ACI FRP Composites Competition

Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (FRP’s) are an ideal application of technology that yields sustainable design and construction solutions for concrete systems. FRP’s have very high strength characteristics, are non-conductive, non-corrosive, and lightweight. They can be used in traditional concrete applications and in highly corrosive environments. The primary sustainable benefits of using FRP’s are their durability and conservation of materials due to reduced concrete cover requirements, potential for retrofitting instead of demolishing existing structures, and reduced fuel and energy use in shipment of lightweight FRP products.
The intent of the FRP Composites Competition is to give students the opportunity and incentive to learn about the wide range of FRP products available for reinforcing concrete, and how applications of FRP reinforcement can be advantageous in the concrete industry - including but not limited to providing sustainable design solutions.

March 1, 2011 deadline for advance registration

March 22, 2011 deadline to submit completed Official Mix & Cost Form

Commonly Asked Questions

NOTE AN IMPORTANT CHANGE TO THIS YEAR'S RULES:
Section 2.14 of the rules now require that on the day of the competition student teams must submit a 75 x 150 mm (3 x 6 in.) cylinder poured from the same concrete batch as that used to pour the competition structure.

Advance Registration Form - CLOSED

Download the Official Mix & Cost Form

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to difficulties in shipping to countries outside the United States and Canada, all teams must provide a shipping address in North America or Canada. Schools/student teams are responsible for arranging for transshipment from the North American address they provide.

Chomorat NAC Grid Technical Data and Use Guide

Hughes Brothers Aslan Technical Data Sheet

Pultrall V Rod High Modulus (HM) Technical Data Sheet (Material properties for the V Rod bars shipped from Pultrall in Canada)

Pultrall V Rod 2009 Technical Data Sheet (Material properties for the V Rod bars picked up in Pittsburgh or shipped from Hughes Brothers in Nebraska)

Marshall Industries C-Bar Product Guide 2011

2011 FRP Composites Competition Winners

2009 FRP Composites Competition Winners

2007 FRP Composites Competition Winners

2005 FRP Composites Competition Winners

2003 FRP Composites Competition Winners

2001 FRP Composites Competition Winners


Objective  Back to top

These are the challenges in this competition:

  • Design, construct, and test a concrete structure reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement to achieve the largest load-to-cost ratio. Cost is defined as the actual batch cost for concrete materials and chemical admixtures plus the cost of the FRP used to reinforce the structure, reduced by credits given for implementation of sustainable design concepts.
  • Predict the ultimate load.
  • Predict the load that will result in a piston deflection of 2.5 mm (0.1 in).
  • Comply with the contest rules. The completed Advance Registration Form, Official Mix and Cost Form, and a diagram showing placement and dimensions of all FRP reinforcing materials must be received by the dates shown on the competition web site.

 


Prizes  

Prizes will be awarded in the following manner:

  • First, Second, and Third Prizes will be awarded to the teams with the HIGHEST LOAD-TO-COST RATIOS as defined in paragraph 4.1. First Prize will be awarded $300, with $200 for Second Prize and $100 for Third Prize.
  • First, Second, and Third Prizes will be awarded to the teams with the MOST ACCURATE PREDICTIONS as defined in paragraph 4.5. First Prize will be awarded $300, with $200 for Second and $100 for Third Prize.
  • Each school shall be eligible for only one prize in the Highest Load-to-Cost category and for only one prize in the Most Accurate Predictions category.
  • First, Second, and Third place entries will also be awarded a certificate of recognition, recognition on ACI's website, and will be recognized in Concrete International magazine if space allows.


