Concrete, the most widely used building material in the world, can be very temperamental in certain weather conditions. Due to its poor tensile strength, concrete is almost always certain to crack, but professionals do their best to reduce the size and delay their appearance. A new app is hoping to reduce the risk of concrete, plastic shrinkage by monitoring weather patterns.
Plastic concrete shrinkage occurs within the first few hours of placing concrete, when the concrete has not yet developed substantial strength. These types of cracks are typically wider and deeper than other early cracks, as they can be between 2 to 4 inches deep and around 1/8 inch wide. In order to prevent plastic cracks from forming, the air temperature, humidity, and wind has to be monitored and adjustments then have to be made. Plastic cracks typically form in hot weather conditions, as the water toward the top of the concrete evaporates very quickly, but can also occur in cold weather situations, when the concrete is much warmer than the air temperature.
The Plastic Crack Risk Calculator, a free created by former superintendent and current professor at Southern Illinois University Mark Grinter, takes the guess work and hassle out of determining plastic crack risk on your projects by pulling weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and comparing that data to evaporation-rate nomographs, which determine how fast water will evaporate. By simply entering your project’s zip code, the app then determines if your site is at a low risk, moderate risk, or high risk for plastic shrinkage for the next 7 days, shown just like in the picture at the top of this article.
The app even lets you set up an account to receive email notifications when weather conditions reach “high risk” levels. Currently, it's only available as a web application which can be accessed from any web browser.
Plastic Crack Risk Calculator | University of Southern Illinois
[guest post] a in-depth comparison between laboratory and field cured concrete maturity testing
[Guest post] A Review of Top Wired and Wireless Temperature and Strength Concrete Sensors
The only thing slower than watching paint dry is, well, watching concrete dry. Proper curing of concrete is extremely important, though, for quality and safety reasons. Perhaps equally important is proper testing and documentation of the concrete’s strength over time. In a move to help bolster their digital portfolio, power tool giant Hilti has acquired Concrete Sensors, an internet connected concrete testing startup.
Times are weird, guys. While there are a lot of jobsites still open, there are many that have been temporarily shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. If you need some resources for how your construction company should handle the pandemic, you can check out my resource guide by clicking or tapping here, but if you want to take your mind off of that and use some of your newly found free time, you can learn about concrete on YouTube from a college professor.
Tying rebar is an extremely repetitive and strenuous job, but it’s an essential part of most concrete roads, bridges, and buildings. Typically, rodbusters use hand tools for this work on the jobsite, but my recent visit to the World of Concrete in Las Vegas made me realize how much innovation there has been in the space in the past few years.
Over the past few years, there have been many companies offering different ways of tying rebar, which can be a very strenuous and tedious task. It’s also extremely repeatable, which makes it a strong target for innovation. MAX USA has had a rebar tying gun out for a little while now, but they just showed off a new version at the World of Concrete.
As lithium-ion battery technology continues to get better and better, we can start to expect larger tools to hit the market – and that’s been the case over the past few years. Those advancements eventually lead to opening to door for tools that the world has never even seen before, like a battery powered roller screed for concrete.
The gigantic marathon of a construction trade show, the World of Concrete, has sadly come and gone already, but the winners of the annual contest for the show’s Most Innovative Products has just been announced!
While placing concrete on the 7th floor of a new hotel in Houston, TX, 16 construction workers were suddenly sent falling to the 6th floor below, sending 9 of them to the hospital, according to local news reports.
In September of 2017, OSHA’s new standard on exposure to respirable crystalline silica went into effect in the construction industry. The rule lowered the allowable exposure to the harmful substance to 50 micrograms per cubic meter, a measurement that we’re all familiar with [/sarcasm]. After a full year of enforcement, OSHA is considering making a change to the rule.