New Technologies Produce Designer Concrete

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crete mixes for the applications they serve. "It's not just a3,000-, 4,000- or 5,000-psi concrete anymore," Hauge said."We're looking at other things, such as consistency,workability, durability, and resistance to abrasion. The majorityof concrete we produce is still the more traditional concretes usedin paving, commercial and residential applications.


"However, we do design concrete mixes that will perform bestfor a specific application. We'll try to talk to the engineersabout their parameters and needs when they're designing theproject. Then, we can incorporate the new technologies, such as theself-consolidating concrete, into the design process in order toimprove engineering characteristics required by the project and itsconstruction schedule."
Advancement in concrete and equipment to place concrete"absolutely revolutionized the business of residential andcommercial concrete work," said David Sethre, executivedirector, North Dakota Concrete Paving Association. "Backabout 10 years ago, we had a pile of rocks, a pile of sand and offwe went. The Department of Transportation wouldn't let us use flyash in any concrete mix, and engineers had no interest in puttingfly ash into the mixes. Concrete's versatility
"Now we find out that fly ash is a very important component ofconcrete for various reasons: higher strength, lower permeabilityand better durability. Also, we've figured out that with the use ofwhat we call 'optimized aggregates,' we can economize our mixes bytaking out the cement and getting better workability with a bettergrade of aggregates."
Sethre, who is also marketing director of the North Dakota ReadyMix and Concrete Products Association, praised concrete'sversatility. "Concrete is very workable; we can decorate it,color it and stamp it. Concrete has been decorated for the last 30years but now it's getting a lot of attention with the many ways tomake concrete look decorative that didn't exist before."
Another advancement is the concrete pump, Sethre said. "Theconcrete pump absolutely revolutionized residential and commercialconcrete work. It's made the work faster, uses less labor, andtakes less time to complete the projects. Contractors can't affordnot to use them."
Sethre said Schwing America and Putzmeister are the two popularconcrete pumps in this area. Pumps work efficiently
Tom Simonson, president of Masonry Components Inc., agrees withthat statement. "We didn't use a pump on our major concreteprojects for years. In the last five years, we used concrete pumpsmore and more in commercial projects. On road construction,typically, we dump concrete out of the truck and use a bridge deckpaver on the surface." The Yankton, South Dakota, businessused conventional methods to pour concrete curb and gutter, but inthe late 1990s, Simonson bought a Bidwell paver and a GOMACO curbmachine. "I'm still using that equipment; it was a bigimprovement to our projects."
Hauge said the concrete pump has been the trend for the last 10 to15 years. "Most concrete projects use concrete pumps, andanytime you can place concrete efficiently and faster helps thatproject." Strata designs the concrete to the pumper'splacement application. "If we're pumping at 1,000 feet througha pipe, we'll adjust those mixes so that concrete pumps better byadding a chemical slickener that makes the concrete slippery,"Hauge explained. Advanced flooring
Simonson noticed a new type of concrete floor that has becomepopular, but not in South Dakota. "We poured a floor in aYankton factory last year. Another company then came in and groundand polished the concrete. You don't have to put oil, stain orcoating on it. I was really surprised and impressed that nothingseeped into the floor. The factory was willing to pay more for thegrinding and polishing than what I charged them for material andthe original paving."
At the World of Concrete, Simonson saw many businesses that grindand polish concrete. "The concrete was shiny, and you can seethe aggregate in the concrete. It's another step forward inproviding commercial flooring."
Today, the variety of technologies has provided useful concretesolutions in many applications, Hauge inferred. "Concrete ismore about providing solutions than it ever has been. It was moreof a commodity years ago and now, we can design concrete to fit theneed."