ACI Concrete Cube Competition

 

Commonly Asked Questions

2009 Concrete Cube Competition Results

2009 Concrete Cube Competition Winners

2007 Concrete Cube Competition Results

2007 Concrete Cube Competition Winners

2005 Concrete Cube Competition Results

2005 Concrete Cube Competition Winners

2004 Concrete Cube Competition Winners

2003 Concrete Cube Competition Winners

Pre-registration - CLOSED (Register by October 16, 2009)

Offical Registration Form - OPEN


Objectives  Back to top

 

To produce a concrete cube that achieves, as closely as possible, a target design strength of 50 MPa and a target mass of 270 grams per cube.

 


Prizes  Back to top

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 Web site. 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.

Each school is eligible for only one prize.


Rules (approved only for the Fall 2009 competition)  Back to top


1. Eligibility

  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 students in high school, technical school, trade school, or undergraduate students of a college or university at the time of casting the cube. Undergraduate students on cooperative or internship work assignment are also eligible to compete. All members of a given team must be from the same school.
  3. A team is limited to five individuals.
  4. A school may register up to two teams. A student may not be a member of more than one team. Each team may submit one entry.
  5. 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.

2. Material

  1. The cubes must use cementitious materials as binder, as defined in Section 2b below. Chemical admixtures meeting ASTM C 494 or 1017 may be used. 
  2. The cementitious materials shall be portland cement meeting ASTM C 150, blended cement meeting ASTM C 595 and C 1157, and expansive cement meeting ASTM C 845. Supplementary cementituous 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.
  3. Epoxies and other polymers, glue, and similar binders are not allowed.
  4. Fibers or other types of reinforcement are not allowed.
  5. Any type of non-metallic aggregate may be used.
  6. A cube must be cast as a unit. A cube consisting of smaller precast units bonded together by any means will be disqualified. A cube may not be cut from homogeneous blocks, nor ground or patched to size.
  7. All three cubes must be from the same batch, homogeneous, i.e., have the same composition throughout the cube. Hollow or core-filled cubes will be disqualified.

3. Curing and Age of Specimen

  1. Curing shall be done in accordance with ACI 308. The curing period is defined as the whole period of time between casting and testing the cubes.
  2. Cubes cannot be painted, coated, or impregnated.

4. Specimen, Qualification, and Testing Configuration

  1. The cube must nominally be 50.8 x 50.8 x 50.8 mm. A cube outside the range of 50.8 + 1.3 mm along any edge along the molded sides will be disqualified.
  2. Each entry consists of three cubes: two cubes will be subjected to destructive testing and one cube will be kept for verification of compliance with the competition rules; refer to Section 8.
  3. All three cubes must satisfy the size and clearances requirements as well as material and curing requirements of Sections 2 through 4. 
  4. Each cube must be marked with a five character entry identification marking of the team's choice. (A large "x" shall be marked on the upper surface where the concentrated load will be applied during testing.)
  5. The judges will randomly select two cubes from each entry, before weighing them, to be tested in direct compression test to failure.
  6. Modification or change of entries will not be permitted once they are submitted for competition.

5. Testing Evaluation

Two cubes from each entry will be tested in direct compression for strength determination according to ASTM C 109, and all three cubes will be used for mass determination.

  1. The average strength "sc" is taken as the average loads of the two tested cubes divided by the area of the cube taken as 50.8 x 50.8 mm and measured in MPa. "sc1" and "sc2" are the respective strengths of the two individual tested cubes.
  2. The average mass "m" of the cubes is taken as the average masses of all three cubes of the entry measured in grams. 
  3. The team that achieves a Final Score with a value closest to 100 will receive the prize of First Place. The teams with the next values in descending order will receive the prize of Second and Third Place. In case of a tie, the winner is determined based on the lowest value of .

6. Judging

  1. The judges will be appointed by the Chair of Committee E 801.
  2. The judges will make the final determination on compliance with the rules and penalties for rules violations.
  3. The decision of the judges will be final, and appeals will not be considered.
  4. Advance registration is required. All contestants must submit an Online Advance Registration Form for each entry. This registration must be performed as indicated below. It indicates the intent to enter the cube competition. The actual cubes, with the Official Registration Form, may be submitted later.
  • The pre-registration deadline is Friday, October 16, 2009.
  • For students requiring a U.S. entry VISA letter, an invitation letter from ACI will be sent upon request after receiving a completed pre-registration online form only IF your university is located outside of the U.S. or Canada, AND you have indicated that your team plans to attend the convention on the pre-registration form. Invitation letters will be emailed to the faculty advisor email address listed on the pre-registration form. Hard copies will not be faxed or mailed to the team members or to U.S. embassies.

7. Submitting the Cubes and Supporting Materials

The cubes and any supporting materials, accompanied by the Official Registration Form (in PDF format ), and with the identifying markings clearly displayed on the cubes, are to be submitted in person by no later than 10:30 a.m. on the day of the competition. Cubes arriving past 10:30 a.m. will not be accepted for entry into the competition and will only be tested after the competition is complete, should time permit. The individual bringing your cubes to the competition does not have to be a member of your team.

8. Compliance with ACI-Cube Competition rules

ACI reserves the right to perform a detailed examination and check all entries for compliance with the competition rules using the third, untested cube. 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 of his/her teams will be disqualified. Committee E 801 will further document recommendations to disallow the team, their advisor, and/or school/university from participation in future competitions.

9. Contact Information

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