ACI
Avoiding 'shadowing' in the shotcrete-placement process is crucial to the structural integrity of pool shells, notes Dave Peterson. Here, he shares a detail that dodges the void creation that can lead to structural compromises.
In the final installment of their series on the history and development of the shotcrete method of concrete application, William Drakeley and Lily Samuels examine the industry's current state of the art -- then cast an optimistic eye toward the approach's future.
& William Drakeley The years after the Second World War were times of opportunity and awkwardness in the shotcrete business. From 1920 until the early 1950s, the Cement Gun Co. owned the trademark to "gunite" and established an aggressive licensing/franchising system to maintain as much control as it could over the process and profit from it to the greatest possible degree. By 1952, however - and apparently with
Concrete is so essential to the work of watershapers and so pervasive in all forms of construction that it's a bit too easy to take it for granted. Using myself as an example, I'll confess to having fairly thin knowledge of the material, its history and the myriad uses to which it is put to use - until, that is, I looked through Concrete: A Pictorial Celebration (published by the American Concrete Institute in 2004). This wonderful, 260-page book offers a (mostly) visual tour of the fantastic and utterly essential applications of concrete that have indelibly marked the advance of modern society, worldwide. It's organized into several sections, each one chock full great photos accompanied by informative, albeit brief, textual passages. It's not a technical discussion by any means; instead, it's an almost dizzying tour of the