Precast Inc. - July/August 2008 - (Page 8) PRECASTER’S PERSPECTIVE Lessons Learned from Producer’s First Project with CFRP Reinforcing By Sue McCraven Photos courtesy Professor Nabil Grace, Lawrence Technological Institute Editor’s Note: “Precaster’s Perspective” offers a precast concrete manufacturer’s point of view on an issue of concern to the industry. Precast Inc. magazine welcomes reader comments on each topic. Responses to this issue’s topic of CFRP must be received by Sept. 24 for publication in the November-December issue. Please forward comments and/or suggestions for future topics to the editor at rhyink@precast.org. S ue McCraven, NPCA staff engineer and technical writer, interviewed Loris Collavino at his manufacturing facility in Windsor, Ontario, to ask him about his first experience using CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) reinforcing and to discover what advice he has for other producers interested in nonsteel reinforcing. Did you do any preliminary testing with CFRP or have any special training? No. Dr. Grace had done extensive testing at Lawrence Tech’s structural lab on one-quarter scale double-tee beams with CFRP reinforcing, and our production staff visited his test facilities to learn about this new material. What was really helpful to us was that, while 12 double tees were required for the project, a 13th prototype was produced as part of the contract. This double tee was produced and we were able to engineer changes to the design, mold and production techniques prior to casting the 12 double tees required on site. What was your first production experience with CFRP? In the fall of 2002, our Windsor facility prequalified to bid on production of CFRP modified prestressed double tees for the Bridge Street Bridge in Michigan (see Professor Nabil Grace’s article in the September-October 2008 issue of Precast Solutions), but it took a lot of convincing. Loris Collavino, P. Eng., is CEO of The Prestressed Group (Prestressed Systems Inc., Total Precast Solutions LLC, and International Precast Solutions LLC) with production facilities in Michigan, Ohio and Ontario. Collavino has more than 34 years of industry construction/precast experience and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, a past chairman of the Canadian Precast Concrete Institute, and past president of the Michigan Precast Prestressed Concrete Association. What was your biggest concern? Our biggest concern revolved around the prestressing requirements for these CFRP strands. Mitsubishi, the strand manufacturer, met with us several times to give us a good handle on the prestressing aspects and how to work with CFRP strand in our precast operation. How nervous were you about working with CFRP? Because we had never worked with CFRP before, we were very concerned about the complexity and risk involved. Professor Nabil Grace of Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech) convinced us that we would be working as a team with this new material – and not in an adversarial relationship. We also wrote our bid carefully so that we would not be (financially) responsible if anything went amiss outside of our control. Was your production staff leery of working with non-conventional reinforcing? Not at all. Our production staff was quite excited by this new challenge and the opportunity to think outside the box. 8 JULY/AUGUST 2008 | PRECAST INC.
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