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"Testing the Waters"

Michigan Tech Replaces Silica Fume with Rice Ash Hull

"Rice husk ash used in making of concrete canoe," by Dr. Narayan P. Singhania.

Laval Describes Lightweight Canoe

The Universite Laval is one of the most successful teams in the world and team members recently published an article in the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering that describes some of the materials used to construct one of their canoes. 

Morency M., Paradis F., "Lightweight shotcrete canoe: use of viscosity modifying admixture and acetone as artificial paste," Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 18(3): 361-366 (2006).

Laval hosts our Photo Gallery and Video Collection.  Thanks for your continued support!

"A brief history of concrete canoeing," by John Gilbert for Concrete Canoe Magazine, Vol. 1 No 1, pp. 6-10 (2006).

Team UAH's "Defender"
Engineered to Win & Hard to Beat

This poster, currently for sale on E-Bay, is vintage 1994.  It shows Team UAH's "Defender" in the foreground with Jeff Lindner in the stern and Charles McDowell in the bow.  UAH's attempt to defend their first national title marked the only time in NCCC history that a team swept the competition by winning every event.

The University of California - Berkeley placed second, followed by host New Orleans, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, and Clemson University.

The price of the poster is only $9.99... but the experience was priceless... jag

- NCCC Teams Prepare for Civil War -

"Civil War"
Spoof video clip developed to publicize 2006 NCCC (see clip below)...

To the right... "Watch It Wiggle!... See It Jiggle!"

If our subscribers had been more involved in this survey, concrete may have done better in the popularity contest and most certainly in the alternative uses category... perhaps placing concrete on par with Jell-O.  Then, we could have asked the Committee on Student Services to have the ASCE lobby to let the CNCCC formulate the rules for a tiebreaker.  If the formula included things like passing a flotation test and the potential for injection molding and dynamic tuning... concrete most certainly would have won.  And, if some of our sponsors worked together to develop new "lightweight" aggregates, admixtures, and additives to make the mix suitable for public consumption, civil engineers could have been recognized worldwide for developing a revolutionary new dietary supplement... that could result in a miraculous weight loss.  Boy, did we mis

Wyoming Turns Adversity Into Victory

If things didn't go too well for your team at the regional level... you may want to take 13 minutes or so to watch the video segment included in the Concrete Canoe section of the University of Wyoming's Regional Report during which their team capitalizes on a unique approach developed by Bolder.

Now there's an example of fortitude, fun, and innovation all rolled into one... proving once again that life isn't always easy... but it sure can be fun!

Canoes and Bridges... Float and Support Academic Program 

The faculty associated with every good academic program continually strive to improve quality and gain recognition... and Dr. Safai of Salt Lake City's Community College is no exception.

"A Canoe Made of Concrete and A Bridge Made of Steel,' highlighting the Student Club at Salt Lake City Community College and written by Ryan Roosendaal for the Globe on November 30, 2005.

    The fact is... some of the nation's most successful competitors have relied on the efforts of their ASCE student club to glean the recognition and support that they needed to secure ABET accreditation for their program... and subsequent elevation to chapter status.

Concrete Canoe Fever 

This cartoon from the early 1970's reflected the fact that concrete canoeing was initially promoted as a spoof to glean public attention.  But, since then, the revelations made while developing lightweight cementitious composites for this unique sport have radically changed the world in which we live.

See "Concrete Canoe Fever" - a brief history of concrete canoeing
written by Francis Young with updates by John Gilbert, ConcreteCanoe.org, revised August, 2005.

Bendable Concrete

"Flexible concrete might sound like a gimmick, but most concrete fails because it is brittle, so cracks develop over time, and eventually become catastrophic."

"Bendable Concrete,"  posted July 20, 2005 on WorldChanging by Jeremy Faludi.

Gilbert, J.A., Ooi, T.K., Biszick, K.R., Marotta, S.A., Vaughan, R.E., Engberg, R.C., "Strategically tuned absolutely resilient structures," Proc. of SEM Annual Conference & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Portland, Oregon, June 7-9, 2005, Paper No. 222, 14 pages.

