Join the High-Performance Concrete Community
Join the high-performance concrete team. The Federal Highway Administration’s
(FHWA) “virtual” team for high-performance concrete (HPC)
has developed the online HPC Exchange as a comprehensive source of information
on HPC use and technology. HPC is concrete that has been engineered
to produce mixes that better meet the requirements of specific bridge
or pavement projects, resulting in bridges and pavements that last longer
and require less maintenance. Open to all, the Exchange site
(knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/hpcx.nsf/home)
features communities of practice on such HPC topics as:
- Definition and Research
- Structural Design and Specifications
- Mix Design and Proportioning
- Precast/Prestressed Beam Fabrication, Transportation, and Erection
- Cast-in-Place Construction
- Instrumentation, Monitoring, and Evaluation
- Costs
- Case Studies/Lessons Learned.
Each community contains a reference section with papers, articles,
case studies, and other useful materials; a “works in progress”
section where documents can be posted; a discussion section that invites
users to post comments or questions; and a directory section with contact
information for team members and other users. Visitors can also find
information on upcoming HPC events. The site’s Home Page features
a “What’s New” box, with information such as biographical
profiles of new team members. To get the most out of the site, users
can sign up for personalized daily email notifications based on their
particular interests.
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Other structural virtual teams
that have been established to date include ones for segmental
concrete bridges, high-performance steel, seismic engineering,
tunnels, and fiber-reinforced polymers. To learn more, visit the
following Web sites. Focus will also cover the teams in future
articles. Additional teams are in the works, including those for
cable-stay bridges, load and resistance factor design, accelerated
bridge construction, and bridge monitoring.
Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites—
www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/frp/index.cfm
High-Performance Steel—
www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/hps.htm
High Strength Bolts— www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/bolts.htm
Segmental Concrete Bridge Technology—
www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/segmental/index.htm
Seismic Technology— www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/seismic/index.htm
Road Tunnels— www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/tunnel/index.htm |
The virtual team’s goal is to “build up and spread the
wealth of information and knowledge on HPC technology and promote good
practices,” says Ben Tang of FHWA. Team members represent FHWA,
State highway agencies, academia, and industry. Case studies included
on the site range from an HPC Bridge Showcase project in Alabama to
Colorado’s construction of an HPC box-girder bridge. One posted
topic that recently spurred a huge amount of interest dealt with HPC
deck cracking. Almost half of the States responded with what they considered
to be best practices for successfully mitigating this phenomenon.
“After less than 18 months in operation, the HPC Exchange continues
to maintain a healthy index of use,” says Site Administrator Lou
Triandafilou of the FHWA Resource Center. For more information on the
HPC Exchange or the HPC Virtual Team, contact Lou Triandafilou at 410-962-3648
(email: lou.triandafilou@fhwa.dot.gov).
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