Best of Concrete Construction: concrete paths of the past.

Some readers may have memories of ducking under their school desks during routine A-bomb drills half a century ago. Others associate the term energy crisis with today's news rather than events of the 1970s. And so it is with concrete trends and technology. A review of article topics from 50

Over those years, our primary mission has been to present practical construction and troubleshooting methods, at both the basic and advanced levels. At the same time, these more technical articles are interspersed with information on aesthetic achievements, engineering feats, industry developments, and business issues. The following pages present but a small sampling from our annals. We invite you to visit the archives at www.concreteconstruction.net to explore these and other articles on the topics that interest you.

We begin with what the editors called "Creed of a Concrete Man" back in May 1958, published in a format "suitable for framing or display under desk glass."

Stamp of Originality

Stamping tools may be a little easier to use these days, but essentially the concept of stamping patterns in concrete flatwork has endured since contractor Brad Bowman developed it not long before CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION was founded. Bowman's first invention consisted of a single wooden blade, followed by two blades set apart the width of a brick. The tool evolved into the cast aluminum platforms featured in the December 1956 issue because the editors felt "the idea has considerable appeal, as well as elements of novelty."

Art for Art

Described as a masterpiece of modern architecture, a ziggurat, and Frank Lloyd Wright's great swansong, the Guggenheim Museum is indisputably a monument to the possibilities of concrete. CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION was on the jobsite alongside the famed architect, investigating the sound structure behind the radical design for a report that appeared in March 1958.

"Concrete is a plastic material, susceptible to the impress of imagination. I saw a kind of weaving coming out of it. Why not weave a kind of building?" --FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Back to Basics

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has arrived, but vibration still prevails--and still follows principles described in a two-part series from March-April 1959. Explaining the fundamentals is never outmoded; the subject of this "primer" was reprised in a June 2002 Concrete Basics column titled "To Improve Placement, Understanding Vibration Is Key."

Hot Market in a Cold War

In 1961 Berlin built a wall and the Kennedy Administration initiated a nationwide shelter program. Controversy erupted over relying on shelters as a panacea. From this magazine's point of view, "Fallout shelters are unquestionably being built. ... Since the dominant material will almost inevitably be concrete, it is our earnest hope that the quality of the concrete and the craftsmanship of those who do the work will reflect credit on our industry." One of the articles in the January 1962 issue, which focused on survival shelters, advised that "the purchaser might be inclined to do business with someone who can deliver a completely furnished shelter. The contractor therefore should be prepared to answer questions and to extend further services after the shelter is in the ground."

Failures are Finger Posts

In the belief that "a failure is more instructive than success," CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION presented an epic 11-part series, "Failure Lessons in Concrete Construction," authored by construction failures guru Jacob Feld. The series, which ran during 1964, included the following topics:

* Wall failures from unbalanced pressures

* Formwork failures

* Temperature effects on completed work and during construction

* Concrete disintegration from contact with corrosive materials

* Concrete disintegration caused by internally embedded reactive materials or ingredients

* Design and detail error

* Shear failures in concrete frames and slabs

* Difficulties and incidents in prestressed concrete

* Plastic changes in concrete

* Pile and foundation deficiencies

* Tolerances

The Concrete Advantage

January 1980, "the first month of the first year of a new decade," was, according to Bill Avery in his visionary editorial, "an irresistibly logical time for this journal to attempt to sum up in a single issue just a few of the many characteristics of concrete which will serve humanity in an era during which many other essential materials will inevitably become scarce." He continued, "With this issue CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION starts its 25th year of publishing, and yet this is the first issue in almost 300 that in any major way squares off to the subject of promoting concrete." Accordingly, a litany of concrete advantages and achievements followed his introductory words.

Other articles in the January 1980 issue include:

* Record-setting concrete projects

* The many applications of concrete B The many faces of concrete

* Concrete: an unlimited choice of physical properties

* The durability of concrete

* The repairability of concrete

* Concrete: the energy saving material

* The concrete industry: on the grow

Soaking Up Rays with Concrete

As they say, what goes around.... With skyrocketing fuel prices, energy concerns dominated the decade of the 1970s, and CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION devoted the July 1978 issue to the subject. Some of the topics covered, such as how to insulate concrete walls, still seem timeless today. Others--foam domes, anyone?--were a product of the era. For the techies, there was "Thermal inertia of concrete: How thermal inertia fits into the calculation of the actual thermal performance of a building."

Flat World

As the 1980s loomed, the world was changing. The new smaller, high-lifting material handlers would not function properly on floors that were not flat. Modular partition systems increasingly used in high-rise office buildings required tight clearances between ceiling and floor. Enter Allen Face. The president of the Edward W. Face Co. had begun to develop a new method for measuring floor flatness in 1979. He introduced the concept in the November 1982 issue, although he didn't specifically use the term "F number." In short order, Face's F-number system replaced the standard 10-foot straightedge method, and by 1990 had been incorporated into ASTM and ACI standards. Face had proved that the world could be flat.

Rebar Research

One common question from readers concerns requirements for removing form release over-spray from rebar. "It's time to replace guesswork with data that can eliminate the unwarranted expense of correcting problems that may not exist," stated Editor Ward Malisch in the June 1998 issue. In the interest of encouraging ongoing field research, CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION sponsored a series of bond pull-out tests to assess the effect of contaminants on bond strength. According to the report published in that issue, "The results may surprise most inspectors.... Instead of pulling out of the concrete specimen, which would be expected if the contaminants completely destroyed bond, the rebar broke in eight of the nine sets of three tests."

Complete versions of these articles are available at www.concreteconstruction.net.