Research Assistant Receives Scholarship from Concrete Council of St. Louis
Posted December 8, 2021
Cristian Rodrigo Tolava Torrico a graduate student of the Master program in Civil Engineering was honored by the Concrete Council of St. Louis and the ACI Missouri Chapter at the “Quality Concrete Awards Dinner.” For his outstanding Research Project in the development of a new type of concrete. The Dinner was held at the Missouri Athletic Club, on November 18, 2021.
The Concrete Council of St. Louis hosts an annual golf tournament, which is sponsored by Fenix Construction Company, to raise funds for college scholarships. The $2,000 annual award is presented to a student from the St. Louis area, who is deemed most deserving and best able to utilize knowledge of concrete construction in their career.
Evaluation of Tensile Strength of Self-Compacting Concrete with Steel and Carbon Fibers
Under the supervision of Dr. John Cabage, Chair of the Construction Department, and with the collaboration of several faculty members Dr. Anne Werner (Construction Department), Mr. Brent Vaughn (Civil Engineering Department) and Dr. Amardeep Kaur (Electrical and Computer Department). The research project is in the path of presenting promising results.
The study consists of using self-compacting concrete with steel fibers and carbon fibers. The research will present several dosages of fiber gradation and volume replacement. The results will show a dosage pattern that will improve the flexural capacity of concrete. In addition, fibers will help control cracking along its development. Furthermore, optical fibers will be placed inside the specimens to determine the internal stresses and strains. The aim of this research is to avoid the use or rebar reinforcement in structural systems. Future studies will include durability, fiber distribution, fatigue strength, bounding and size effect.