Rules  

1. THE STUDENT TEAMS:

  1. Each team must have a supervising faculty advisor who will see that the student team complies with the rules of the competition. The faculty member is permitted to advise more than one team.
  2. Each team must consist of not more than five students currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at any college or university worldwide. Undergraduate students on cooperative or internship work assignment are eligible to compete. All members of a given team must be from the same school. A student may not be a member of more than one team.
  3. It is strongly recommended that at least one individual (faculty advisor or student team member) be designated to represent each team and be present during the testing of specimens at the time and location specified for this competition. Participation by additional team members is both permitted and encouraged.
  4. Each team must complete and submit the Advance Registration Form, the Official Mix and Cost Form, and a diagram showing placement and dimensions of all FRP reinforcing materials used by the dates shown on the competition website. 
  5. Each school will be permitted to send no more than two teams to the competition. The first two properly completed applications (Advance Registration Form, and Official Mix and Cost Form with reinforcement diagram) will be accepted as that school's entries. Additional teams will only be accepted if an earlier entry from the same school withdraws from the competition.

2. THE MATERIALS AND THE SPECIMEN GEOMETRY
(To see Structure Geometry Requirements Diagram, click here  )

  1. The structure must fit into a 200 mm (7.87 in.) wide by 200 mm (7.87 in.) high by 1000 mm (39.4 in.) long box. The cross section may vary over the length, provided the structure can be mounted on supports and loaded as shown in the structure geometry requirements diagram. The structure's overall length may not be less than 950 mm (37.4 in.) nor more than 1000 mm (39.4 in.), including any protruding reinforcement. If time permits, structures not meeting this requirement may be tested, but the teams submitting such specimens will not be eligible for prizes.
  2. At the center of the structure, a large "X" shall be painted on the upper surface where the concentrated load will be applied. In addition, student teams must select a Beam Mark (for example, the school initials followed by the numeral 1 for team #1 or 2 for team #2), which must be marked so as to be clearly visible on both sides of the structure. Teams may also apply decals of their school logo and/or decorate their entry with felt tip markers to improve its appearance, if desired. No other markings or surface treatment shall be permitted. Teams are encouraged to prepare an 11" by 17" poster with their school name and logo, their structure's beam mark, and the names of student team members and faculty advisor, to be displayed with their structure at the competition.
  3. Total structure weight must be between 5 kg (11.0 lb) and 15 kg (33.1 lb).
  4. Use only materials listed in the Official Mix and Cost worksheet.
  5. The cementitious materials shall consist of any combination of portland cement meeting ASTM C150, or blended cement meeting ASTM C595 or ASTM C1157. Supplementary cementitious materials which may also be used include slag cement (“slag”) meeting ASTM C989, fly ash meeting ASTM C618, and/or silica fume meeting ASTM C1240.
  6. Any type of nonmetallic aggregate may be used.
  7. Chemical admixtures meeting ASTM C260, C494, or C1017 are allowed. Epoxies and other polymers, glue, and binders may NOT be used.
  8. Curing shall be at atmospheric pressure, and the curing temperature must not exceed the boiling point of water at atmospheric temperature.
  9. No structure shall be more than 56 days old at the time of the test.
  10. Every eligible student team submitting the Advance Registration Form will receive an FRP reinforcing materials kit from the manufacturers supplying FRP for the competition. FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition are listed in the Official Mix and Cost Worksheet. The FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition, along with the manufacturers' data sheets on engineering properties, will be shipped to the U.S. or Canadian address specified on the Advance Registration Form. Due to difficulties in shipping to countries outside the United States and Canada, all teams must provide a shipping address in the United States or Canada. Schools/student teams are responsible for arranging for transshipment from the U.S. or Canadian address they provide.
  11. A student team may use any combination of the FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition in their structure, but the competition specimen must be fabricated with at least one (1) full piece of the FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition. The FRP reinforcing material may be cut in any manner. Other reinforcing materials not supplied in the FRP reinforcing materials kit are not allowed. The FRP reinforcing materials may not be prestressed. Mechanical anchorages, if used, must be made from the FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition. Additional FRP reinforcing materials may be used for student experimentation associated with this competition.
  12. Each team will be provided with an FRP reinforcing materials kit free of charge, consistent with the contest rules. Students and advisors, in return for receiving the FRP reinforcing materials free of charge, must agree to only use the FRP reinforcing materials supplied to them for purposes directly related to the competition. Failure to comply with the requirement prohibiting the use of FRP reinforcing materials supplied for the competition in other projects will disqualify the student team from the competition and may also disqualify the faculty advisor from participation in future competitions. Should faculty advisors desire to use these types of reinforcements in other projects, they are encouraged to directly contact the manufacturers.
  13. Reinforcing support wires and/or chairs are not permitted in the clear span area. Any manner of bar support may be used outside the clear span, as long as the bar support does not act to enhance the behavior of the structure, such as by anchoring the bar in the concrete; these bar supports are NOT included in the total cost. Mechanical anchorages, if used, must be made from the materials provided, as specified in paragraph 2.10 and ARE included in the total cost.
  14. Teams must provide the measured weights of all materials used in the concrete batch prepared to cast their competition structure, as specified on the Official Mix and Cost Form, and submit a 75mm by 150mm (3 inch by 6 inch) cylinder poured from the same concrete batch as that used to pour the competition structure. The cylinder MUST be identified with the specimen beam mark and MUST be submitted with the structure on the day of the competition. The cylinder will be used by ACI as required by the judges to confirm materials used. Teams failing to submit the required cylinder will be disqualified from the competition.
  15. Teams must also provide a diagram showing placement and dimensions of all FRP reinforcing materials used. The diagram must include the specimen beam mark and must be submitted along with the Official Mix and Cost Form by the date specified on the competition web site.
  16. Entries not meeting the specified requirements may be tested if time permits but will not be eligible for prizes. MODIFICATION OF ENTRIES SHALL NOT BE PERMITTED AT THE COMPETITION SITE.

