C09 Concrete and Concrete Aggregates Committee celebrates centennial

In 1914, a small group of professionals gathered to work on methods for making and testing field specimens of concrete. The ASTM International committee that resulted from that first meeting – C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates celebrated its 100^th anniversary during a reception and dinner on 23 June at the Sheraton Centre Toronto, Canada.

The centennial celebration occurred during C09’s latest round of standards development meetings. Speakers included past and current chairmen of C09.

Since its earliest days, C09 has been leading the way in developing concrete standards that have had an enduring impact in the global construction, industrial, transportation, defense, utility and residential realms. In the century that has passed since C09’s founding, concrete has emerged as the most widely used man-made product in the world, integral to the construction of houses, office buildings, bridges, sidewalks, superhighways and dams, among other structures. The work of C09 has been instrumental to the success of concrete, ensuring quality, durability and sustainability and always advancing the application of new technologies in the concrete industry.

“During my 20 years as a member of Committee C09, there has been an ongoing evolution in concrete technology,” says Steve Parker, North American sales and marketing manager, CHRYSO Inc. “I believe that maintaining the pace with these advancements and delivering standards that are directly relevant to industry needs has been and continues to be our top priority as a committee.”

C09 currently has more than 1400 members from 62 countries. The committee maintains a portfolio of 176+ standards. More than 50 subcommittees within C09 focus on all aspects of concrete, leading to technological developments in areas such as:

• Ready-mixed concrete.
• Self-consolidating concrete.
• Chemical admixtures.
• Supplementary cementitious materials.
• Pervious concrete.

Committee C09’s first standard remains one of its most important: C94/C94M, Specification for Ready-Mixed Concrete. First approved in 1933, C94 covered many topics involving the mixing and hauling of ready-mixed concrete that are still relevant today. As technology has changed, so has C94, therefore it remains a pre-eminent standard in the concrete industry.

“Looking at C09’s book of standards doesn’t tell the complete story of the committee’s success and accomplishments over the past century,” notes longtime C09 member Richard Szeczy, president, Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association. “To produce the defining concrete industry documents that stakeholders around the world rely on every day has taken countless hours of dedicated effort and cooperation from thousands of international experts. Over the years, C09 has embodied everything that is great about the ASTM process. That itself is truly worth celebrating.”

ASTM International welcomes participation in the development of its standards. For more information on becoming an ASTM member, visit www.astm.org/JOIN.

Award of Merit and ASTM Fellow

Meanwhile, ASTM International has also held another celebration. Colin Lobo, Ph.D., senior vice president, engineering, at the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) in Silver Spring, Maryland, has received ASTM’s highest organisational recognition for individual contributions to standards activities, the Award of Merit and accompanying title of ASTM fellow.

A member of ASTM International since 1992, Lobo received the Award of Merit for his outstanding service to ASTM Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates, particularly for his contributions to specifications for concrete materials, test methods for fresh and hardened concrete, evaluation of data and assessment of laboratories.

Lobo is a member and chairman of the ASTM Cement and Concrete Laboratory (CCRL) Executive Group. CCRL was created by ASTM Committee C01 on Cement in 1929 to improve the quality of construction materials testing through programs for proficiency samples and laboratory inspection. These programs currently serve nearly 2,000 laboratories and send more than 9000 proficiency samples all over the world. Lobo also chairs the joint ASTM C01/C09 CCRL subcommittee, is secretary of C09.40 on Ready-Mixed Concrete, and is active on several C09 subcommittees. He also serves on the ASTM Committees on Cement, Accreditation and Certification, and Resilient Floor Coverings in addition to C09. He was named an honorary C01 member in 2012 and received the C09 Katharine and Bryant Mather Member Contribution Award in 2006.

As NRMCA senior vice president of engineering, Lobo is responsible for the Association’s engineering, research, technical training, certification and standards activities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Mysore in India, a master’s in civil engineering from Northeastern University, and he received his doctorate in civil engineering from Purdue University.

Outside ASTM, Lobo is a member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), where he works on the committees ACI 301 on Specifications for Structural Concrete and ACI 318 on Building Code for Structural Concrete. He is also a member of the American Society for Quality and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and has served on advisory panels of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. A professional engineer in the state of Maryland, Lobo was named an ACI fellow in 2002.

Adapted from press release by Katherine Guenioui

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/15072014/c09_concrete_and_concrete_aggregates_committee_celebrates_centennial_87/