International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Professor Carolyn Hansson’s remarkable journey began in England, during the turbulence of the Second World War. Despite the hardships of wartime and the limitations imposed by rationing, Carolyn was raised in a nurturing environment by parents who instilled in her a deep respect for learning and perseverance. These values would guide her through an exceptional academic and professional life. As the sole woman at the Royal School of Mines, Carolyn studied metallurgy at Imperial College, where she later earned her PhD, focusing on superconductivity and crystal structures at liquid helium temperatures. Her postdoctoral path led her from industrial research at Martin Marietta Laboratories to academic positions at Columbia University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and later to Bell Laboratories in 1976. Her pivotal shift into corrosion science began in 1980 at the Danish Corrosion Centre, where she worked on a new type of cement and corrosion of steel in concrete. From Denmark to Canada, Professor Hansson continued her research at Queen’s University and later at the University of Waterloo, building an enduring legacy in the field of steel corrosion in concrete structures. Over the decades, Carolyn’s contributions to corrosion research have shaped and guided generations of engineers and scientists. Her pioneering studies—on electrical resistivity of concrete, quantifying reinforcement corrosion rates, and understanding the complex role of chlorides—remain foundational in the field. Her investigations into corrosion inhibitors, electrochemical chloride extraction, effects of concrete cracking on reinforcement corrosion, and corrosion-resistant steels continue to influence global practices in infrastructure resilience. This Special Publication celebrates more than 60 years of Professor Hansson’s contributions as a scientist, educator, and mentor. The papers collected here, presented at the 2025 Spring Convention in Toronto, reflect not only the lasting relevance of her work but also its future promise. Her vision stands as both a mirror to the past and a beacon for innovations yet to come in corrosion-resistant construction. O. Burkan Isgor David Tepke Ceki Halmen Neal Berke

Serviceability is considered a critical factor in the management of concrete bridges and structures. Typical components for evaluating the serviceability limit state include cracking, deflection, and vibration. Additionally, to ensure the adequate performance of load-bearing members, proper evaluation methodologies should be adopted. Although numerous research projects have been undertaken to examine the serviceability and performance assessment of concrete bridges and structures, significant endeavors are still required to address unexplored challenges. Of interest are the development of simplified prediction and appraisal approaches; novel techniques for quantifying stress levels; serviceability criteria under unusual distress; and the characterization of structural responses when exposed to blast, wind, and seismic loadings. This Special Publication contains 11 papers selected from technical sessions held in the ACI Fall Convention in November 2024. The Editors wish to thank all contributing authors and anonymous reviewers for their rigorous efforts. The Editors also gratefully acknowledge Ms. Barbara Coleman at ACI for her knowledgeable guidance. Yail J. Kim, University of Colorado Denver, Editor Hyeon-Jong Hwang, Konkuk University, Editor

Reinforced concrete sections have typically been the most used material for hardened protective construction due to their mass and the ductility provided by the reinforcement. The additional mass of these sections reduces deflections and increases dampening, which reduces vibrations. Even for the occasional occurrence of hardened steel structures, the foundation is comprised of reinforced concrete. Reinforced concrete structures are hardened for a multitude of reasons. The most common include antiterrorism, force protection, equivalent protection for quantity distance arc violations, personnel protection, prevention of prompt propagation, asset protection, and elastic response during repeated intentional detonations. Many of the structures in the United States (US) used by the Department of Defense (DoD), to accommodate a rapid increase in production and storage of explosives were built during World War II (1941-1945). Facilities used for explosives production, maintenance, research and development (R&D), demolition, testing, and training are commonly referred to as Explosives Operating Locations (EOLs). This puts the average age of many of these facilities close to 80 years-old, which is past their originally intended service life. This paper presents a structural health and visual inspection (SHVI) technique developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Facilities Explosives Safety Mandatory Center of Expertise (FES MCX), the University of Oklahoma, and the Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) for the inspection of reinforced concrete Explosives Operations Location (EOL) facilities and live-fire training facilities [9]. This inspection process has been utilized to inspect over 1500 structures across multiple countries over the last decade and aid DoD installations in planning and budgeting for necessary repairs and future recapitalization priorities. This work does not include application to anti-terrorism or force protection in hardened structures for conventional weapon effects. This process has also been modified for use in live-fire training operations in concrete facilities and coupled with analyses to determine facility adequacy for explosives operations with desired charge weights, based on the given facility’s current structural health rating and its analyzed ability to remain elastic during repeated intentional detonations. The FES MCX partners with ERDC for concrete coring, materials analysis, and testing of samples to determine the estimated remaining service life of concrete structures based on the carbonation front of cored samples determined by the carbonation tests in relationship to the steel reinforcement. Examples of historical application will be given, and details provided on how these methods can lead to improved life-cycle cost for concrete structures and paired with design development criteria for optimal results.

The ACI Foundation’s 2024-2025 Baker Student Fellowship recipient, Austin Mizen from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA, had a remarkable opportunity to intern with Baker Construction during the summer of 2024.

A new certificate program on “Designing Concrete Structures Reinforced with GFRP Bars Using the ACI CODE-440.11-22” is now offered online through ACI University. The program focuses on recently published ACI CODE-440.11-22: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete Reinforced with Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Bars—Code and Commentary.