Every year, civil engineering students from Canada and the U.S. participate in the annual Pacific Northwest Student Conference. This event is organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers made up of student chapters from universities in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Canada who compete for a chance to win one of 12 bids to a National Concrete Canoe Competition. Essentially the competition is an engineering challenge to build a functioning canoe out of concrete. It involves many facets including design, fabrication, racing, compilation of a technical paper, and a presentation. The success or failure of the canoe largely rests in the design of the concrete mix. While teams are given specific guidelines for how much water and cement can be added to the mix, the ingredients used to achieve the requirements are left open to the teams.
This year, Oregon State University’s Canoe team decided to use Titan’s TE-FG fiberglass geogrid as the primary reinforcement for their canoe’s ½ inch concrete hull. This geogrid worked to absorb the concrete’s tensile stresses by reinforcing the canoe where loads are greatest, significantly reducing the concrete’s weight. By incorporating our TE-FG fibreglass geogrid into their design, Oregon State University made their canoe lighter and took second place in the competition.
Well done and congratulations on your hard work and success!
