Construction

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites Student Competition was held on 27 October at the Fall ACI Concrete Convention and Exposition in Cincinnati, Ohio.  While competing against 40 other universities, the Luke Snell SIUE ACI Student Chapter team placed second in the Structure Type 1 category.

Students involved in this competition include: Dalton Brookshire, of Nokomis; David Rall, of Belleville; Paityn Jansen, of Breese; Martin Witges, of Columbia; Holly Liebel, of Liberty, Mo.; Joel Kuhlmann, of Edwardsville; and Joe Hemann, of Highland.

“The SIUE Luke Snell ACI student chapter competes in an international concrete competition every semester,” explained Brookshire. “The goal of this semester’s competition was to design and construct an economical light weight concrete beam reinforced with an FRP rebar.”

At the competition, the team’s beam was tested to compare their prediction of a 3.5mm deflection and ultimate load versus the actual load of the beam. Another factor was to achieve the lowest cost per load.

“The construction industry is a small community,” said Brookshire. “Students that attend these ACI competitions not only gain knowledge of concrete properties, but also have an opportunity to network with other students and industry professionals. The relationships made during the ACI conventions prove to be extremely valuable for students upon entering the industry.”

“The students worked very hard to prepare for this competition,” added Anne Werner, PhD, P.E., associate professor in the Department of Construction. “Their second place finish in an incredibly competitive international student competition is truly remarkable.”