3. THE TESTING PROCESS:

  1. Entries will be weighed and measured, and those judged acceptable by the FRP Competition Committee will be positioned in the testing apparatus, which will apply a midspan concentrated load by means of a pivoting load plate. The center-to-center span is 900 mm (35.4 in.) and reaction forces are through bearing surfaces measuring not less than 50 mm (2 sq in.) by 50 mm (2 sq in.) and providing no restraint against rotation at the ends of the specimen.
  2. Once seated in the testing apparatus, a seating load of approximately 0.25 kN (56 lb) will be applied and recorded. Additional load will be applied until the structure fails or is loaded to the test fixture's capacity of 67 kN (15,000 lb). The maximum load achieved will be recorded as the maximum load prior to failure or 67 kN (15,000 lb), whichever is smaller. In lieu of obvious physical signs of failure, after initial cracking, failure will be assumed to have occurred when total load on the structure has decreased to 75% of the maximum load achieved by that specimen. The loading rate will be determined by adjusting the cylinder's manual speed setting so that the manual speed valve is closed hand tight. This setting will correspond to a piston movement of approximately 2.5 mm/minute, but may be affected by the stiffness of the specimen. Deflection will be measured as the movement of the loading piston, which is assumed to correspond to deflection of the specimen at the loading plate.
  3. If a structure fails to reach a deflection of 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) prior to either failing or reaching the test fixture's capacity of 67 kN (15,000 lb), that entry shall be disqualified for the Most Accurate Prediction prizes but will be permitted to compete for the Highest Ultimate Load-to-Cost Ratio prizes.
  4. To arrive at the actual load corresponding to a 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) deflection, the total load at 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) deflection will be reduced by the 0.25 kN (56 lb) seating load (for which no deflection was measured).
  5. The maximum load achieved (as specified in paragraph 3.2), without deduction of the seating load, will be recorded as the measured ultimate load.

4. THE EVALUATION PROCESS:

  1. Load-to-Cost ratios will be calculated as the ultimate load, as defined in paragraph 3.5, divided by the Final Cost of the structure. Any structure that does not fail prior to reaching the 67 kN (15,000 lb) test fixture capacity will have its Load-to-Cost ratio calculated as 67 kN divided by the Final Cost of the structure.

