GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
GROUP AIMS TO QUELL DEVELOPING NATIONS' PRACTICE OF SHOVEL-MIXED CONCRETE
North American production and practice
experts are teaming to promote sound
concrete mixing and placement methods
in poor nations, where builders' use of
shovels to mix material for homes and
buildings has the potential for devastating consequences due to finished concretes' low compressive strengths.
The Cement Trust assembled at the World
of Concrete 2013 with a blunt charter
theme, "Death By a Thousand Shovels,"
calling attention to the mission of finding
ways to build stronger concrete supply systems for the poor across the globe. Cement
Trust is a thought leader and a resource development organization, notes Bruce Christensen, group director and general
manager of portable mixer manufacturer
Cart-Away Concrete Systems, McMinnville,
Ore. "Until we find solutions to this broken
system, we will continue to see death, devastation and the waste of the world's resources," he affirms. "Cement Trust is
focused on gathering the best ideas to improve the chances of survival and construction sustainability in these forgotten
regions of the world."
Cart-Away configured its Concrete MD mixing unit for users in countries like Haiti, where substandard concrete—including material prepared on the ground by shovels—was determined to have
greatly compounded January 2010 earthquake casualties. The mini-plant accurately proportions
materials for load-bearing concrete.
The group points to the practice of mixing concrete on the ground for the collapse of many houses and buildings
during the January 2010 earthquake in
Haiti, where the death toll reached
230,000. Mixing on the ground has been
the concrete preparation method of
choice in Haiti and other poor countries
for generations, Cement Trust contends.
Concrete tested from failed structures in
Haiti, observed Georgia Tech Professor
Kimberly Kurtis, had an average compressive strength of 1,300 psi, versus the
minimum 3,000 psi in U.S. building specs.
Cement Trust announced in Las Vegas a
strategic planning meeting, July 11–12
in Oregon, geared for representatives
from the concrete, manufacturing, engineering, mining and distribution industries, along with members of the
international aid and development community. — Cement Trust Symposium,
www.cementtrust.wordpress.com
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MARCH 2013 | 9