End-result Specification for Hydraulic Cement Concrete

About the report:

The purpose of this research was to develop and implement an end-result specification (ERS) for hydraulic cement concrete for structural and paving use. This report details the development of the specification, in the form of a special provision, including the decisions that went into the choice of quality characteristics to be measured and the selection of items on which pay factors were to be based. It also shows and discusses the results of a simulation effort to determine pay factors under actual construction conditions that used the traditional specification. Finally, it includes data from two pilot bridge projects that used the special provision. Further evaluation of the ERS is recommended to address outstanding issues on lot size, testing, quality characteristics, selection of limits, and pay factors. The implementation of an ERS would lead to innovations and higher quality concrete in the finished product that, in turn, would result in longer lasting structures with minimal maintenance. If as little as a 5 percent increase in the service life were achieved, the savings would be in the millions of dollars. In addition, in cases of dispute, an ERS is more defensible than is a method specification.

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