NRMCA Attends Transportation Research Board Meeting

The 94th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting was held last week in Washington, DC. More than 12,000 transportation professionals attended, an increase of about 5% over the previous year. 5,400 papers were presented over 750 sessions. Following is an update of the sessions and meetings attended by NRMCA.

There was a workshop and hands-on demo of the surface and bulk resistivity test methods. Apart from Florida and Louisiana, several other state transportation agencies are considering using this as a viable alternative to the RCPT test (ASTM C1202) due to its lower cost, ease, and rapid use. AASHTO TP 95-11 is a provisional standard and ASTM is likely to develop a standard this year.

NRMCA Vice President, Technical Services, Dr. Karthik Obla presented a paper/poster on the topic "Criteria for Freeze-Thaw Resistant Concrete Mixtures". The paper was based on a multi-year research project at the NRMCA Research Laboratory funded by the RMC Research & Education Foundation and the FHWA state pooled resource fund.

At the Properties of Concrete Committee meeting, Obla presented on the NRMCA Producer Quality Certification Program. Several DOT personnel appreciated the value of this program and spoke about the need for improved concrete quality.

There was a TRB workshop on cracking where it was reported that the Ontario DOT did not prescribe minimum cement contents.

A Webinar and a workshop are planned on nanotechnology of concrete at the next TRB meeting in 2016. The national nanotechnology initiative has developed a 3-year strategic plan which can be accessed here.

There was interest in gearing our transportation network for driverless cars though nothing specific was discussed at the concrete committee meetings. A circular on internal curing will be available by Spring. The circular on concrete durability will be updated and the circular on nanotechnology of concrete is available here.

For more information, contact Karthik Obla at kobla@nrmca.org.