BASF Corporation has received the 2017 Fiber Reinforced Concrete Association’s (FRCA) Innovative Project of the Year award. A panel of independent judges, comprised of professors from the Concrete Industry Management Department of Middle Tennessee State University, awarded BASF first place in the competition’s synthetic fibers category. The organization is focused on furthering the development, knowledge and market of fiber-reinforced concrete to manufacturers, suppliers and marketers within the concrete industry.
BASF won the honor for its work on the expansion of the Palo Verde Water Reclamation Facility in Maricopa, Arizona. The project was underway when ready-mixed concrete producer Arizona Materials contacted BASF seeking assistance in developing an engineered slab solution for Global Water Resources, Inc’s. water clarifying system. The new system would require the reduction of the number of construction and contraction joints, elimination of steel bar reinforcement, and control of concrete cracking induced by temperature and drying shrinkage.
“The FRCA is committed to educating the industry on the advantages of fiber reinforced concrete,” says Dan Vojtko, Product Manager for the Admixture Systems Business of BASF’s Construction Chemicals Division in North America. “This winning project is an ideal example of fiber reinforced concrete and what can be achieved with the BASF Extended Joint Spacing (EJS) system.”
BASF concrete experts evaluated the project and recommended the use of the BASF EJS to address the situation. The EJS system employs an ultra-low fiber-reinforced concrete mixture tailored to a specific project’s required joint spacing combined with sound concreting and construction practices. BASF used its proprietary Master Builders Solutions Intelligent e-Tool – a custom tool enabling individual project analysis and concrete technology solutions – to determine the proper mix of BASF’s MasterFiber® and MasterLife® products to provide an effective and efficient solution for the facility’s construction.
“Partnering with BASF was essential for this particular phase of our project to ensure that the correct additives and fiber technology would be used to achieve our design, deliver performance, meet our timeline and remain within budget goals,” says Ronald Lakefield, Global Water Resources, Inc., Engineering & Construction Manager. “We incorporate the use of fiber-reinforced concrete on many diverse projects in order to meet requirements when standard reinforced concrete mixes and methods fall short. Working with professional, innovative partners like BASF and Arizona Materials lets us leverage technologies that go beyond the status quo.”
BASF experts guided the project’s engineers and concrete contractor and with the BASF EJS system, provided a durable fiber-reinforced concrete system of three 68-foot (20.7-meters) diameter high-performance floor slabs. The slab floor pour time was reduced from two separate pours to one single monolithic pour. In addition to increased concrete placement efficiency, all secondary steel reinforcement was removed. Construction and drying shrinkage joints were also removed, thus eliminating the need for all water stops. The use of the BASF EJS system reduced the total slab construction time by five days.
“Our MasterFiber technologies go beyond the traditional secondary reinforcement of steel, providing increased production efficiency, improved jobsite safety and reduced cost compared to steel, especially now with the potential volatility of steel and aluminum pricing,” says Vojtko.
