Fiber-reinforced concrete, help with research. 2

[coatsandrew]

My department is trying to verify that we are using industry standards in our fiber-reinforced concrete slabs on grade, stairs and sidewalk typical details/specs. Can anyone point me in the right direction for latest standards and practices? Thank you

 

[Ron]

Check ACI 544 committee activities and reports. This is the group that reports on the latest with fiber enhanced concrete.

 

[concretemasonry]

Beware!!

Not all the research data is released for public use. The reports belong to company/organization paying the bill and usually only a small percentage of the private results are made public because they are classified as "research" and not made for uninformed "public consumption" and not design or code work.

 

[Ron]

CM...good point. I was a member of Committee 544 for quite a few years, and we got a lot of information from manufacturers that could neither be confirmed or refuted. It made the committee's job a bit difficult.

Some of the unsubstantiated data are presented so well as to be believable.

 

[concretemasonry]

Ron -

I agree it is frustrating when you sit on a code or standards group and only get the information that is allowed to be released because many people do not go into the details to properly evaluate it.

I have seen this several times when a committee works several years do get a standard modification approved and got subcommittee approval and committee approval. Unfortunately, many committee members just be a "cake-walk" vote and leave early after 4 or 5 days of meetings and the the "little old ladies", interested parties and opponents are there to defeat the work based on some selected information that was dismissed at the committee level, but blown up at a final vote to negate all the research and work done. I have seen this in both ASTM and ACI. That is the reason only "bullet proof" testing results are shown or released and not the minor problems discovered during a few years of research and testing.

Even on something apparently as simple as fibers in concrete, there are many engineers working to get a good position (without any negatives) that work for different type of fiber manufacturers (poly, steel, fiber glass, etc.), competitive materials (wire, rebar. etc.) and testing laboratories and engineering consultants that are particularly active in a particula area.

Unfortunately, not all code and standards and are pure engineering and other forces are involved.

Through all my years, I have found that the information gleaned by visiting (any observing with a wide angle"lens") labs and talking to the engineers, you get an honest idea of what is discovered. You never ask questions, but just listen to opinions and activities.

 

[Ron]

CM...like many things, standards development often gets compared to making sausage...you might like the result, but you sure don't want to watch the process!

As you noted, Codes and Standards have a variety of forces at work in their development...with the technical side being only one aspect. The political side often wins the day over the technical, so that the end result is indecipherable, watered-down prose that serves to create more questions than answers.

I have worked for over 30 years in testing, evaluation and consulting, so I agree wholeheartedly that watching actual laboratory data gives great information. I was very fortunate for many of my 30+ years to have a well-equipped laboratory available so that I could "play" at will!

 

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