Masonry Edge the storypole Vol7 No1 : Page 30

concrete block convention? Really? Inherent values A of concrete masonry (strength, durability, versatility, etc.) remain, but how products are manufactured and how structures are designed and con struct ed is changing. If you were not Charles Kaneshiro of Group 70 International in Honolulu accepts the Design Award of Excellence -in attendance at Commercial for his work on the University of Hawaii Center for Microbial Oceanography the National Concrete Masonry Association’s 92nd Annual Convention (held in Orlando FL Architects & Engineers by Robert D Thomas, FTMS, FASTM in March in conjunction with The Precast Show Take Note featuring ICON Expo), it might be hard to fathom what could I ncreasing Masonry Design The Expo About 4,000 attendees were come out of meetings focused on a Strengths? What design strength do given the opportunity to see new manufac tur ing product that has been used extensively engineers currently use most commonly for technologies , such as injecting carbon dioxide in construction for the past century. masonry design? 1500 psi. Why? Because Building into a block during manufacture for the purpose Code Requirements for Masonry Structures What could be new – much less exciting? of sequestering the CO 2 and speeding the curing In case you missed it, concrete masonry truly has already evolved and is continuing to evolve to provide solutions for 21st century buildings. We are excited to share with you who plan, inﬂuence, design and construct, the behind the scenes thinking, ideas and innovation happening in the industry. allows the use of this design strength ( f' m ) if a C90 unit is installed with Type S mortar with or without masonry grout. NCMA’s Masonry Technical Subcommittee reviewed last month the results of laboratory research that illustrates these design values are over-conservative. As such, NCMA will be forwarding two new recommenda -tions, one to increase minimum unit strengths in C90 to 2000 psi and another to change the unit strength tables to increase the f' m values that engineers are allowed to use, such that 2000 psi becomes the standard design strength used. What diﬀerence will that make? See the complementary article, Embodied Energy of Concrete Masonry by David Biggs, on page 12 of this very issue. A C o n c r e t e B l o c k P a r t y Concrete Block Party Changes to C90 Impact Unit Configurations process for the unit, a technology highlighted in a future edition of MasonryEdge/theStoryPole . Orlando happens to be home to some of the most high tech CMU plants in the world, so show attendees were also provided the opportunity to tour three of these plants manufacturing block, retaining wall units and concrete pavers. One of the plants also featured a demonstration project of a new environmentally friendly permeable block paving system. ICON Expo also premiered Production Boot Camp as an intense multi-day program of education for plant production personnel to add to their experience. At these recent meetings, producers were being educated about new changes to ASTM C90 for loadbearing concrete masonry units (CMU) that will impact the conﬁgurations of block tomorrow. New requirements are based on in-the-wall structural performance, replacing historical requirements based on manufacturing and handling limitations. New standards require less web material and open the door for innova -tions that could speed construction, improve thermal eﬃciencies and reduce costs of masonry construction. Look for a future article in this magazine to more fully describe those changes (or, if you can’t wait that long – just call us!). New Direct Design Software for Masonry NCMA announced the release of a new software program geared speciﬁcally for designing simple masonry structures. It is based on The Masonry Society’s new Direct Design for Masonry docu ment. The direct design method for masonry reduced the design of these structures to minutes – and this software reduces the design time to perhaps under a minute. There’s an ad for that software on page 31, and a future article scheduled in the Next Generation of Masonry Design issue of MasonryEdge/theStoryPole later this year. Cool Foundation Sponsored Projects The NCMA Education and Research Foundation also met in conjunction with the Orlando events and review ed the status of on-going programs to which they are contributing, such as research initiatives at • Brigham Young University to evaluate cement replacements in masonry grout; • the University of Wyoming to evaluate shrinkage potential in masonry mortars; • and the Northwest Concrete Masonry Association on insulation strategies for concrete masonry wall systems. 30 MASONRY EDG E / thestorypole Vol 7 No 1 Masonry Technology | Innovation masonryedge.com