  2. The Final Cost will be calculated as the sum of the Material Cost Subtotal for the individual materials used to produce each entry times the Sustainability Credit Multiplier, as specified in the Official Mix and Cost Worksheet.
  3. The cost for FRP reinforcing materials will be calculated on a per piece basis and will NOT be pro-rated when less than the full piece of an FRP reinforcement is used. (For example, an entry that uses one complete piece of FRP reinforcement as required by paragraph 2.11 and a part of another piece of FRP reinforcement as permitted by paragraph 2.11 would be assigned the Material Cost associated with two full pieces of FRP reinforcing materials.)
  4. Sustainability credits will be granted for reduction in cement content and for use of recycled supplementary cementitious materials (SCM’s). The Sustainability Credit Multiplier will be calculated by subtracting the sum of the sustainability credits awarded from 100%. A design that is awarded no sustainability credits will have its Load-to-Cost ratio calculated based on 100% of the Material Costs. Sustainability Credits will be awarded for implementation of the following sustainable design concepts:
      1. If the measured batch weight of cement (in lbs or kg) is less than 15% of the total batch weight (in lbs or kg) of all concrete materials, as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, a 1% sustainability credit will be awarded
      2. If the measured batch weight of cement (in lbs or kg) is less than 10% of the total batch weight (in lbs or kg) of all concrete materials, as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      3. If the measured batch weight of cement (in lbs or kg) is less than 5% of the total batch weight (in lbs or kg) of all concrete materials, as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      4. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of fly ash is more than 20% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag cement (slag), and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, a 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      5. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of fly ash is more than 30% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      6. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of fly ash is more than 40% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      7. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of slag cement (slag) is more than 20% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, a 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      8. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of slag is more than 35% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      9. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of slag is more than 50% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      10. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of silica fume is more than 5% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, a 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
      11. If the measured batch weight (in lbs or kg) of silica fume is more than 10% of the sum of the measured batch weights (in lbs or kg) of all cementitious materials (including cement, fly ash, slag, and silica fume), as reported on the Mix and Cost Form worksheet, an additional 1% sustainability credit will be awarded.
  5. Prediction accuracy will be measured by the relative difference between predicted and actual results. The Most Accurate Predictions of load will be the teams that achieve the smallest absolute value for "Delta", the estimated percentage difference, computed as follows:

D = 50{DP2.5/P2.5 + DPult/Pult}

Where

DP2.5 = ½Pest @ 2.5 mm midspan deflection - P2.5½ = the absolute value of the difference between the predicted load at 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) deflection and the measured load corresponding to 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) deflection, where the measured load is defined in paragraph 3d.

P2.5 = measured load corresponding to 2.5 mm (0.1 in.) deflection, defined in paragraph 3d.

DPult = ½Pest @ ult - Pult½ = the absolute value of the difference between the predicted ultimate load and the measured ultimate load as defined in paragraph 3e.

Pult = the measured ultimate load as defined in paragraph 3e. Any structure that does not fail prior to reaching the 67 kN (15,000 lb) test fixture capacity will have D calculated with Pult taken equal to 67 kN.

  1. A panel of judges will be appointed by the FRP Competition Committee. Interpretations and decisions made by the judges will be final, and appeals will not be considered.

5. TIME AND LOCATION FOR TESTING AND COMPLIANCE WITH RULES:

  1. The competition will be held in conjunction with the ACI 2011 Spring Convention in Tampa, Florida on Sunday April 3, 2011, beginning at 11:00 a.m. All entries must be delivered to the competition area in person by 10:30 am the morning of the competition. The entry does not have to be delivered by a team member.
  2. ACI reserves the right to perform a detailed examination and check all entries for compliance with the competition rules. Due to the complexity of this task, the examination may be done after the competition if needed. If the examination shows that a team did not follow the rules, the team, their advisor, and all of his/her teams will be disqualified. ACI Committee S801 will further document recommendations to disallow the team, their advisor, and/or school/university from participation in future ACI competitions and submit this to the Student and Young Professional Activities Committee

6. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Lacey Jones
American Concrete Institute
38800 Country Club Drive
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
Fax: (248) 848-3801
E-mail: students@concrete.org