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FRC Bowling Ball Competition

  
     

 

REGISTRATION FORMS:
Part 1: Online Advance Registration Form - CLOSED
Part 2: Official Registration Form 

Commonly Asked Questions


Objective  Back to top   

To demonstrate the effect of fibers in reinforcing concrete, to gain practical experience in forming and fabricating a concrete element, and to encourage creativity in engineering design. 


Prizes   Back to top   

First, Second, and Third Prizes will be awarded to the teams with the HIGHEST FINAL SCORE as defined in Section 6. First, Second, and Third place entries will each be awarded a certificate of recognition, will be recognized in Concrete International magazine if space allows, and will be recognized on ACI's website. In addition, the First Place team will receive a $300 award, the Second Place team will receive $200, and the Third Place team will receive $100. 


Rules   Back to top   

1. The Challenge

  1. To design and construct a fiber-reinforced concrete bowling ball to achieve optimal performance under specified failure criteria.
  2. To develop a fabrication process that produces a radial uniform density while maximizing volume.

2. The Student Team

  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. A team is limited to five students currently enrolled in a high school or undergraduate program.  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. 
  4. Each team must submit registration forms Part 1 and Part 2 above.  Only the first two completed advance registrations will be accepted from one school.  Additional teams will only be accepted if an earlier entry from the same school withdraws from the competition.  ACI encourages schools to hold local competitions to select the teams that will represent them at this international competition.

3. Materials and Curing

  1. The bowling ball must use cementitious materials as binder. The cementitious materials shall be portland cement meeting ASTM C 150, blended cement meeting ASTM C 595, or expansive cement meeting ASTM C 845. Supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash and natural pozzolan meeting ASTM C 618, silica fume meeting ASTM C 1240, and slag meeting ASTM C 989 may also be used.
  2. Any type of non-metallic aggregate may be used.
  3. Chemical admixtures meeting ASTM C 494 or ASTM C 1017 may be used. Glues and similar binders, such as epoxies and other polymers, are not allowed. 
  4. Curing shall be at atmospheric pressure. The curing temperatures shall not exceed the boiling point of water. Use of a standard moist curing room is permitted.
  5. The fiber-reinforced concrete mixture design shall include fibers of maximum 60 mm length and made of steel, glass, synthetic or natural materials as described in ACI 544.1R. The fibers may be used at any dosage rate. No other type of reinforcing is allowed. 
  6. Filling of honeycombed surfaces after casting is allowed. Fill materials must be selected from the same materials used in the original concrete mixture. 

4. Specimen 

  1. The bowling ball mass shall not exceed 5.5 kg. The bowling ball shall measure no greater than 250 mm in diameter and no less than 225 mm in diameter. 
  2. The bowling ball shall be cast or formed monolithically. A ball consisting of smaller precast units bonded together by any means will be disqualified. 
  3. The bowling ball may be solid (homogeneous) or core filled. If core filled, the maximum density of the filler material shall be no greater than 24 kg/m3. 
  4. The bowling ball cannot be cast prior to October 5, 2006. 
  5. A 25 mm diameter hole shall be drilled or formed along the polar axis to completely penetrate the sphere. Deviation of the axis of the hole from the vertical theoretical polar axis shall be limited to 5 degrees. 
  6. Modification of entries shall not be permitted once they are submitted for the competition. 

5. Qualification and Testing Procedures

  1. Qualification Test
    The competition procedures consist of three steps, all handled by a group of judges appointed by the Chair of ACI-E 801. First, every bowling ball entry is individually weighed and checked for size and clearances and requirements of Sections 2 through 4 (above) will be checked. Only after the first qualification step has been completed, will each qualifying bowling ball be taken to the second and third steps, namely: the Roll Test and Load Test. Also, refer to Section 9 for final qualification and prize eligibility. 
  2. Roll Test
    The bowling ball specimens judged acceptable by the FRC Competition Committee will be positioned at the top of a V-shaped ramp and propelled down the ramp by the force of gravity onto a flat surfaced lane. (See diagram below) As shown below in the illustration, the ramp shall be 1,220 mm long and raised 400 mm on one end in order to achieve a reasonable ball speed. The ball must "strike" between two edges spaced 600 mm apart at the end of the 3,000 mm long lane. Each ball shall be rolled in two orientations: one with the 25 mm hole positioned as an axis, and the other with the 25 mm hole positioned in-line with the ramp. For each orientation, each ball will be given two tries to successfully pass through the strike zone. 
  3. Load Test
    The bowling ball will next be placed in a testing apparatus. The ball will be positioned in such a manner as to align the 25 mm diameter hole along the vertical axis of the ball. The load shall be applied with the initial speed of the crosshead displacement set at 10 mm/min. Load will be applied until the crosshead displacement of the testing apparatus has traveled 25 mm. The load will be recorded at this point. In addition, the load will be recorded at every 5 mm of crosshead displacement and the average of the five loads will be computed, which will be used for final score evaluation (see Section 6). 

6. Test Evaluation

The Scoring Equation

Final Score = Average Load x (Diameter)2 x Roll Test Multiplier

  1. The diameter is taken as an average of two orthogonal measurements: one measured along the axis of the 25 mm hole (labeled as the X-axis) and another measured perpendicular to the X-axis (with the smallest value).
  2. To compute the roll test multiplier, deduct 10% in the final score for each failed roll out of the four rolls attempted during the roll test. Thus, a ball with one failed run would have a 0.90 multiplier for the final score. The lowest deduction would then be 0.60. 
  3. The team that achieves a Final Score with the highest value will receive the prize for first place. The teams with the next highest values in descending order will receive the prize for second and third place. In the case of a tie, the winner is determined based on largest test load. 

  4. If a bowling ball fails to reach a deflection of 25 mm prior to reaching the test apparatus' capacity, the load test will be stopped and the loads associated with any remaining crosshead displacements will be recorded as the capacity of the test machine. 

7. Judging

  1. The judges will be appointed by the Chair of Committee E 801 in collaboration with representatives of FRC committee, ACI 544.
  2. The judges will determine whether or not the rules have been followed.
  3. The decision of the judges will be final, and appeals will not be considered.

8. Submitting the Bowling Ball Entries and Supporting Materials

  1. Advance Online Registration is required. The Online Advance Registration Form (Part 1) must be submitted no later than September 29, 2006.
  2. The bowling ball accompanied by the Official Registration Form (Part 2) must  be submitted in person along with the specimen no later than 11:00 a.m. on the day of the competition. 

9. Compliance with ACI-Bowling Ball Competition Rules

ACI reserves the right to perform detailed examination and check entries for compliance with the competition rules. Due to the complexity of this task, the examination may be done after the competition. If the examination shows that a team did not follow the rules, the team, their advisor and all his/her teams will be disqualified. ACI Committee E 801 will further document recommendations to sanction the team, their advisor, and/or school/university participation in future competitions.

10. Contact Information

For technical inquiries:

Vivek Bindiganavile, PhD
FRC Bowling Ball Competition Chair
E-mail: vivek@ualberta.ca

For question regarding registration:

Jessie Bournay
American Concrete Institute
E-mail: students@concrete.org