A Concrete Block Party

Robert D Thomas

Architects & Engineers Take Note A concrete block convention ?Really? Inherent values of concrete masonry (strength, durability, versatility, etc.) remain, but how products are manufactured and how structures are designed and con structed is changing. If you were not in attendance at the National Concrete Masonry Association’s 92nd Annual Convention (held in Orlando FL in March in conjunction with The Precast Show featuring ICON Expo), it might be hard to fathom what could come out of meetings focused on a product that has been used extensively in construction for the past century. What could be new –much less exciting? In case you missed it, concrete masonry truly has already evolved and is continuing to evolve to provide solutions for 21st century buildings. We are excited to share with you who plan, influence, design and construct, the behind the scenes thinking, ideas and innovation happening in the industry. Changes to C90 Impact Unit Configurations At these recent meetings, producers were being educated about new changes to ASTM C90 for loadbearing concrete masonry units (CMU) that will impact the configurations of block tomorrow. New requirements are based on in-the-wall structural performance, replacing historical requirements based on manufacturing and handling limitations. New standards require less web material and open the door for innovations that could speed construction, improve thermal efficiencies and reduce costs of masonry construction. Look for a future article in this magazine to more fully describe those changes (or, if you can’t wait that long – just call us!). Increasing Masonry Design Strengths? What design strength do engineers currently use most commonly for masonry design? 1500 psi. Why? Because Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures allows the use of this design strength (f'm) if a C90 unit is installed with Type S mortar with or without masonry grout. NCMA’s Masonry Technical Subcommittee reviewed last month the results of laboratory research that illustrates these design values are over-conservative. As such, NCMA will be forwarding two new recommendations, one to increase minimum unit strengths in C90 to 2000 psi and another to change the unit strength tables to increase the f'm values that engineers are allowed to use, such that 2000 psi becomes the standard design strength used. What difference will that make? See the complementary article, Embodied Energy of Concrete Masonry by David Biggs, on page 12 of this very issue. New Direct Design Software for Masonry NCMA announced the release of a new software program geared specifically for designing simple masonry structures. It is based on The Masonry Society’s new Direct Design for Masonry document. The direct design method for masonry reduced the design of these structures to minutes – and this software reduces the design time to perhaps under a minute. There’s an ad for that software on page 31, and a future article scheduled in the Next Generation of Masonry Design issue of MasonryEdge/theStoryPole later this year. The Expo About 4,000 attendees were given the opportunity to see new manufacturing technologies, such as injecting carbon dioxide into a block during manufacture for the purpose of sequestering the CO2 and speeding the curing process for the unit, a technology highlighted in a future edition of MasonryEdge/theStoryPole. Orlando happens to be home to some of the most high tech CMU plants in the world, so show attendees were also provided the opportunity to tour three of these plants manufacturing block, retaining wall units and concrete pavers. One of the plants also featured a demonstration project of a new environmentally friendly permeable block paving system. ICON Expo also premiered Production Boot Camp as an intense multi-day program of education for plant production personnel to add to their experience. Cool Foundation Sponsored Projects The NCMA Education and Research Foundation also met in conjunction with the Orlando events and review ed the status of on-going programs to which they are contributing, such as research initiatives at • Brigham Young University to evaluate cement replacements in masonry grout; • the University of Wyoming to evaluate shrinkage potential in masonry mortars; • and the Northwest Concrete Masonry Association on insulation strategies for concrete masonry wall systems. The Foundation approved new grants to • Biggs Consulting and Georgia Tech for development of strategies to better incorporate masonry into Building Information Modeling (BIM); • The Masonry Society to continue its production of a masonry industry sustainability electronic newsletter; • Brigham Young University to evaluate the structural in-plane shear capacity of partially-grouted concrete masonry walls; • ASM for developing sample templates for block plants to use for the development of environmental management systems; • Florida Atlantic University and Ball State University to support architectural student design competitions. The Foundation is still considering the merits of possible funding to the University of Louisville to investigate the use of phase change materials in the mix of a concrete block to improve energy efficiencies of structures using concrete masonry. Students from Florida Atlantic University also presented to attendees the results of their in-house design competition to employ the attributes of concrete masonry to effectively create housing communities in Haiti and other Caribbean countries. Industry Partners Converge The event provided opportunities for different segments of the industry to pull together. The Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) has become a regular contributor to NCMA’s meetings and was able to have an official signing ceremony for a new agreement with The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) to create a jointly-endorsed masonry training and certification program. The Portland Cement Association (PCA) presented concepts on how to promote the value of functionally resilient structures to improve the ability of communities to bounce back from disasters by ensuring that structures and infrastructure are better able to remain functional after such events. PCA also presented their economic forecasts for cement and masonry usage. The Masonry Institute of Michigan (MIM) shared strategies for how to work locally to demonstrate to designers and owners how a redesign using structural masonry can also be more cost-effective, quicker to construct and higher performing. These are but a sampling of cross-coordinations that can and do occur in a positive way when people work together. Next NCMA is not sitting still, nor are others in this industry. If you feel up to some exercise, consider joining us for the next Block Party! Indianapolis – January 9-12, 2013.

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