Archive for March, 2008

Using Expanded Shale for a Pedestrian Mix and Vehicular Mix

Published by Jack Sinclair on March 31, 2008 in Horticulture - Pave Grow. 0 Comments

(As a Growing Medium and Erosion Reduction Structural Soil for Emergency Access Areas, Overflow Parking, and Green Space Requirements)

Have you ever wondered what alternatives exist to using traditional concrete and asphalt for overflow parking areas or temporary access spaces? Many landowners and developers want to create a natural setting or “green space” that provides a stable, all-weather platform for vehicles in times of excess need or for emergency access. A natural setting offers tremendous aesthetic value and avoids the inherent problems of storm water run off and heat island effects. Expanded shale in a structural soil mix is the answer. It can be effectively used as a pedestrian or vehicular mix to serve as both an excellent growing medium for trees, grasses and landscape vegetation, as well as an erosion inhibitor for pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

View the images below to see how expanded shale works as a structural soil. Read about the recent Bella Mar project for a great example of how expanded shale was installed to create an overflow parking area at an amenity center near Austin, Texas.

Does anyone know if expanded shale as a structural soil would qualify as a LEED credit for pervious cover?

I welcome questions or comments about this product application.

Jack Sinclair

 Structural soil for emergency access
Structural soil in place since August of 2000 successfully providing emergency access across a golf course fairway. Click thumbnail for larger image.

Structural soil for fire lane
Structural soil as a fire lane since August 2003 at St. Edwards University, Austin, Texas. Click thumbnail for larger image.

Bio: Jack Sinclair has worked as a sales consultant on TXI Pave Grow® projects for the past 13 years and as a lightweight aggregate salesman with TXI for 17 years.  He has worked for TXI in other construction-related positions for 38 years, including Ready Mix Sales, Precast and Ready Mix Quality Control, and Ready Mix Logistics. 

Bookmark this article!

Del.icio.usDiggma.gnoliaTechnorati

What’s Next for Concrete? Internal Curing

Published by Don Reeves on March 10, 2008 in Internal Curing. 0 Comments

If there is any such thing as a holy grail of concrete it has to be shrinkage cracks. The industry has conquered just about everything else. For example, we already make it stronger – 20,000 psi for columns, weaker for fill at 300 psi, lighter for insulating at 30 pcf, and heavier for radiation shielding at 180 pcf. We even make self-compacting concrete for easier placement and extra stiff concrete so it will stand up behind a slip form paver.

Wait, there’s more. We can make it set faster for quick repairs or slower for delivery to remote locations. We can make it beautiful for architectural appeal or plain ugly to be buried in the ground and never exposed to the light of day, while efficiently capturing and removing storm water run off before it can collect and cause millions of dollars in flood damage.

What’s left? How about crack-free concrete? I don’t doubt that someone can provide, without a minute’s worth of research, evidence of concrete that will out-perform the examples I have casually listed above, yet the problem of crack-free remains. Concrete shrinks and that irrefutable fact results in cracks that sometimes lead to reduced service life or costly repairs.

Can concrete that is cured from the inside out eliminate all shrinkage cracks? Probably not, but how about reducing cracks by almost half in 500 feet of mainline paving1 or how about 250,000 cubic yards of paving in an inter-modal yard that has to be studied on hands and knees to find a crack.2

Please visit the Menu for Internal Curing with Lightweight Aggregates for valuable internal curing resources.

For additional information about Internal Curing, read the white paper “INTERNAL CURING Using Expanded Shale, Clay, and Slate Lightweight Aggregate” published by Expanded Shale, Clay & Slate Institute.

Bio: The author is a long time practitioner in the concrete industry with over 38 years of experience in inspection, testing, production, quality control, and sales.

1 Friggle T.; Reeves D. “Internal Curing of Concrete Paving: Laboratory and Field Experience” ACI Fall Convention 2007 symposium

2 Villarreal V.H.; Crocker D. A. Better Pavements through Internal Hydration” Concrete International February 2007

Bookmark this article!

Del.icio.usDiggma.gnoliaTechnorati