Pivot Receives The Excellence in Concrete Construction Award
Pivot Engineers is pleased to announce that our engineers have been awarded the Excellence in Concrete Construction in Repair and Restoration award from the American Concrete Institute for our work on The Austonian slab edge repairs.
The Austonian slab edge repair project was previously awarded the International Concrete Repair Institute’s 2020 Project of the Year Award.
The Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards honors exceptional concrete construction from around the world. Projects are recognized for the degree of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value that concrete as a material provided. The American Concrete Institute’s awards are given by an independent panel of industry professionals.
Pivot was engaged to determine the cause of the premature damage to the 59-story Austonian building six years after its construction. Our engineers used non-destructive and destructive testing techniques to evaluate the structure. Our investigation determined that the cause of the concrete damage was carbonation-induced corrosion due to improper placement of slab reinforcement. The investigation also revealed that the issue was systemic and widespread.
Based on the investigation findings, Pivot developed a repair plan that included fulldepth removal and replacement of all exposed slab edges in the building (approximately 9,200 linear feet). Pivot’s repair design incorporated the use of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement to address numerous dimensional constraints and prevent formation of future corrosion cells.
Pivot and the repair contractor coordinated the construction details and methods through off-site and on-site mockups, which allowed for extensive, yet swift, assessment and repair.
Pivot Engineers and the project team were formally presented with this award on October 18, 2021 during ACI’s Fall Convention.
Please join us in congratulating the project team for their award-winning work on this complicated project.
About the Award-Winning Project
Less than six years after the construction of the 59-story building, a six-foot-long piece of concrete from a slab edge fell more than 200 feet onto the podium. A visual survey performed by the owner identified 31 additional locations where evidence of structural distress was observed along the exposed slab edges. The owners were concerned about their own safety, as well as the safety of people and property around the building.
The owners then engaged Pivot to identify the cause of the premature damage and develop repair solutions. Using a suite of non-destructive and destructive testing techniques, Pivot determined the cause of the premature damage and concluded that the issue is widespread and systemic.