• Past Conferences
• Upcoming Conferences

International Concrete Technology Forum
December 12-13, 2012 - Doha, Qatar

In association with

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and Grey Matters Consultancy for the 2012 International Concrete Technology Forum, December 12-13, in Doha, Qatar. The conference brought researchers and practitioners together to discuss the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools, testing and specifications for concrete. Researchers, engineers, architects, contractors, concrete producers, public works officials, material suppliers, and concrete industry professionals.

Principal Sponsors

	NRMCA, based in Silver Spring, MD, represents the producers of ready mixed concrete and the companies that provide materials, equipment and support to the industry. It conducts education, training, certification, promotion, research, engineering, safety, environmental, technological, lobbying and regulatory programs (www.nrmca.org).
	Grey Matters Group of Companies is a Dubai-based professional entity established to serve the construction and concrete industries in the Gulf and Middle East regions. Grey Matters Consultancy conducts third party assessments, technical control, inspections, consultancy, training and certifications on Concrete Technology (www.greymatters.ws).

Hosting Partner

Conference Partners

Gold Partners

Conference Supporters

Conference Endorsers

Media Sponsor

Session Topics
World renowned speakers presented the latest advances, technical knowledge, research, tools and solutions for design, testing and modeling concrete performance including:

• Hardened concrete properties
• Plastic concrete properties
• Concrete applications
• Performance based specifications
• Performance prediction
• Sustainability
• Green concrete

Speakers

VIP Contributors

Dr. Mohammed bin Saif Al Kuwari
Assistant Undersecretary Standardization and Laboratories Affairs; Qatar Ministry of Environment

 

 

 

Eng. Khalid Al-Emadi
Manager of Quality, Safety and Environment Department of Ashghal

 

 

 

Dr. Esam Elsarrag, Ph.D.
Research Manager at Gulf Organization for Research & Development

 

 

 

Speakers

Hilal El-Hassan, Ph.D.
Hilal El-Hassan is a Research Associate at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Mr. El-Hassan finished his PhD degree in civil engineering majoring in the structural and environmental departments under the supervision of Professor Yixin Shao. He is a member of a team of graduate and doctoral students investigating the effect of early-age carbonation on concrete products including concrete masonry units, concrete pipes, and concrete pavement. Mr. El-Hassan's work on concrete masonry units examined the ability to permanently sequester carbon dioxide gas in the form of the thermodynamically stable calcium carbonate, while thriving to maximize the uptake in order to reduce global carbon dioxide emission. He has several publications in civil engineering journals including ACI and ASCE material journals discussing the different aspects of concrete carbonation and its effect on concrete microstructure.

Sustainable Green Concrete Blocks Through Carbonation Curing
This presentation investigates the possibility of replacing steam curing by CO₂ curing and the CO₂ utilization capacity in concrete block production. The effect of initial curing on CO₂ curing of lightweight concrete blocks was examined with full-size blocks in durations ranging from 0 to 18 hours. The subsequent 4-hour CO₂ curing was then carried out in a chamber under a pressure of 0.1 MPa. The early-age and 28-day compressive strength of steam cured, carbonated, and hydrated samples were compared. Due to loss of water caused by initial curing, the carbonated concretes exhibited lower 28-day strength in comparison to hydrated and steam-cured samples. A water spray mechanism was devised to restore the lost water, and ultimately, the late compressive strength was comparable among samples. The durability of carbonated, hydrated, and steam cured concrete blocks have been studied through the resistance to freeze-thaw.

Dr. Eng. Noureddin Issa Daas
Dr. Daas is an expert of standards for the Sector of Construction and Building Material Specifications, Department of Standards and Metrology, Standardization and Laboratories Affairs, Ministry of Environment.

 

 

QCS2010-Major Changes and the Future Challenges
Dr. Daas will be highlighting the major changes in the new QCS2010 and he will be stating the future challenges.

Dr.-Ing. Till Felix Mayer
Till Felix Mayer is a specialist in the field of reinforcement corrosion, corrosion monitoring and service life design of reinforced concrete structures. He studied civil engineering at the RWTH Aachen/Germany and the Imperial College, London and received his doctoral degree from the Technical University of Munich/Germany. During his time as a research fellow at the Technical University of Munich he worked in the fields of service life design and service life management of infrastructure projects with respect to reinforcement corrosion. He is now a partner in the engineering firm Schiessl Gehlen Sodeikat in Munich/Germany and the managing director of the Sensortec GmbH. During his professional career he has carried out the durability design and developed service life management procedures for various large infrastructure projects in Europe, the USA, Qatar and China in which he combines the results of a probabilistic durability design with the results of corrosion monitoring in order to update the original prognosis.