2005 National Concrete Canoe Competition Coverage

The University of Wisconsin - Madison chalked up an unprecedented third consecutive win!  Clemson's 3CT finished an impressive second followed by Michigan Tech, the University of California at Berkeley, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

ConcreteCanoe.org was there and we have compiled a comprehensive competition report complete with photos of the boats, all of the questions posed by the judges during the oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary.  See:

2005 Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats - ConcreteCanoe.org

2005 NCCC Spreadsheet

The Badgers University of Wisconsin Badgers make history... Press Release

Read a follow-up to John Gilbert's observations, strategy, and top picks (published prior to the 2005 National Concrete Canoe Competition):

Follow-up to "The Front Line"

 Updates have been made to the competition statistics and the concrete canoe web site page:

"For the Record"

Concrete Canoe Web Site Page

Try your hand at our 2005 NCCC Competition Trivia:

2005 NCCC Trivia

"Mixing Concrete, Canoes and Racing," Newtown Advance, July 15, 2005 by Steve Sherman regarding Tulane's participation in the competition.

"Area Students Enter Boat Event," Ironwood Daily Globe, July 13, 2005 regarding Michigan Tech's participation in the competition.

"Ue Concrete Canoe Floats to 3rd Place," RED NOVA, July 1, 2005 regarding Evansville's participation in the competition. 

"Aggies Finish In Top 20 In National Concrete Canoe Competition," KWTX.com, June 28, 2005 regarding Texas A&M's participation in the competition.

Joan Buhrman, ASCE, Kelly Mawby, Degussa, Susan Polowczuk, Clemson, "Badger's Determination to Three-Peat Solid as a Rock" June 27, 2005.

"Clemson Students Pour Concrete Canoes for Contest," The State.com, June 25, 2005 by Caroline Smith regarding Clemson 3CT's participation in the competition.

"Whatever floats your (concrete) boat: Twin brothers from Ashland will compete in South Carolina engineering contest," MetroWest Daily News, June 24, 2005 by Theresa Freeman regarding Wentworth's participation in the competition.

"Concrete Canoe Champ," The Examiner, June 23, 2005 by Nat Friedland regarding UC Berkeley Bear's participation in the competition.

"Using solid concrete to float on the water," Dailey Trojan Online, April 5, 2005.

      "ASCE students from Carroll, Tech to host conference April 9," Helena Independent Record, April 2, 2005.

"Student engineers put skills to the test this weekend during SIUE competition," written by Nicklaus Lovelady for bellevillenewsdemocrat.com on April 1, 2005.

"Concrete canoe provides challenge," written by David Skolnick for Vindy.com on March 31, 2005.

"Fun is Serious Business during Upcoming Engineering Student Competitions," Capital University News, March 16, 2005.

Clarkson University Press Release, courtesy of Newswise.com, Wednesday, March 16, 2005.

"Concrete Canoes Cruise Into Clemson," ASCE/Degussa Admixtures Press Release, March 11, 2005.

"Concrete Canoe Group Strives to Float Its Boat," written by Steve Sanders on March 2, 2005 for the Dailey Californian.

"A Concrete Canoe With All the Right Ingredients," USC Viterbi COE News, March 2, 2005.

"Concrete Canoe Group Strives to Float Its Boat," Dailey Californian, March 2, 2005 by Steve Sanders regarding UC Berkeley's preparation for the competition.

Readers Digest Covers Concrete Canoeing

Vanderkam, Laura, "Light as a feather, hard as a rock,"  edited by Mr. Fran Lostys for the March Issue of Readers Digest - A short article on concrete canoeing.

Modal Analysis of Cementitious Plates

Researchers from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), the U.S. Army, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are using finite element and experimental modal analysis to characterize the dynamic behavior of plates made from cementitious composites...

Ooi, T.K., Gilbert, J.A., Bower, M.V., Vaughan, R.E., Engberg, R.C., "Modal Analysis of Lightweight Graphite Reinforced Silica/Polymer Matrix Composite Plates," Experimental Mechanics, 45(3): 1-5, 2005.

Characterization of Concrete Canoes

Ooi, T.K., Engberg, R.C., Gilbert, J.A., Vaughan, R.E., Bower, M.V., "Modal testing of a lightweight cementitious structure," Experimental Techniques, November/December, 2004, pp. 37-40 - modal analyses of Team UAH concrete canoe.

Paradis, F, "Analyse du comportement structural d'un composite mince en béton.  Analyse du comportement structural du canoë de béton," M.S. Thesis, Universite Laval, 2004 - empirical testing and analytical modeling to investigate and understand a concrete canoe’s reaction to static and dynamic loading conditions.

"In pursuit of a national concrete canoe title," by John Gilbert in Oldcastle News, Volume 2, Number 1, January 2004, p. 11.

Texas A&M - Promotional Video for their 2004 NCCC entry, "Silent Pride."

Team UAH - Swimming Boat - computer animation of their 2004 NCCC entry, "Conquest."

