Construction Informer

One part of the country’s flirtation with rebuilding its infrastructure could be a new style of bridge in certain locales. Called a flexible bridge, it is engineered to withstand an 8.0 earthquake.

Engineers at the University of Nevada built and tested a 200 ton model that survived 10 seconds of shaking. Its resilience is attributed to the reinforcement in the concrete – smart nickel titanium or Nitinol. This material has shape memory (perhaps much like that material recovered from the alien ship crash at Roswell more than 50 years ago). Because it remembers the shape it was cast into, after being deformed it springs back to that original shape. These Nitinol bars are used in critical places in the bridge’s structure, like in the columns.

Apparently, the “dumb” steel used in bridges today, stays deformed after earthquake shocks often causing the entire bridge to be rebuilt. The test also suggests that Nitinol might be a great material for the cables of suspension bridges.

Nano technology holds a lot of promising developments for construction and at the same time it is presenting some challenges that may end up diluting those promises.

In a recent instance a spray that is made from carbon nanotubes can be applied to bridges at critical points so a sort of early warning system is set up to alert engineers of potential problems. This sprayed-on material conducts electricity so whenever a crack occurs in the underlying material it breaks the current thereby alerting a computer to higher than normal resistance in the area of the crack. So not only is the damage detected, but the location is pinpointed. This skin will also observe corrosion, which is another major contributor to the decline of the nation’s bridges. This definitely looks like a great advancement.

But on the other side of the coin nanomaterial advantages are showing some signs of being offset by the process used to make them. At the University of Illinois at Chicago researchers discovered the strict material purity requirements, lower tolerances for defects and the overall lower yields related to the manufacturing process of nanomaterials can lead to greater environmental burdens than traditional manufacturing. And at Ohio State University it was found that life-cycle environmental impacts could be as high as 100 times more per unit of weight than for traditional materials.

It’s unlikely that nanomaterials will run aground but it appears they will increasingly be subject to scrutiny with benefits being weighed against known detriments.

Test The Test Kits: That’s what we count on Consumer Reports for and recently they did. You might be surprised to know that some kits just don’t test what they are supposed to test for, very well. For radon detection there were three short-term kits that were especially “inaccurate, unreliable or both,” according to CR.

• Accustar Short Term LS Radon Test Kit CLS 100i – under-reported radon levels by about 40 percent
• Kidde Radon detection Kit 442020- under-reported radon levels by about 40 percent
• Accustar Short Term Canister Radon Test kit AC-1001 – was fair in accuracy and turning in similar results in similar conditions

In fairness I will note that Accustar’s Alpha Track Test Kit AT 100 topped the ratings and received a Best Buy nod from CR. That one is a long term test typically taking 90 days or more before being analyzed.

Moen for the Gold: The famous faucet manufacturer is going to award a $10,000 grand prize package to the people who submit the winning kitchen or bath remodeling story, complete with pictures and even video. Eight finalists will also receive $1,000 each. The public votes on the winning design between November 1 and November 15. This contest is underway now and closes October 19.

“This online contest continues to grow and reach out to consumers who want to share their remodeling experiences,” said Ginny Long of Moen, director, online and direct marketing. “We are excited to sponsor this contest and look forward to reviewing their interesting remodeling stories, tips, videos and photos as well as letting the public cast their vote for their favorite finalist.”

So, let the remodeling begin.

Discovering New Options for Getting Around: As the final concrete was poured last week in the finishing of the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis the call went out to pay attention to our infrastructure. The new bridge has 10 lanes and will also accommodate light rail and has a 100-year life expectancy, (they really don’t build them like they used to). But I wonder if the current modes of transport, especially vehicles as we currently know them will be around another 30 years, let alone 100.

As the president of the Portland Cement Association extolled the virtues of concrete he also suggested the nation would need an additional 400,000 lane-miles of highways by 2032. Not surprisingly he suggested concrete is looking more and more attractive for the job since oil prices are driving up the cost of asphalt.

Is it just me, or does anyone else have the feeling we need to begin changing the way we think? Do we really want to have another 400,000 miles of highway? Going where? At what cost to maintain? Who’s paying? Can’t we dream up something new? It’s like the old saying: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In this case, if you have concrete, everything looks like a highway?

No, I think it’s time we thought about other ways to get around, or not, and invest our money in those things. What ever happened to the promise of teleporting?

It looks like there is a movement afoot that might help to stimulate new ideas for funding the repair of the nation’s aging infrastructure. This is good news as we wait for the government to start functioning again and taking care of things at home.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the country needs to spend more than a trillion dollars on infrastructure over the next five years. Thirteen governors have pledged their support of efforts to increase federal funding to help address this problem. Additionally there will be state and locally-elected people on board. The coalition press release summed up its efforts this way:

As state and local governments continue to pay more of the costs and the condition of our infrastructure further deteriorates, America’s infrastructure crisis becomes more critical every day. One of the primary jobs of the coalition is to create an environment where infrastructure funding is treated like the national priority it should be.

Building America’s Future points to infrastructure as an important component to global competitiveness, quality of life, sustainability, and border and national security. Maybe there are ways for interested people in ACE to get involved.

In A Related Release: An international roadway safety organization is calling for 11 specific roadway safety initiatives in order to achieve its goal of zero roadway deaths. The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), founded in 1969, is calling for initiatives that address:

• a highway safety improvement program;
• strategic highway safety plans;
• work zone safety;
• high risk rural roads;
• roadway hardware;
• brightness and visibility of signage;
• older drivers;
• mitigating congestion;
• funding roadway safety; and more.

You should expect to see more on this, and on surface transportation in general since it is time to reauthorize surface transportation legislation.