Life Cycle Management of Concrete Structures – From Durability Design to Corrosion Monitoring
On the background of scarce public resources, life cycle management of infrastructure systems has gained increasing importance. The durability design is one of the key elements. Depending on the governing deterioration mechanisms, it can be carried out on different levels of detail and thus enables an optimization of durability by means of optimized concrete composition and choice of binder. There are sufficiently well calibrated deterioration models available for the probabilistic modeling of reinforcement corrosion. Quality control tools during construction and after completion allow for an assessment of the actual quality and the comparison with the requirements formulated during the design stage. As the durability modeling is connected with uncertainties concerning some of the input parameters, corrosion monitoring during the actual service life can be employed in order to subsequently update the original durability prognosis, rendering the owner of the structure in a position where he will always be well informed about the current condition state of his structure.

Frances Yang, PE, LEED AP
Frances Yang is a structures and materials sustainability specialist in the San Francisco office of Arup. With combined background in architecture and engineering, Frances brings an understanding of life cycle assessment (LCA), performance-based seismic design, and building envelope integration to her structural design work. Further training in the Arup London Research and Development office has equipped her to become an Arup global expert on LCA-based tools and embodied impacts of construction materials.Frances holds a LEED AP and California PE. She has been active on the Structural Engineering Association of Northern California’s Sustainable Design Committee since its inception. More recently she has chaired the LCA working group of the ASCE Structural Engineering Institute Sustainability committee. Her current assignments in research and development, facades, infrastructure, and sustainability groups have furthered her interest in how materials and structural systems contribute to whole-life sustainability performance of our built environment. Ms. Yang will present:

Quantifying the Real vs. Methodological Variability in Embodied Carbon Footprints
Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the method which most fully accounts for the environmental impacts of structures. The method provides feedback for our engineering design and specification choices. However, there is debate in the design community that LCA results, on buildings not their own, can currently provide any meaningful feedback without standardized methodology in conducting the LCA. Arup sought to answer this question in a study comparing the embodied carbon footprint of different buildings, by distinguishing the variability due to methodology versus that due to design choices. In this study commissioned by the Concrete Centre, LCA principles are used to compare embodied CO2 levels related to project choices within the structural engineer’s control, including structural framing schemes, cement content in concrete mix, and recycled content. The structural impacts are also compared to transport, construction, and architectural components of the buildings. This comparison is demonstrated for three buildings that represent typical design and construction of commercial, school, and hospital structures.

Lionel Lemay PE, SE, LEED AP
Mr. Lemay is Sr. Vice President, Sustainable Development for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA). He manages programs that assist producers, contractors, and designers transform concrete manufacturing and construction to improve overall sustainability of the concrete industry. He manages programs to educate concrete industry professionals, engineers and architects on the proper use and design of concrete for buildings, parking areas, roadways, and other applications. He has written numerous articles on concrete construction and is co-author of the McGraw-Hill book Insulating Concrete Forms for Residential Design and Construction. Mr. Lemay is a Registered Professional Engineer and Structural Engineer in the State of Illinois. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional. He is a member of the American Concrete Institute and serves on ACI committees 130 (concrete sustainability), 301 (concrete specifications), and 332 (residential concrete). He is chairman of the American Society of Civil Engineers Concretes and Cementitious Materials Committee. Mr. Lemay holds a bachelors and masters degree in civil engineering and applied mechanics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Mr. Lemay will present:

Specifying Sustainable Concrete
Nearly every project uses concrete in some way. Concrete plays a key role in nearly every structure we build today including buildings, bridges, homes and infrastructure. As a result, concrete plays a significant role in our built environment. Performance based specifications for concrete can substantially help improve the sustainability of structures. Prescriptive requirements such as minimum cement content or maximum water to cement ratio are well known specification requirements that increase the environmental footprint of concrete. Likewise there are at least 20 other requirements that are not so well known. This paper will outline how concrete performance can be maintained while removing those requirements. The resulting specification can help attain concrete with the desired performance and a lower environmental footprint.

Tien Peng, LEED AP, CGP, PMP
Tien Peng is senior director of sustainability, codes and standards for NRMCA. Mr. Peng will provide technical expertise to the building codes development and the growing adoption of sustainability standards for buildings. Prior to joining NRMCA, Mr. Peng consulted with a number private and non-profit organizations on operational excellence as a way to sustainability and profitability. He is a longtime advocate of sustainability, promoting green building and social responsibility to various businesses and has championed capacity building for vulnerable communities in Washington State. Mr. Peng holds a master of architecture degree from the University of Houston and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Mr. Peng will present:

Staying in the Game with LEED v4
LEED v4 is changing with a new version due out next year. The green building movement continues to gain momentum as developers, government agencies and designers build structures to minimize environmental impact using the new standards. To take full advantage of this movement and be a participant in the process, you have to have a detailed understanding of the design concepts and guidelines used in LEED v4. And although concrete will still help meet many of the requirements there are new concepts that will provide the concrete industry with both opportunities and challenges. In LEED v4, there are new credit categories, increased technical rigor, and revised point distribution that will affect how concrete is specified and used in green building. Environmental Product Declarations, life cycle assessment, disclosure of chemicals of concern and responsible extraction of raw materials are just a few of the concepts you will learn about in this session.

Hotel

For more details about the Doha conference contact Rabih Fakih of Grey Matters at rabih.fakih@greymatters.ws.