"Paddling Their Own Canoe," Sooner Magazine, June 12, 2004 - OU prepares for the 2004 NCCC.

Marotta, S.A., Ooi, T.K., Gilbert, J.A., "Structural health monitoring of strategically tuned absolutely resilient structures (STARS)" (PDF Download; 161 KB), Proc. of the 2004 SEM X International Congress & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Costa Mesa, California, June 7-10, 2004, Paper No. 172, 6 pages.

Raut, A., Gilbert, J.A., Ooi, T.K., "A method for producing structurally equivalent graphite reinforced cementitious composites" (PDF Download; 119 KB), Proc. of the 2004 SEM X International Congress & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Costa Mesa, California, June 7-10, 2004, Paper No. 173, 6 pages.

"Catholic University Hosts National Concrete Canoe Competition," Concrete Products Magazine, May 2004 - “Celebrating Concrete!” will showcase the engineering ingenuity that has taken concrete from sidewalk surfaces to new and innovative applications.

"Concrete canoes: the start of things to come," by Alan Burr in The Structural Engineer, December, 2003, pp. 28-29.

Ooi, T.K., Vaughan, R.E. Gilbert, J.A., Engberg, R.C. Bower, M.V., "Dynamic characteristics of highly compliant graphite reinforced cementitious composite plates" (PDF Download; 84.3 KB), Proc. of the 2003 SEM Annual Conference & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Charlotte, North Caroline, June 2-4, 2003, Paper No. 133, 7 pages.

Ooi, T.K., Engberg, R.C., Vaughan, R.E., Gilbert, J.A., Bower, M.V., "Experimental and numerical investigation of the dynamic response of highly compliant, polymer-enhanced, graphite reinforced cementitious composites" (PDF Download; 278 KB),  Proc. of the 2003 SEM Annual Conference & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Charlotte, North Caroline, June 2-4, 2003, Paper No. 135, 6 pages.

Jeffrey Russell at UW-Madison, "Bail Out Concrete Canoe Race," VIEWPOINT section of McGraw-Hill's enr.com - faculty support... the secret to University of Wisconsin - Madison's success, June, 2002.

"Like a Rowing Stone" by Michael Behar, Smithsonian Magazine, December, 2002.

"Concrete Submarines" by Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics Magazine, 1998 - cheap and deadly, these stealthy boats could shift the balance of naval power.

"Concrete Rockets", Web News, April, 2002 - a group of students built, launched, and recovered the world’s first concrete rocket.

John A. Hartsock - "The Cosine Wherry - One Man's Approach to Boat Design" - article describes a method used to build a rowboat that takes displacement into account.

"A Note on Teamwork"

If you're new to the game or struggling with organizing your team's efforts for a national bid, there may be some merit in studying how one fraction of nature gets the job done...

"Lessons from the Geese" - a note on teamwork.

Reorganizing for nationals and want a good laugh?  Read about the Quality First approach.

Roots Run Deep for National Champions

As mentioned in "For the Record," there have been only seven schools to win the U.S. ASCE/MBT National Concrete Canoe Competition (NCCC).  Universite Laval has won the Canadian National Concrete Canoe Competition (CNCCC) seven times and has placed second in the NCCC three times.  

Most of the national champions have developed very mature web sites that include detailed histories of past performances.  They often include photos, stats, scoring breakdowns, highlights, objective reviews, commentary, and competition summaries.  So why not take a moment and get to know your competition?

Nevada-Reno's Wolfpack (US - 2008)
Wisconsin Badgers (US - 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003)
Clemson's 3CT (US - 2002, 2000, 1999)
Team UAH (US - 2001, 1998, 1996, 1994, 1993)
Florida Tech (US -1997)
SD Tech (US - 1995)
Berkeley Bears (US - 1992, 1991, 1989, 1988)
Michigan State (US - 1990)

Team Laval (Canada - 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1997, 1996)
ETS (Canada - 2009, 2008)

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2009 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from  2009 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Tuscaloosa, AL.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2008 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from  2008 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Montreal, Quebec.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2007 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from  2007 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Seattle, WA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2006 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from  2006 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Stillwater, OK.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2005 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from  2005 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Clemson, SC.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2004 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos, commentary, etc. from 2004 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Washington, DC.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2003 NCCC Coverage" - photos, commentary, etc. from 2003 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Philadelphia, PA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2002 NCCC Coverage" - photos, movies, commentary, interviews, etc. from 2002 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Madison, Wisconsin.

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