) helped make the St. Croix Crossing a case study in sustainability
The St. Croix Crossing received a Bridge Design Award of Excellence from the Portland Cement Association. The award is based on five criteria: structural design, function, aesthetics, sustainability and economics. Michelle […]