Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/218643
Left: A sensor measuring tilt on a concrete element and the resulting curves – providing a relationship between temperature and tilt for this type of sensor. Above: By using tilt and displacement sensors in relationship to temperature measurements, trends can be detected and a warning can be issued when measurements exceed certain levels. Images courtesy Metro Testing Laboratories Ltd., Burnaby, BC He adds that the problem with the B.C. initiative is that it takes away market share from other building products like concrete, steel, plastic and glass, while adding nothing to the Canadian economy. "No nonexperts should be telling engineers what to build with or how," says Ken Pensack, director of sales for engineered structures at Armtec. The company includes a strong focus on heavy structural precast products and recently supplied NU concrete girders for some major infrastructure projects including the Port Mann Bridge in B.C. The B.C., New Brunswick and Quebec provincial governments all have "wood-first" policies in effect. "These governments are advocating one form of construction over another," says Rick McGrath, director 30/ december 2013 p26-37Concrete_Arch wood.indd 30 of codes and engineered standards at the Cement Association of Canada (CAC). "The politicians are saying in effect that they know better and are dictating what materials are used for government and government-sponsored projects." On another front, the introduction to Canada of Portland-Limestone Cement (PLC), also called Contempra, continues to move forward. "On the basis of three years' results, we hope to remove the restriction on Contempra in sulphate environments," says McGrath. "The PLC take-up has been going quite well in the Lower Mainland [Vancouver]," says Rob Asquith, sales manager at Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Ltd. Testing of PLC in sulphates with the use of supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) has been done since the 2009 introduction of PLC. McGrath says that the CAC is hopeful that the upcoming 2014 edition of CSA 23.1 Concrete Materials and Methods of Concrete Construction will see the last restriction on PLC removed. CPCI is also moving forward on initiatives. In late August, CPCI hired ASTM International on behalf of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute and the National Precast Concrete Association (NPCA) to develop Product Category Rule (PCR) documents for precast concrete products. Once the PCRs have been finalized, ASTM will help with the development and verification of precast concrete Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for product groups selected jointly by CPCI, PCI and NPCA . PCR documents define the requirements of EPDs of a specific product category and enable transparency via comparisons between different EPDs concrete 13-11-15 3:41 PM